That’s the usual lament we hear from the producers of failed products.

Why?

They fell in love with their product, so much so that they actually thought success was based on the product itself.

Probably the most important factor most often overlooked by new product producers is the product-market fit. It doesn’t do you any good to come up with a cool idea, even one that solves a big problem, if the market isn’t ready yet or doesn’t understand it, or if you can’t gain access

To read the complete article, please visit The Business Journals

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Our friend recently graduated with an advanced degree in Nursing. To celebrate, we invited her and her friends over for a party. A week before the party, we went to our friendly neighborhood grocery store where a young man does barbecuing out in front on the weekends. We thought, “Why not keep the money in the neighborhood and support a local merchant?”

So, we went to the barbecue guy and asked him if he was going to be barbecuing the following weekend. He said he would start at 11 AM on the day of our event. So, we ordered several chickens and several sides of ribs, enough for everyone. It was a sizable order. We told him we would pick the order up at 2 o’clock on the day of the event. He agreed and took our name and number.

On the day of the event, we showed up at noon to add to the order as the RSVPs had increased. But to our surprise, no barbecue guy! We went inside and asked the store manager what was up. The store manager said the barbecue guy wasn’t going to be there that day and there would be no barbecue!

Yikes! Now we were panicked! We had all these folks coming over and no barbecue. We quickly got on the phone and found another barbecue guy who was barbecuing in the next town. Luckily, they could fill the order by 2 o’clock. We had to drive a one-hour round-trip to pick up the barbecue. Problem solved.

Then at 3 o’clock, we get a phone call from our original barbecue guy. He wants to know when we’re going to pick up the order. We told him that the store where he worked said he wouldn’t be there that day and so we had to go elsewhere for the barbecue. We felt sorry for the guy but felt we had no choice under the circumstances taking the action we took.

A Growing Problem

We see this is a problem on the increase everywhere. Many folks don’t think to advise those who are depending upon them about the status of their requests. The local barbecue guy expected his customer to blindly trust that he would perform even though he knew that announcements had been made indicating that he could not. He did not feel obligated to call to reassure us. Perhaps he will next time!

To put this problem another way, some may think avoiding acknowledgement, confirmation and proactive status reports is a type of protection. They may think their silence insulates them from criticism. That way, if they perform, great. If they don’t perform, it’s up to the person who’s made the request to get back and ask where they are. That way they don’t really own the job.

The problem with this line of thinking is that most people who have been disappointed in the past assume their request will be dropped if they don’t get acknowledgement, confirmation, and timely updates. They have to! They have taken responsibility for the action whether or not the person they asked performs.  That’s because they do own the job! And they will take alternative actions to meet the deadlines.

We’ve seen this minimalist approach in other forms like, not acknowledging a request, dropping an assignment until it’s re-requested, getting the requested information but not reporting it. These are all forms of not owning the job.

Removing Anxiety thru Acknowledgement & Confirmation

The key to being dependable is not give anyone who depends on you apprehension. They shouldn’t have to ask themselves: “Are they going to do it? Are they going to do it on time? Can I rely on them? Are they going to drop it? Do I have to go around them? Why haven’t I heard from them? And why do I have to check up on them anyway?” Remove all these types of anxiety with acknowledgement, confirmation, and status updates. When it comes to a job that others depend on you for, just own 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 Acknowledgement, Confirmation, and Status Reporting Demonstrate Responsibility appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We think there’s another way that may solve those challenges and even prevent the pink slip. We call it the “know-the-need” basis. The concept is simple. Your people can’t help solve the problem if they don’t know what the problem is.

With know-the-need you don’t have to go into every detail of the daily operation. It should never be a distraction. But it can be a very healthy team building and problem solving exercise when done with the right attitude. Think of your people as your most valuable asset, view them as such and never as “labor” or worse, as a “cost center”. They know your business, your policies, your procedures. They have an interest in seeing your business succeed, not just for their own security, but for their reputation. They want to work for a business that has its best days in front of it, not behind it. Changing jobs is traumatic and unsettling. They want stability. And they will participate to make that happen.

At Barefoot, we would have regular meetings between the non-sales staff and the sales staff. During those meetings the sales people would outline their challenges with the market, the competition, or with our own support. Folks who were apparently far removed from sales like accountants and receptionists would step up to the plate with suggestions. Many were completely off the wall, impractical, or down right crazy, but they all knew they had permission to say anything. Often, it got others thinking and innovative, disruptive, and practical solutions would bubble up. Everyone was thrilled when we hit upon something that worked. The folks who came up with the solutions were publicly praised. Others were thus encouraged to participate. It was actually great fun. We solved many of our biggest challenges as a result of some of these know-the-need brainstorming sessions.

In one of these sessions, our top sales person announced, “Well, we’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news. The good news is that we just got Barefoot into 400 stores in Florida. The bad news is that they put us on the bottom shelf.” This was the worse place to be in a retail set. Nobody looks down. To the bottom shelf, especially for an unknown brand.  And if we didn’t make a certain number of sales in a certain number of days, we would be discontinued … forever! What were we going to do?

