30. June 2010 by Bob Griffin.

I teach business skills every day.  There are people that I deal with who have many more years of experience in business and have many more degrees from prestigious colleges, but there is always something that I can suggest that has merit to adding customers and sales or reducing costs. Business, like some of our readers have noticed, has many angles and can be approached with a new view even after centuries of sales.

The reason I mention this is that I had my finest achievement recently and it involved a businessman that is headstrong, stubborn, and doesn’t listen to me most of the time.  I guess I need to restate a few things.  He does listen.  He just never let me know he was paying attention.  Business skills are learned as much as they are a part of a person’s personality.  I would rate his skills before this past weekend as high in personality but low in business acumen.

Once the weekend hit, I learned how wrong I was.  He had learned the lessons I taught about how to build a brand and I learned a few things myself.

To say that I saw the best businessman in any industry at work is an understatement.  I saw him stop traffic…I mean he stopped traffic!  People got out of their cars and spent money right there at the street.  He is beyond a doubt the very best.

• I saw him stand at the front counter and grab people’s attention with a wave and smile.
• He was charming and polite.
• He asked customers for the sale and then asked them if they wanted more.  He asked enough questions until he got to the word “No”.
• He was fast serving them.
• He was quick to close the sale.
• He mentioned that they could stop back for more later…for an additional fee.
• He thanked them warmly and continued to be polite.
• He knew the sale did not end the relationship with the customer.
• He asked them to mention the products to friends.

I was proud.  I was very proud.

The “man” is my 8 year old son.  He asked me a few weeks ago to help him start his own business.  Knowing that an 8 year old doesn’t think small and would want to lease space for a store front if I let him, I worked a deal with him to build a lemonade stand if he was willing to follow my rules for business.  Little man has heard me talk about business since before he could talk, so I knew he heard the Bulldog Rules for Business, but I did not realize how much he had taken them to heart and was able to demonstrate them and make money.

I built the lemonade stand and he paid for the cups and the lemonade mix.  We were going to freshly squeeze the lemons, but we decided to make profits instead.  There is always an element of profitability that every good businessman must take into account.  The task of running the booth was his alone.  I stood by and ended up assisting (I filled cups with ice), but I did not engage the customers.  That was his job and I did not want to artificially increase sales by stepping over his management.

To say that I was stressed in watching my son run a small business in my driveway is an understatement.  I wanted to help, take over, manage the station, and control the sales.  That is what “Type A” personalities do…we jump in and get it done.  This, however, was my chance to see if I am a good coach.  I wanted to see if the lessons I preach can be lived on a very small scale and make a big impact.  It worked!

Little man was amazing.  He did stop traffic.  He even sold lemonade to the lady driving that infernal ice cream truck with the horrible music.  She stopped right in front of his stand and bought from him.  She was impressed with his sales ability (He asked her if she wanted two cups since it was such a hot day).  He sold to neighbors, his friends, and anyone who happened down our street that morning. He started selling lemonade at 9:00am.  I can’t drink lemonade that early.  I still taste toothpaste at 9:00am, but people bought and loved it.

Like I do in every article on Business Bulldog, I want to know if your team is following the rules that an eight year old made look easy.  The Bulldog Rules for Business are common sense, but powerful when followed.  Can you have the enthusiasm of an eight year old every day and with every sale?  Can you speak clearly and ask for the sale and then ask for more from the customers without sounding like you are selling to them?  Do you ask your customers to send friends to your store?  Do you ask how they like your products and service?  My son did and now he has a following of people who want to come back for more.

As for using a powdered mix instead of fresh lemons, the customers loved the experience, so it didn’t matter.  It isn’t all about the product.  The best situations to get a sale involve the product, the engagement, and the environment.  Get these things right and the sales will come.  The drink was good enough leaving room for profits without cheating customers.  The engagement of the sale to the customers was better than they would have gotten at 100 times the price.  Finally, he maintained a clean, good looking environment for customers to feel confident they were getting a good product.  How about your store?

