Starting a business feels overwhelming. It seems like there’s never enough money, time, or resources to gain traction in the marketplace. We may apply industry standards in our own business, and not even question them. Then we add our own personal standards that we inadvertently bring to our new business. Some may be counterproductive to our very success. Business consists of one decision after another, back to back, sometimes in rapid succession, and often under pressure. Is there a set of guiding principles we can weigh those decisions up against to help us make the choices that will sustain and grow our business?

While building the Barefoot Wine brand, we learned, sometimes the hard way, what those guiding principles looked like. We call them collectively, The Barefoot Spirit . They enabled us to get the advice we needed, and keep the best people. They reduced our need for capital, and increased our credit and terms. By relying on our guiding principles to make decisions, we increased sales, reduced our overhead, gained new loyal customers, and grew our brand. Since then we have found that these same principles apply to most businesses.

Over the next few posts we will examine these guiding principles and how they may benefit you. We will ask questions in four categories to uncover a series of critical decisions that can make a big difference in your success. They may seem simple at first, but as you get into them and their implications, you will realize they are anything but simple.

The questions are: How would you like it if you 1) worked for yourself, 2) extended credit to yourself,   3) sold to yourself, or 4) bought from yourself?

1. Would you work for yourself? Would you want to work for an employer who treated your labor as a commodity, trying to see how little you would work for? Would that save the company money, or lose money due to turnover and lost relationships? Or would you prefer an employer who sees people as an asset, rewarding them for performance and acknowledging their achievements? Would this increase innovation and long-term relationships? We found that people work primarily for income, recognition, personal time, and security. When we began paying for performance rather that attendance, we found our best people didn’t leave because they benefited financially from their own production. Those who were less productive were paid less and could not afford to stay. As an employer, do you acknowledge producers publically, or are you afraid they will ask for a raise? By giving time off, do you think you are losing production, or that you are increasing production with recharged and loyal people? Do you see medical and retirement benefits as a cost, or as an investment in long-term stability?

Your attitude and philosophy toward these critical aspects of business will shape the decisions you make. Next time we will examine the other questions that reveal your basic business philosophy. In the long run, if you would be happy doing business with yourself on all of these levels, you will have a big head start on the ultimate success of your company.

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.

The post Build Your Business using Guiding Principles – Part 1 appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Although these structures seem unavoidable just to get the job done, they can have a sinister creative-stifling side effect. The heads of each mini- and maxi-pyramid can actually stop good ideas simply because they did not think of them, and they find that threatening to their position. Job preservation can become job number one, even at the expense of the company itself. When this happens, the flow of information and ideas become constricted.

Add to all that the well-meaning policy of  “need to know.” Now you have inadvertently put a price on information. It can become a commodity used as a type of corporate currency where one person will only tell what he knows in return for administrative favors or other scraps of information. When you add in the possibility of incorrect information, rumors and gossip, corporate culture and morale can suffer. This results in a decline in productivity and profitability.

Since the top of the pyramid is narrower, there’s simply not enough room there for all the ambitious and aspiring folks further down the pyramid. So there’s a natural competition for those top jobs. Many see using and controlling information as critical to their advancement.

We recently attended a fund-raising dinner and sat next to a top executive from a major corporation. We were talking about why so many of the new good ideas seem to be coming from the entrepreneurs and not the big companies. When we pointed out the free flow of information and ideas enjoyed by entrepreneurs and the restriction of information flow in some corporate structures, due to their size, he responded, “We don’t have those problems in my division.”

When companies are in their start-up phase, information and ideas flow freely. They listen to all ideas, from anyone who will offer them, because they are struggling just to stay in business. Being small and undercapitalized encourages this to happen naturally. Everybody in a start-up knows that their job is dependent on the survival of the company. They readily share information with other divisions because they are not cast in stone – yet.

As a company grows, it’s hard to say where this potential “hardening of the arteries” begins to set in, but we think it is more likely to happen as more employees are hired. However, without governing factors, it can happen in a company of any size.

Next time, we will share some ideas we employed to encourage the free flow of ideas and communication, and ways to prevent information from becoming a currency.

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.

The post Corporate Structure Can Turn Information into Currency – Part 1 appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Our economy relies on hundreds of thousands of salespeople that most of us never see, but their skills are responsible for our high standard of living. They call on the buyers who produce and sell the products we all buy.

Salespeople provide buyers with the choices and information that result in the ever-improving products and services we enjoy daily.

