10. June 2010 by Bob Griffin.

It is always the execution that we stumble on.  Mostly because we get the right idea with the wrong delivery.  I was passing this sign and had to take the picture.  It seems innocuous, but add the word “IF” to the end of the message and you have a whole new meaning.  It would be our pleasure to serve you IF we wanted to or IF we were done with our smoke break.  Any time you do not make a good point, you lose credibility and putting a bland message out says a lot about who you are.

“It is our pleasure to serve you” is a better message, but what does it mean?  Why are you wasting prime space on your sign to make a throwaway statement?  Step up and sell me something.  Be funny or eye catching.  Be bad, strange, or thoughtful, but be something that people will remember.  This made me think they are not worth my time.  From the number of cars driving by that had passengers that didn’t even look at the sign, I am right in my analysis.

The message you send needs to be as thought out as any big advertising campaign.  If you are not making the effort to do something that will draw customers into your store to buy, you are wasting time, money, and effort. 

I saw a tiny doughnut store that was packed.  I mean they had people who were getting kind of personal they way they were crammed into the front of the store and everyone one of them was smiling and wanting to spend money.  The sign at the front of the store said, “Fresh Doughnuts! If we drop them twice we throw them away!”.  That is bad, but it was memorable.  It has been over twenty years since I visited that shop and I still talk about that sign and those doughnuts.  Did anyone really think they reused a doughnut that they dropped?  Maybe.  Did it keep some customers away?  Yes.   Why is that good?  The owners made it a point to target the customer base they wanted.  They wanted fun people who would put up with a tiny store and being packed in.  I bet you go somewhere that is not up to your standards as an owner, but keeps you coming back because of some bit of character the place created.

Never let your message be wasted on blah!

Posted in Marketing, Creating the Culture | Print | 1 Comment »

6. June 2010 by Bob Griffin.

Since posting my last article, I have been hit with many questions from readers about what BP should be doing to protect themselves and build on their reputation.  Right now they have the President of the United States beating them up verbally at every chance and the media starting to find ways that BP is not working to stop the spill from hitting the beaches along the east coast.

It is a tough situation.  One one hand, they are at fault.  They drill for oil as part of their operations and spills happen.  One the other hand, they want to survive the crisis and grow their brand.  The marketing they have put out since to spill has not helped.  Stodgy old business-types yammering on your TV about how much they are doing when the oil is still spilling as a bad way to save your reputation.  People don’t care about what you are having other do.  They care about getting the job done.  A better way of building your band would be to show rather than say what you are doing.

If I was CEO, I would be out on the beach before daybreak with a bucket and gloves picking up globs of oil.  I would be part of a very large group of people who normally sit in the BP offices working harder than anyone.  You want to show you care and that you mean what you say.  Show it…and shut up.

The media is all about image and if you want to be seen as someone who wants to get your business back on track, then get in there and get your hands dirty.  Saying that you just want to get “your life back to normal” (or whatever the quote is) is the opposite of getting the track back under your business.

Be a part of the solution.  The greatest asset you have in a time of severe crisis is to stop talking and start leading by example.  Do you think CEO Tony will help himself and go clean up the oil?  I would bet he never even thought about getting a bit dirty in order to stop the criticism being shoveled at BP.

As for the President of the United States shaking his fist at BP, that is another lack of leadership that we do not have space for here. Again, it is about acting now and talking later.

As for you and your business, you do not need a major crisis to have the need to get your hand dirty.  If morale drops, get on the front line and show the team that you want to be there with them.  Your business growth is the distance of your front counter - from the customer to your cash register.  Stop talking the talk and start walking the walk.  The more you are seen the more you will change - dramatically change -  the character of your business.  You get credibility by being credible.  Walk the walk FIRST…let others talk about you by the example you set.

Posted in Customer Service, Creating the Culture | Print | 63 Comments »

3. June 2010 by Bob Griffin.

Amazing how quickly things can go wrong and how everyone can know about it.  Ask Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, how fast his head was spinning from news of the broken pipe a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico.  Being the top dog means you have to lead the pack.  Did he step up and bark out good orders?  Nope.  He wasn’t, and isn’t prepared.

How does this relate to your business?  You don’t drill for oil or have a major international brand.  It is just you in your store working as hard as you can to pay the bills and grow your business.  Change “oil spill” for “customer made sick” or “product injury” and you can see where things along your own pipeline from vendor to your shelf to the customer can get quickly out of hand.

Are you ready for disaster?

When you think about all the things that can go wrong, do you think you are ready to handle them or are you hoping that bad things avoid your business?  Countless owners live in fear of something bad happening, but never do anything about it.  If you, for some unknown reason to me, do not have business interruption insurance, get it.

Just like BP, you know that something is going to happen.  Something that makes you sweat, stay up at night, and worry that you won’t have an income.  Or, even worse, you have to pay large sums of money just to stay in business. Bulldog Rule # 6 - Failing to plan for your day, week, month, and year is unacceptable  is one heck of a rule to follow when everyone around you is looking at clear skies and ignoring the bad weather approaching.

Where do you start?  How about at the front door?  Or better yet, start with your lease.  Does it provide for floods, damage to the building, or any number of calamities that can happen to keep your front door from being opened?  Even if you are already in a lease and it doesn’t come up for renewal for years, ask for a rider to the lease that gives you a break on the rent until you are back open.  If the landlord won’t help, then you know you either have to move when the lease ends or add more insurance to what you already have.

Inside the store, train your team to be ready for anything bad.  Robbery, fire, customer accidents, and many other things can happen depending on your business.  If your employees are not trained well in what to do, things can go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.  I have been in far too many stores that have been robbed at gunpoint.  Since I personally trained the team working, the robber left with money and no one was hurt.  You can earn more money.  You can’t replace a life.

Everyone has a job to do in a crisis.  The counter person calls the police, ambulance, or fire department.  The customers are cared for and kept calm.  They will need to stay in the store until the police arrive.  You can’t keep them in the store against their will.  If they want to leave, ask for their name and phone number. Once everything is settled down, the need employees write down what they saw and heard.  The Manager needs to be a calm voice.  If you do not have a “Drama Free” Manager, start looking for one.  Anxiety can lead to bad decision and a reactionary Manager will already be a point of crisis in the business.

Plan and then train.  Simple?  It is.  If BP had planned better for broken pipes a mile underwater, they would not have had much coverage by the media.  Their stock wouldn’t have lost a third of it’s value and they would be pumping oil instead of hiding from the media.

Be ready for whatever can happen and rest well knowing you can handle any crisis.

Posted in Being the Boss, Training, Saving Money | Print | 31 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 | 2 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 | 456 Comments »