Consulting | The Barefoot Spirit

3 Types of Hype to Fight

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 18:00:02 +0000

When you start a business, it seems like the hype-type descend on you like the plague. You file for a license, a domain, or even a DBA, and bam! They are at your door!

We went to a conference recently and one speaker actually advised the audience, “Ya wanna get rich? Find the next gold rush!” He was obviously alluding to the old saying that the only people who got rich in the California Gold Rush were selling shovels. Today there are so many people “selling shovels” it makes you wonder what they would all do without those miners.

The real entrepreneurs are producing products and services that improve our lives. These are the miners, and they comprise most of our audience. Surrounding them is an ever increasing rabble of so called service providers who could not exist without the true entrepreneurs who are actually doing the heavy lifting. Each is promising instant success. Each is promising a big short cut. And each is promising big savings. The advent and growth of the internet have only exploded their numbers. Their pitches are polished. Their presentations are formulaic. And their campaigns are ruthless. What most all have in common is 3 types of hype:

False or Unproven Premise. “If we had ham, we could have ham and eggs… if we had eggs.” This tactic usually tries to get you to buy in to the results when you don’t have the ingredients. Once you have this (their product or service), they say, then you can have that (what you really need). In this way they sell you services that you don’t need or are premature for your business. This has happened to us and it can happen to you as soon as you open your doors. Listen closely to the pitch. See if it includes attractive numbers like hits, time on pages, shares, and likes, but not actual sales of your products.
Good Money After Bad. We actually had a customer in the early days of our business who said, “If you don’t sell me more goods on credit today, I won’t pay you what I already owe you!” He knew that we were depending on him for a certain volume and he basically used that against us. This can happen in various forms. We have had service providers quote us a price for their service but they conveniently left out all the other necessary monthly services we had to buy just to get a return on our investment with them.
Everybody’s Doing It. Especially when you are new in an industry, you are preyed upon by all manner of advisors, each extolling the practice of the majority of players in that industry. If they are right, so much for disruption. If they are wrong, how would you know? All you know is they are implying that because so many people are doing it, it must be right. But have these advisors actually done it themselves? And will they be saying the same thing next year? Probably not. Meanwhile you paid them and they got what they wanted. Some industries are changing so fast that by the time you “learn” it, it’s obsolete and you have to buy more consulting. We understand the lemmings all jump over the cliff at the same time, too.

These are just a few of the hypes that new business owners have to be wary of. But wait! There’s more! If you buy right now, we will send you this lovely set of steak knives!

Who We Are

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey co-authored the New York Times bestselling business book, The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand. The book has been selected as recommended reading in the CEO Library for CEO Forum, the C-Suite Book Club, and numerous university classes on business and entrepreneurship. It chronicles their humble beginnings from the laundry room of a rented Sonoma County farmhouse to the board room of E&J Gallo, who ultimately acquired their brand and engaged them as brand consultants. Barefoot is now the world’s largest wine brand.

Beginning with virtually no money and no wine industry experience, they employed innovative ideas to overcome obstacles, create new markets and forge strategic alliances. They pioneered Worthy Cause Marketing and performance-based compensation. They built an internationally bestselling brand and received their industry’s “Hot Brand” award for several consecutive years.

They offer their Guiding Principles for Success (GPS) to help entrepreneurs become successful. Their book, The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways To Engage and Empower Your People, helps corporations maximize the value of their human resources.

Currently they travel the world leading workshops, trainings, & keynoting at business schools, corporations, conferences. They are regular media guests and contributors to international publications and professional journals. They are C-Suite Network Advisors & Contributing Editors. Visit their popular brand building site at www.consumerbrandbuilders.com.

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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Inc. 500 “INSANE REVENUE GROWTH” VinoPro Award Dinner

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:07:00 +0000

Last Friday, Michael Houlihan and Martin Jones were honored at VinoPro’s award dinner at Benziger Winery in Glen Ellen, CA.

Martin and Michael’s wine country consulting business, Houlihan and Jones, was responsible for helping to establish the business foundations necessary for this company’s incredible success.

VinoPro, is now the largest outbound, outsourced, telemarketing company in the wine industry specializing in direct to consumer wine sales support.

We’re very proud to see our client recognized as achieving the Inc. 500 status for “Insane Revenue Growth” from 2009-2012.

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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5 Ways to Increase Your Service Business

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:01:04 +0000

In this two part series we are addressing service businesses. Last time we identified a way of classifying your clients and customers. This time we will offer some ways to increase your business.