That old saying, “When life gives you lemons - make lemonade” is a good one.  A better saying is “Start with the lemons and make money”.

**Side note:  He sold between 60 and 70 glasses of lemonade in just a few hours.  I don’t know the exact number because many customers were giving him 100 percent tips!

Posted in Customer Service, Being the Boss, Training, Making Money | Print | 24 Comments »

23. May 2010 by Bob Griffin.

When is the last time you looked at your business?  No, not the numbers…the message.  There are a lot of messages that we project to customers that are unintended because we are overwhelmed with too many things to take care of in 24 hours.  How many of you have put a sign at the cash register that says, “No checks!” or “Payment Upfront”?  It is that kind of negative message that makes customers think you don’t trust them or want them.

You want to be known as being a professional and then you put up a hand written sign that says, “All Sales Are Final”.  If that doesn’t scream Go Away, I don’t know what would.  OK, so I have another more extreme way of keeping customers out.  Let them know you don’t want them in the first place. 

Take a look at this picture.  It can be hard to read the words on the window, but is says, “Hot People Wear Shorts”.  Sorry, I used my phone to take the picture and I am not a photographer.



Can you see where the problem is?  None of the mannequins are wearing shorts.  Even the picture in the window has a guy in pants.  This is typical of what we do.  That desire to get everything done now gets us further behind because we tell customers we do not know what we are doing.  Would you buy shorts where they think pants are the same as shorts?  Probably not.

How about this wonderful image?  I was driving around and saw a nice building with a dry cleaners in it.  I would never drop off clothes here because the message they project is - Dirty = clean.  (I blurred the name of the business.  They aren’t all bad).



What are you telling your customers?  It can be as simple as having the same signs up year after year.  Follow Bulldog Rule #12 - Be aware of your entire business.  Get out and look around.  While you are out there, use the article, SWOT ‘Em to get a good understanding of the message that your competition is telling your customers.  We do like to multi-task don’t we?

As much as I want to place the blame on the shoulders of the owner, I also want to take this opportunity to let you know I understand how this can happen.  Being an owner is like getting trying to roll a million little balls in the same direction at the same time at the same speed.  Bad things happen when you move too fast.  It is the nature of business to move fast, but make sure you end up where you intended.

The best way to fix many of these problems is to get out of your business.  Yes, get out! Go out to the parking lot and just stand there.  Close your eyes and start thinking like a customer.  Now open them and look.  What would draw a customer’s eyes to your business?  How do we look?  What message do we send from just looking at the store?  Often, the need to just get things done makes a potentially good message go bad.

Find the message you want to send and then stop, look, and read what your customers see.  If you are not projecting the professional business you see in your head, make changes and make the message one you intend to send.

Bob Griffin - The Original Bulldog
Bgriffin@BusinessBulldog.com

Posted in Marketing, Customer Service, Making Money | Print | 3 Comments »

28. February 2010 by Bob Griffin.

Darwin was right.  Survival of the fittest is the mantra of every living organism and that includes business.  It is especially true in franchising where fresh new operators jump into open waters under the watchful gaze of the franchisor.  Awash in the blissful wave that is the Franchise Agreement, franchisees feel safe that someone will rescue them if something goes wrong.  This is where Darwin’s theory smacks them upside the head with a thud.  The problem is that safe in business is not a reality you will find.  Did you ever think that some of the big-box retailers would go out of business?  Of course not.  Were you thinking bigger is safer.  That’s wrong and so is buying a franchise and thinking you are safe.

Want to be safe in business?  You have to work for safety.  There is risk in everything and the quicker you realize how fast things can turn upside down, then better your business will be.  The only constant in life is CHANGE.  Darwin knew that and he applied it to animals.  I know it and I see it every day in business.

