No. 11 November 2011

Today, on the news, I saw that a new international study says I shouldn’t be taking multi-vitamins.  This week, I also read that the US Preventive Services Task Force Board believes that I shouldn’t have a PSA screening test or worry about prostate cancer.  This same board recommended recently that women shouldn’t get mammograms.

Is the world going nuts?  Pardon me for getting emotional…but if my family had not taken mammograms and PSA tests, our cousins, and our children and grandchildren would be visiting our graves instead of visiting us in our homes.  So excuse me but this is really personal.  I’ll go when it’s my time and the good Lord wants me, but otherwise if I have a choice to extend my life, there’s no doubt what my decision will be every time.  Hopefully, you’ll make good decisions too, take your tests, stay informed and life a long life. 

In October 2011 Outdoor Power Equipment magazine, I quoted a lot of opinions about the folly of what’s going on in Washington, DC and the antics of our elected leaders.  We all share that pain.  Recently I came across this quote by Mark Twain that summed up his feelings about Congress back in his day: "There is no distinctly native American criminal class - except Congress."  I call that “humor with a punch.”

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention the passing of Steve Jobs.  You know who he was.  You know how he impacted our lives. 

When you heard about his passing, did you experience the same feelings I did?  Sadness?  An empty spot in your heart for an iconic businessman you admired and trusted?  A sense of losing a friend --  one of the “good guys?” 

Search on the Internet for a transcript of the commencement speech he gave at Stanford University in 2005 and read it carefully; especially the part about following your heart and intuition when you know it’s absolutely the right thing to do, even when others may think differently.    

Thank you, Steve for adding wonder and joy to our lives.  We’ll all miss you.

One of the best business Blogs on the Internet is called “All Things Workplace” (www.allthingsworkplace.com) by Steve Roesler.   Often powerful and filled with great ideas, “All Things Workplace” is a not-to-miss regular read for me.  I want to share with you Steve Roesler’s Ten Life Lessons from Business” from a post on Sept. 25, 2011.   There’s not enough room in this column for me to comment on each, but you can spend a little time reading and thinking about them.  It’s worth it.

(1)   You can be in charge, but you're never in control.

(2)   If you have a PowerPoint slide with a graph whose curve always points upward, you're lying. Delete it.

(3)   If you look at people through your own eyes, you'll judge them for who you think they are. If you look at them through God's eyes, you'll see them for who they can become.

(4)   You can't be good at who you are until you stop trying to be all the things you are not.

(5)   Charge what you are worth. If you don't, you'll begin to resent your employer or client, even though you decided to take the assignment.

(6)   You can't control circumstances. You can control your response to them. Those who learn to respond thoughtfully and peacefully are the ones who are accorded trust and power.

(7)   Overt displays of position power show weakness.  Genuine humility shows power.

(8)   All groups aren't "teams". Often they are just collections of people who work really, really well together. Leave them alone.

(9)   No one can know how to be an effective leader until they've toiled as a dedicated follower.

(10) Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge applied with discernment.

For your homework assignment, pick a couple of Steve Roesler’s business life lessons you really liked when you read them.  Write them down, put them on your desk and read and think about them every morning for the next few days when you come to work.  Try it.  You may find your fellow employees change in very positive ways.

No. 10 October 2011

How’s business?  Most of our authorized sales and service dealers are doing okay, but not great.  Unit sales continue to lag and I suspect that’s true in all sales channels.  Service continues to “carry the day” for many service centers.  Rain from hurricanes is helping saturate the ground in the east as fall approaches, but there appears to be no relief in sight for Texas.  I continue to contend that consumers will remain pessimistic until we can put more people back to work, people with problem mortgages get some real relief, and Congress quits acting like a circus with no ringmaster!

I hope you and I live long enough to see all that come about.  But I’m not sure I’d bet a lot of money on that happening.

The consensus view of economists is that, while government efforts to stimulate demand kept things from getting worse, they still haven’t been effective enough in making things better.  I think we all figured that out long ago!

Summing up my feelings most succinctly is the cover story in the Sept. 5, 2011 issue of Fortune magazine.  It’s entitled “American Idiots…How Washington Is Destroying the Economy…and What We Can Do to Fix It.”  The story was written by long-time business writer Allan Sloan.

One highlighted statement Sloan states…”If I sound angry, it’s because I am.  Think of me as an angry moderate who’s finally fed up with the lunacy and incompetence of our alleged national leaders—and with people stirring up trouble from which they hope to benefit politically or financially.”

