Connections:Tips for Small Business Excellence

My fellow Opportunity Knocks members, I want to tell you about a consulting engagement I am working on. It’s a family owned company that has been in business since the 1960s. During its heyday, this business was doing almost $30 million a year in revenue. In 2012, it did $14 million. Your first reaction might be, so what, many of us struggled these past few years. Fair enough, but the lesson I want to share is that, today, this business should be doing $30M+ in revenue again, but it failed. I want to share these lessons with you in the hope that they may offer insight into the effective and productive nurturing of your business.

As a business owner and entrepreneur, you are quite familiar with the challenges of starting, running and growing your business. Unfortunately, too often, when success arrives, the entrepreneur moves on to the next "adventure" with dire consequences to the success they created. As a consequence, apathy, complacency and lethargy are waiting to fill the void. Commonly, unmotivated and unqualified leaders become protective, even defensive, about intrusions on, “the way it is.” Well, as business owners, we all should know that the way it is today is not necessarily the way it will be tomorrow.

January 21, 2013 marked Susie Steven's return to Opportunity Knocks in the newly created role of Facilitator Relations Director! As most of you know, Susie was our executive director for ten years and has been a member and volunteer facilitator with the organization for fifteen years.

Last year, your board of directors identified a critical need to better train, support and develop our base of volunteer facilitators. Previously, we had relied on a dedicated volunteer facilitator committee to provide support, oversight and training. This proved to be too big a time commitment for already busy small business professionals.

Our solution was to create the part-time, paid position of facilitator relations director to focus on improving the quality of the team experience for our members through enhanced meeting facilitation.

Susie proved to be the ideal candidate for this role, given her intimate knowledge of, and experienced familiarity with Opportunity Knocks. We are fortunate that she accepted our offer and pleased to have her energy and dedication reengaged on our mission of small business excellence. Welcome back Susie Stevens!

By Brian Shawver President of the Opportunity Knocks board of directors and President/CEO of Security Pros, Inc.

By Brian Shawver President of the Opportunity Knocks board of directors and President/CEO of Security Pros, Inc.

Opportunity Knocks is the best bang for your buck if you want your business to thrive and grow. If you want to be challenged, inspired, enlightened and occasionally even irritated by your team members then Opportunity Knocks is right for you and your business.

When you participate in an Opportunity Knocks team you will:

• receive real-world, actionable problem-solving advice from those that have been in your shoes and are invested in your success
• be held accountable to take action on your team's recommendations
• be socially connected to Opportunity Knocks' business professionals, the finest people that I know after my twenty-six years in the Central Oregon business community

Why now you ask?

Because you've made it through the Great Recession and learned how to tightly manage your expenses during lean times, now is the right time to ramp-up your leadership potential through Opportunity Knocks! You've continued marketing your products and services to position your company well for the rebound. You may even have fewer competitors now. You've survived, perhaps grown modestly, and now you need help to become an even better business leader.

Grow the leader (YOU) and the business will follow. B.C. Forbes (founder of the magazine) once said, "If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business." I'm calling upon you right now to become a better driver!

Brian can be reached at (541) 330-0404 or brian@securityprosbend.com.

Businesses like to focus on marketing and what they can do to increase their customer base. If they could only unlock the magic box of marketing, then new and profitable customers would start showing up at all hours of the day, buying products and services that would grow their business and then they could sit back and count the money. But, it rarely seems to work that simply in the real world. So if it doesn't work that way, then how do you use marketing to grow a business? Let's look at five keys:

The first key is to understand your current customers very well. Who are they? What is it about your product or service that they like? Why do they choose your particular product or service over another? Is there something unique about what you do or what you offer that keeps them coming back? In reality, your customers have a need that you are meeting. Understand what that is and you will be able to find other people with the same need.

The second key is to identify your target market segments. Based on who is already doing business with you, you can target specific markets that would be good candidates. You can use demographics, geographic area and psychographic information (attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria) to create these segments. If you sell to other businesses, then it would be important to include size of company based on revenue or employees and industry sector. For instance, you may be targeting green builders in the states of Oregon and Washington that have designed or built LEED certified projects. If you are introducing a new product or service, you will want to consider early adapters vs. laggards. Keep in mind that you should come up with multiple segments that could be possibilities.

