Starting a Business

The perfect business. Photo credit :The Citrus Report."

Anyone can start a retail business.  Two words . . . Lemonade Stand!  Am I right?  All retail business is pretty simple, it’s exactly like your childhood project, just scaled up.  Open up for business with a popular product, in a location with some traffic and charge a fair price, badda-bing-badda-boom.  Let’s analyse a bit, let’s see, rent – zero, wages – zero, input costs – zero, advertising costs – zero, taxes – zero, profit margin – woohoo!!!

Wayne Huizenga made several fortunes consolidating businesses.  He first did it in garbage building Waste Management inc., he then did it in video rental building Blockbuster and then did it with Auto Nation.  Let’s take Huizenga’s template and consolidate the lemonade stand business . . . then we’ll do an IPO and be rich.

David Beckham’s Favorite

David Beckham former Manchester United star now with L.A. Galaxy.

I begin today by sharing a passage from David Beckham’s autobiography “Both Feet on the Ground.”  I first read this  book shortly after it was released.  I was taken by Beckham’s description of a particular goal and this passage has stayed with me.  He describes this as his favorite goal in a Manchester United shirt:

“We got a free-kick on the edge of the Real (Madrid) penalty area.  If I’d been picking and choosing, I might have wanted to be a yard or two further out.  The closer you are to goal, the quicker you need to get the ball up and then down again to beat both the wall and the keeper.  I’d practiced it tens of thousands of times . . . (read more)

Guy Kawasaki’s Intrinsic Giving

Guy Kawasaki

I just finished reading Guy Kawasaki’s book “Enchantment, The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.”  I my first encounter with Kawasaki was when I read “Ten Ways to use LinkedIn” on his blog How to Change the World.  He is an author, venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and former chief evangelist at Apple Computers.

This isn’t a review of the book, although it is a very good book and one I would recommend, rather a brief discussion about his thoughts on giving.  Guy talks about about building trust through giving. (read more)

Disney Does it Well

Disney street cleaners, customer service specialists.

Most people that go to a Disney theme park have a good, sometimes great story to tell.  In reading the book “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions” by Guy Kawasaki, I read a personal story in which the individual tells of a situation in which a Disney employee “enchanted him for life.”  This prompted me to tell my little story from our very first trip to Disneyland.  First, a little background.  Our daughter had been wearing braces.  The Orthodontist said she could have them off in time for the trip but had to promise to wear her retainer for two hours every day.

The big wow came about from a moment of panic.  It was late in the day. (read more) . . .

Choosing a Business Name

Let’s go shopping at the “Wort & Must Co.”?  Can you imagine what you might find in this store?  If you are a beer or wine making enthusiast you might know that “wort” is the big pot of fermenting liquid in the initial stage of beer making and “must” is that infusion of fermenting wine.  This is a very strong name for a local business.  It does take a level of understanding to appreciate the significance but once you know, you never forget.  Wort & Must Co. is an evocative name.  More about that in a minute.  Unfortunately when the initial owners sold . . . (read more)

Business Name Mistake #2

The Aardvark is not a pretty animal.

In a previous post I gave my insight into a mistake business owners make when naming their business.  Today’s post looks at another mistake; choosing a business name which will be first in an alphabetical listing.  Think of a number between one and five, write that many “A”s followed by the work Aardvark.  The more “A”s you have the closer to the beginning you will be.  This is something that is done to be listed first in a telephone directory.  Choosing to name you business after this creature only works if you want to be listed first.  Is this the right symbol for your business?

People don’t choose a business because it’s first on an alphabetical list.  If a consumer is looking for laser eye surgery what criteria do they use to choose?  This is their eye sight so at the very least they are looking for a competent surgeon.  Will they choose AAA Aardvark Eye Clinic?   Let’s choose another category where safety is not as much of an issue.  If a person needs new glasses they may be looking for (read more)

Business Name Mistake #1

Kawasaki Jet Ski

I started a post a while ago planning to discuss naming your business with a thought of making suggestions about things I think work well and some that just don’t.  That’s post is still in draft status but one thought I want to tackle now.

