Producers | The Barefoot Spirit

Product Development Starts with Demand and Access, Not the Product

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 17:00:47 +0000

“But all my friends thought it was so cool.”

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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Small Towns Stand Up to Big Plastic

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 06:29:08 +0000

Just imagine what it might be like to eat a credit card. Now imagine eating a credit card EVERY WEEK! According to the World Wildlife Fund, humans now ingest the equivalent amount of a credit card in microplastics each week! This happens because microplastics are now ubiquitous in our environment from the water we drink to the food we eat.

The trillion dollar plastics industry is opposed to any efforts by the Federal Government and the State Governments to stem the tide of single-use plastics by law. But two states, Maryland and Maine, recently passed laws banning the use of at least polystyrene foam food containers, generally known as Styrofoam.

Meanwhile, in the last decade, in California alone, 120 cities and counties have passed some kind of regulations on polystyrene food containers. It’s evidently harder for the industry to affect the decisions of smaller governing bodies. Sebastopol, small town just down the road from us, recently passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of disposable cups, burger boxes, clamshell containers and ice chests made of expanded polystyrene. This particular type of single-use convenience food and packaging material is especially dangerous since it is brittle, breaks up easily. It is mostly air so it blows around, and degrades into microplastics that get into the soil and waterways. It is very hard to capture.

Level Playing Field

So, what’s the effect on business? Well, for one thing, the regulations will create a somewhat level playing field in terms of competition. All retailers will be held to the same rules. Here-to-fore, businesses could claim that their competition was using the cheaper polystyrene and that if they voluntarily chose compostable products, they would be at a disadvantage because of the greater cost.

Reduced Costs for Compostables

Interestingly, as the demand for the alternatives grows, as we have seen in so many other alternative industries, the costs of those alternatives goes down. Sheer volume creates efficiencies of scale that are passed down through the competitive sales process to the retailer.

New Jobs and Industries

Opportunities for compostable and reusable containers are bound to increase. In the little town down the road, for instance, customers who bring their own reusable to-go containers get a 25-cent credit. All customers have to pay a takeout charge up to 10 cents to defray the costs associated with conversion to compostable lids, cups, straws, or utensils that may be more expensive in the short run. This, in effect, subsidizes the cost of reusable containers and single-use compostables.

Out of Control

So, how did the poisoning of the wildlife, the waterways, the soil, and even ourselves ever become so competitively advantageous to the takeout food industry? Simply, the entire cost of the post-sale packaging, including the hazardous effects were dumped on the environment and the consumer, not the producers. Now we are actually eating it! And because we gave them our money for their products, the producers became so strong, they could fund giant PR campaigns and lobbying efforts to protect themselves against the full costs of their packaging. The polystyrene producers are not fighting the ordinances so much as they are trying to use the government to stifle competition. This is just plain unfair and, as we’ve seen, dangerous!

Conclusion

We are business people and we support business, but not the monopoly of any industry. We think ordinances like this are good for business and innovation. They give new businesses a chance to compete. They raise the big picture issues that have to do with the real costs to the environment and our own health for which we as consumers are being asked to pick up the tab.

As Tip O’Neill, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives used to say, “All politics is local!” When little towns have to pass ordinances against big companies to protect the health and welfare of their citizens, wildlife, and environment, we are witnessing a failure of State and Federal Governments to protect the health and welfare of their broader constituents. It’s not OK to allow big plastic to say, “Eat our plastic!”

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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Are Conferences About to Change …Again?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 17:00:20 +0000

Would you pay $299 or more to attend a two-day conference to listen to 10 speakers selling products from the stage? We wouldn’t and there’s a growing audience rebellion brewing out there that agrees. In the future, it will become harder to fill your conference seats when your audience is just sitting there waiting for the hook, the “gotcha,” or the ask. Why pay to subject yourself to an advertising campaign? Shouldn’t they be paying you?

Four years ago, conference organizers would tell us as speakers not to sell from the stage! We didn’t and never have. Our goal has always been to educate and entertain our audiences with the hard lessons we learned building an international brand using resourcefulness, cash flow management, employee engagement, and strategic alliances. Our goal has always been to send the audience home with effective tools they can use in their business today. We want our audiences to thank the conference producers for providing those tools.

Over the past year we’ve noticed a big change. Now, most conference producers are operating on a model that basically “sells” their audience to their unpaid speakers. Now, these producers actively promote platform selling by their speakers to their audiences who have paid to attend their conferences. Imagine, free speakers plus income from attendees! When we point this out, they’re always quick to say that they are creating networking opportunities for their audiences and speakers. But how much longer will audiences pay to be treated like prospects?