My own opinion is that what’s going on now in Washington is the worst I’ve ever seen and I’ve been around a long time.  If you’re fed up like I am, then tell your representative or Senator just that; you’re fed up and it’s time for those in Washington to regain their senses, quite worrying about how they’re going to get re-elected and do the right thing for the American people.  Here is the Web link with the addresses you need to express your own frustration or opinion:  www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Using social media in your business is a hot topic these days.  I saw this definition of the difference in email marketing and social media marketing that Martin Lieberman, the managing editor at Constant Contact, used in a recent talk.  He said, “You use email to communicate with your current customers and social media to reach new ones.”  That puts the difference between the two in simple meaningful terms.  If you’re reaching out to your current or potential retail customers, you should be using both as marketing tools.

A university professor began reflecting on the people who had a positive impact on his life.  In particular he remembered a schoolteacher who had gone out of her way to instill in him a love of poetry.  He hadn't seen or spoken to her in many years, but he located her address and sent her a letter of thanks.  A short time later, he received this reply:

"My dear Willie, I cannot tell you how much your note meant to me.  I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and, like the last leaf of autumn, lingering behind.  You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received.  It came on a blue-cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has in many years."

The teacher's note brought the professor to tears -- and then he began searching for others who'd shaped his life, just to say thanks.

If only more people held onto gratitude the way they hold a grudge!

None of us got to where we are alone.  Whether the assistance we received was obvious or subtle, acknowledging someone's help is a big part of understanding the importance of saying thank you.

It's more than just good manners.  Saying thank you -- and meaning it -- is never a bad idea.  It appeals to a basic human need to be appreciated.  It sets the stage for the next pleasant encounter.  And it helps keep in perspective the importance of receiving and giving help.  Why don’t you give it a try?

There was a recent opinion piece by Ron Kaufman in Bloomberg Businessweek about the importance of a service culture in your business.  A couple of points he made really “struck home” with me. 

One was “Service isn’t a department.  It’s a mindset.”   The second great thought was:  “When it comes to service, there’s never a point when you can’t improve, and there’s never a day when your customers won’t appreciate it.”   We should think about these two excellent points about service every time we unlock the front door of our business to begin another work day.

No. 9 September 2011

What a crazy year 2011 has been.  But I suppose that makes it normal.  When I see an uptick in outdoor power equipment parts and accessory sales, or I see or read about a substantial rain storm somewhere, and start feeling positive, I know I can count on a television or radio, economic or political newscast to make me feel “blue” again.

But wait a minute. Enough complaining.  What about all the good things happening to us and our businesses? Can’t we focus on that for a while instead of the negative? Take a pen and write down five positive things about a family member, a terrific employee (or something “neat” that happened at your business) or a friend who is always there for you. We focus so much on what is not good in our lives that we tend to ignore all the good things going on around us.

I truly believe that every morning when we wake up, we get to choose what kind of person we will be that day (i.e. How we will approach life). Will we see the glass half full or half empty? Will we choose to be unhappy and grumpy, or will we choose to be positive and upbeat? Our decision affects everyone around us and influences how they face their own challenges and opportunities.

I made a decision many, many years ago that I would not let unhappy people make me unhappy too.Unhappy people go through life trying to make everyone around them as miserable as they are. You and I can be foils to that type of person who receives pleasure from making us miserable. Don’t let them. Focus on the good and positive. Ignore their complaining and ranting. I suppose we might say, “Ruin their day” by smiling, being positive, and focusing on making the good things happening around you even better. It’s simple. And it works.

Although I wasn’t a close friend, I did get to spend some one-on-one time over the years with Jay Peck, president of Subaru Industrial Power Products, usually at dinner or in a business meeting. After a brief battle with cancer, Jay passed away on August 10. It’s never easy to lose a family member or business acquaintance so quickly and unexpectedly, especially someone you admired and respected. Jay’s family, his friends and his industry will miss him greatly.

Want to be a better person, boss, employer, dad, mother or friend, and seem composed and smarter too? Of course you do. So try doing some of these things: Do one thing at a time. Know the problem.  Learn to listen. Learn to ask questions. Distinguish sense from nonsense. Accept change as inevitable. Admit mistakes. Say it simple. Be calm. And don’t forget to smile, smile, and smile some more. Just do it.

Did you see where Google bought the phone manufacturing arm of Motorola for $12.5 billion? That’s certainly not “chump change,” is it? The Motorola division it actually bought is called Motorola Mobility. But some people are suggesting that it be called “Googorola.” Seems only appropriate, doesn’t it?