Some big companies entertain a culture that demeans sales people to the point that they are given products to sell and pitches to use without any say in the product development or marketing. Because many sales take place outside the office and production plant, the sales division is treated if it was somehow separate from the rest of the company. In many cases, it’s the office vs. the sales people. This attitude can give the marketing division too much power over the development of sales materials. Likewise, the production division can have too much say over product development.

The sales division should be advising production and marketing on a regular basis to ensure that your company’s products remain relevant, competitive, and affordable. Because of the sales division’s direct relationship with the customer, sharing their insight and experience is crucial to the success of your company.  Regular feedback from Sales on changes in the marketplace, the features and benefits their buyers are demanding, and the effectiveness of your company’s marketing materials makes dollars and sense.

No one knows the marketplace better than the professional salesperson. Their livelihood depends on it. Progressive companies recognize their special skills and capitalize on their unique position.  But of all the skills that these sales specialists must utilize, none is more essential to success than relationship building.

Most buyers make purchasing decisions based on the sales person first, and the product second. We know of buyers who have actually changed the products they carry just to stay with a salesperson they know and trust. It takes years to establish this kind of credibility. Buyers don’t want to start all over “training” a new salesperson about their particular concerns and buying style. The salesperson they know has become an “assistant buyer” to them, and makes their job much easier.

Like they say in “The Music Man,”  “Ya gotta know the territory.” But they also have to know so much more. The experienced salesperson knows how his product satisfies the buyers needs better than the competition. He stays on top of his buyer’s inventory. He understands his buyer’s limitations of shelf space and holding capacity. He assists his buyer with promotional calendars and point of sale materials. He makes sure the buyer’s purchases result in the best possible prices.

Over time, salespeople establish a positive track record with buyers with dependable customer service, including delivery, added value, pricing, and follow through. Above all, sales professionals have the people skills and the history to demonstrate they have the buyer’s best interest at heart.

Sales is a specialty skill and the backbone of our economy. Without sales professionals, most of us would be out of a job! Isn’t it time we gave the sales professionals the respect they deserve? Cheers to the salespeople, our unsung heroes!

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.

The post Sales Professionals Deserve our Respect appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Recurrent, personnel issues can be a distraction to you and your staff. Some react to personnel problems by firing the offending parties. Occasionally this may be necessary, however the issue may be a symptom of misunderstanding how your company works.

This is why it’s so important to address the main areas that can permit or actually cause personnel issues:

1. Hiring. Before you are dazzled by a stellar resume with the perfect skill set for your opening, consider the individual’s ethics, motives, and team outlook. Do they think they should be paid whether or not you are paid, or whether or not the company satisfies its customers? Are they bringing an agenda to work that has nothing to do with the job? Do they want to get paid for attendance or for production? Are they willing to take responsibility for their own behavior or are they looking to blame and complain?

2. Orientation. Don’t just show them the lunchroom and the bathroom. Show them where the funds come from that pay their salary, benefits, and bonuses. Give them an info graphic that traces the money from your customer, through your sales people, to cover your overhead and eventually pay them. Show them how their job affects the bottom line. Show them how everybody else’s job affects their paycheck. It’s easier to look beyond a co-worker’s personality when they know how everyone fits into the big picture.

3. Compensation. Most compensation plans are based on an hourly rate, which is paying for attendance, not necessarily production. Consider offering bonuses based on sales, cost reductions, and customer retention. Give them a financial reason to help the team perform. With the ideal compensation system, non-producers can’t afford to work for you and producers can’t afford to leave.

4. Mentoring. The time and attention you put into a new hire pays off. Listen to their questions. Clear up quickly any misconceptions about processes and interrelationships. Instead of narrowing down their focus, broaden their outlook to include their co-workers and the larger processes at work. Help them establish priorities. Seeing the big picture keeps the focus on their careers and performance rather than personnel issues.

5. Acknowledgement. A great way to build team spirit is to send out written acknowledgements or make an announcement when a person does something that positively affects business. We did this on each employee’s anniversary. Your people will gain more respect for their co-workers’ value as a team member. It is great when your employees can be friends, but respect and appreciation for their interdependence can be more effective in reducing personnel issues.

When your people know how their check gets to them, how they depend on their teammates, and how their bonuses are affected by the company’s performance, they are more likely to all pull together. Then you can focus on the journey and not the pebble in your shoe.

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.

The post Put Your People on the Same Team appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

It’s when they become proactive.

One dictionary defines proactive as “the ability to initiate change rather than reacting to events.” Another says “Proactive employees generally do not need to be asked to act, nor do they require detailed instructions.”

