Wickenburg Business

Business success is simple

There are really only two things an organization needs to accomplish to be successful – serve the customer well and do it in an efficient manner.

The problem is that this truth is simple but not easy.  Serving the customer well is not easy when you are faced with the unpredictability of employees and customers.  You can do 99% of your job correctly, and just one misstep can cause your reputation to be severely damaged. Being efficient is not easy with rising health care, legal, insurance, and other overhead items. 

But, still it is important for a business owner to spend his or her total effort and concentration on these two items.  Do them well and you will be profitable.  Do them poorly, and you are destined to fail.

Reputation is everything

The other day I talked with a friend who had a bad experience with a local business.  To hear his side of the story, the business was all wrong.  I’m sure there is another side of the story and that’s why I will not go further here.  The important thing to remember is not the merits of this situation, but how much damage it can do to the business regardless of who is right.  Today consumers have many outlets to express their side of a problem and they can do huge damage.  It isn’t fair to the business that has relatively little chance to defend such an attack.  But regardless of fairness, this example proves the importance of not getting “crosswise” with a customer.

Your tax bill says a lot

Most of us received our property tax bill during the past few days.  Take time and read it.  The front page does a great job explaining where government is working and where it is not.  Look at the last column where it gives a percentage increase or decrease and then compare that to what you think how that government entity is performing.  My bill shows a 40 % increase for Wickenburg Unified School District. I question if they are doing any better.  In my case the increase amounted to a whopping $280.  The West-Mec increase was 33%, but that amounted to very little money.  The Town of Wickenburg showed a 1% decrease with most of the other increases around 3% or so. 

Why isn’t Wickenburg large enough for a shoe store, but it has a mandolin store?

The answer is simple.  A shoe store relies on local traffic for its market.  The Mandolin store does 80% or more of its business over the Internet.  Stop by and visit Brian or Dennis at the Mandolin store on West Wickenburg Way.  Dennis had the business in rural Ohio and moved it to Wickenburg.  He is a creative businessman doing a great job marketing to a very small and unique group of customers.  People who want his product will buy on-line, over the phone, or travel many hundreds of miles to feel, hold, and play his instruments.  Trust me, he will bring a lot of people into Wickenburg to shop at his store.  Other creative business people will make friends with Dennis, capitalize on his success, and figure out a way to get those new Wickenburg visitors into their businesses. 

Why is everyone being "offended?"

I must admit that this has only a small connection to Wickenburg business, but I just have to vent in a unique way.  This morning a happened to read another blog where the writer claimed to have been “offended” because someone had written a piece in a technical trade magazine that talked about Jesus.  For that reason the person cancelled the magazine subscription saying that religion should not have been put in that publication.  Clearly we have become a nation of people being offended – offended at just about everything! 

Years ago my mother (rest her soul) told a cute joke that will always stick in memory.  It goes like this:

On a large college campus there was a fraternity house across the street from a sorority house. As young men will often do, the guys in the fraternity house were often careless forgetting to pull the shades when undressing.  Being offended by this display of public nudity, the women sent the following letter:

“Dear men of the Sigma Nu house.  The evening course in male anatomy is not appreciated, please discontinue. Respectively, Women of the Tri Delt House”

Upon reading the note, the men drafted a nice reply: 

“Dear ladies of the Tri Delt House.  The course in male human anatomy which you mentioned is not a required one at this university.  Respectively, the men at the Sigma Nu house.”

Productivity

One of the most important aspects of any organization is its productivity.  That can be defined by the relationship between its inputs and its outputs.  If a company is able to produce more widgets with less inputs (raw materials, labor, capital) than it would be considered more productive.  Generally competition forces the organization to be more productive with the reward being more profit.  Unfortunately the lack of competition does not force productivity which is why productivity is generally poor in government, health care, and public education.

The best way to improve productivity is to measure it and then track it.  In a retail store an owner might track salaries verses sales by striking a ratio of salaries divided by sales to get a percentage. Then follow that percentage over a few quarters or years and the owner will know if productivity is increasing or decreasing.  Each and every organization needs to watch productivity or it will decrease costing the firm profits or increasing costs. Business owners understand this, but government, health care, and education haven’t figured it out yet which is why the costs of those sectors of our economy are increasing several times the rate of inflation.  

Food for thought

My son-in-law just sent this to me.  It is well worth the read and will relate to a post I will shortly do on productivity.

A Japanese company (

Toyota

) and an American company (General Motors)
decided to have a canoe race on the

Missouri River

.  Both teams practiced
long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the
reason for the crushing defeat.  A management team made up of senior
management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person
steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person
rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting
company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while
not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another
loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally
reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and
1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person
rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder.  It was called the
'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens
for the rower.  There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and
other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment.  The money saved was
distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing
team was out-sourced to

India

.

Sadly, The End.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's something else to think about:

Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the
US, claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA

has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
inside the

US

.

The last quarter' results:

TOYOTA

makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WASN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY

Webb Center Tickets on sale

Wickenburg’s own Del E Webb Center for the Performing Arts has its 2007-2008 season now on sale.  This year, as in the past, several if not most of the shows will sell out.  Why?  Simply because they offer fabulous entertainment that is normally only available in the “big city.”  More importantly, they are offering the seats at prices as much as half what one would pay in the big city.  They will have shows, cool jazz (my favorite), western, classical, and a lot of other great stuff.  Check out their website, www.delewebbcenter.org/ or call their box office.  By the way, they moved their offices from the High School campus to the second floor of Meridian Bank.  I wonder if Cathy got the former bank president’s office.  That would be slick and well deserved. 

Wikinomics, now wikipolitics?

For those who may not know, Wikipedia is the on-line encyclopedia that is completed by the reader.  Yes, the consumers themselves are helping produce the product.  Actually the idea of the consumer assisting in the preparation, distribution, or otherwise involved with a product or service is a rapidly growing business trend.  The book Wiknomics is an eye-opener about the trend and a must read for those interesting in business trends.

Now, check out www.unity08.com.  This is a group of individuals who want to start a third political party totally by and for the people.  A person joins, becomes a delegate, and then is able to help shape the platform and nominate the candidates.  It is taking politics to the people through technology.  It will be interesting to watch.

Music

Recently I was in a business that was being managed by a teenager.  He was playing what I think would be called hip-hop or rap.  The business catered to all ages.  Clearly the music was for the benefit of the employee rather than the customer.  Obviously, this is a clear mistake in customer service.