THE REPORT BLOG

Small Businesses Get Happy (Hour) Again

While the latest news says the recession might be coming to an end, all indicators point to a long recovery. After nearly a year of cutting and cracking down on T&E, I think we could all use a drink.

We may not be ready to go out and buy season tickets to entertain clients and treat employees to a meal for a job well done, but a less expensive alternative is happy hour. Recently Chris O’Hara, senior director at Traffiq.com recently sent me a spreadsheet listing a bunch of local bars and their happy hour specials by the day-of-the-week. Keeping a database of this information is an effective way to quickly find out where you (and your staff) can get the most banged up for your buck (so to speak).

Happy hour doesn't mean going cheap. The New York Post ran a list of some recession-friendly, upscale happy hours.

For more examples, please see Happy Hour 1 and Happy Hour 2.

 

Attack Your Assumptions

I recently caught a portion of a presentation given by Michael Canic, president of Bridgeway Leadership (formerly EDGE Consulting Services), an expert on strategic alignment and execution. In the short time I was in attendance, Michael said something that had a big impact on me: “What made your company’s success in the past could make it a failure in the future.” The message is “don’t get comfortable.”

One shining example of how getting comfortable and shirking change can lead to failure is GM. After more than 20 years of making an admittedly poor product with a bad reputation and ignoring a constantly shrinking market share, GM stayed the course of producing gas-guzzling engines and big SUVs straight to a bail out from the federal government. One particularly mind boggling example is the rehire of 77-year-old Bob Lutz, an executive famous for championing muscle cars and SUVs, as well as publicly admitting to the philosophy that manufacturing small cars isn’t necessary.

The decision to rehire Bob Lutz will not only affect the income of GM, but also of every person reading this blog.

Small businesses have the agility to, what Canic called, “attack your assumptions.” Just because something has worked for your business for the last five years, doesn’t mean it will work five years from now. Challenge your organizational, industry and macro assumptions. And since there are no federal bailouts for us, our only choice is to observe what happens when the big guys get comfortable and attack all of our assumptions. 
 

Government is Failing Small Businesses (and Yet Expects So Much More from Us)

For years, I have tried to ignore the government, particularly as a small business owner. I never viewed the government as a resource to help small businesses; in fact, the government probably only hurts small businesses. However, I don’t think that we can ignore government anymore, and here’s why.

At the time I am writing this (mid-July), Congress is looking at a health care surtax that will put many small businesses out of business. Small businesses that are not providing insurance to their employees will have to pay a surtax on payroll. The irony is huge—we are in a terrible recession, which means less money is flowing into businesses, and less money is being paid in taxes. I know we at NY Report, like most other businesses, have cut expenses, but the government (federal, state, and local) can’t seem to figure out how to cut expenses. Yet they believe that they can make health care work for everyone.

Further, “high income” individuals would have to pay a surtax on income. Remember, most small businesses operate as “flow-through” entities, and that means the owners pay taxes on their company’s income, regardless of whether or not the profits are distributed to the owners. Rather than reinvest profits to build their businesses and hire more people, small businesses will need to pay more in taxes to fund government sponsored health care (which will likely result in lower quality care and higher costs).

It is not just the federal government making things tough for small business. I don’t have to tell anyone how dysfunctional the state governments in the tri-state area are, just read the paper (looking at your state tax bill will provide some insight too). Recently, I heard John Rathgeber, president of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association speak. He brought up a great point: When we go to the polls, we usually know who we will vote for in presidential and congressional elections. But, how many of us know much about the state officials that we are voting for? So, while we as business owners don’t have the time or haven’t had the interest to learn about our state elected officials, plenty of other special interest groups have. As a result, small businesses don’t have a voice at the state level.

How can you get involved? There are a number of business advocacy organizations. For starters, visit their sites and get familiar with the issues. For a list of these organizations, visit nyreport.com/advocacy.

What to Do After Every Call

I just got a great and simple tip from Larry Zogby from RDS Delivery. Larry asked me if I follow up every conversation with an email and I replied "sometimes." He said that when you follow up a conversation with an email you get the following benefits:

• If the details of the conversation are something that will be discussed with others, there is a much better chance of it being passed on more accurately via email because they are your words and not subject to someone else's interpretation.

• Of course, the person you spoke with might not have been paying attention. So the email is a good way to make sure they have all of the details.

• You can be sure that within five minutes of a call, the person you spoke with has moved on to several different things and won't remember most of what you said.

Stupid Tips for Getting More Done and Making Better Decisions

These tips are based on two notions: 1) that since grade school we have been trained to answer questions right away and 2) electronic communication is training us to respond to things quickly.