Your goal is to get more referrals. These are new customers who were sent to you by your existing customers. They will only do that for you if their first experience was beyond their expectations.

How then can you ensure that their first experience is a good one and establish a great reputation right from the start?

1. Stop before you start. They say that 5 minutes of excellence is proceeded by an hour of preparation. Don’t open your doors until all your people know how to make eye contact, provide personalized attention, and address folks by their name. Remember your clients buy you and your people as much as the services you provide. Reinforce your staff’s positive behavior with compensation that is based on return business.

2. Be “hustlative.” They say you can tell a lot about a person just by the way they move. Are your people moving with confidence, and a lively spring in their step? Or are they sluggish? Consider how they move before you hire them. Your clients’ and customers’ first impression is made long before your people even say hello. Opinions formed at the beginning tend to be reinforced by all ensuing events. So why not start off on the “good” foot with “hustlative” body language?

3. Develop a relationship. Your customer and clients need to feel important. More than the perfunctory, “How are you today,” they want to be personally acknowledged. Remember their names and something they told you last time (even if you have to write it down). Take an interest. Let them speak about themselves. If you are interested, they will be, and this will help build the relationship.

4. Don’t just give them their money back. When folks are unhappy with your service, show them you can still make them happy. Consider giving your complaining clients free services. If you just give them their money back, they will spend it elsewhere and not recommend your business. However, if you give them free services, you can make it right, and satisfy them. They will sing your praises to their friends, family, and associates.

5. Give them a Gift Certificate they can’t use. Only their friend, family or associate can use it. People love to give things away, especially when they don’t have to pay for them. This will not only bring in more business, but it requires your client or customer to recommend your business. This builds credibility in the mind of the new referred customer, and cements the relationship with your current customer. Free services can be less expensive than advertising and are much easier to track. .

So think about first impressions. All your new first time clients are shopping. That’s how they found you. Will they stay? That’s really up to you. The way you and your people treat them will form their first and strongest impressions. You can’t unring the bell. So make its first sound music to their ears.

There’s much more to be said about service business and we will address this important part of our economy again. We hope these simple and basic steps help you get more return customers.

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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How to Improve your Service Business

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:59:09 +0000

Over half of all businesses are service businesses. These industries include many professions from legal and engineering to hair cutting and plumbing. All these services require excellent management, positive company culture, and most important, return clients.

Brian Tracy says, “If you want to be successful, ask yourself this question: How can I increase my service to my customer today?”

More than any other type of business, service businesses are reputation driven. After just two years, most service businesses are fully reliant on 80% return business. Are your clients sending in more clients?

Here are four ways to classify your clients and customers to help answer that critical question and provide some insight about your ability to satisfy them:

1. New: These folks are new to your business. They walk in the door, either because of your advertising or because of the general reputation of your business. In the early days of your business, they represent the majority of your clients. It is critical that each one of these new clients, “trying out” your business for the first time, leaves with glowing reviews to pass on to their friends and associates. But new, first time clients, can’t go on forever. Sooner or later you will go through all the new clients in your area. If you are in business for even 6 months and you still have 75% new clients, you are in trouble!

2. New Requests : These are New Clients who are requesting a specific person on your staff. This benefits the overall reputation of your business, and ultimately, its very security. The requested party needs to be rewarded for this personal reputation. Conversely, your associates who never get requested by new clients may be going through the “new” clients without them ever recommending your business or coming back to your establishment. Time to review their tenure.

3. Returns: (not necessarily requesting anyone in particular): These clients are good news – bad news. The good news is that they trust your business as a whole, without loyalty to any one particular associate. They are touting the merits of your business in general. The bad news is, if they have a bad experience, they are liable to say that the whole business is going down hill and hurt your reputation. Aside from a “New” client who is dissatisfied, that you never hear from again, “Returns” are the next most likely type to disappear. Try to find someone with whom they will be happy with as soon as possible.

4. Return Requests: These clients are returning to your business, requesting a specific person. They are loyal to the person who provided dependable and added-value service in the past. If that person leaves your business, those clients will follow him. Associates who have a large percentage of “Return Requests” should enjoy higher compensation and ultimately some equity in your company to reduce turnover. Your compensation plan should encourage this type of service professional. That plan will attract and keep the type of performers you need to grow your business. It is critical that you know early and often who they are.