As we have mentioned many times here at Business Bulldog, there are really three areas to pay attention to in your business:

1. The Leadership
2. The Employee Team
3. The Marketing

You may notice that no where in that list is a parachute with the franchisor of choice’s name on it.  That’s because you bought the right to use a system, not the right to be saved from failure.  Now, do not get me and the team at Business Bulldog wrong; the franchisor wants you to succeed.  They make more money when you make more money and they get to survive another day right along side of you.  Some franchises though are not set up for rescue missions.  We have worked with plenty of them and cried with the families who lost everything.

Jumping back a couple of paragraphs, I mentioned that you can work for safety in business.  Here is the secret to that safety in a franchise…follow the system.  Sound simple?  The franchisor has already lost a ton of money on how to do things wrong.  If it is a good franchise, it will change over time to meet the new needs of customers.  Follow the system and be prepared to follow the three steps above.  Focus on what will strengthen what you already have and your business will live another day.

The question you need to ask is, “Are you the right person to be a franchisee?”

If you are going to get into a franchise, think like Darwin.  Are you the strongest you can be to jump into the pool and keep your head above water?  Can you survive the first of many attacks by competition, vendors, and customers?  Your franchise may not be able to help you fast enough or understand what is happening in your local area.  There are more questions like this that you can ask, but the main question is, “Are you the right person to be in business under contract with a franchise and grow a business that you are comfortable with?”

How dare I say that some of you won’t make it in a franchise?  That seems to be the million dollar question.  That is, a million dollars you can earn or lose.  I would rather tell someone they aren’t ready to be in a franchise than let them flop around like a fish out of water with the hope they learn to breathe.  Darwin had it right.  There are groups of people who make it and thrive and there are groups that disappear.  The world of business is ugly and does care if you really, really want to be a business owner.  Failure happens more often than success.  It has always been that way and it always will be. Franchising is best suited for a follower/ leader - yes, that is the same person.  Is that you?

Posted in Creating the Culture, Being the Boss, Making Money | Print | 460 Comments »

2. February 2010 by Bob Griffin.

I was looking around my house for new items that would help me convey a sense of team dynamics to a group I will be speaking to later this week.  I have a speech I will use about the disconnect in most teams and how the dynamics of getting a team to embody a message is difficult, but not impossible.  Great speech if I do say so, but it was missing an element.  Something for the audience to “visually” hold onto while I made my story come to life.

I thought about using a knife since you need to cut through the clutter of “stuff” that gets in the way of delivering and receiving a message.  Can you image a speaker holding a knife in front of a group talking about slashing through the outside junk that builds up between you and your employees?  I came to the quick conclusion that they would wheel me out in a straight jacket if I did that.

I thought about bringing a peach.  Peaches smell nice and no one will think I lost my mind.  (That last sentence will not stand on it’s own)  Anyway, back to the peach…sometimes you need to gain a person’s focus with something that draws on one or more of their senses.  Peaches smell nice, taste great and feel soft and comfortable.  Most people know the taste of a peach and can see themselves eating it.  The point of using a peach is to say that there is a lot of reasons to just focus on the outside, tasty side of a peach, but if you want to grow, you need to dig through that part and get to the core where the pit is.  You can either focus on the one peach (the comfortable side of business) or you can focus on getting the team to put the pit in the ground and have each member of the team add their skills to growing a peach tree (the business) that will give you peaches (money) for years.  I am not sure I would be able to make a good point of team dynamics by talking about a peach, but it is a good visual…and tasty.

I kept wandering around my house thinking about how to get a message across to a group of people who are glad to have a job, but want to do as little as possible to make a living.  Then it hit me.  No, really it hit me.  My son threw a ball at me and yelled “catch!”.  How’s that for finding a visual?

Once I regained my senses and reassured my son that he was not in trouble, I looked at the ball and and I went through what happened.  In one word and in one action, my son made the point he wanted to get across to me.  “Catch the ball!”  Often I will clutter up my own words, actions, and attitude with too much stuff.  Stuff is the junk that makes every simple thing more complicated.  Holding the ball, I figured it out…toss simple, clear, understandable ideas to your team.  If they don’t get it, then get rid of them.  They aren’t trying and you do not have time to slow down for them.

