22. January 2010 by The Original Bulldog - 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 | 2 Comments »

10. January 2010 by Noel Guilford.

OK, so now you’ve found your way down that long path to business ownership. First, congratulations! You have done something that many only dream of and even fewer have the courage to pursue that dream. Over that rise, past your opening day, lies a expansive land full of responsibilities and challenges…many of them daily. For those people with enough foresight and vision it gets easier over time. The reality is that most business owners have no experience and often feel lost even after many years of running their first or even second business. If any business owner should find themselves in this position there is no shortage of assistance out there for those that look.

Of all the obstacles faced, nothing compares to how difficult people-management can be, especially in today’s work force.  You can go absolutely mad trying. The most commonly used tactic is to find someone else to deal with it. Sounds easy right, well who is going to manage that person? If anyone needs sound and consistent leadership it’s the middle management. To manage a strong leader takes an even stronger leader. This is all considering that the right person can be found, hired, trained, compensated, and retained. I wont take the time here to discuss the possibility of doing that when there is a more effective and rewarding option available.

Unfortunately the “no wait, right now” society that we have become totally conflicts with the time and effort needed to effectively mentor anyone. Yes I said it! That person with the extensive resume and years of experience didn’t crash land in your lobby.  They were made just like me, just like you. Someone molded and honed the well qualified professional aspirant looking to fill a position in your business. Good thing you found them and they you. If you haven’t yet found a gem of a worker for yourself then make one.

Take the hand of an employee with the determination and drive to excel and push them. Some of my most rewarding experiences has been laboring over the spark of potential and watching it grow. The biggest benefit to hatching your own egg is you get the desired experience necessary to fit your needs and the needs of your business with the added factor of the earned loyalty.

This is the real world and these eggs hatch and sometime move on to bigger and better opportunities. What I will leave you with is this - If a protege of yours needs to grow beyond you and your organization and has the chance to do so consider it the highest compliment to your ability to lead that you will ever receive. So find an employee worth the effort and sit on them.

Posted in Hiring Process, Creating the Culture, Being the Boss, Training | Print | 2 Comments »

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”.

Posted in Marketing, Customer Service, Creating the Culture, Making Money | Print | 2 Comments »

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

When we talk with owners, there is a need for them to ask certain questions immediately that always makes me think they may or may not be ready for the next step in the evolution of their business.  The issues are money and time.  If you want to have a strong business, you need to spend either more money or more time or both.  If you are not ready to do so, please find the time and money and then find the help in getting started right.

Business owners have a desire to fulfill a vision for what the business should look like and sometimes miss the basics of how the business should run.  I do not blame them for that fact.  If you start a business from scratch, even a franchise, requires that you are a real estate expert, contractor (or at least oversee the contractor), and the middleman between the business and the government agencies that require that you have permits and fees paid before you are allowed to make any money.  Transitioning to from that to handling the day-to-day operations can be a dilemma when the store opens.  At this point, they either invested well enough to hit the ground running or they stumble out of the gate.  You spend a lot of money and time getting things rolling.  The last thing you want to think about is how much more time and money it will cost to get the business open and keep it open, but that is where your thinking should be.

More often than not, owners stumble on day one.  The problem starts with having the basic operations knowledge and then translating it to a function of getting the job done by leading the team and communicating the vision.  Working in an industry for more than a year is a sure fire way to learn from the ground up.  This gives you a chance to work as a leader, find the answers on how things should work, and how to communicate effectively to employees.  Most entrepreneurs do not spend that kind of time or want to make that kind of sacrifice.  It is the difference between being in business in five years or dying out your first few months.

One problem that I see very often is - Ego.  When someone wants to start a business they say it is for the money.  That, unfortunately, is only half the reason.  The other reason is that it is something that will give them the ability to tell friends and family that they are a business owner.  Most people you see each day do not own a business.  They are happy to work for someone else, but do give credit to others who jump over to being an owner.  Ego gets in the way because the owner wants to be the owner more than the operator of a business that may require them to be on the front line.   Do not think you can delegate to a successful business.  Bulldog Rule # 14 - The right people never want to work with the wrong people - hits the nail on the head.  Make sure you are the right person to lead…not yell at people and be angry or make the place a “work-hell”.  Otherwise, you will spend more money to hire the right person to lead.

I have been enjoying reading for the millionth time The E-Myth Revisited by  Michael E. Gerber.  He makes many valid points on hiring people who can be trained and can follow your lead.  This requires that you have a training program for them to follow and are able to lead someone through training to be the best employee for the job. You can’t have a big ego and lead employee through training (no one would follow).  Creating a great training program removes you as the main focus of the business and makes the system most important.  I was also reading What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell where he made this point.  He interviewed Ron Popeil, the founder of Ronco and the Inventor of many products you probably have in your kitchen.  I was impressed with the way  Ron took the interest off himself and made the product the star.  Coming from a family of salesmen, that was always the formula, but for someone without that kind of knowledge and with an ego going into business, it is easy to see where a person can slip up and make the product or service second to the messenger.  Lose the ego and make the system follow the sale.  You may want to take a vacation.  If the emphasis is on you and your ego, what happens when you are not there?

Great leading through training requires a few items:

• Each job has a cost and an outcome.  List the parts of the job and the desired outcome.  Be prepared to change the training and the costs as your business grows.  There is never just one way to do a job and costs change over time.
  
• Be a coach, a mentor, and a teacher that someone would want to learn from.  This implies that you can lead through teaching.  If you can’t or are not very good, find someone who can.  Yes, this costs more money, but it will save you from wasting time and money in the long run.
• Invest money and time early in the game to make more later.  When you spend, spend wisely.  Getting the ship headed in the right direction from day one is the best way to jump ahead of the competition and find better people who want to work with you.
• Fire yourself if you need to.  Being an owner does not mean that you need to be the leader of the organization.  Set the tone, set the budget, keep up with the data, and get the heck out of the way.

There are great ways to make a great business and they all come back to spending your time and money in ways that make you more down the road.  Be prepared to keep spending time and money on training, firing/hiring, better information, and better processes.  The investing does not stop when you start making a great paycheck.

Posted in Customer Service, Training, Making Money | Print | 5 Comments »