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Planning for the Rebound – Part 2 of CEO Preparedness Guide

Planning for the Rebound

Business is Reopening

Like the eye of a hurricane, businesses raked by the leading edge of the COVID-19 pandemic are now taking a cautious look outside. Though the winds have subsided, and it’s tempting to think that the worst is over, the eye simply gives us a chance to prepare for what’s left to come. But the time is now to begin planning for the rebound.

If you withstood the worst of the impacts of the pandemic so far, you likely have accepted that the storm was coming, and had battened down your hatches (or at least applied for PPP funding to keep vestiges of your business afloat). Now, as we can start to imagine a future, it’s critical to have your plan in place when the rebound hits.

For those who haven’t been willing to consider the details needed in your post-pandemic recovery plan – or simply weren’t willing to “go there” – now is the time to plan for your rebound.

The public has been released from their quarantine in many states and other states are scheduled to open. Research indicates consumers will be ready to shop and dine. The world into which they will venture will indeed be changed. Will their appetite for dining with you also be transformed?

In my view, planning for the rebound – the re-grand-opening into the brave new world – will require a three-step planning process:

  1. An accurate assessment of NOW – Analysis and cost-cutting based on where you are today, and how you’ll conduct business until social distancing is no longer needed;
  2. Planning for NEAR – Executing on pivots or changes to your offerings to help your cash flow to improve your survivability, and;
  3. Plan NEXT – Stop random acts of marketing and follow the 12-step approach that follows “The Growth Gears,” a strategic marketing book authored by Art Saxby and Pete Hayes, to plan for your recovery.

https://www.growthgears.com/

Let’s explore further.

Step 1: ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF NOW

Where have your customers gone? Are they still in need of your unique brand of hospitality? Have you maintained your competitive edge? Can you keep your employees active and engaged in the business? Many businesses are grappling with these and other questions, as they fight for survival in an apocalyptic present, and uncertain future. Here are four tips to consider when planning for the rebound and assessing your business:

      • Review costs

Most people have already done this – things like canceling recurring services that are simply irrelevant, asking for payment terms on necessary services, and in general, having a series of difficult conversations about labor, supplies, and rent. Job No. 1 is to understand your cash flow – and factors influencing it.

      • Review competition

        What is your competition doing now? How have they pivoted? Did they reduce hours of operation?  Were they forced to close? Is there something you could do with your local competitors to encourage customers to order takeout and delivery?  For example, an entity called “The Great American Takeout” has formed, and has encouraged customers via social media posts to takeout food to support restaurants every Tuesday since March 24.

      • Reconnect with your employees

Did you furlough or lay anybody off? With the crew that is left, what has the pandemic done to morale? How are you? Now is the time for frequent communication with your current and past employees. To prepare for reopening, you should prepare a plan to re-hire and train employees.

      • Reassign tasks

To keep employees on the payroll (assuming you have sales because you are offering curbside pick-up or delivery), reassign team members to answer the phone, shuttle deliveries, or serve as curb-side ambassadors. In the short term, this could also mean repurposing the business for strictly philanthropic purposes. One restaurant invited the American Red Cross to park its Bloodmobile in their parking lot for a blood drive to help medical professionals.

Step 2: PLANNING FOR NEAR

Planning for the rebound needs to happen now.  If you’ve withstood the worst of the pandemic so far, you may find that the tweaks you’ve made temporarily should be considered for permanence. Now, more than ever, understanding the customer’s needs and wants – and how you are positioned to be a guiding force in their upturned lives – can be a make or break proposition. Here are some ways to be a part of this change:

      • Rethink offerings.

If you’re a restaurant, you might offer groceries or sell toilet paper. Most restauranteurs reduced their menu offerings to optimize the to-go experience. For retailers, this can involve sticking with conveniences like online ordering and curbside pick-up. Creativity is key. Here are some creative examples:

        • Red Roof Inns: The lodging company offered up hotel rooms as a remote office and alternative resting spaces during the day for truckers for only $29.
        • Fogo de Chao: The unique Brazilian restaurant shifted its focus to offer curbside packages of ready-to-grill cuts of meat.
        • Wow Bao: The restaurant has begun “selling the materials necessary to make a simplified version of their menu of bowls, buns, and potstickers to other restaurants and ghost kitchen facilities,” according to the website Restaurant-Hospitality.com.
        • Subway: The sandwich chain is testing a Subway Grocery concept in California. The beta program allows customers to order items such as baked bread, deli meats, sliced cheese, vegetables, and soups.
        • Panera: Like Subway, Panera Bread has launched a grocery offering at scale to allow customers to order essential grocery items such as loaves of bread, milk and produce, and to have the items available for delivery or drive-up pickup.

