Jeff Fox is one of the most creative as well as one of the most practical business thinkers I know. How’s this for a background?

“Grew up in a small town. Saw Mickey Mantle hit several home runs at Yankee Stadium. State high school baseball champions. Full scholarship to Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Featured in the book, How to Succeed in Business Before Graduating From College. Played rugby at Harvard Business School. Married to the same girl since 1968. Bought an old house and moved it three miles next to a brook. Broke leg playing rugby for the Hartford Wanderers. Retired from rugby. Lived in San Francisco and worked in the wine business. Three children and their families. Own some small businesses. Oodles of dogs and birds. Favorite cities outside the US are Paris, Florence, Istanbul, Montreal. Favorite small towns are Bellagio, Siena, Zihuatenejo, Mufugano Island, Bodrhum. Started Fox&Co. in 1982. Wrote eight books.”

Here is an item from a recent Fox & Company newsletter issue.

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Recently the Chamber of Commerce in a small town asked how their organization could help local businesses better prosper: host an open air market; promote wine and cheese walkabouts among the merchants; print clever bumper stickers? All good ideas. Try them all.

But first some of the small businesses should stop making unforced errors. They should stop unconsciously pushing away customers. To wit: here are ten actual money-losing mistakes…that can be fixed in minutes.

1. The sign, “Cash only. There is an ATM at the bank across the street.” Is triple dumb. One, the take-out food store loses customers who don’t want to pay with cash, and loses them forever. Two, the store loses customers who don’t want to walk across the street. Maybe it’s raining? And three, the store loses customers who do decide to walk across the street and encounter the competitor to the “cash only” store along the way.

2. The “We need small bills” sign is lazy and creates angst among those customers who are buying a coffee and a croissant with a twenty-dollar bill.

3. Putting company telephone numbers on the side of vehicles. No one can remember the numbers. Way better to display the town where the business can be reached.

4. “Sorry. We Are Closed,” and “Closed” should be replaced with, “See You Tomorrow at 6:00 am.”

5. An art gallery thinks it is creative and edgy and cool to rearrange the letters in the word, “OPEN,” to “NOPE” when it is closed. “NOPE” ain’t very inviting.

6. Prominent tip jars on cash registers are low class and off-putting.

7. When the clerk at the fruit and vegetable stand asks a customer how many ears of corn are in the bag, and after hearing “eight,” she then opens the bag and counts the corn, she is telling the customer, “I didn’t believe you. You look like a liar and a thief.”

8. When the book store owner posts numerous signs scolding and reprimanding customers to not use cell phones; to hold every child’s hand; and a big fave, “Buying Beats Browsing,” he signals that customers are a nuisance.

9. When one of the restaurant wait staff clears one patron’s plate while others are still dining means the restaurateur eschews training and manners.

10. When the salesperson shows up unprepared, which is 70+% of all salespeople, the salesperson’s company gets no revenue and loses the cost of making the sales call.

And # 10 ++ The florist that closes every Sunday and Monday even though Valentine’s Day happens on Tuesday. There might be some people that wait until the last day to buy someone special some flowers. So do those last minute customers go empty handed or do they go to another florist?

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To learn more about Jeff and his brilliant work, please click here.