7. January 2010 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

There are two types of owners that need to grow their view of the business they own.  One type of owner spends a lot of time on numbers.  They see the trends and how the customers respond to the marketing or employee efforts.  The “Number Cruncher” is a good master of his domain.  He is up to date on what has happened in his business and what works.  He can plan and explain his business in terms of dollars and cents.  Why is this not a big enough view?  He is good with changing to a new plan.  He can see what works and plan, but moving to a new plan is outside his view.  Limits like this are part of an old way of doing business.  I grew up in this format.  I am happy to look through these eyes.  I also know that if I want to make stores successful I need to look bigger and make changes quickly to stay ahead of the competition and fire up my team.  Numbers tell no lies, but they also do not inspire growth.  People do.

The second type of owner is the marketing guy.  He can tell you what works and why.  Coupons, discounts, and media buys are part of his lexicon.  There is no way he is going to let a customer get away without knowing what his business is all about.  Branding is a key to his success.  Finding new ways to communicate to customers is his passion.  This guy is his own best marketing…just ask him.  Why doesn’t this work well.  If you are focused on marketing outside your business, you may the operations  and the reason customers come back.  Ever watch a commercial, try out a new business and then never go back? Why?  The hype did not match the service, the products, or a combination of both.  Marketing is critical, yes critical, to every business.  It just can not be the beginning and the end of the game. Save marketing until you have something to brag about.  Then yell it!

Look at the whole picture.  Crunch numbers to see what works best.  Take the best parts of a campaign, product, or service and build your store around it.  The best businesses ask more questions than make statements.  Every question or answer should bring more questions or answers.  Look bigger.  Dream about where your business can grow.  Do not EVER be comfortable.  Comfort is good for a blanket, but bad for a business model.  Be ready to change.  Look inside your business first to ensure that when you go out and invite customers in you are ready to make them say “WOW”.

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22. October 2009 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

I hate Mission Statements.  There I said it.  There is absolutely no reason to waste good time on a paragraph of words that no one looks at, lives by, or is inspired by.  Do NOT create a Mission Statement.  If you must, here are all the words you need: excel, inspire, create, serve, endure, success, and forge.  Man, I had to struggle to write that last sentence.  Yuck!

Instead of a Mission Statement, make a Vision Statement.  What’s the difference?  Peanut Butter!

I wrote recently about listening to elevator pitches from MBA candidates and I started thinking about a speech I heard from Ray Barton, CEO of Great Clips, Inc, who instructed new franchisees to the chain to create a vision statement.  Ray said that a Vision Statement is more than a bunch of words, it is your vision for your business.  (I may be paraphrasing.  It’s been some months since I heard him speak those words).  The idea is to have something you can describe in vivid detail how it works and where you see the business going.

Mission Statements are an endgame approach to describing business.  It’s a “This is what we do” statement.  Vision Statements paint a picture of what success is and the path it is on.  Ask Ray what he sees when he thinks of Great Clips and in a few words will make you want to buy a franchise to be a part of that vision. There are only a few people I have met in my life that make be thankful for having the time to speak with. Ray is one of those people.  He paints a picture you can see yourself in.

OK, so where does the peanut butter fit in?   When you describe your family or your favorite car or something you love.  You have words that make the description stick.  Those are peanut butter words.  It’s those words that are still on the tip of your tongue after you hear someone talk about something they are passionate about.  As the listener, you internalize those words like they mean the same thing to you.  If you can’t describe your business with the same kind of peanut butter words that you would use to describe something you love, sell and get out before the business sells you out.

To describe what I do, I say:

“I use magic bullets to make small business owners successful.” 

I am asked for the magic bullets all the time.  Those are my peanut butter words.  The bullets I use are the Bulldog Rules for Business on the second tab of this website.   It makes people interested in what I do.  I never want to sound like I am bored telling you what I do.  A Mission Statement will do that.  I also don’t want to be glib and say, “I increase sales and lower costs for business owners.”  What sticks there?  Nothing!

When you say your Vision Statement be creative, inventive (no one says you have to use real words), and keep changing it up.  Your business is never the same form one day to the next.  Why should your description of it stay the same?