You may have a lot of passion about making your business a success. But you have to remember passion is not the key to business success. Building a successful business requires a lot more than just passion.  Passion gives you the energy and drive to get you through the challenges you face every day. But then it takes commitment and dedication to reach the next level.

Business success depends on practicing the fundamentals daily, keeping your eye on the goal, being willing to be coached, and maintaining a strong and committed work ethic. There are lots of passionate people in the world who never achieve their goals. Building a business is plain old hard work. And just like a great athlete, if you don’t have the discipline to get up and go after it every single day, then you’re not going to be successful. Do you have what it takes?

I found the following anonymous quote on the Internet and wanted to share it with you:

“Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course.

“Each of us has such a bank. Its name is time.

“Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night, it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

“Each day, it opens a new account for you. Each night, it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against ‘tomorrow.’ You must live in the present on today’s deposits. You must invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success.

“The clock is running. Make the most of today.”

No. 8 August 2011

One thing that many businesses fail to realize is: Price has very little to do with cost. Your customers will buy something if they feel it provides sufficient value for the price. If they do not feel it provides sufficient value, they will not.  Period.  How much it cost you to produce whatever it is you sell is not the customer’s problem; your customers do not owe you a profit, or even a “fair price.” Your job, as a business owner, is to figure out how much your customers think your product or service is worth, and charge that amount. No more, no less. (Easier said than done, I know.)

Salespeople mean well, but their job is to sell more product. It is the boss’s job to make sure the company makes money.

Price can be a very effective way to control volume. How are some lawyers and house painters able to charge double what other people charge? They have more customers than they can personally handle, so it is profitable for them to charge more and lose some business — rather than lose business by being overwhelmed.

Pricing is as important as any business decision, but frequently it is treated as if it were no decision at all.

Business owners just keep doing whatever they have always done, for better or worse. They do this because they fear they will — as they’ve been told a thousand times — price themselves out of the market.

No one ever warns them not to underprice themselves out of business. But I think that happens far more often.

Who makes the best negotiators? Herb Cohen, in his book You Can Negotiate Anything, defined the best negotiators as those people who get what they want. And he suggests that the people who seem to get what they want the most are…children. He goes on to say, “Children are little people in a big person’s world. They are people without formal authority or power, yet they seem to get what they want.”

Cohen suggests several reasons why little people do so well. “Number one, they aim high,” he says. “They understand that if you expect more, you get more.

“Second, they recognize that ‘no’ is an opening bargaining position... ‘No’ is not final. It means that at this particular moment in time, the other side looks at this negatively, which is a common reaction when someone hears an idea for the first time.

“Three, they get in the habit of forming coalitions. Who do kids form coalitions with? Their grandparents. Appealing to their grandparents is easy, because they have a common enemy, the parents.”

Cohen also says, “Kids are good negotiators because they are naïve. They say things like ‘I don’t know. I don’t understand. Help me.’ And that works.”

“Last of all,” Cohen says, “kids tend to be tenacious and persistent. They wear you down. So be persistent, repeat your point over and over again. Wear the other side down.”

Cohen suggests, “If you do some of these things, you become much more effective, you become a much better negotiator, and you make things happen.”

So maybe we should all give it a try. But don’t try it out on your wife. Those negotiations are the only ones you’re generally better off losing.

Twitter was valued at $7 billion in early July 2011 for an upcoming IPO. By my calculations, that is $1 for every hour of time it has wasted.

Dan Reynolds is a cartoonist “extraordinaire” whose work you’ve probably seen more often than you realize in popular magazines and on the Internet. One cartoon you might remember because of your relationship to the OPE industry features a cow driving a riding mower and cutting grass, with the discharge chute curved up high so that the grass shoots directly into the cow’s mouth! It’s a classic!

I’ve been following Reynolds’ work for many years. He recently released a gem. A fly is walking a tight rope, and his safety net below is a spider’s web. Talk about pressure!  It’s a “laugh outloud” cartoon and reprints of this cartoon and others are available at www.reynoldsunwrapped.com/index.htm.  No, I don’t receive a commission. I’m just sharing information about one of the world’s best cartoonists and coincidentally an all-around great guy too.

One of our industry’s outstanding personalities is Stan Crader, the owner of Crader Distributing, a long-time Stihl distributor and member of the Outdoor Power Equipment and Engine Service Association (OPEESA). Crader is also an outstanding author and has published two books, The Bridge and Paperboy, in 2007 and 2010, respectively.

