Business

If this is your first “Business Lessons of a Firefighter” you might like to read the introduction.

It’s a sad fact that the only thing we know with certainty in life is that one day we will die. Despite this certainty, a lot of people will be affected by the loss, the only question being, by how much and in what way?

Will our passing give cause for celebration, a time to remember the wonderful times together, or will our passing be the beginning of the end for someone else who can’t focus on anything but our being gone.

One of the unfortunate things about being in the Fire Service is that you get to be there at the point someone passes, you observe a family’s anguish and fear, but you don’t get to see the resolution of this over time. It’s there and then it’s over.

One surreal experience I had was going to a call where we were couldn’t revive a lady using CPR, then rushing home and 30 minutes later being at a comedy movie with my kids. I wasn’t really in the mood at the beginning, but I had promised the kids we would go, and we had lots of fun despite,  I guess, the extreme anguish of the husband I had just left… For the rest of the world “Life Goes On”.

I don’t say this to be insensitive. Of course I feel deeply for the people in these situations, and in my own family we’ve had more than our fair share of pain. It is however a basic reality and there’s a similar situation in business.

When you’re running a business it’s hard when a key staff member decides to leave. It’s not the same as someone dying but many of the emotions are similar. Fear of the future, sadness at not continuing the journey with them, not knowing how to do what that person did, a deep feeling of loss.

The question is not will people leave a business, but when.

There are at least 3 things required to deal with this …

#1 A contingency plan: what will I do if that person does leave?

#2 Make sure all your eggs aren’t in one basket. That is, make sure that in all teams more than one person knows how to do each job.

#3 An acceptance of the fact that this is a natural part of the cycle of life. Treat it as an opportunity for change and review how things might be even be better. Celebrate their having been here and the exciting challenges they move on to.

I’m never happy to see someone leave our companies. It causes disruption and I’m kind of selfish. I’d like them to want to stay and I miss them when they’re gone. It is however a sign that I’m employing people who care about themselves and are looking for a life full of challenges and experiences, just like me.

I’d love to hear how you deal with people leaving your business, or dealing with loss generally. How about letting me know in the comment section below.

To read the stories in this series so far click here

Please also read my Firefighters disclaimer

The New Zealand Herald ran a story this morning about Kevin Roberts joining the board of New Zealand’s Telecom. Some stories honestly just make me go, OMG, what?

Here is one of my business heroes joining the board of a company (Telecom) that “I hate to love”. I continue to support them despite myself, and despite the way they present themselves to their clients. But I would love to love them.

In the interests of full disclosure, our company are pretty big telecommunication users. We are heavily dependent on Telecom for our international telephone presence, and we’re big users of high speed internet. Where we can, we support Telecom, but despite that I often joke that I’m sure there’s a dart board in a Telecom lunch room with my face on it. I know I am extremely frustrating for them.

Telecom is a company full of great people trying to do good things, and I believe the front line staff really care about customer service. But they are, in my opinion, drowning in organizational misalignment, terrible interdepartmental communication and a pervasive marketing strategy of screwing people over for the last dollar until the competition shows up.

There is very little innovation into online activity. As a business we are unable on a bandwidth basis to afford either the data or the speed of pipe needed to keep up internationally. One of my staff members has an ADSL connection 10 times the speed of our business connection, at one 10th the cost.

Telecom’s strategy to date has caused New Zealand to become internet consumers, rather than content providers.

So why do I support them? Simply, there are two reasons.

- On the whole, although the process is frustrating at times, I like the people. The people I deal with on a day to day basis are pretty skilled, reliable and they care about me. That’s a big start.

- Although they’re not doing enough, Telecom is the only company investing in any real sense in infrastructure in New Zealand. The rest are largely freeloading. Freeloading doesn’t drive competition, it just lowers profits where Telecom invests. (I would love to have seen true and full operational separation of Telecom, but it didn’t happen.)

An internet infrastructure based on Fiber should be treated like every other utility created in New Zealand. That is, the government puts it in place then gives it to private industry to manage. The cost can’t be justified economically on a per user basis, but it can be on a social one. My vote therefore still goes to the company that invests in broadband to my children’s schools etc.

The Herald article says …

Boyd said yesterday that Roberts had been appointed to boost the board’s expertise around “marketing, branding and customer satisfaction” and “Kevin Roberts is one of the world’s most innovative and influential thinkers about corporate branding, marketing and customer satisfaction.”

Does Telecom have a customer service problem? Of course it does, but not because its staff don’t care about customers when they answer the phone. The issue is much deeper. Telecom must accept a lower profit today in the interests of a much greater one tomorrow. Telecom needs to look deeply at investment in its core engineers, its innovators and infrastructure. It needs to give its business customers a way to compete.