We believe audiences attend conferences not just to network but to learn new strategies and techniques they can use in their businesses. We believe they can “smell” an upsell 20 minutes away. We believe upselling speakers creates a kind of anxiety as the audience is expecting to be teased and have key pieces of information withheld from them unless, of course, they pay more to get it. Now their conference ticket just buys them a pitch.

More new conferences are popping up every day trying to use this pay-to-be-upsold model. “Why should we pay speakers,” they say, “when we have a whole stable full of free speakers?” The fact is, there are no “free” speakers. They may not charge the producers for their talk, but they are hoping their audience will buy their services instead. When an audience is used like this, are they more likely or less likely to return next year?

Today many so-called speaking coaches are quick to jump on this bandwagon. They advise their speaking clients to sell their services from the stage. This advice is based on the idea that their clients are not professional speakers but are merely using the stage to sell something else to a sequestered audience.

Think about the last three conferences you’ve attended. Does any of this sound familiar? Do you need more people soliciting you? Do you need more emails from their sales campaigns in your inbox? Or do you want to get value for the money you paid to attend the conference?

We think you should get information that is of great value to you. It won’t happen unless you complain about platform sales or simply vote with your feet. Let’s go back to paying speakers on the condition that they don’t perform platform sales and that they deliver valuable and usable content in return for their fees. Let’s get more speakers who have actually done what they’re talking about instead of those who’ve created a new word, written a book about it, and were a bestseller on Amazon for 2 ½ seconds.

When speakers only speak for fees, they have a financial interest in delivering value. They don’t tease, scare, or hold back. They must perform, or they won’t get paid again. Speaking is their real job. It’s what the audience is paying for. Right? If you are a speaker, a conference attendee, or a conference producer, let us know your ideas on this subject.

Who We Are

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

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Get More Sales by Recognizing These 5 Selling Seasons

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:49:19 +0000

Everybody in the consumer products business knows how important the winter holidays are to retail sales.

But wait, there’s more, a whole lot more! In fact, the entire year can be divided up into at least nine selling seasons. Each one can have special significance for your product or service.

What most selling seasons have in common is that they begin right after the last three-day bank holiday weekend and run through the next three-day bank holiday weekend. During that period, most retailers and smart producers are putting out signs, decorations and trade dress on their consumer products in an effort to take advantage of the seasonal theme. In most cases, every seasonal selling promotion has to be scheduled substantially in advance to reserve display space, ad space and special pricing.

Let’s examine the first five of these nine selling seasons (theme-promotional periods) and the opportunities they present for producers to help their retailers decorate, celebrate, and move product:

To read the entire article, please visit The Business Journals

Who We Are

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

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Saving the Environment is Good for Business

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 18:00:12 +0000

Anytime there is a demand, business will rise to satisfy it – at a profit! We now face a huge demand. Our very livelihood is at stake. The denigration of our environment will put us out of work, out of our homes, and in the hospital. Already we see the effects of a major drought increasing the cost of fruits and vegetables. The acidification of the oceans from CO2 is resulting in sky high prices for fish and the collapse of major fisheries. Climate-caused immigration is flooding Europe and soon the Americas. And the air pollution in China is choking their citizens and blowing across the Pacific. This is a real and serious demand for businesses that mitigate or reverse this situation!

Want to solve the balance of payments problem? Export clean energy production equipment and technology to China and India. There’s a huge demand! Want to reduce your taxes? Invest now in the businesses that mitigate the high cost of super storm recovery and drought related food costs. There’s a huge demand! Want to create jobs? Provide tax advantages to producers and consumers of alternative energy. It’s a market that’s not going away. In fact, it comes with an ever-increasing demand.

If the federal government is hamstrung by the carbon producers, let the states like California, and local governments, like Chicago, lead the way. They can provide rules and regulations that give alternative energy the advantage over carbon. They can provide tax credits and other incentives to businesses addressing this issue. And they can provide the volume of purchases for their own uses that will reduce the price of these alternatives.

For instance, shouldn’t every government vehicle be electric? We are excited by the new businesses we see popping up every day that address this demand. All electric and drive-train-conversion garbage trucks and busses are great examples. These are coming from new businesses that create local jobs and can lower taxes by reducing government and public service energy costs.

What about the postal service, the police, the utilities and so on? There’s a huge market here that is only just beginning to be accessed. Local government and public service organizations can tip the scales by providing large purchases that reduce the cost of production and make alternatives competitive with conventional carbon-producing choices.