Both books are available on Amazon.com, both are great reads, and right now is the perfect time to buy copies of each, as Crader and his wife Debbie recently announced they are donating all of their royalties from book sales in 2011 to the tornado recovery efforts in Joplin, Mo. You’ll feel good about helping with tornado relief efforts, and you’ll have a couple of good books to read on vacation this summer. You can’t beat that.

No. 7 July 2011

Husqvarna’s Orangeburg, SC, manufacturing plant contains more than 1 million square feet of production and distribution space producing consistently high quality units and parts.  This plant typically produces riding lawn tractors, tillers and snow throwers primarily for the North American market. 

But when Husqvarna’s Beatrice, Neb. factory was closed and its production assimilated into the Orangeburg plant along with introducing an ambitious number of new product launches, production problems (“an increase in material complexity” Husqvarna stated) resulted in lower production, fewer shipments and higher costs.  Even you and I can figure out that a result like that translates into unhappy retailers, distributors and dealers.

Knowing the quality of current Husqvarna leadership corporately and at their production facilities, their customers understood that it would just be a matter of time before changes in production processes would pay off with reduced labor costs and on-time delivery.  And it has.  There is finally “light at the end of the tunnel.”

While sales have been affected and customers upset, improvements and investments in processes and facilities will result in a stronger and brighter future for Husqvarna and its customers.  And that’s good for all of its customers and our industry.

The Southern Baptists recently held their annual convention in Phoenix, AZ at which they passed a resolution affirming the literal existence of “Hell.”  I hope that knowledge doesn’t upset your day!  Perhaps you still have time to “change your ways?”  A lot of people in the OPE business are already thinking this particular business year has a head start on the journey there, if you catch my “drift.”

In Tim Harford’s new book Adapt, he argues that success always starts with failure. That is an interesting concept. 

We all know about Johannes Gutenburg, his moveable-type printing press and Gutenburg Bibles.  But did you know the Bible bankrupted him?  Gutenburg was a genius, but not much of a businessman.  He borrowed money to print the Bible, the most popular book of all time.  He ran into debt.  He got into an argument with his business partner.  The lender sued.  His printing presses were confiscated.  Who was successful with Gutenburg’s revolutionary printing press?  Other printers were, but not Gutenburg.  The printing business was revolutionized by his printing press.  Yet Gutenburg became a bankrupt businessman.

There was another business created by Frank Woolworth, a sort of retail Gutenburg.  Mr. Woolworth had a retail innovation.  His retail empire of Woolworth stores became one of the largest retailers in the world.  By 1997, Woolworth’s was closing its last US store.  But his ideas became the basis for chains like Wal-Mart and other big box stores.  Innovation replaces old ideas with new ideas.  The old way of doing things gets wiped out.  And that’s how success builds on failure.  It’s a selection strongly in favor of the ideas that are working.  “You have to get rid of these old ideas and old firms and replace them with something better,” Harford says.  “Otherwise you don’t get economic growth.”  Do you believe that the foundation of great success can begin with someone else’s failure? 

The following service flow chart has been around for some time, but I always chuckle when I see it.  You will too.

 John Quincy Adam’s said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”  That statement is definitely easier to say than to do.  But think of the positive impact you could have if you could inspire others to that extent.  You would never be forgotten.

No. 6 June 2011

Helloooooooooo, Spring?  Are you there?  Do you know it’s June already?  Good grief, it’s past the beginning of hurricane season and you’re nowhere to be seen.  You certainly picked a terrible time to hide.  We thought you arrived in March, but you had us fooled.  Then April came along and the weather turned wet and very cool again.  You realize you’ve really messed up OPE retailers’ and manufacturers’ visions of a great OPE spring selling season they thought had begun in March?  Now large inventories of OPE equipment can be found at all levels of the sales channel.  I suppose we’ll just give up on you, Spring, and look for your cousin “Summer.”  You see, we’ve found Summer to always be a whole lot more reliable than you.  So we’re all planning on selling lots of OPE equipment and service during the Summer season to meet what we hope is lots of pent-up demand.

By the way, Spring, please make sure your cousin Fall is here on time for a change.  We could use a nice surprise.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, gives a little speech to employees when they're promoted to Vice President at Apple, according to Adam Lashinsky in a recent and very interesting Fortune magazine article entitled “Inside Apple."