Does it have a marketing problem? Hmm, not sure … everyone in this country knows them.

I hope Wayne Boyd doesn’t think all he needs is a clever way to get customers to “love” Telecom. Much more is required, and Kevin, although inspirational and talented, is one voice on a board of people who doubtless believe they are too. As far I can see he has no direct telecommunications experience, so will lack credibility in that area.

He does however come with a framework. In fact he blogged about FREDA yesterday. It deals with the issues I have outlined above, so hopefully that’s a start for him. I hope it doesn’t end up being a big distraction from his brand … or a way for Telecom to continue paying lip service to its own.

Kevin, I’m all up for a challenge, but this one might be a little bigger than a man of even your mana can chew. Good luck.

What do you think? Kevin or Wayne … Do you care to reply? :-)

UPDATE : Have a look at this post by Miki Szikszai, very well written and another perspective. His from within Telecom and working with Kevin. I hadn’t realised the Saatchi / Telecom relationship, so apologies … it still however is not the help Telecom needs

UPDATE2 : Kevin has written about his appointment at Telecom, your can find it here

In business there are no magic bullets, but this idea is so powerful it certainly feels like magic.

I ran into an old friend yesterday, and it reminded me of a series of seminars I ran a few years ago that contained a section on how to increase profits.

Especially when times are tough, it’s great to be able to break things down into some simple rules that allow you to know where to focus, so I’ll share this very simple but powerful idea with you now.

Gross Profit is calculated on an “averaged basis” as:

(Total number of clients x Average number of visits per year x Average sale x Average margin)

Let’s say I have a small grocery store (simplified numbers for effect) with 200 clients who visit once a month. On average they spend $100 and I have a 15% margin on the items sold.

From the above example … Gross profit per year = 200 * 12 * $100 * 15% = $36k

Now if I asked you to double your profits this year, you might look at me sideways and say that it’s not possible. That’s because many people think that to double your profits you need to double your sales … It seems obvious from the calculation above?

But the truth is that the compounding effect of changes in each of these numbers, even small ones, can have a dramatic impact on the bottom line.

So if we are going to double our profits, we could do it like this…

Grow the number of customers by 20%

There are lots of ways to find new clients. In my case we start talking to our clients and ask them to “bring along a friend”. Basically I encourage word of month promotion and 1 in 5 bring a new regular client? Now I have 240 clients.

Get them to come back more often

When we review our sales statistics we find that people are buying once a month. Due to our sales cycle we have people buying on the same day (eg 15th) each month. By changing it to a 4 week cycle we could get one more sale per year. Now our customers are purchasing 13 times a year.

Spend more each time (15%)

Our sales promotion now focuses on getting a little more in each shopping basket. We look at impulse purchases and slightly higher priced options. For example one pot of premium honey a month over winter purchased for its medicinal benefits would provide the required $15 increase. Now the average sale is $115.

Increase margin to 20%

This might look after itself, as the higher value options also have a higher margin. However we look at our purchasing and got an improved margin by buying in greater bulk, twisting suppliers’ arms and reducing shipping and breakage costs.

Now my numbers look like

New Gross Profit = 240 * 13 * $115 * 20% = $72k

Profit Doubled

Ok, Ok … I know this is over simplified, but I hope you can see that if you focus in these areas of your business, due to the compounding effect, a small increase in each can yield incredible improvements to the bottom line.

The key to guaranteed success is to ‘Keep it Simple’ and focus on the cumulative effect of continuous improvement.

Your thoughts? Have you seen this work in your business? Am I talking crap … let me know below!

If this is your first “Business Lessons of a Firefighter” you might like to read the introduction.

Recently I wrote about mates being awesome, and the best thing about joining the Fire Service being the camaraderie that comes with it.

Honestly, I have never been involved in anything that has such a strong sense of community, and that holds the value of “having each other’s back” so highly. It is an incredible organization for that reason. Our company, Queensberry, also has an amazing culture that fosters the feeling of one family and of looking after each other. We are very proud of the fact that, in all the past entries we’ve had in the “Best Places to Work Awards” we have been in the TOP 10, and we put the result down to our feeling of ‘oneness’.

There is lots of documented evidence of the value to an organization of a “tight” team and camaraderie. Of course we know that it takes time and effort to build these bonds, and although it can be very difficult the payoff potentially huge.

I raise this today however as a note of caution. Being too close can turn from an asset to a liability when things go wrong, especially if you have weak leaders who fail to differentiate between friendship and the needs of the business.

You must always, in business, socialise and be friendly … foster the feelings of family and community. But you must also retain authority and be the boss. Don’t let the informality of friendship slip over into the work relationship as it is so so hard to get discipline back once lost.