      • Reconsider sacred cows

As businesses rethink their offerings, they can run smack into certain “sacred cows” that seem to be integral to their identity. For example, a full-service eatery may balk at delivery options, since that fish dish might be ruined in the 30 or 45 minutes it takes to deliver it. This is no time for those kinds of pretensions. Find a way to make a meal pack, or focus on offerings that can be delivered successfully. Several restaurants have created pop-up drive-throughs, with no more than a tent and a landlord’s blessing. And the likes of Home Depot have shifted to curbside pick-ups even as it prided itself on counseling customers in the store.

      • Reschedule Initiatives

Retailers and restaurants that had planned remodeling projects could move those up, but only if the resources exist to do so. Only the best-capitalized businesses will be able to embark on a remodeling project now, but if you can move up the date, it’s worth doing while your dining room or bricks-and-mortar location is closed. Of course, such initiatives can still be hindered by government directives that limit non-essential work and will vary by municipality.

      • Reconnect

Communication matters more than ever. We may be keeping our distance physically, but we’ve never been more social. We have regular Zoom happy hours, and we can still call upon clients virtually on a regular basis. B2B companies will have closer relationships since they sell directly to their clients, but B2C companies shouldn’t go quiet either. They need to reach out every few days, so long as they are mindful in tone and content.

On an April 8 webinar sponsored by Valassis and featuring data from Technomic, they suggested:

Planning for the Rebound: Connect to your guests
Source: Valassis

If you can maintain communication with your customers through advertising, social channels, and email, do it.  You must be mindful of your tone and message, but the research of the past 93 years is clear – if you can maintain or increase your advertising during a downturn, especially when your competitors don’t, you will be rewarded with higher sales and market share during the recovery.

Step 3: PLAN NEXT

Opening Soon

Planning for the rebound sooner, rather than later, is critical.  Those who wait for the rebound to begin will be late to the party. If you wait too long,  you will likely lose market share to more aggressive competitors.

With what you’ve gleaned from studying your competitors and company in Step No. 1, above, it’s time to learn more about your customers as they exist today, to get an idea of what and who they may be in the future. The shifts in public policy, social interactions, virtual workspaces, and personal hygiene will likely be tectonic in scope. As a result, you need to understand how the shifts will affect your business and which ones you may be able to exploit.

Ways to learn about your customers now, so you can plan for the Next.

  • Google Analytics – Look for shifts in devices used, demographics, source of traffic, etc.
  • Email surveys – Query your customers about their lifestyle, media preferences, food choices, favorite foods, etc. as they were prior to the pandemic, and as they are now. Do a gap analysis to find opportunities.
  • Read – Information abounds online regarding perceived or guessed new behaviors by many sources. Pete Hayes, CMO, and Principal for Chief Outsiders outlined the basic steps to follow in his blog “COVID-19 Crisis – 12-step Pre-Recovery Checklist for CEO’s. Also, McKinsey & Company posted an opinion on how to prepare for the next stage of the crisis. Their opinion is deeply rooted in management consulting expertise and is more about preparation for the next stage of the crisis vs. recovery.

Regardless of your current posture on the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a certainty that the danger will eventually come to an end. Now is the time to be sharpening your pencils and honing your strategies so you can be ready for the next steps.

Photo Doug Reifschneider
Doug Reifschneider

https://www.chiefoutsiders.com/profile/doug-reifschneider

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

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Advertising in a Recession – Part 1 of CEO Preparedness Guide

Advertising in a Recession

Now Hear This!

Maintaining advertising in a recession has been proven over time to increase market share and boost revenues over time.

In these uncertain times amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, there are likely two distinct pathways for businesses to follow — adapt or perish. Because none of you reading this would ever consider laying down your arms and not fighting for survival, I thought I’d share a couple of quotes from noteworthy types who chose the latter mindset, choosing to both adapt, and thrive, rather than survive.

“To improve is to change.  To be perfect is to change often.”  –Winston Churchill

“Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” – Wayne Gretsky

Of course, your survival instinct is just a starting point. What will it take to truly gird your organization for the post-pandemic economic recovery?