“Jobs tells a newly promoted VP that if the garbage in his (Job’s) office is not being emptied regularly for some reason, he would ask the janitor what the problem is. The janitor would reasonably respond by saying, ‘Well, the lock on the door was changed, and I couldn't get a key.’”  Though irritated, Jobs knows this is an understandable excuse for why the janitor couldn't do his job. As a janitor, he's allowed to have excuses.  "When you're the janitor, reasons matter," Jobs tells newly minted VP’s. 

"Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering," says Jobs.  “The Rubicon is crossed when you become a VP.   In other words, you have no excuses for failures. You are now responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn't matter what you say.” 

Being a successful boss or manager does have its responsibilities and its rewards for success.  And as Jobs states, “there are real consequences for not being successful at higher levels of management.”  I guess we could call it “paying the piper.”  If you want to “play” you have to be willing to accept those consequences.  Are you?

There was a recent front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle, about a female humpback whale who became entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, and torso, including a line tugging in her mouth. 

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the San Francisco Bay) and radioed an environmental group for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.

She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around - she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

The best part of this story is that it is true!

Harvey MacKay tells recent college graduates as they start to learn the realities of the business world that “they will have to pay their dues.”  He also advises them that “You can't start at the top and work your way up.”  That would be a very hard and very short “trip.

The next time you’re thanking God for all you blessings, say a prayer for all those affected by tornado’s in the southeast and Midwestern United States.  They need your prayers and your support.  It very easily could have been you and me.

No. 5 May 2011

A few things happen consistently every year in the outdoor power equipment industry.  One is that the weather is never the same - month by month or season by season - any two years in a row.  Another is that the week the spring, fall or winter season begins and the week each of those seasons end is never the same any two years in a row.  Inconsistency is the constant.  Now build your business plan around that knowledge.

Next tell your banker that you're just like a farmer: if it rains business will be good; if it doesn't rain business will probably be bad.  And tell your banker that if the economy is booming you may do well, but if the economy is bad your service work may go crazy and you may do even better.  Then, ask your banker for a loan.  We should be pretty good at educating bankers about our industry after a while, shouldn’t we?

Mark Twain once said "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."  Deep down inside, you and I value safety and security, but the best life experiences come when we drop those notions and go after what we truly want, whether it feels safe or not.  In the OPE industry, you and I have to be calculated risk takers.  We work hard and take many risks, so that we can be successful today, because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Speaking of “not knowing what tomorrow will bring,” if you’re a service center performing in-and-out-of-warranty OPE service for the big multiple-store retailers, do you think the service model will change this summer?.  The giant mass retailers in the home improvement market place are never satisfied with the current state of OPE service.  And that’s okay.  But in their quest to improve their customer’s experience, and since buyers and vice presidents get moved up or out regularly, they consistently return to variations of past service models that ended in failure and dissatisfaction.   And they don’t even remember they already tried something similar many years earlier.  How do I know?  Because I’ve seen it happen over and over again since the early 1970’s and 1980’s.  Just when you thought you’d seen it all, and multiple reiterations too…the retailers in their infinite wisdom, try something new (to them).  So if changes to the mass retail service model do occur this year, hang on to your hat and be prepared to be buffeted about.  And know that in the end they won’t be satisfied with what’s “new.”   And that it will be different in another two years.

Why do I even mention this?  Because the independent authorized service center is the one that always gets yanked around and suffers during these trials of new service models.  The retailers and even the manufacturers can afford to invest large amounts to experiment with service models.  Authorized service centers don’t have the same resources and thus have more at risk if they choose to participate and the model is short lived. 

Robert Brokamp, a certified financial planner and a contributor to The Motley Fool, said this recently about college costs:  “College is a big, fat, hairy rip-off!  College costs too much, it saddles young people with too much debt, and it forces students to ‘learn’ things they’ll soon forget – and it won’t matter because it wouldn’t help them further their careers anyhow.”

We know today that students are graduating from college with $80,000 to $200,000 in debt, and can’t find a good job.  Brokamp mentioned this alarming statistic:  “Do you know that the value of all student loans now exceeds all credit card debt?”  And here’s are a few more: “Since 1978, the cost of living has gone up three-fold.  Medical costs, much to the horror of everyone in Congress, has gone up six-fold.  And college education has gone up a whopping tenfold.”  Brokamp added, “College costs lack the normal market-based price controls.  If you’re told you need something, and someone is willing to lend you the money to get it, and you’re told it’s a great ‘investment,’ then you’ll do it, regardless of price.  I have to feel sorry for those youngsters leaving college saddled with huge debts.  It’s a telling commentary on our culture.