Be careful…

How are you going in your business? How are the boundaries? Do you have a good relationship with staff … Too easy on them or too hard?

To read the stories in this series so far click here

Please also read my Firefighters disclaimer

If this is first “Business Lessons from Children” you’ve read you might like to read the introduction.

One of the most common things I hear parents say of their children, as the little ones rush past, is :

“OMG the energy … If only we could bottle it”

I wonder what it is that causes us to have unlimited energy as children, but as we get older our energy wanes … or at least, should I say, that’s what happens to some of us.

If you look carefully you’ll notice some really big differences between how children spend their time and how most adults do.

They move constantly.

They learn through playing games.

They don’t take life too seriously.

Actually, to them almost everything is a game.

I believe, however, there is one other thing, much more important than all these, and that is …

“How much are we enjoying what we are doing?”

Instead of just settling, we need to make sure we do things that we are passionate about. If we are to keep our energy levels at their highest levels, this is a must.

That is, we need to make sure we are happy, passionate, inspired and having fun.

I always say to my staff that … “They need to be happy” … “They will spend more time on average with me than their wives, their kids, almost more than sleeping.”

The bottom line is, in business you need to be doing something you really are passionate about … Find this, treat life like a game and your energy levels will be high, just like a child’s.

Do people agree, or am I over simplifying things?

To read other stories in this series so far click here

Does marriage have a lot to answer for?

Hmm, good question. Personally I don’t think so, but it does bring its own set of challenges.

My belief is that relationships, whether with family, friends or lovers, “ebb and flow”, a bit like the tide, and this means they need constant attention and will change over time. Like everyone, Sonya and my relationship has had its high points, but also some low ones. Currently things are absolutely wonderful and the low points long forgotten.

The interesting thing, however, is, at their ‘worst’ relationships have the opportunity to become their ‘best’. Why? Well, because you have nothing more to lose.

- why not say what hasn’t been said before?
- why not deal with the issues that have been bothering you?

Often the things we fight about are not the things that are really the issue; they are just a symptom of a much deeper issue. The question is, do you have the courage to say what needs to be said, and the strength to listen?

I was reminded this morning of a number of mentoring situations where I have been asked to give guidance to a small business in serious trouble. It is amazing how almost always the fundament issue comes down to a conflict between the owners, or the owner and their spouse. It isn’t that the business isn’t viable but that there is a difference of opinion between the couple, or that they each have a very different tolerance for risk.

When asked by some close friends to help them review a business they wanted to buy, I spent more time convincing them that they needed some “rules of engagement” than that they needed a good plan. I knew they were extremely capable and the business would come naturally; I just needed to make sure they both were clear on their own “risk profile” and how the long hours of work would impact on their lives.

If you are having issues in your business, are there issues at home that need to be resolved before you can prosper? Maybe you need to spend some time reassuring your spouse that things will be ok, or just possibly you need to suck up a little pride and admit you need some help.

At the end of the day you also need to know, who is going to be the boss

Just my 2 cents worth on this beautiful morning. What are your thoughts?

If this is your first “Business Lessons of a Firefighter” you might like to read the introduction.

It’s hard to describe the Fire Service brand … it’s not constrained to one country, one organization or even one uniform. Each fire service feeds off the stories and identity of the next, but each retains its own approach to the emergency events they service. I guess that’s why it’s sometimes called a brotherhood.

Like many boys, I always wanted to be a fireman. Why? I guess partly because of the big red trucks and the thought of excitement.

Some woman love firemen, probably for the same reason: the thought of excitement. I remember once we had the truck on the forecourt washing it … A lady pulls up in her car … She smiles and asks,“Can I show my son the fire truck? He loves fire engines” … LOL We look at the little boy, no more than 10-12 months … not talking yet …OMG how obvious.

Sorry I digress, but the reason for saying this is that the fire service brand is partly defined in emblems, uniforms and how the trucks look, but it is even more strongly defined through history, romantic perceptions, values and how we behave in public.

That’s why when we get back from a call, even at 1am on a freezing cold night, we wash and dry the truck,and your boots are polished and your uniform cleaned. Discipline is not just about how well you fight a fire but how you carry yourself on and off the fire ground. Perception carries across all activities, even down to how we use the radio.

I can remember, when I first joined, I had to do radio checks. This was the first time I had used the radio, and now my voice was going to be carried into every fire station in our region. I had to represent our station well. I swear I read and re-read the test message over and over again before I found the courage.

In business, things are no different. Your brand is not defined by what you say in your marketing message, but by how you carry yourself the rest of the time.

My questions to you are…

I’d love to hear your thoughts, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

To read the stories in this series so far click here

Please also read my Firefighters disclaimer

If this is first “Business Lessons from Children” you’ve read you might like to read the introduction.