• You don’t need to reply to emails right away. Yes, the temptation is there to delete emails from your inbox,but this forces you to respond to things before thinking them through. Train your employees and customers so they don't expect immediate answers by email. If something is urgent, there is something called the telephone.
  
  
• When someone asks you for a decision (even face to face), you don’t have to give one right away if you feel you need to think about it. There is nothing wrong with saying, "I need to think about that." Norm Brodsky says he never makes an important decision without taking a shower.
  

• When someone asks you a question, you have the right to ask more questions yourself. Those questions can include "why do you ask?" or "can you tell me more about ______"?

Does Business Slow Down in July?

As long as I can remember, everyone has told me how business slows in July. As I have informally done over the past four years or so, I need to now, on the record, call "bullshit." We are busier than ever here and I am hearing the same from just about everyone I speak to. Think about this:

• Not everyone goes on vacation at the same time.

• We are always getting busier because we are getting more emails that distract us and create more work. 

• If you are spending some time on social media, that is making you busy too.

Several years ago we decided to do a big evening event in July and many said that it would not be successful. It was very successful, well attended and full of sponsors.

I do think that business slows down a bit in August as more people tend to go on vacation…

What does all this mean? Let your competitors slow down in July. In the meantime you shouldn't.

Agree?

Build Credibility By Not Talking (About Yourself)

Last week I had a meeting with a multinational company to discuss a project that we have been pitching. At the meeting I was joined by a VP (who I knew) and a divisional president (who I never met). When we sat down, I offered to tell the president a brief overview of NY Report assuming that he wasn't that familiar with us. I stuck to the facts during my 40 second overview. I didn't use a lot of adjectives and really didn't try to "sell us". Instead, I went right into the heart of the project details.

After the meeting I wondered if I should have talked up NY Report a bit; after all, the president was the senior most decision maker and probably was not aware of our reputation. It didn't take me long to realize that I made the right move. Here's why: 

1) By discussing the project I knew that our competencies would become apparent. This way, he would come to a conclusion about us on his own.

2) The VP knew NY Report and I figured that he would speak well of us. And he did (after all if we don't look good, neither does he).

3) I think we built credibility by NOT talking about ourselves and instead talking about the client.

What Do a Celebrity and a New York-Area Restaurant have in Common?

Found out tomorrow at noon at www.nyreport.com/awards.

2009 Small Business Award Finalists Announcement

NY Report’s Small Business Best Practice Award finalists will be announced on Thursday, July 9th at noon. Visit nyreport.com/awards for a list of companies in the running to be named the best of the best small businesses in the tri-state area.

Hate Losing? It Could Work Against You

Today I sat in a meeting for an RFP that my company is considering bidding on. There were about 50 other companies there for the Q&A session about the project. Until now, the only RFPs we’ve entered have been for advertising, and since this project is a much different project than anything we’ve done in the past, I don't know much about the RFP process. Considering the RFP is well over 100 pages, it is really easy to get overwhelmed and just say "I'm not doing this." On top of this, I’ve got two qualities (which, most entrepreneurs share) that can affect how well I do in an RFP process – I love control and I hate to lose.

One of the reasons I became a business owner was to be in control. Of course, when you try to sell something you lose a fair degree of control, but at least you can have control over the selling process. With an RFP you have virtually no control over the process and, in many cases, the organization issuing the RFP knows exactly who they will hire before the process even starts. Ideally, you want to be speaking with the organization before they start the RFP process. If you’re not, that makes it all the more tempting to give up before you start.

Then there’s the competitive element to the RFP process. If you hate losing, like I do, and you see 50 other people who are interested in the RFP, you just might pass on the "opportunity" because the odds are that you will lose. But the old saying "no risk, no reward" applies here.

So at the end of the day, an RFP is another sales opportunity, but one where the odds are really against you. So if you can't stand the thought of losing, filling out RFPs are not for you.  However, if you play to win, but acknowledge that it is ok to lose, you can go for it. Said another way, you need to say it is ok to lose so that you feel comfortable putting yourself in a position to win.

As we walked out of the meeting someone said something I thought expresses the perfect attitude: "This time I will learn how to complete an RFP and next time I just might get it."

For more tips on the RFP process, read NY Report's Ask the Expert and Making Certification Work, by managing editor Daria Meoli. 

Give Us the Gift of Your Knowledge

In recognition of our fifth anniversary, we asked readers to share what they have learned from NY Report over the years. We published the responses in our July issue. Now, I'm asking for your best tips. What information did you get from NY Report most helped your business?