Last week, I had the pleasure to speak with this year’s Leadership Flathead (LF) class about business trends and challenges – and discuss strategies to tackle them.
If you haven’t participated in Leadership Flathead, you really should try and find a way to do so. If you have employees in leadership positions (or being groomed for them), LF is a great program for them. Contact the Kalispell Chamber for more info.
I only had 15 minutes to speak, so I didn’t get to share nearly as much as I would have liked. The upside was that it made my talk short, sweet and to the point – eating dessert first, as Norm’s News says.
I *really* wanted to discuss valley-wide economic development with the Leadership folks but it’s pretty difficult to start that conversation in 15 minutes, much less discuss it in any detail.
As we jumped into the Twitter / microwave oven version of the trends / challenges / strategies talk, we briefly discussed the fine art of being wrong and noted that “everyone” thought Warren was nuts when he bought BNSF and Goldman last year. He’s so nuts that his company’s stock has almost doubled since then. We should all be as crazy as Mr. Buffett, it seems.
During my introduction, I noted that the majority of my clients are outside the valley, so this prompted the question “What opportunities do you see when you travel to visit clients?” during the Q&A session.
The answer I had to give to that question wasn’t what I’d choose under normal conditions, but when you only have a moment or two, you sometimes have to shorten the response. The LF answer was “I really don’t travel to see them – and many I’ve never met” (followed by a very brief but usable answer).
While that’s the truth (and probably mildly disappointing), the starting point is to read or listen to Earl Nightingale’s book “Acres of Diamonds”.
Anyone should be able to detect opportunity as they go through their work day, no matter what you do. Anything that’s annoying or hassle-filled presents opportunity.
While the state of the economy differs widely around our state, much less in other parts of the country (I did travel a bit over the holidays) – no matter where you are, you are being presented with opportunity every single day.
First challenge: Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and meet this opportunity: “What can I do to help my customers be more productive, save time and save money? What’s hassling them? Who or what is annoying them and how can I smooth that path?”
Second challenge: Existing customers are largely wasted by most businesses. They spend tens, hundreds or thousands of dollars to acquire them, sell them one thing and then act like they have cooties.
Worst yet, they communicate with those existing customers in the same way that they communicate with people who aren’t customers. Follow up. Two simple words.
Down on the Farmville
One of the things I shared with the LF class is this: Earlier that day, I walked past the door of a just-closed business – one I often used. A shock, given it was a franchise that I’ve *never* seen close before.
Then I remembered what I’d seen there during every recent visit: the front desk staffer was never behind the front desk when I walked in. Instead of being behind the counter, they were in the retail space playing a Facebook game called “Farmville” – on a computer intended for customer use.
It’s not just an employee problem, it’s also a management problem, and particularly so when a business was apparently that close to dying.
While there are legitimate uses for Facebook, Twitter (etc) at local businesses, this isn’t one of them.
What Facebook games are your employees playing during the work day? If you don’t give them substantive, profit-generating work to perform – it’s no one’s fault but your own.
Maybe if they aren’t playing Farmville, they’ll have time to follow up with your existing customers before someone else takes them from you.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.