The best time to find out what type of clients your service business is attracting is when they make an appointment or reservation. A few short questions at that point will quickly tell you into which category they fall. Constant vigilance and analysis of these four simple client types will give you the insight you need to craft compensation plans that get and keep return clients and customers.

Today there is much talk about Customer Relations Management, but it’s critical to step back and look at the big picture with these four general categories in mind, especially when you are in a service business.

Next time we will discuss some tips to attract new business, keep your performers, and increase your service to your customers.

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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Making Mistakes Right

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:06:06 +0000

Everybody makes mistakes, so why not take advantage of them? If your company culture does not give permission to make mistakes, your staff will hide them.

They’ll want to ‘fix’ it fast and hope you never find out. They may be the only ones who know how to fix it, and they, or someone else, are likely to make the same mistake again. Here are some tips on how to turn mistakes into assets.

1) Give your staff permission to make mistakes – as long as they follow up in the right ways. All hidden mistakes hurt your bottom line and customer service because you don’t improve.

2) Don’t blame or complain about the other company when they make a mistake. Do all you can do on your end to prevent it from reoccurring in the future.

3) Make a big deal about discovering a glitch or a loophole, oversight or misread. Share with your staff your enthusiasm of discovery and the rewards it will bring to your company’s efficiency.

4) Have the staffer who made or discovered the mistake describe how it happened. Then discuss what is needed to prevent its reoccurrence. Once they realize you think its better to analyze than hide, they’ll view mistakes more positively.

5) Acknowledge the person who discovered the mistake. Make him a company hero for improving the business and customer service. This sends a reinforcing message of permission to the rest of your staff to do the same.

6) Identify all the documents that need to be amended to prevent mistakes in the future (contract clauses, policies, procedures, labels, job descriptions, checklists, signage, or sign off sheets). Then immediately make the required revisions.

7) Require everyone involved to sign off on the new policies, procedures and other documents. Include these as part of all future training. If the mistake involved a customer or vendor, tell them exactly how you have implemented changes to prevent a reoccurrence. They will see your company as more of a partner rather than an adversary.

Evolution and improvement are the natural rewards of learning from our mistakes. We are all in a constant state of improvement. We can anticipate and avoid many mistakes through education and experience. So, when they do occur, let’s make mistakes right. With an insightful attitude, your company’s next mistake can improve your business!

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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Does Your Company Culture Give Rise to Great Ideas?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:32:06 +0000

Some people think “culture” is what you get in your yogurt. So called “company culture” starts from the top and permeates throughout your organization. The attitudes, principles, philosophies and values of owners like you and your managers shape the decisions, actions, and motivation of your employees.

The morale of your people and the impressions of your vendors and customers are greatly impacted by your company’s culture. If your staff treats information as a jealously guarded currency, if the division of labor is creating turf battles, if good ideas are being suppressed, or if job preservation is taking precedence over customer service, you can expect to lose your best and most creative people. Your company will be upstaged in the marketplace by competitors who allow and encourage creative ideas.

Each of the following concepts helps you build a positive company culture, and will receive more attention in later posts. Here is a brief summary:

Create Two Divisions. Your employees are either in Sales or Sales Support. Ultimately, everyone in your company gets paid from sales. No matter what their job or profession, make sure each of your people know how he/she affects sales. Emphasize the point by finding ways to link their compensation to sales. When you keep them up to date on your sales and get their feedback, you will be surprised at the improved team spirit.
Give Your Staff Permission to experiment, take chances and even make mistakes, so long as they document the changes needed to prevent them from occurring again. In the process, they will improve the company’s policies and procedures while coming up with out-of-the-box solutions and innovative improvements.
Improve the Planet. Your people want to make a difference. Show them how your product, sales program, and groups you support are making the world a better place. When they know that they are part of a higher value than just selling a product, they will approach their job with the added enthusiasm, knowing they are making a difference.
Give Congratulations. Your people are motivated by goal achievement, but also by public recognition. It not only validates their creativity, but it sends a message to the rest of the troops that this type of behavior is identified, appreciated and celebrated. Appreciation builds loyalty, encourages achievement, and builds a productive environment.

Everyone in your company is playing by a set of rules. Instead of letting those rules evolve by divisions of labor, hierarchy, and apathy, take charge of your company culture and build it in a positive and nurturing direction. Culture is not just found in yogurt!

Who We Are

To make inquiries for keynote speaking, trainings or consulting, please contact sales@thebarefootspirit.com.

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