One of the biggest mistakes a small business owner can make when naming their business is to name it after the category.  For example, a plumber calls his or her company “The Plumbers” or “The Plumbing Company.”  The temptation to do this is because the business owner believes that every time someone talks about their category they are saying the business name.  Unfortunately that’s not how this works.  There you are, excited because someone says to their partner “Better call the plumbers.”  Ah ha, they just said your name!  Wrong!  In fact what is happening is the consumer just said the generic name of an entire category.  Having this type of name actually hurts more than it helps.  We’ll get to that thought later.

In the ecology of big business, one of the fundamental rules of marketing is . . . (read more).

Lessons from Pike Place Fish Market

The famous Pike Place Fish Market.

The Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, WA is famous for WOWing people.  This is the fish market that is famous for throwing fish.  It’s a little bit of theatre and a must do on most Seattle visitors’ itineraries.  This is a company worth emulating and it is easy to learn from John Yokoyama’s great company.  He and long time business coach Jim Bergquist have created a business training division.  There is a training video and a book both called simply “Fish.”  The two men also speak to businesses large and small and at industry conferences.

There are four simple lessons . . . (read more).

The Community Speaks

A century ago, in small towns around North America, everyone in a community knew everyone else.  You also knew all of the merchants and they knew you.  Merchants were responsive to the needs and wants of their community.  Customers could offer feedback and merchants listened.

Fast forward to today and in many ways we find ourselves in a very similar environment.  With the Internet it is much easier to know about a business and if they make a mistake the community finds out about it, not just within a 50 kilometer radius but globally.

This is a story that has been unfolding in the last couple of weeks, it’s over the top, and it’s a textbook case in what not to do.  First some background.  The fiasco all started when a customer, Dave, that had ordered two game controllers . . . (read more).

Did You Miss an Opportunity to WOW?

I will start with what I consider a missed opportunity.  A young woman, let’s call her Stephanie, has drawn a name for a company gift exchange.  The individual she draws if British so Stephanie decides to put together a gift basket and include some English tea.  She goes to a shop for the tea, and after she gets it home she notices the best-before-date is less than a month away.  She returns to the shop and all of the similar packages have the same date stamp.  There is a smaller size of the same tea that has a much longer expiry.  Stephanie decides to accept the smaller size in exchange even though she has paid for the larger size.  The shop keeper agrees and Stephanie leaves.

When Stephanie returned for the exchange the shop keeper was busy and even thought she was the only customer in the store she was left to her own devices.   What the shop keeper could have done was engage Stephanie and find out what she needed the tea for.  The shop keeper could have . . . (read more).

Lessons From the Car Lot

Carl Sewell, author of "Customers for Life."

One of my top ten favorite business books is “Customers for Life” by Dallas car dealer Carl Sewell.  He’s one of the business owners I respect because he understand Retail DNA.  I will refer to this book from time to time to discuss lessons for all of us in retail.  For today’s post I will just share two ideas from Sewell.

The first comes directly from the title of the book.  The subtitle is “How to Turn That One-Time Buyer Into a Lifetime Customer.”  Sewell calculates what a typical customer spends . . . (read more).

A Brilliant Lesson from Bev

In the past I had a client that had what I think is a brilliant philosophy about her business.  First let me tell you a bit about Bev.  She told me she started selling teas and coffees at flea markets.  In time she and her family grew the company to have two locations in her market place selling top quality kitchen accessories.  The store name was created from two first names combined.  I generally not a fan of this type of business name but in some cases it works and that is true of Bev’s stores.  The particular combination ended up with a Scandinavian sound which worked well in this category.

Bev was innovative.  She and her team created a competition which involved creating “tablescape.”  The artistic community . . . (read more)

Lessons from Sam Walton

This is the first in a series of posts on what I like to refer to as Retail DNA.  This is a new category and something I will write on from time to time.  Some owners of retail businesses seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to running their business. They approach things differently.  They don’t need to be told, they figure these things out on their own.  It’s like it’s part of their DNA.  The good news is, the rest of us can learn from them.  We are going to look at a few of my favorites, I hope you enjoy the ride and let me know what you think.

Now this different approach applies to the way they treat both their staff and their customers. If you read Sam Walton’s autobiography . . . (read more).

The Butterfly Effect in Business