In this blog and the one to follow, I’d like to lay out some steps that might be worth taking. First, we’ll discuss why your advertising budget should be spared the ax. We’ll then discuss strategies to employ to prepare for an economic rebound.

Onward, ho!

Playing to Win the Ad Game

History is full of examples where businesses that maintained or increased advertising budgets during a recession were rewarded with more market share and higher sales and profits.

Examples cited by Brad Adgate in Forbes:

  1. During the Great Depression, Post cereals reduced its advertising budget while Kellogg doubled its ad spend. The result? A catchy slogan — “Snap, Crackle and Pop” – for its new Rice Krispies cereal, and a 30 percent increase in post-depression profits. Oh, and they’ve been the market leader ever since.
  2. During the 17-month recession in 1973 -75, Toyota maintained its ad spend and became the No. 1 import in 1976, surpassing Volkswagen.
  3. In the 1990-91 recession, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut took advantage of McDonald’s decision to reduce its advertising spend. Pizza Hut sales increased 61 percent and Taco Bell,s jumped by 40 percent, while McDonald’s decreased 28%.

More than 40 studies over 93 years for Advertising in a Recession

In 2009, Gerard J. Tellis and Kethan Tellis compiled and synthesized 40 historical empirical and non-empirical studies on the topic of advertising in a recession.  What they found was a healthy dose of evidence that advertising during a recession is a good thing. Several studies found clear evidence the reduced recessional ad spending led to lower post-recession sales; still, other studies found that the inverse – higher spend led to higher sales – was true. And, some studies actually found that market share can actually increase more for some companies during a recession than in stable times. The likely reason is a combination of lost share by competitors and the entry of new, more nimble firms into the post-depression marketplace.

Advertising Drives Word of Mouth

In another example, researchers looked at the lessons learned from the automotive and financial industries during the 2008-2009 depression. Brad Fey and David Shiffman concluded that:

  • Advertising plays a substantial role in driving positive word of mouth (WOM) for major brands.
  • Even during a major crisis, ad-driven WOM continues to be nearly as positive as during normal times.
  • Cutting back ad spend during a crisis diminished the impact of a valuable tool for offsetting negative news (though customer service, public relations, and social media also play a role).

From personal experience, I lived in the 2008-2010 recession. While a member of the executive team at Firehouse Subs, we used the downturn to reposition the brand and double our ad spend – actions that led to increased market share and exponential growth from 2010 to 2016, at a 20 percent year-over-year clip.

I want to share one final quote from Mark Ritson, who made the following observation in Marketing Week just a few weeks ago:

“The optimum response to the recession is to maintain, and ideally increase your advertising investment.

Unfortunately, to pull this off you require three things. You need to have some money available to spend on advertising. Then you need an executive team smart enough to know marketing is an investment or trusting enough to listen to your presentation that explains all of this to them. And, finally, you need to not be shit.”

How Does This Relate to Today?

Of course, we know that cash flow is critical, and maintaining ad spend during this crisis is easier said than done for many brands.  But, if you have the ability to communicate with your customers through email/SMS text and other owned channels like social media, do it.  As Fey and Shiffman learned from their work, the message is important, and this is the time to do all you can to maintain positive Word of Mouth with your customers.

If you are fortunate to have cash reserves and can maintain ad spend, especially by shifting to digital channels where “shelter in place” directives have increased usage, do it too.

Messaging Counts Too

Now, the message you convey during the COVID-19 crisis will vary slightly by industry. In some industries like restaurants and retail that are considered essential services, the advertising message could be similar to pre-COVID-19 messaging, since customers seem to be sympathetic to the struggles being experienced by their local merchants.

But striking the right balance is critical. If you are seen as putting profits before people, you may squander trust in a way that it cannot be recovered. A recent study by Edelman on brand trust confirmed this fact but also found that most brands are using their advertising powers for good rather that evil. Consumers in the survey responded as follows:

  • 90 percent want brands to do everything they can to protect the well-being and financial security of their employees and suppliers, even if it means substantial financial losses until the pandemic ends.
  • 89 percent believe brands should offer free or lower-priced products to health workers, people at high risk, and those whose jobs have been affected.
  • 83 percent are seeking a compassionate connection, including brand messaging that communicates empathy and support with the struggles they face.
  • 84 percent are turning to brand social channels to find a sense of community and offer support to those in need.
  • 65 percent like hearing from brands they use about what they are doing in response to the pandemic because it is comforting and reassuring to them.

