Both Roy and Joe have had long and successful careers as small business
owners. Over lunch we spoke about their struggles to get started and the
difficulties and many successes along the way. We concluded by identifying
several key lessons based on their experience in running a profitable small
business.
- Hire good people. Effectively managing people is, of course, very important in
running small businesses but it all starts by hiring trustworthy, hardworking, and
capable people in the first place. If you don’t, you’ll spend more time doing their
job than doing yours.
- Constantly improve. As Roy said, “If it’s not broken, fix it.” If it works today, it
may not work tomorrow because the environment is always changing. You need
the attitude that whatever is done today, can always be done better. Continue to
set higher goals and involve your employees in setting the goals. Their buy-in will
assure success.
- Always innovate. Finding new ways of doing things is the best way to beat
competition. The market rewards those who are the first to produce a new and
valuable product or service. Your employees are your best source for innovation.
- Put the customer first. Joe emphasized that, “Business starts and ends with
your customers. If they feel they are your first priority they will keep coming back.
Understand their needs and do everything you can to satisfy them”. Roy
added, ”Satisfied customers are your most effective marketing tool and often are
the best source of information for improving your business. So, ask them what
you can do better”.
- Take care of internal customers. Internal customers are your employees,
suppliers, and service providers who are indispensable to operating a profitable
business. Treat them well and they’ll spend that little extra effort to get the job
done well and help you through difficult situations.
- Always keep commitments. Never let anybody down even if you have to eat
some additional expense or spend some extra time to do what you promised.
Your word must be golden and is essential to building a good, long-term
reputation.
- Work hard. Most small businesses require a tremendous effort by the owners
especially in the early going. You've got to attend to all the little details. Running
a small business is not for the faint of heart. There will be many bumps along the
road but you need to keep plowing through to succeed. Small business
ownership is not a 40 hours per week job. It’s 24/7 if need be. You need to set
the example. Being the first one on the job will not go unnoticed.
- Watch the numbers. Both Roy and Joe emphasized the need to keep an eye
on the numbers: are sales off or on target; are expenses exceeding budget; are
customer complaining about product and service quality; are accounts receivable
within the terms of sale; what’s happening with inventory? These are just a few of
the key performance indicators they used to track their businesses.
- What’s the competition doing? You need to know so you are not left behind.
Check out their web-site, look at their ads, visit or have a family member visit
their shop, ask your suppliers, ask your customers. It’s OK to befriend your
competitor and even support each other in small ways (loan supplies, sources,
innovation, etc.).
Roy Montague and Joe Reger are just two of the 40 savvy and experienced
Treasure Valley SCORE Chapter volunteers eager to share their knowledge
and experience. They have covered only a few of the lessons they learned
contributing to sustaining and growing their businesses.
By
C. Norman Beckert
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