How A Local Business is Living Its Core Values – 1 Small Action At A Time

You may not have heard of them yet, but The Music Loft of Herndon is fast becoming the music school of choice for many music students in the area. The school, which is now in its 2nd year of operation, is run by 2 ex public school music teachers who  who believed there was a huge gap in the marketplace in terms of offering music students high quality music lessons.  In fact, their mission statement is all about creating a new standard in music education upon which all other music services will be measured.

This, in itself, is a very lofty goal; however the story I want to really tell you about is one of those small instances where someone goes above and beyond what would reasonably be expected and shows how do the smallest of things can create an experience that the receiver will never forget.

The story involves a six-year-old girl, a 70-year-old grandmother and the music teacher who understood  that the wishes  all the small child far outweighed the action needed to make that wish come true.

So the story goes that the 70-year-old grandmother calls The Music Loft looking for the music score for the movie the sound of music. Unfortunately, The Music Loft didn’t stock the music book and although the songs were available via the web the grandmother did not own a computer and even if she had, it was clear from her comments that she would never know how to access what she wanted.  In most cases the easiest thing to do would be to send her on her way to the nearest Target or Walmart to find the music for herself. Rather than do that. The Music Loft took her number and asked her to stay by the phone for the next hour or so and then proceeded to buy the music themselves via iTunes,  burn the music onto a CD and print the CD cover with the sound of music picture from the movie.  Once complete they called the grandmother back who promptly came into the store picked up the CD at no charge! To say that the grandmother was overwhelmed would be an understatement. She was now able to provide her six-year-old granddaughter with exactly what she wanted for Christmas, and in doing so, would be a star in the granddaughter’s eyes (not that she wasn’t already, I am sure)

So why even tell the story?  It is easy for businesses to create what they believe are core values, but seldom do anything to bring these values to life.  In the case of The Music Loft in Herndon, they saw an opportunity to create a little bit of happiness for someone we might never meet and in doing so lived up to what they believe is the reason their business exists in the 1st place.

As you look at your own business, how many opportunities do you get that give you an opportunity to live up to one or more of your company’s core values and how many of these opportunities do we squander?  Our customers and our clients will always remember those small, unexpected  instances where we go above and beyond what would be expected under normal circumstances. So the next time an opportunity comes your way to show how much your own values mean to you, grab it with both hands and don’t let go.

James Lawson is one of Northern Virginia’s top Business Coaches. He works with and helps business owners TRANSFORM their businesses from where they are to what they ultimately want, creating value and wealth.

9 Warning Signs That Your A Hub-and-Spoke Owner

If you were to draw a picture that visually represents your role in your business, what would it look like? Are you at the top of a traditional Christmas-tree-like organizational chart, or are you stuck in the middle of your business, like a hub in a bicycle wheel?

As anyone who has tried to fly United when O’Hare has been hit by a snowstorm knows, a hub-and-spoke model is only as strong as the hub. The moment the hub is overwhelmed, the entire system fails. Acquirers generally avoid hub-and-spoke managed businesses because they understand the dangers of buying a company too dependent on the owner. Here’s a list of nine warning signs you’re a hub-and-spoke owner and some suggestions for pulling yourself out of the middle of your business:

1. You sign all of the checks 

Most business owners sign the checks, but what happens if you’re away for a couple of days and an important supplier needs to be paid? Consider giving an employee signing authority for checks up to an amount you’re comfortable with, and then change the mailing address on your bank statements so they are mailed to your home (not the office). That way, you can review all signed checks and make sure the privilege isn’t being abused.

2. Your mobile phone bill is over $200 a month 

If your employees are out of their depth a lot, it will show up in your mobile phone bill because staff will be calling you to coach them through problems. Ask yourself if you’re hiring too many junior employees. Sometimes people with a couple of years of industry experience will be a lot more self-sufficient and only slightly more expensive than the greenhorns. Also consider getting a virtual assistant (VA), who can act as a first line of defense in protecting your time. You can find a VA by filling out the request for proposal at http://www.ivaa.org/.

3. Your revenue is flat when compared to last year’s 

Flat revenue from one year to the next can be a sign you are a hub in a hub-and-spoke model. Like forcing water through a hose, you have only so much capacity. No matter how efficient you are, every business dependent on its owner reaches capacity at some point. Consider narrowing your product and service line by eliminating technically complex offers that require your personal involvement, and instead focus on selling fewer things to more people.