The takeaway?

Though it may be ok to advertise product or brand, as usual, it is advisable to change messaging, especially in owned channels like email, SMS/text, and social to a more humanistic tone and values.

“There is no doubt that the COVID-19 crisis is more than a recession.  It is much worse and physical distancing is a demand killer.  However, we at Edleman believe there will be much pent-up demand after the tide turns.  American consumers like to be mobile, to eat out and spend money shopping.  Don’t under-estimate the power of “Cabin Fever” and the “stir-craziness” for all Americans due to physical distancing.”

In our next blog, we’ll look at the importance of strategic go-to-market planning in being ready for the rebound.

Photo Doug Reifschneider
Doug Reifschneider

 

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

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Top 10 Changes for Restaurants After COVID-19

Top 10 Changes for Restaurants
Top 10 Changes for Restaurants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big changes for restaurants after COVID-19

I thought it was time to look into the crystal ball.  After scouring news articles for 60 days, several themes arose from the ashes of the pandemic to reveal the top-10 changes for restaurants after the crisis ends.

  1. Chains will rule – 7 of 10 restaurants are owned by individual operators according to the National Restaurant Association, most of whom are independent. Unfortunately, those independents have been the majority of closures and if 10-15% of all restaurants permanently close during the pandemic, then only healthy chains will be left.

Prior to the Pandemic, the outlook by the National Restaurant Association was reported here for context. https://www.restaurant.org/research/restaurant-statistics/restaurant-industry-facts-at-a-glance

Outdoor Dining

2) Growth will rebound – Chains will increase unit growth to fill the void left by closed restaurant locations. New independents will arise out of the ashes. The new wave of restauranteurs will have learned from the recent crisis and will focus on sustainability of operations by leaning hard into delivery, take-home, contactless payment, and other enabling technology.

3) Ghost kitchens – new and existing concepts will cooperate together to develop ghost kitchens where multiple cuisines live in harmony to satisfy the appetite of urban dweller and the virtual food court will become a thing.

Starbird’s is working on virtual brands for what they call a cloud kitchen strategy.  Details: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/emerging-concepts/ceos-5-takeaways-what-works-post-pandemic?utm_campaign=20200601&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jolt

4) Cleanliness is next to Godliness –  Serve-Safe and other entities who train restaurant employees to prepare and handle food will proliferate and the constant disinfecting of communal surfaces such as counters, door handles, tables, chairs, and condiments will become the expected norm. The reopening guide by the NRA will be followed by all and probably expanded by many. https://go.restaurant.org/covid19-reopening-guide

5) Off-premise will continue to grow – Now that consumers are getting used to ordering food digitally and internal and external delivery is expected, the trend may slow after the pandemic ends but the trend for facilitating delivery, take-out, meal kits and the like will proliferate.

6) Digital Rules – Every restaurant, whether they be independent, or part of a chain will provide as many e-commerce channels for guests to order food as possible. Wing Stop, Domino’s, and Chipotle are doing well during the pandemic because they were positioned to survive in a crisis.  All restaurateurs who don’t learn that they need to embrace digital orders and provide ways for customers to get the food where they want it and when they want it will fail. Perhaps this should be #1 on the list for the top-10 changes we will see in the restaurant industry.

7) Shrinking dining rooms – Because of the shift to off-premise dining, new restaurants in all categories will reduce the square feet of their dining areas. Existing locations will remove tables and chairs to always be prepared for social distancing.

8) Marketing mix shift – Whereas TV was a big part of the advertising mix for national chains and larger regional chains, the shift to off-premise will force restaurant brands to lean much more heavily into digital advertising channels. The shift will occur because restaurants will more easily track conversions from online visibility to online orders as a key metric. The brands that do continue to use to TV will determine how to make Outcome-Based TV buying work.

9) Marketing Messaging – All restaurants will need to understand their consumer and know the new customer journey better than ever before. Every brand will also need to nail their brand proposition because if they don’t, all ads after the pandemic ends will be about digital ordering and delivery.  Digital channels may be a convenient benefit, but if every restaurant offers the standard digital channels, those digital channels will not be unique to anyone.