Anticipate a need and take the action necessary while preempting undesirable consequences. That is what we look for. Sounds simple, but it’s a tall order. “Proactive” is not generally taught in school, yet it is required to get ahead. Being proactive can be the difference between administrative and clerical.

If you are looking to advance in your job, here are seven tips to becoming proactive:

1. Be a Conceptual Learner. Everybody needs examples, but after a while you should be able to extrapolate the concept from one learning lesson into a similar situation. If you know how to put out the Bar-B-Que fire with a fire extinguisher, don’t let the place burn down from a kitchen fire, even though you weren’t shown how to use the fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

2. Grasp the Big Picture. Understand who in the organization depends on you and why. Understand and calendar all the big deadlines, strategic and tactical, that depend on your performance. Ask questions until you know how your job relates to the income of the business. You can’t take pre-emptive action unless you understand the big picture.

3. Prioritize. Zero in on the time-sensitive tasks and do them first. Don’t wait to be told. Bring your calendar to meetings and listen for deadlines. Anticipate what must be done to meet them.

4. Develop a Sense of Urgency. “I’ve got a call in” is not enough. Regularly check back with people key to the deadline. It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the attention. Be sure to thank them when they do get back and tell them why you appreciate it.

5. Verbally Acknowledge. When you receive a lesson, don’t just sit there, say something. It’s OK to ask questions because it shows you want to get the job done. And if you do get it, say it back to them in your own words so they are reassured.

6. Track Your Progress. To give a good progress report you must know the goal and all the deadlines required to get there. So keep track of where you are on your projects, and give your boss a frequent update.

7. Pick up the Pace. Identify the areas that seem to slow you down. Ask for special training in those areas. This sends your boss a message that you want to work smarter, faster and more effectively. A good boss will realize that the one-time cost of what you need pales in comparison to your increased production.

At the end of the day, it’s all about taking action that convinces your boss she doesn’t have to worry about you. Show her that you are a self-starter and have the company’s best interests at heart. When she’s asked about you, she’ll say, “I can rely on Mary, she’s on top of it”.

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.

The post 7 Tips to Being Proactive – the Key to Job Advancement appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

In fact, admitting to the mistake may actually diffuse the matter. What people remember is how you handled it. Every mistake is an opportunity to demonstrate your integrity and improve your business.

We once had an employee who, every time he blew it would say, “I’m doing the best I can.” We’d answer, “Yes, but are you willing to improve?” And that is the real issue. It requires change. So it’s really not about the mistake so much as it is about improving. Why waste a perfectly good mistake?

Here are some suggestions we found to handle your next boo boo:

1. Cop to it. The sooner you admit to the error, the more you reduce the drama and the faster you can move on to the next, more important stage: what you are going to do about it. People actually like a little imperfection now and then. It demonstrates a level of authenticity, vulnerability and humanity with which we all can identify.

2. Recognize how it happened. Detrimental issues that are never discovered will reoccur. If it is just swept under the rug, like it never happened, what is there to investigate? Denial is far too common in large siloed organizations where you can be demoted, passed over, or even fired for a mistake. But real progress is often built on the back of those mistakes. That’s why progressive companies give their people permission to make mistakes (within reason, of course).

3. Aim, don’t blame. It’s easy to point your finger at the other guy, and it may well be his fault, but if it happened on your watch and you are accountable for the finished product, it is ultimately your responsibility. By taking personal responsibility, you make it impendent upon yourself to get to the bottom of the situation. Aim at what you and your company can do on your end to prevent it from reoccurring.

4. Write it down. Don’t just quickly solve the situation on a one-time basis, then rub your hands together and put them behind your back like, yes, it happened, but it’s all cleaned up now. If you don’t write it down, even you may make the same mistake again, and certainly others will as well. Write a new procedure, checklist, or sign off sheet. Draft a new clause in a contract. But write it down!

5. Resolve that it won’t reoccur. Along with your apology, assure the injured parties that it won’t happen again. Describe how it happened and what changes you are implementing to prevent its reoccurrence. Tell them how you and your company are going to make it right. Most people will appreciate your thoughtfulness, resolve, and the action you are taking.

Mistakes are bound to happen. Don’t miss out on a golden opportunity to show your integrity, reduce the drama and improve your business. Just say, “Oops, my bad,” and take action. The injured party will have more respect for your company, and your company will improve. That is how you make mistakes right.

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.

The post Your Business Can Improve by Admitting to Mistakes appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We wanted people who were not only qualified, but also had foundational qualities we could build upon. We wanted to see our staff achieve the highest and best use of their talents – many of which did not manifest for a year or so.