Clear messages are the thing that most people have a hard time with when they want something done.  The best leaders make a clear statement.  They don’t spend time trying to get you to understand the history of why they are making the statement.  They just talk clearly, with one idea and one message.  I wish someone had thrown a ball at me when I was younger.  I would have saved piles of time and effort.  I probably would be a lot further ahead in life and business had I been jarred with a round object hurled at high speed.

Great team dynamics happen when you slow down and clear out the “stuff”.  Stop wasting time with explanations or trying to fit every message to everyone.  Either they trust you or they don’t.  Follow up on your directions and you will see who is listening and part of your team and who is not.  There is no way to please everyone and there is no way to have a group of people who are not on the job to follow you and find success.  Don’t feel bad for the ones who don’t get it.  They need to find their own clear message…with a different team.

By the way, I am going to use the ball.  I had already eaten the peach.

Posted in Creating the Culture, Being the Boss, Training, Making Money | Print | 55 Comments »

22. January 2010 by Bob Griffin.

Draw three circles - one around the next.  This is all the business model you need to create a dynamic growing business in this depressed economic environment.

Three circle?!?  Yes, three circles.  The diagram should look like a target.  Once you understand this model, you will never be lost in what to do next.

Inside the first inner-most circle write the word “Leadership”.  We always start with leadership.  Getting to the core of the brand starts with looking at the face of person or people who are leading the organization.  As you know by our rules, either you are the right person to be in the inner-most circle leading the charge or you are not.  It is not about ego or power, but about having the most effective person in charge of the operations.  There are too many businesses that fail because they have the wrong person in charge.  How many of the businesses in your area have closed because of poor leadership?  Most, if not all.

The next circle is the team.  Write “Team” in the circle that goes around the leadership.  It is amazing that so many people are lost when it comes to hiring and training the right people.  Is it fear or something else?  We have seen clearly that most people are not trained in how to hire well or train someone to do a job effectively.  As Noel Guilford wrote in the last article, “Hatch an Egg - Build a Leader”, you want to create your own team of leaders to grow your business.  Hiring in someone who is well suited to the job means that they are capable of doing the job.  However, they may not do things your way.  After all, they were trained to do things at another company. Are you willing AND able to hire someone who is capable and spend the time and energy to train them into the employee you need and a leader in their field?  The questions to start with are “What is the nature of the job I am hiring for?” and “Is this the right person to train into being the best employee for that position?”.  You will be burned by hiring and spending time training someone.  That is the nature of business.  Get over that and keep working.  You would not let your competition tell you how to be successful, so why would you allow a bad hire limit you?

The outer-most circle is local store marketing.  Write “Local Store Marketing” in this circle.  The first two circles are focused inside your business.  They are the core of the business.  Can a business grow with just the right leadership and the right team?  Yes.  It is the foundation for all great businesses.  Without the first two circles, you have no business at all.  The local store marketing circle is the relationship you want to have with your customers.  It is the public relations, the couponing, and the message you want to send to people in the area you want to spend money with you.  Failure in this circle does not necessarily mean that your business will fail.  It does mean that you are limited to word of mouth advertising. This can also include bad reviews or anything anyone wants to mention about you.  Get the inside of your store operating well and then get out and brag about it.  Be known for something great.  Shameless promotion for the sake of yelling about your store is the worst kind of marketing.  GO for something that people will think of when they think of your business or your industry.

Three circles are simple and encompass the entire method of controlling a business.   I have always been able to help a business grow when we break the effort down to these three parts.  You will jump back and forth as things change - and things will most definitely change.  Change is the only constant thing you can count on in life.  Reexamine your leadership often.  Look at the goals you set for your team and make sure everyone is on board to reach them.  Do the right kind of local store marketing.  All of these things are the parts of your business that you can handle.  You can not change the economy or your competition.  You can handle your business as a professional. 

Draw three circles and start growing your business now.

Posted in Creating the Culture, Being the Boss, Making Money | Print | 93 Comments »