Swimming, biking and running is the ideal answer...
...but that isn’t practical for most of us. What is?
One of our best bakery franchise owners once told me “Mike, if you aren’t spending at least 60% of your time thinking about strategy and the future, then you are not giving me my money’s worth.” You know what? He is right. I don’t always get there but I do have that as a goal.
But what if you are running a local retail business? I think customer service and marketing are the “in the trenches” equivalent of strategy and future planning. There just aren’t things more important in your business than interacting with customers and taking care of them.
Yes, you can argue that product qualtiy matters first, but, honestly, how many successful companies do you know of that have an adequate product and awesome service? Flip that around. How many established and lasting companies do you know of that have an awesome product and poor service or marketing? The truly honest answer is you need it all. But the odds of a superior product surviving with inferior marketing are much worse than those of a mediocre product coupled with awesome marketing and memorable customer service.
If you think in terms of “I have to do inventory or mop the floor or update signage or make the deposit or read the latest comments in a blog I follow”, I’d challenge you to reconsider. No, you don’t have to do those tasks. You can hire people to do those things. Spend your time doing the things only you can do. Hire people you trust at rates you can afford. Invest time training and coaching them. They exist if you look for them and they are fun to work with. They will allow you to do the stuff that matters. That will grow your top and bottom lines. Don’t be afraid of marketing and customer service – improving in these 2 areas will make your business.
Along this same vein, I can tell you where you shouldn’t be spending your time. Sitting at your desk looking at your computer. Yes, reading blogs matters. So does keeping your numbers up to date. But, not as much as marketing, service and quality products.
Get out of your chair. Get out of your office. Go talk to a customer. Make their day. Give them a reason to send a friend to see you.
Do not sit and read one more comment in a blog that isn’t going to move your sales needle a bit. Give that about 2% of your day.
P.S. Yes! I get the irony of writing a blog on not reading blogs. Thank you for reading this one!