A man went to see a doctor after feeling out-of-sorts for a month.  "Have you been treated by anyone else?" asked the doc.  “No sir,” the man said, “but I did go see a pharmacist.”  The doctor scolded him for seeking a layperson’s advice.  “What kind of idiotic advice did he give you?”

The man thought for a minute.  "He told me I should come and see you." 

No. 4 April 2011

In his recent blog about effectively bringing about change in a business, Art Petty suggests that respecting the current culture will bring about greater success and employee support versus attacking the culture – an act that Petty believes usually proves fatal.

A new leader hired from outside the organization often discovers the biggest challenge is how to cope with the existing culture.  Often, a new leader’s mandate “from those that sign their checks is radical cultural change, and their instinct it to begin ‘wrestling the beast’ from the start.  Unfortunately, they cannot change the culture on their own, and in most cases, they cannot do it simply by trading out the leadership (very new leader’s knee-jerk reaction).”

Petty recommends, “If change is in order, you had best learn the culture, find ways to show your genuine respect for the culture, and captivate the minds and hearts of those inside the culture that are interested in creating a new day (i.e. those that see change as positive).  You might have to break some eggs along the way, but a least you will have a team (your employees) helping you cook and clean as you go.”

I’ve always called this “buy-in” from employees and managers.  You can replace supervisors and leaders with new people forever, but that by itself is not a solution for affecting change in your business.  Once you have “buy-in” from your employees – because you’ve done a good job of communicating how changes will good for them and the success of the business – your job becomes easier and your odds for success increase exponentially.

If your do a poor job of communicating and don’t have “buy-in” from your employees, every change will be fought “tooth and nail” by some team members, efficiency will decline rapidly, costs will go up, and roadblocks will appear in formally effective processes.  Trust me – you don’t want to ever let this happen in your business.  While you’ll easily remember the lessons you learned while “attending” what my Dad called “the school of hard knocks,” the experience will be very painful.

Here’s a quote I really like about “climbing the ladder of success” from Dawn, a character in the United Kingdom TV show The Office (where the idea for the U>S> version of the show was derived).  Dawn said, “It is better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb, than halfway up one you don’t.”  Now that’s brilliant, don’t you think?

Reading Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders is always a delight.  I’d like to share a few Buffet quotes from his recent February letter.

• “Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America.  Commentators today often talk of ‘great uncertainty.’  But think back, for example to December 6, 1941; October 18, 1987; and September 10, 2001.  No matter how serene today may be, tomorrow is always uncertain.”

• “Preparing for the future is always a good idea because the future is always uncertain.  You don’t know what tomorrow will be like.  Don’t let that reality fool you.  Throughout my lifetime, politicians and pundits have constantly moaned about terrifying problems facing America.  Yet our citizens now live an astonishing six times better than when I was born.  The prophets of doom have overlooked the all-important factor that is certain: Human potential is far from exhausted and the American system for unleashing that potential – a system that has worked wonders for over two centuries despite frequent interruptions for recessions and even a Civil War  - remains alive and effective.”

• “We are not natively smarter than we were when our country was founded, nor do we work harder.  But look around you and you will see a world beyond the dreams of any colonial citizen.  Now, as in 1776, 1861, 1932 and 1941, America’s best days lie ahead.”

The previous four sentences deserve to be re-read.  Mr. Buffett is talking about you and me and the potential within us to make a difference in the world in which we live.  It’s always been up to us.

No. 3 March 2011

Harvey Mackay recently wrote a terrific article on customer service in the age of the Internet on his blog at www.harveymackay.com. He suggested that even in the age of the Internet, the customer may not always be right, but they are still always the customer. 

He suggests customer service has taken on a whole new meaning with the rise of Web sites like Angie’s List and Yelp, which provide unfiltered reviews of services and products.

Have you Googled your company lately to see what’s being said about it on the Internet?  Or have you looked on Facebook or YouTube for comments on your company?  Never underestimate the power of YouTube and Facebook groups and their potential effect on your business.

 When was the last time you undertook a top-to-bottom evaluation of your company?  Examine your return policies, the authority given to your employees who deal directly with the public, your follow-up process after a sale or service, and even more importantly, after an issue has been resolved to make sure the customer is satisfied with the outcome. Have you ever surveyed your customers and given them a chance to rate your service. It’s an inexpensive way for you to learn about ways to improve your customer service and your business’s image in your community.

Excellent customer service is paramount to your success, even in the age of the Internet.

I love the following quote by the great American poet Robert Frost: “The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment it gets up in the morning and doesn’t stop until it gets to the office.” I just can’t figure out whose brain he’s referring to.