Inspire me with your peanut butter words too.  I bet there is a Peanut Butter phrase that will make me talk about YOU next.  As of now, we have more than three dozen countries reading this blog and more joining every week.  I would love nothing more than to give you a forum for highlighting your business, job, or talent.  That is why I created this site in the first place. Which country has the best Vision Statement?  I guess we will see who grows the tastiest peanut butter.

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17. October 2009 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

I had the opportunity to work with Chris Hanks, Director - Terry College of Business - University of Georgia, this past week.  Chris has created one of the best Entrepreneur Programs in the country and is working to develop the best new minds in the business world.  I was blown away by the ideas, the concepts for business models, and the services that were being brought to life and could see in the eyes of the students the desire to make millions of dollars.

For this event I was a judge for an elevator pitch competition for the MBA candidates.  It was eerie to be back in the hallowed halls I once wandered myself as a student.  I didn’t mind being older, but there was a sense of “what would I have become if I had the knowledge then that I have now”.  I could see myself up at the front of the class as a student and I cringed knowing what they needed to know.  For all the great ideas that were tumbled out before us in 60 second speeches, there was an element that was missed.

I come from a background of sales and retail.  That’s my bias.  It comes from that place where the customer and the deal meet.  I understand that there is a critical point where things are changing and in the end I am going to have to change my views.  The internet, networking pathways, viral marketing, and emerging future trends are all moving the dynamics of business beyond the brick and mortar stores we see today.  With that said, I can easily see that almost all of the businesses pitched are missing the direct communication of the product or service to the customer.

Before I start getting emails telling me all about elevator pitches and what they mean, I had the chance to ask questions after the pitch to clarify the statements and get a better idea of what the students were asking vendor capitalists to invest in.  Take it easy readers.  I wouldn’t make a leap from a 60 second pitch to a full blown critique of a business.

I was struck by the lack of any business having a store front and how that simple change in strategy is a clear indication of where the next generation of business owners is going to move.  This is not to say that some of the groups didn’t need the traditional businesses to sell to.  In fact, their products and services were dependent on having the traditional business owner buy from them or have them sell the products on store shelves.  There was, however, no one willing to have a retail shop of their own.

I have pushed and pulled this through the filters of my brain for days.  Do we need stores in the community to sell things?  Is it possible to have businesses totally free from rented spaces and still grow?  Will the human need for face-to-face contact be eliminated?  If you spend enough time on anything, there begins to be a fuzzy logic that can make the ridiculous seem correct.  I got a bit overwhelmed and decided to go eat.

I went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant.  The food was good, the presentation was pleasing, and I was satisfied when I was done and paid the bill.  In this example, someone had to make and sell the plate I ate from, the chair I sat on, and the glass I drank from.  What I saw at the University of Georgia was similar to all the businesses that made this restaurant work.  Without the restaurant running well, there is a lot of other businesses that go under.

Where is the desire of the students to be on the front line and see the customers?  Have things become so disconnected that we are creating new ways to avoid each other?   This is the same question that has been bounced around since the phone was invented.

The true problem is easy to see if you look at your hand.  I was speaking to a group of franchisees a few days ago.  I held up my hand, spread my fingers and a told them to look at the distance between my thumb and my little finger.  There is a gap between each finger leading all the way from thumb to pinky.  The thumb represented them as the franchisee.  The next finger was their General Manager.  The next finger was the Manager, then the front line employee, and then the pinky was the customer.  The gap between them and the customer, although not far, was far enough for any message they wanted to get across to be muddled and confused.

You can have the owner and the General Manager be on the same page and the rest of the people pulled away.  This is a weak link if all you are doing is touching the thumb to the first finger.  You could add the Manager and the crew, but you are still weak.  It isn’t until you have a clear message from all parts of the sales process that you have strength.  Put all the fingers together and you have a fist.

How can you have a strong business model if you are not a part of the sale to the customer?  How many businesses fail, not because they did something wrong, but because they were dependent on someone else selling their stuff?  Can you change the businesses of all these students and have a model that helps the retail outlets sell merchandise?  Yes.  Can you have the businesses open retail outlets to sell directly to customers and take the message directly to the customer?  Yes.

What I see is that there is a focus for new businesses on not having to be bothered by the general public.  That is where the next business is going to succeed.

Closing the gap is where the next billionaire will be made.

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27. July 2009 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

What if you didn’t need to use coupons to get customers?