Amazing customer service is the secret to success for Shannon Bassett's 7-year old business, Home Fridays. Her company held steady during the recession and is now expanding. Home Fridays offers home management and concierge services for second homeowners in Bend, Sunriver, Eagle Crest, Pronghorn and Caldera Springs. Property management services include a home wellness check to ensure the house is safe as well as managing regular maintenance and repairs. Concierge services include a wide variety of requests from stocking the house with groceries to decorating for a party.

Before moving to Bend, Shannon was in the real estate business for over 20 years advising corporations around the world on how to manage their properties. She also was the owner of a second home and understands the frustrations that can come with that.

She loves this business because it is new every day with different client requests. Some days she is getting a window fixed or responding to an alarm call. This time of year I am planning Thanksgiving menus or hiring personal chefs, says Shannon.

One of the oddest things I have done for a client was figure out how to send a cat to Hong Kong. Now, that was challenging, she says.

Opportunity Knocks recently announced newly elected board members for 2013 at their annual meeting conducted prior to the 16th Annual Celebration. Each year, three vacancies are filled on a rotating basis.

Brian Shawver of Security Pros was elected new board president and two new board members were added, Bill Scannell of Structus Building Technologies will become vice-president and Greg Fowler of Fowler Telfer Certified Public Accountants also joins the board. Bill Moseley, outgoing board president, will continue on for an additional year to fill the vacancy by a retiring board member. Other continuing board members are treasurer Jason Moyer of Cascadian Group, secretary Shannon Bassett of Home Fridays, Heather Hepburn of Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Julie Leutschaft of The HUMAN Touch and Shelle Pack from Bank of the Cascades.

This is the right time for Opportunity Knocks with the rebounding Central Oregon economy,said incoming board president, Brian Shawver. We will continue to be a resource for business owners and managers who rely upon their teams to provide trusted real-world advising to help their businesses achieve excellence.Ã

Opportunity Knocks helps business leaders to think strategically, solve problems and achieve goals. It is the one Central Oregon business advisory organization that provides small business decision-makers the ability to achieve their goals by providing each member with their own collaborative peer-to-peer group of concerned small business advisors that offer trusted solutions.

Brett Mills story is definitely, Local Boy Makes Good. Real good. Mills business, RES Equine Products, won the coveted Bend Venture Conference $250,000 grant prize in 2011. Mills developed and patented a closure mechanism for protective gear used on horses legs during rodeo events like barrel racing and team roping.

Mills has spent plenty of time in the saddle, growing up on a Central Oregon cattle ranch and competing in team roping. The business grew out of his personal experience with Velcro failing before the product it fastened did. So he started thinking about what kind of an apparatus would last as long as the gear itself.

He said his thought process went like this: How can we replace the product that wears out, much like a shoelace or a tire on a car? We don't replace the whole car just the part that wears out.

By Dave Opsahl, Managing Member Sagemark LLC 

As new chair of the Facilitator Committee and six-year Opportunity Knocks member, I can testify that facilitators are without question the lifeblood and most important success factor in Opportunity Knocks. With the recent increase in new members, there has also been a rise in new facilitators, either to support new groups, or to fill openings in existing teams. One of the goals of Opportunity Knocks leadership is to ensure that each team has two facilitators, and this accounts for a majority of the added facilitators. One of the questions that new facilitators ask frequently is what makes a good facilitator?

With that in mind, I would like to suggest what I believe are the three most important skills a facilitator new or experienced should aspire to develop and, in the words of the late Steven Covey, continuously strive to sharpen the saw.

Listening

As facilitators we need to be able to listen with objectivity and empathy  a mix that is sometimes difficult to achieve. Too much empathy and we can not say something that might need to be said; too much objectivity and we lose the human element of a situation or a problem. Opportunity Knocks members are business people, but have families and relationships outside of their work, and too often those get neglected.

Hayley Wright opened Between the Covers bookstore in a charming, historic building on Delaware street in 2007. She loved books but had no experience, so she bought a book (on how to open a bookstore), took classes and joined Opportunity Knocks.