I just spent a week or so in a part of the United States where the snow on the ground was two- to five-feet deep, and had been that way for months. I flew home this past weekend, and I was never so glad to see grass, even if it was brown. At least it wasn’t white.

But from the misery and beauty of deep snow comes the sweet sale of snow throwers by the dozen! I hope you and your business benefited greatly from all the falling snow and cold weather in your part of the country.

I did learn a few things about driving where the snowfall is extremely heavy and never melts in the winter. First, the roads were spotless. Very narrow lanes for sure, but absolutely spotless. The plowed or thrown snow, along all the roads and in all the yards, was higher than my SUV. I would pull up to a residential intersection and couldn’t see past the snow wall in either direction. I could create the same effect in my town by pulling up to an intersection, closing my eyes, and then slowly begin pulling out into traffic. Yikes!  Either way, it makes driving really interesting for an old southern redneck used to seeing sand dunes, not snow dunes!

Now that I’m home again, the high temperature today will be in the low 70s.  And I won’t be worrying about snowbanks taller than my car.

Many U.S. companies are now choosing to bring back production and jobs previously sent to China, Mexico and other low cost production locations. The cost of operations in China, particularly wages, is rising dramatically while shipping costs have surged. Shoddy products and the theft of intellectual property are two additional growing problems. Often, a company has to give up its most sensitive trade and technological secrets in order to get in the Chinese door. Then, once a company sets up shop in China, it soon sees products nearly identical to its own, marketed by Chinese competitors. Meanwhile, drug cartel violence across Mexico has led hundreds of American firms to reconsider doing business south of the border.

While many of the jobs moved overseas will never return, I’ve read that over 90 percent of manufacturers report having difficulty in finding skilled production workers. Plus, with the average U.S. manufacturing worker being 50 years old, a large share of the manufacturing workforce will retire sooner rather than later. It’s not a pretty picture.

Tony Dungy, the former NFL coach, had a great line about success in his book Quiet Strength: “The truth is that most people have a better chance to be successful by effort than by natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but the typical person doesn’t, choosing to do only enough to get by.”

The thing that separates the great from the average isn’t God-given talent most of the time. It’s effort. I like to think of it this way: If Michael Jordan’s basketball talents were handed to him on a silver platter, why did he get cut from his eighth-grade basketball team?

Are you doing just enough to get by? If that’s all the effort you are expending, don’t expect much in the way of success or rewards or admiration. Don’t forget the old adage: The harder you work, the luckier you become!  It’s never been truer.

No. 2 February 2011

I recently read a story that says a lot about how we live our lives today.  A man gallops down the road on a runaway horse.  He passes a friend who yells, “Where are you going?”  Clinging to the horse’s mane, the rider shouts back: “I don’t know!   Ask the horse!”

Do you feel like that rider frantically clinging to the runaway horse?  Do you know where your “horse” is taking you in 2011?  It’s not too late to gain some control over where you want to end up in your business or personal life this year.  No I’m not talking about creating a formal business plan.  But I am suggesting you take some time to write down expectations and goals for 2011 for you and your business.  I’m a big believer in setting goals or expectations so there is never any doubt about desired results.  With goals, you have something to measure as you journey to reach them.  What better way to ensure success.

Okay, who took the month of January off my 2011 calendar?  I didn’t even get a chance to look at January before it disappeared. It’s not fair!   I want January back…but only the days it didn’t snow.

I took the time recently to attend a dealer presentation by Bob Clements.  If you want to revolutionize the way your dealership operate and improve your processes and your profitability, then you too need to attend a Bob Clements Webinar or half- or full-day presentation.  Believe me that the money you spend to listen to Bob will be some of the best money you ever spend to improve your business and ensure its success and longevity.

You can read Bob Clement’s articles in OPE magazine. And I highly recommend you do.  But the impact of seeing him in person is huge, as is the impact Bob’s wisdom will have on your business if you follow his simple but effective methods for running and measuring your service and parts department processes. 

When Bob says the reason you are in business is not to provide great customer service, but rather to make “obscene amounts of money,” you know you have come to the right meeting.  His ideas will revolutionize your business; I can’t say it any stronger than that.  Any money you invest in learning Bob’s methods, will be repaid back to you in additional profits, many times over.  Don’t believe me?   Go read about Bob at www.bobclements.com.  I am a “true believer” now.  Once you hear him speak, you will be too.

Marc Lesser, in his book titled Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less, offered the following suggestions for achieving balance in your life.  