One person piped up in jest, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to go after the “foot traffic” then. Everybody laughed because our name was Barefoot. But then, someone else said, “Wait a minute! That’s not so crazy. Why don’t we have wine stained footprints decaled to the floor and lead the shoppers step by step down the aisle and turn them into our products on the bottom shelf!” it worked so well we used it all over the county. And that idea? It came from the receptionist.

Showing your people that you respect their intelligence, team spirit, and ability to handle challenges apparently outside of their area of expertise, gains you solutions, teamwork, and an element of trust. Let your people help you solve the problems that ultimately affect their jobs. You may be surprised at what they come up  with … when they know the need!

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 Best Source of Good Ideas Are Your Employees appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

Some Boomers are quick to point out how they were able to work their way through college without relying on the easy-to-get college loans available to the new generation. Some ask, “Why didn’t they realize that the money would have to be paid back?” as if somehow shifting the blame will make it their problem? This is not their problem. This is our problem!

Just like the stock market and housing sector collapse in the last recession, a major segment of the economy is beginning to buckle. 20 and 30-year-olds, saddled with high levels of student debt, have already begun to cut back on their retail spending. This should be their most productive and strongest time to contribute to our economy. Retailers are already seeing the hit. This will affect jobs, commerce, finances, – everything.

We all need these new buyers to spend to support the future of our economy. Their contribution is essential to our standard of living. None of us can afford to lose the buying power of this generation. Our economy has always been driven by retail sales. It has always been the canary in the coal mine. How can we save the canary? And by “we,” we are talking about retailers, lenders, the government, and the general public.

Perhaps we can reverse engineer a solution by starting with the goals that would work to everyone’s advantage? The folks with student debt get a reprieve. The retailers make the sales they need to keep the economy going, the lenders get paid, the government avoids a catastrophe, and the general public side-steps another recession.

We think a possible solution has to involve a large-scale refinancing program, interest forgiveness, and in some cases, where grad businesses create jobs, actual loan forgiveness. What is the cost of another recession? Can we avoid it with timely, and ultimately less costly, measures designed to free up the productivity and financial contribution of current student debtors? What is the value to the economy of increased sales, new jobs, and increased tax revenue? What is the value of a stronger and more wealthy generation that can ultimately be in a better position to pay those loans off? Are those values greater than the cost of a solution? We think so.

In the meantime, what can retailers do beside further reducing prices and extending payment terms? Retailers have the credibility and the influence to advise their elected officials on the solutions to this pending new recession.  They can warn about its attendant tax and financial implications to the government and overall economy. And they can call for immediate action before the next domino falls.

A quote from this post appeared in a recent article recent article in AMEX Open Forum.

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the Founders of Barefoot Wines, New York Times Bestselling Authors of The Barefoot Spirit, How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America’s #1 Wine Brand and The Entrepreneurial Culture, 23 Ways to Engage and Empower your People.  

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 Student Debt is Everyone’s Problem appeared first on The Barefoot Spirit.

We are under considerable peer pressure to get it and get it fast. It may seem to us that the others are getting it – but are they? Or are they too faking it?

When we listen to explanations of technology or comprehensive processes with other “students,” we notice that often the basic questions go unasked. Why? Because people don’t want to appear to be the only ones in the group who looks “stupid.” Sometimes, technology presenters go directly to explaining the process without first laying a good foundation of understanding. Very few people will stop them with basic questions. But these fundamental questions not only help you better understand and utilize the presentation, but in many cases, they help the entire group.

Here are some basic questions that need answering even if the technology presenters don’t volunteer the information:

Why are we doing it? Is the applied technology solving a problem? If so, what problem? Just getting a good definition of the problem can give you the bigger picture into which you can better understand, categorize, and utilize the solution. It also helps the presenters better understand how to convey and tailor the concepts and processes.

What does it do? You likely don’t know the technology’s full capability. If you did, you may ask different and more poignant questions. Maybe it does only part of a process but the presenters may assume you understand the whole process, buzz words, etc. After all, the techies live with it and are very familiar with what it does.

What else has to happen? Many times what is being presented may be only part of the solution, requiring other applications in order to function. What are the other parts that have to work in concert to enable the user to receive the benefits?

What is the cost? The cost is not just the onetime cost, but also the monthly fees, installation cost and maintenance – not only of the application being presented, but also the costs of the associated services and applications such as hosting and special tools within the larger application. Don’t wait and be surprised by these hidden costs.

What are the meanings of the terms used? Presenters, especially the techies, will use terms that they and their colleagues are familiar with, assuming that you know their meanings. Often they will use brand names for applications without making it clear that this is one company that offers this service but there are others. Don’t be afraid to stop them and ask “Is that a company name, a service, an application, or a combo?”

What is the implementation process and lead times? It’s a good idea to know how long these things will take so you have a better idea of what gets done first, second and third. Understand the order of what has to be in place and how long it will take to get it there.

It’s OK not to know it all. It’s not OK to pretend or put on airs that you get it when you don’t. It’s OK to ask “dumb” questions. Others at the presentation will be glad you did, and so will the presenters.

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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