Over the years, she has learned what works for a small, local store and what doesn’t. In the beginning, she would stock popular thrillers but quickly realized that supermarket books didn’t sell in her store. Now, she stocks a lot of hiking guides, local interest, poetry, biographies and novels. She also gets to know the taste of her customers and provides them with personal recommendations.

Instead of putting the used books on a separate shelf, she stocks them right next to the new version of the same book. And, to delight the child in all of us, she puts bright bins of penny candy throughout the store.

Halfway through 2012, I thought I might give everyone an update on our progress and a look forward to our plans. Seven months have passed since the retirement of our longtime executive director, Susie Stevens.  In her place, Eric Meade took over membership activities and volunteers stepped up to handle administration, events, marketing, etc.  The goal was to increase the total number of members enough to replace the most time-consuming volunteer efforts with paid staff. 

Our strategy to increase the number of new members largely succeeded.  We’ve signed up approximately twice as many new members as in previous years during the same period.  Opportunity Knocks has also experienced setbacks as member retention was higher than normal too.   Small business owners are a dynamic group.  People often leave Opportunity Knocks because they move or need to find a job. 

Sometimes, members leave because Opportunity Knocks was not the right fit for them.  That’s often because the member was mismatched with his or her team, the facilitator needs improvement, or we fail to meet some other need.  Opportunity Knocks’ strength lies within our teams.  If people don’t get value from team meetings, members will not waste their time attending.

Here's one core practice that will bump up your facilitation chops.  It's called "labeling" and it can work magic during contentious meetings.  Before I describe labeling, let me set some context.

Imagine a meeting in which a co-worker discounts something you say.  Your first reaction might be to lash back with a similarly dismissive comment or you might hold your tongue as you think about all of your colleague's faults. During the course of the meeting, you might occasionally be reminded of the original slight.  When this happens, your blood pressure rises, your heart quickens, and your jaw tightens.  This is a problem because whenever these physiological reactions take a hold of you, your thinking capacity diminishes. Your body reverts to its evolutionary fight-or-flight mode.  The thinking parts of your brain take a back seat to the reactive parts of your brain and your contributions to the meeting are severely limited.

Occasionally, I meet a new fellow Opportunity Knocks member. Often we end up in a discussion about our experiences. He or she names their facilitator, team number and other people on their team. If we have the time, they explain the culture or agenda of the team. I might share the same. Universally, members relate Opportunity Knocks to a concept of their team. Even from the perspective of a board member, Opportunity Knocks can seem more like a consortium of 30 teams instead of a whole organization.

Sometimes, the merged concept of Opportunity Knocks and one’s team builds a real sense of community. “I’m a part of Team XX.” That phrase embodies what I get out of Opportunity Knocks – the learning, friends, and experiences. When things go well and the team is healthy, we feel a sense of pride and contribution to our team and implicitly Opportunity Knocks. 

Hiring good employees can be challenging. But managers can learn a thing or two to help them select the right people from Jim Collins.  In Collins’ bestseller From Good to Great, he writes about the notion of getting the right people on the bus.  His premise of Hiring Right means, hiring the right people, in the right seats at the right time.  He also alludes to developing an exit strategy for those marginal employees by essentially kicking them off the proverbial bus as in showing them the exit door in the back. 

First order of business is to conduct a talent assessment of who is on the company bus and evaluate which seats they are occupying.  It is possible to have the right people who just happen to be in the wrong seats.  If this is the case, you want to measure employee skill-sets with specific job descriptions.  When looking at all the employees, leadership should identify the “A+ players.” Business leaders must be intentional on who they give those coveted seats to in order to predict the future success of their company.  An A+ player is someone who is passionately dedicated to their work and their contributions to further the growth of the company.  They tend to have the perfect blend of the hard technical skills with the softer behavioral type motivators.  They aren’t satisfied unless they are giving it their all to improve the paradigm. 

Once again, proving that small business people can do just about anything, Opportunity Knocks is on track to meet its goal of 100 new net members this year.  The work by Eric Meade – membership director, Shannon Basset – membership committee chair, Steve Curley – marketing committee chair, Brian Shawver – board liaison and many others has really paid off.   

By the end of the year, Opportunity Knocks will be promoting small business excellence among more businesses than ever before.  The membership growth plus normal attrition means that 150+ business leaders need to find a home on a team of peers.