Coupons are the lazy man’s way of growing a business. New customers are critical to keeping your doors open and I am not saying you don’t need to entice them in.  I am, however, saying that you don’t need to focus on new customers to get new customers.  You just need to change the way you operate. Think about your existing customers and what they mean to growing your base. What if repeat customers did your marketing for you?

Having repeat customers is like being married.  The more often they are around you the less you actually notice them.  You don’t look at them like you do a new customer.  You don’t spend time talking with them to get to know them. You take them for granted.  (Can you tell I have thought A LOT about my marriage and how to be a better husband?) Existing customers expect the same service and you expect that they will always be your loyal customer.  That is the point at which you lose.  Good service and attention is what any business can offer.  But, what if you spent the time to look at them, notice them, talk with them and find out more about them?

If you changed the way you treated existing customers you would fundamentally change the way your marketing worked.  How so???  The power of a customer who is awestruck with exceptional customer service is all the marketing you need to drive more customers in the front doors than any coupon you can create - including a free offer.  Paying attention to customers, remembering the details of, and acting on the information from your customers will create a well worn path to your store. Everyone knows word-of-mouth marketing. Almost no one uses it.

Stop for a second!! Did I say that a free offer is not as powerful as insanely customer -focused service?  Yes, I did say that and I mean it 100%.  There is a value to your service.  By discounting it to nothing, you offer nothing - no expectations, no memory, no impression other than your business is cheap. Giveaways are not a horrible idea, but they aren’t good either. Keep your value and have your employees entice customers to use their senses. If a waiter talks about a new dessert with descriptive words in a slow, intentional way, you will sell more than just giving the dessert away. People want to know they are buying something of value.

Do you still want to use coupons? Yes. There is a segment of your customers who want coupons and they pay attention to coupons. What you need to know is that you can get them to come back without a coupon if you focus on these customers and who they are. Quit trying to get money out of them. They came in to spend money. Spend your time getting them to talk about your business once they leave. If you keep doing this the time between coupon offers will grow and so will your customer counts.

Train your employees to know how to ask questions and listen to the answers and customers will bring customers and that is a great reason to forget the coupon.

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19. July 2009 by The Original Bulldog - Bob Griffin.

I have gone many rounds with franchisees, small business owners, and fellow employees on this one question.  If you think everyone is a potential customer, you may be right.  You also may be wasting time, money, and energy in the pursuit of everyone and get no one.

The funny thing is most people don’t think about who a customer really is and then act on it.

Is a customer someone who thinks about your business when they have a need to fill? No!  Just thinking about your business is nice, but not very profitable. They aren’t anywhere near your business to spend money and you have no way to sell more to someone just thinking about your services (although technology is advancing daily).  This is point where you can get good word-of-mouth advertising - as long as the words they are saying make someone want to visit your business.

Is a customer someone who enters your store?  Nope, sorry. That is still a POTENTIAL customer and can just as easily walk right back out. To that point, are you sure you really know how many people walk in and do not buy anything? You always hope you do, but there can be a number of customers who are ignored, seen but not talked to, or even talked to with the useless phrase, “Can I help you with something?” In any case, this is not a customer.

How about when a customer pays for a product or service? We are getting closer, but this is still not a customer. How can that be? Many people just visit a location to “check it out” and see if the service and the products are good. But, they may be shopping around for a store to buy from and not be a customer yet. Buying from a business once just makes you a spy. They come in, look around, take a mental note of the quality of the operation and then leave. This person can not be considered a customer.

Since the readers of Business Bulldog are above average, I can now confirm what you are already thinking.  A customer is a person who spends money with you repeatedly.  This also implies that you must keep the customer coming back.  I asked a manager recently, “If a celebrity were to walk into your establishment how would you treat him or her?”  The answer was that she would so everything imaginable to make it an amazing experience.  I then asked who a regular customer is and how do you treat him or her?  The reaction I got was decidedly different.  Many people say, “Why spend money on people who are already going to come in?” The answer is clear when you consider that they may not come in if you do not treat them well.  Also, think about the money they spend trying out your competition. 

A customer is only a customer when they come back.  Treat them well, give them reasons to come back, go beyond their expectations, and ask them to come back often. You may only have one chance at a good first impression, but you have many more chances to lose a customer because you have not defined what a customer is.

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