The creation and mass production of efficient home battery systems will ultimately cut the cord to the carbon-producing utility companies that argue that they are not getting paid for “storing” your solar power on their grid. Fine, cut the cord. Store it in your garage.

We live in a local government district that recently used its power of eminent domain to take over the utility company within its jurisdiction. Then it required the purchase of alternative energy to provide its subscribers. This not only sent a message to other local governments, but increased the demand for alternatively produced energy and reduced its cost.

At some point, it will become obvious that the utility companies heavily invested in carbon energy sources are trying to use their influence to stop alternative energy because they simply don’t want the competition. The gas lighting companies were the largest obstacles to Edison’s electric light. What changed things was the price tag. Electric lighting was eventually cheaper than gas.

This is what business, with the help of local government, must do today. Make alternative energy cheaper than carbon producing energy. They can do this with regulations, purchases, and tax breaks. In the end, producers and consumers alike want to spend less money. If the environment is saved, it will be because it’s cheaper to save it, and it’s also good for business!

Who We Are

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

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Are You Paying for Attendance or for Production?

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:00:01 +0000

When you are a startup entrepreneur, you must hire those who are production driven and not attendance driven. Brian Tracy says, “Fully 80% of all production problems are caused by compensation plans!” In other words, you get what you pay for. If you pay by the hour, you get hours. If you pay for production, you get production. We think the best hires are other entrepreneurs.

When you pay by the hour or based on tenure, you’ll hear, “I haven’t had a raise in a year,” like the amount of time that has passed earns them the raise. You will also hear, “I’ve got enough to keep me busy,” as if keeping them busy is a goal of the company. And then there’s the classic, “I was there. Pay me,” as if their mere attendance is all you needed.

This is not to say that hourly employees and outsourced services ipso facto aren’t good producers. Many are. Especially the ones who know their job is on the line, and the ones who clearly understand their goals and deadlines. But there is far less lurking and sandbagging among folks who get paid for deliverables. They simply can’t afford it any other way!

As an entrepreneur, there is no question in your mind about the critical nature of sales and customer service, but what if your team gets paid whether or not you make sales, and whether or not your customer is happy? Do they have the same incentives you have? Probably not.

We like to say, “If you are paying your people right, the non-producers can’t afford to stay, and the producers can’t afford to leave!” Just take a moment to think about that…

When you pay your people right, you increase production, engagement, urgency, sales and the excellent customer experience you are looking for. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Clearly Define the Deliverables. Plainly state exactly the expectations you have of each team member. It is likely different for each player, so consider this carefully. One approach to get going is to ask each person to make a list of what they do and the relevant deadlines. This gives them ownership and forces them to think in terms of outcome. Then refine this list to better suit your company goals.
Create a Bonus Structure. It’s easy to pay the salespeople on production – their commission is based on it! But what about the receptionist, the assistant, and the bookkeeper? What about the marketing, legal, production and administrative people, and other folks who are paid by the hour industry wide? For them we created a quarterly bonus. The bonus was paid as a corporate contribution to their 401K tax-free retirement plan, matching at 50%, 100%, or 150%, and was based on sales, growth, and profitability.
Take a Smaller Slice of a Larger Pie. Be prepared to share the wealth in various ways appropriate to each individual’s accomplishments. One way is to bonus for a specific accomplishment that clearly adds to profits, like a new client, a big savings in overhead, achieving a stretch goal, or meeting a difficult deadline. Once your team sees the direct relationship between their production and their compensation, they will become more interested and engaged in the process of making your business more successful. Plus, now you have more “found money” to share with them.

Congratulate each one publically for their achievements, especially those who impact everybody’s bonuses. You’ll see more of what you acknowledge, create a stronger and more cohesive team, and get the production you paid for!

Who We Are

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

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Change the Future by How You Spend Your Money in the Present

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 02:00:04 +0000

How would you like to improve the world in the New Year? How would you like to really make a difference? We’ve often said, we vote with our money. Every time we make a purchase, we are “voting” for more of that product or service, where it comes from, and how it got here. We are voting for the labor practices, environmental practices, and political views of the producers of those goods and services. Our money goes into their hands to continue practices that we may have some serious issues with.