As parents we get busy with work, children, getting food on the table etc . Sometimes we just have our minds in too many places at once. A child’s solution to this, in an effort to get our attention, is to be mischievous, and, as frustrating as it is, it works.

Seriously … be honest with me … nice cute kid being good, following the rules versus a mischievous one pushing your buttons: which one is going to get your attention every single time? I know what we’d like to say, I know what we would prefer was true, but we all know it’s the second.

It’s the same in business. The marketplace is like dinner time in a 12-child family - hectic, noisy and everyone fighting for attention. Maybe rather than being good all the time, we need to learn to be a little mischievous, playful, flirtatious or downright naughty.

Two examples of this are:

Hells Pizza. The opening page of their website asks “Sell Your Soul” or “Go straight to Hell” and all their advertising is based around this theme. For example to promote their Lust pizza they gave away condoms:this outraged a family group and suddenly the world was on fire with free media coverage. Huge.

42 Below also courts controversy, and gets attention with viral marketing campaigns. One for example making fun (not to gently) of the British, and another Gays. Ironically, both target audiences.

Now I am not passing judgment on the rights and wrongs of their messages, I am just saying that often we spend so much time being “good” that we don’t get noticed, and of course pointing out that being a little mischievous is fun.

Could you get more attention by pushing peoples buttons a little?

To read other stories in this series so far click here

If this is your first “Business Lessons of a Firefighter” you might like to read the introduction.

Firefighters are the people running into a fire when everyone else is running out.

They’re being brave and courageous, but that’s not the same as saying they aren’t scared.

Whenever you go on a call you never know what you’re going to get until you’re there. Will this be a false alarm or the big one? Adrenaline runs for a reason and that is to prepare you for the job ahead. A healthy amount of fear keeps you safe.

As I am sure you have heard before … Courage isn’t not being scared, it’s being scared but doing it anyway.

Nothing could be more true in business. Successful people have a plan, and a healthy amount of fear, but do it anyway.

Less successful people spend all their time preparing; they worry about loosing the house but in the end do nothing. They attempt to remove all risk, but that isn’t possible, and dare I say it, doing nothing has its own risk.

My question to you is … What one thing should you do tomorrow that just needs you to go for it?

To read the stories in this series so far click here

Please also read my Firefighters disclaimer

If this is your first “Business Lessons of a Firefighter” you might like to read the introduction.

Scenario: Imagine a car accident on a busy highway, multiple serious injuries and heavy traffic. You know there will be lots of screaming and emotion, and this really is a life and death situation for the people involved.

The Question is … What would you do?

The amateur care giver rushes in looking for the sickest person, gets caught up in the emotion and most likely gets themselves injured or killed in the process. Not good and they are just making things worse.

In the Fire Service as professionals we give attention in this order:

#1 Yourself. You can’t help anyone if you get hurt.
#2 Your crew. You need to watch each others’ backs. Safety first.
#3 The public. Don’t let the situation get worse.
#4 The patient. This person is already injured.

This doesn’t need to take long, and it’s not without empathy, but it is the order of business.

IMHO handling customer complaints needs to be done on the same basis.

#1 You need to be true to yourself and your own integrity; don’t promise what doesn’t feel right. With an irate customer you need to either withdraw or manage them to a point that the conversation isn’t abusive. Look after yourself first.

That may sound a bit rough, so let me be clear. Faced with an irate customer the first thing you must do is dampen the flames by making it very clear that you empathise, feel their pain and will work to fix the problem. Until you’re in rapport the conversation will go nowhere. But that’s not how it works in the Fire Service, and it’s not the same thing as agreeing with the client.

#2 Look after your team. You can not under any circumstances deflect the anger from yourself by directing it at other members of the team. Your relationship with your colleagues, and the reputation of the company needs to be healthy past this one incident. If you have their back, they will have yours. Also, taking it on the chin is good for the spirit and shows everyone we’re in this together.

#3 What ever you do, don’t compromise the good of the company long term just to make this problem go away. So many companies get into trouble by introducing policy after policy as the result of issues to “work around them” instead of taking the time to put things right.

#4 With these things in place, look after the customer. The person first and then the situation. Do this with urgency, control, empathy and show them you care.

I hate complaints in our company, but we all know they happen. It’s how you handle them that counts. Most people are not used to being looked after properly and being heard. Show them your company is different.

As with the firefighters, be a professional at handling complaints and you will get control more easily and this might just be the time you make a friend for life.

I wrote another post last month called “Why do people find customer service so hard”, or to read the other stories in this series: click here

Enjoy, and let me know what you think below.

Please read my Firefighters disclaimer