4. Your vacations suck

If you spend your vacations dispatching orders from your mobile, it’s time to cut the tether. Start by taking one day off and seeing how your company does without you. Build systems for failure points. Work up to a point where you can take a few weeks off without affecting your business.

5. You spend more time negotiating than a union boss 

If you find yourself constantly having to get involved in approving discount requests from your customers, you are a hub. Consider giving front-line, customer-facing employees a band within which they have your approval to negotiate. You may also want to tie salespeople’s bonuses to gross margin for sales they generate so you’re rewarding their contribution to profit, not just chasing skinny margin deals.

6. You close up every night 

If you’re the only one who knows the close-up routine in your business (count the cash, lock the doors, set the alarm), then you are very much a hub. Write an employee manual of basic procedures (close-up routine, e-mail footer to use, voice mail protocol) for your business and give it to new employees on their first day on the job.

7. You know all of your customers by first name

It’s good to have the pulse of your market, but knowing every single customer by first name can be a sign that you’re relying too heavily on your personal relationships being the glue that holds your business together. Consider replacing yourself as a rain maker by hiring a sales team, and as inefficient as it seems, have a trusted employee shadow you when you meet customers so over time your customers get used to dealing with someone else.

8. You get the tickets

Suppliers’ wooing you by sending you free tickets to sports events can be a sign that they see you as the key decision maker in your business for their offering. If you are the key contact for any of your suppliers, you will find yourself in the hub of your business when it comes time to negotiate terms. Consider appointing one of your trusted employees as the key contact for a major supplier and give that employee spending authority up to a limit you’re comfortable with.

9. You get cc’d on more than five e-mails a day

Employees, customers and suppliers constantly cc’ing you on e-mails can be a sign that they are looking for your tacit approval or that you have not made clear when you want to be involved in their work. Start by asking your employees to stop using the cc line in an e-mail; ask them to add you to the “to” line if you really must be made aware of something – and only if they need a specific action from you.

A major component of a successful Exit Strategy is to have a business that can function and grow without you.

To learn how your business stacks up from a sellability stand point, go ahead and take the free business assessment –  http://www.sellabilityscore.com/advicoach/james-lawson

James Lawson is one of Northern Virginia’s top Business Coaches. He works with and helps business owners TRANSFORM their business from where they are to what they ultimately want, creating value and wealth.

My Business Is Worth Zero (and that was the good news!)

“My business is worth zero’ – that was the subject line of an email I received the day after giving a presentation to 30 business owners on how to create value in their business.

At first it made me laugh, then

after a few minutes, it began to sink in about how many of the others in the room may have been feeling the same way…they just didn’t say anything. The fact is that too many business owners just never think about the creation of ‘value’, ‘equity’ or wealth – they are just to focused on getting the next client or fulfilling the needs of their current customers. Not that there is anything wrong with that – it just can’t be the only thing your focused on.

The truth is that even if you started today, the execution of a worthwhile strategy to create value takes years, selling the business may take 18 months to 2 years after that!

You have to carve time out, however you do it, to get some level of focus on begining to create the value.

Remember – your business is an asset! You need to take care of it, nurture it the same way you would ( or your wealth management company) look after your finance portfolio.

So, where do you start?

1. Start thinking about your business as THE product – what does it need to do, look like, feel like for someone to buy it?

2. Asses your staff (if you have any) – do you have 1 superstar? If so you need to find another…

3. Begin to transfer skills, knowledge to others – it can’t be all about you

4. Start with the end in mind – it may be cliche but it works!

5. Pick a number – yes that’s right, pick a number! What do you want to sell your business for when your done? Write it down on a piece of paper then file it away.

Building a business that is valuable is very different from building a business to grow. Your mindset will need to change. Your focus will need to change…lets just call it ‘The Big Shift’.

Today can be the day you start to change your future!

To learn how your business stacks up from a sellability stand point, go ahead and take the free business assessment –  http://www.sellabilityscore.com/advicoach/james-lawson. 

James Lawson is one of Northern Virginia’s top Business Coaches. He works with and helps business owners TRANSFORM their business from where they are to what they ultimately want, creating value and wealth.