Recently we read with horror about shrimp-shelling factories in Thailand that enslave refugees and force them to work inhumane hours in virtual incarceration. The shrimp is then dumped on a very fungible market where those slave-peeled shrimp are almost impossible to track when added to other supplies of shrimp from other factories that respect human rights. Because the shrimp is used as a generic supply by brokers who sell to wholesalers who then sell to the big box stores, American consumers don’t know if their appetizers or their cat’s food has slave-peeled shrimp in it. We don’t even know which products to boycott! But it has to make us all think about buying any shrimp that cannot certify humane labor practices. At least we are asking now. And we hope that you will too. It’s the only way to change the world. We all must become more aware about the products we are buying.

Instead of acting like there’s nothing we can do about commercial practices that hurt the environment, or harm people or our health, we can take action in the New Year with our “voting” dollars. Here’s how:

Ask about origins and practices. If you don’t get an answer, go to your local farmers markets and ask them. They will answer you. We make it a point of buying most of our food from local growers we know and trust. We feel good about supporting their practices and not contributing to a fungible food supply that doesn’t know the origin and practices of their suppliers.
Reduce your dependence on petroleum. Think twice about using your gas-powered car. Look for alternative means of transportation, use technology, a bicycle, carpool or look into an electric car. Even as the world knows that we are pushing carbon emissions beyond the tipping point, drilling for oil continues as if there will never be an alternative. Terrorism runs on oil.
Don’t just buy the cheapest thing. The purchase price might be cheap but the medical bills and environmental damage is unaffordable. Do you really want to save a few bucks today by “voting” for something that results in long term-costs that will come back to you in the form of increased taxes? Who paid for the Katrina superstorm or the drought-ravaged fires in the west? We all did!

So, if you really want to change the world in the New Year, consider the power you have as a consumer. This is, after all, the world’s largest consumer economy. The world’s producers vie for a position in the American retail market. They want our money! But we may not want to give them our “vote” to prosper in the short run if we have to pay for the results of their practices in the long run. Ask more questions about where your money goes. Support merchants and producers who stand behind their products and practices. Send a New Year’s message and make your “vote” count! Here is to a prosperous – and healthy – future!

Who We Are

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

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Successful Hiring takes Preparation, Permission and Patience

Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 22:50:59 +0000

No matter what business you think you are in, you wind up in the personnel management business. Your first hires will require a great deal of your time and energy with no guarantees. Your way may conflict with their previous way of doing things.

For the most part, great employees are not found, they’re made. In order to delegate and allow your company to grow, you really have no choice.

All this takes time, energy, preparation and lots of patience, but by working together in concert, you can see wonders.

1. Good Seed. Start with people who demonstrate a high degree of integrity, take responsibility for their own behavior and have a history of long-term commitment. They should be willing to learn and extrapolate conceptual ideas and apply them to new situations. A good way to test this is to give the applicant a verbal run down of the job, the company’s challenges and your expectations for the position. Then, have them send you a one-page summary on a deadline. This will tell you volumes.

2. Good Ground. Make sure their job is clearly defined in writing and explains how your products and services produce the income to pay their salary, bonus and benefits. We used to give our people a “Money Map”. It started with the consumer and worked its way back through distribution, production, and all the payables to finally get to their check. This gave them respect for how and where the money came from – the customer, of course.

3. Care. You must inspect what you expect, especially in the first year. Once you are convinced you have “good seed” it’s worth your while to regularly spend time with them answering questions and mentoring. Listen to what’s behind their questions to discover what they really need to excel in their new position.

4. Light and Space. Give them permission to make mistakes. That’s what allows them to develop into the independent decision makers you need to confidently delegate. To “make those mistakes right,” have them write down what needs to be done to prevent those mistakes in the future. Have them make new polices, procedures, checklists, sign-offs, or whatever, but they have to document everything. Consider rewriting their job description to fit their real skill set.

5. Nutrients. Give them the training they need, in person and in writing. If a document doesn’t exist, have them write it. Create a mini manual for every job with the growing list of frequently asked questions and as many charts and graphs as are necessary to depict processes, relationships and decisions. Provide outside training with conferences, or field time with sales or production staff. The more they understand your total operation, the faster they will become invaluable.

6. Time. How much time you give them before they “get it” really depends on the position, their ability to learn, and how much faith you have in them personally. Some folks take longer but “get it” at a core level. Others may learn a specific process quickly, but miss the big picture. So it’s a judgment call based on your assessment of their progress and conceptual understandings, and the preparation, time and energy you have put in.

Even if you do these essentials, there’s no guarantee of success, but you will be much more likely to succeed. To grow those new hires into fruitful producers it takes preparation, permission and patience.

Who We Are

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

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