1) “Accept your impermanence.  The fact is life is short and we all die.  Knowing this helps us stay focused on what’s important.  “If you weren’t so distracted by the busyness of your life, what is it you would want to accomplish?  Whatever it is, do it now – with as much grace, intensity, and sense of ease as you can muster.  Everything changes, so don’t let change paralyze you.  Instead, use it to help you focus on what’s important.” 

2)  “Your entire life is borrowed time.  Imagine for a moment, that you have died and now have a chance to return to this life.  What would you do differently?” 

3)  “Don’t let technology control you (or your children).  Limit email checks; let the answering machine take phone calls; reduce your children’s computer game time.  (Good luck with this.)” 

4) Finally, create your own stress reduction toolkit.  Find a routine that relaxes you that you can use daily wherever you are. 

I walked out of the house a few mornings ago, the snow had melted, and birds were singing.  It was really very scary!  It’s still winter, but it felt for a few moments that spring had accidently arrived early.  I love delusions of spring!  There’s no cure for it, thank goodness.  Bring it on!  We’re all ready.

No. 1 January 2011

A recent newspaper headline stated that “Snowstorms Bring Winners and Losers.” How true that is. The winners are sellers of snow throwers, snow plowing equipment, sand and salt as well as landscapers who push snow in the offseason. The losers include cities, businesses, and landlords whose budgets are strained by the cost of all that snow to plow -- and the locals dealing with messy streets, rutted alleys, and missing mail deliveries.

The other headline currently catching the attention of the OPE industry is E15, which is gasoline with an ethanol content of 15 percent. The following statement presents a fair picture of the situation: “Tools such as trimmers, mowers and blowers generally use engine technologies long abandoned by carmakers such as air cooling, carburetion and, often, two-cycle engines fueled by an oil-gas mix. Ethanol blends cause engines to run leaner and hotter – modern auto engines can adjust for that; lawn mowers and chain saws cannot.”

Critics of E15 say “A 15 percent ethanol blend would shorten engine life and make equipment more prone to fuel leaks and fire hazards. Apart from causing engines to run hotter, ethanol eats away at rubber components. Ethanol also absorbs water and makes fuel unstable and destructive to engines when seasonable equipment is stored for months on end.”

Get ready to do more explaining to your customers, as they unhappily bring in equipment for repair more often than ever before. The impact on our businesses could be huge – negative and positive.

Dan McCarthy, whose “Great Leadership” Blog is one of my favorites, touched on a management maxim that he disagrees with and one that I have no great love for either. You often hear, “There is no such thing as a poor performer, there are only poor processes” or “Don’t blame the person, fix the process.”

McCarthy says, “I’m sorry, but does anyone other than those that teach and sell this stuff, and maybe criminal defense attorneys, really believe this?

“One of the most important lesson’s I’ve ever learned in leadership development is from Jim Collins, author of ‘Good to Great’ – you start with getting the right people on the bus. Everything else follows, i.e. strategy, structure, processes and training. Without the right people – great ‘A Players’ - the rest is doomed to failure. The same is true in talent management – selection trumps training every time. No amount of training will overcome a poor selection decision.

“It makes me crazy when an organization or team will spend hundreds of hours in meetings covering walls with post-it notes in order to design idiot-proof ‘perfect processes’, when what they really should have done is just remove the one or two idiots and turn the rest of their employees loose. It’s a cowardly way to avoid dealing with performance issues at the expense of everyone else.”

McCarthy concludes with this thought, “The key to success is to hire and develop great employees (and managers) – then empower them to deliver extraordinary results. Yes, the lack of clearly defined processes and roles may trip them up now and then – but you need to trust them that they’ll figure out a way – they always do. I’ll take a team full of A players over a perfect process anytime.”

I’m looking forward to reading the profiles of the selected winners for “Most Influential People in the Green Industry” that you’ll find in the January 2011 issue of Outdoor Power Equipment. I recognize some friends on that list like Fred Whyte, president of Stihl Inc. or Ed Nelson, president of Rotary Mower, or the retired Dane Scag, who is always a treat to be around, or Jim Starmer, executive VP at Dixie Sales.

You see, that’s the wonderful thing about this industry...anybody can be your friend no matter what they do or who they are; they can pull you up when you’re down; they’ll listen to you when you need someone to listen; and they’ll share ideas with you when you really need them. It would be an honor to spend some time with everybody on that list, because they’ve all made a positive difference in their chosen professions. We all need to strive to be on that list. What a wonderful honor that would be.