We looked for enthusiasm, confidence, honesty and integrity. We also looked for a willingness to learn. And, they had to be fun. It is much like finding a new friend, and we created great friends in the process.

The key to developing great people is to start with good people – and then provide the environment, encouragement, resources, and flexibility for them to become their best.

• Culture. A positive company culture is essential to the nurturing people. Constructive attitudes toward mistakes and a policy of permission allow for greater creativity. Use positive language. Talk about what you want, not what you don’t want.

• Compensation. Brian Tracy says most performance problems are caused by compensation systems. Reward for production and growth. Clearly state what you want in each phase of their training.

• Encouragement. Catch your people doing something right. Tell them two things they did well for every one thing they can improve. As their “boss,” you become an authority figure they look to for validation.

• Monitoring. Know what questions to ask of the data. Identify the metrics that best quantify performance. Make the reporting intervals as short as possible, especially during the first 90 days.

• Mentoring. A person is worthy of your time when they quickly pick up on concepts and extrapolate principals to other applications. Put more energy into him or her. Your time and efforts will be rewarded when you start with the right people.

• Acknowledgement. Give public acknowledgement, and tie it in to how it affects everybody’s salary, security, and potential. When you educate staff about what individual team members contribute, this encourages them to do even better.

• Written Resources. Have a policy of documentation. The same mistakes will not be repeated, the nuances of a job can be passed on, and your new hire can study what is expected of her. To keep job descriptions current, ask everyone to update their own annually.

• Training. Having written materials will reduce the training time. Stage this information so the new hire can focus on mastering one aspect at a time. Expect to spend three to six months in training before proficiency is achieved.

• Conferences. People want to improve their skill set. Of course, this will add to their resumes. However, if you are paying them right, they won’t leave, and they will create the income for their own raises. So, yes, send them to training conferences.

• Architecture. Natural and supplemental lighting, air conditioning, workspace, and noise levels all effect production and concentration.

• Best IT. Probably the most frustrating part of any new job is learning the IT and protocols. Have an IT “guy” who can quickly “fix” problems. Make your systems intuitive and user friendly.

To get the best out of your people, find out what they excel at. Then, redesign their jobs to fit those skills. Ask others to pick up the aspects of the former job that still need to be done. You might be surprised at the positive response. Don’t put the square peg in the round hole. Build a square hole.

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.

The post Find Good People – Make Great People appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

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

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.

The post 5 Ways to Increase Your Service Business appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

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

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.

The post How to Improve your Service Business appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

It’s been said that it’s not the journey of 1000 leagues that wears down the mighty soldier, but the tiny pebble in his shoe. Here are some philosophical considerations that can help lay the foundations for your business and make the journey less wearing:

1. Have you put yourself in your customer’s shoes? Does your product add value to your customer’s life? Is it dependably available? Are you willing to do what is necessary to provide exceptional customer service? How will you gain feedback and keep your product relevant?

2. Have you put yourself in your distributor’s shoes? Do you know why he would carry your product? Are you willing to help him sell it? Do you understand the processes involved? Do you know why his retail customers buy your product? It might not be for the reasons you think.

3. Have you put yourself in your own people’s shoes? What are their goals, expectations, and aspirations? What kind of training and direction do they need? Are you willing to write down policies and procedures? What kind of culture will you provide? Will they be compensated to perform?

4. Have you put yourself in your creditors’ shoes? Are you willing to provide honest communication even when you can’t perform? Are you concerned about their payables? Will your integrity give them a reason to increase your credit and terms? Would you lend money to yourself?

5. Are you willing to take a smaller slice of a larger pie? Are you willing to share in the increased profits with those who make it possible? Are you going to reduce the cost of turnover by providing financial opportunities to stay with your company?

6. Do you know how to make mistakes right? Will people be fired because they made a mistake? Will your staff hide mistakes as a result? Or will you reward those that solve potentially reoccurring mistakes by identifying how they were made and suggesting new documentation?

7. Do you understand that sales provide all the income for your business and pay all your salaries? Will you organize you company, pay structure, and culture accordingly? Will the customer be on top, then the sales and customer service people, then everyone else?

The answers to these questions will determine the philosophical foundation of your business. Everything else that follows is influenced and shaped by those answers. Make sure you have answered them honestly before you begin to structure your business. The journey is hard and long enough without a pebble in your shoe.

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.

The post A Solid Business Foundation is Necessary for Success appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.