10) Counter Culture – There will also be creative and innovative individuals and organizations that will buck the status quo. Whether they embrace video dining, reinvent food halls, or return to a cash-only payment model, we will see successful attempts to do everything they can to not be trapped by the previous 9 changes.

In conclusion, the top-10 changes for restaurants may be different from this list but you can bet many of the themes will occur because they are happening now.

Photo Doug Reifschneider
Doug Reifschneider

https://www.itbpartners.com/doug-reifschneider/

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

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Who can Keep Up with Marketing Technology?

According to a recent study by Chief Outsiders, a national marketing strategy consulting firm, 88% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) see the difficulty in staying ahead of Marketing Technology.

Why?

According to Forrester, technology has not just impacted business, it has disrupted it. So much so that CNBC reported that the average life span of an S&P 500 company is about 20 years. It was 60 years in the 1950s according to Credit Suisse. 1

The way technology is evolving, imagine what that figure might be in 20 years.

All you have to do is look at Moore’s law to understand why technology is moving so fast.

What is Moore’s Law & How Does It Impact Marketing Technology?

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore, the co-founder of Intel, made this observation that became Moore’s Law.

Moore’s Law refers to Moore’s perception that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, though the cost of computers is halved. In addition, Moore’s Law states that we can expect the speed and capability of our computers to increase every couple of years.  Plus, we will pay less for them too. Another tenet of Moore’s Law asserts that this growth is exponential.2

Marketing Technology is influenced by Moore's Law
Moore’s Law tenet is that the number of computer chips on a single board grows exponentially.

Source: Moore’s Law graph3

It is hard for a human to keep up with exponential growth. And marketers are human.  This is why marketers are having trouble keeping up with marketing technology.

Why specifically do CMOs think it will be hard to stay ahead of technology?

Because many CMOs haven’t kept up with marketing technology to-date.  And the exponential growth that is expected to continue will be mind-boggling.

The Marketing Menu Changed!

For example, as recently as the 1990s, marketers had a finite list of advertising and promotional tactics at their disposal.  The tactics to increase sales, improve brand awareness, and grow market share were low tech too.

  • Television (local, spot and cable)
  • Radio (Local & national)
  • Print (Direct mail, FSI’s, newspaper -remember those?)
  • Out of Home (Billboards, transit benches, and shelters, taxi’s, etc.)
  • Promotion (sports teams, schools, etc.)
  • Yellow pages if a local or multi-location business

Today, with the addition of  OTT (Over the Top) TV, banner ads, advertising on social media, and other digital options, the choices on where to place advertising dollars are staggering.

MARTech = Marketing Technology

The modern CMO is faced with options in Martech and Adtech.  Yes, those are real terms used within the marketing world. In 2011, we had about 150 MarTech choices.  By 2019, there were over 7,000 choices.

Marketing Technology growth since 2011
In 2011, there were about 150+ Martech vendors. By 2019, there were over 7000!

 

To put in perspective, RedHat published the following tech stack that is aligned with the customer journey. One brand using this technique would interact with over 30 Martech vendors.

Who can keep up with that, let alone stay ahead of it?

Marketing Technology used for customer journey
Illustrates 30 MarTech companies have to work with to manage the customer journey.

Source: 4

Technology has disrupted business in many ways.  According to Forrester, the primary reason technology has disrupted business is based on three issues:

  • Empowered consumers
  • Blurred lines between digital and physical
  • Disruptive business models powered by data and tech

In their reports titled “Winning In The Age Of The Customer,” and “The Customer-Obsessed Enterprise” Forrester suggests that companies that are not just customer-focused, but customer-obsessed, achieve higher revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.

Enter the COVID-19 pandemic

To put into perspective how important technology to business is, consider how different brands in food service were impacted by the pandemic.

 

As reported in QSR magazine for Domino’s “What’s happened in the first four weeks of Q2 (March 23 to April 19) has been more enlightening. Domino’s witnessed U.S. company comps jump 10.6 percent. Franchises are up 6.9 percent. Blended, it’s a 7.1 percent year-over-year same-store number.”

Chipotle’s digital sales grew 80.8% and accounted for 26.3% of sales for the quarter leading into the pandemic. Source:   https://ir.chipotle.com/2020-04-21-Chipotle-Announces-First-Quarter-2020-Results

The first 3 examples are from brands that were already focusing on their digital capabilities.  Wing Stop was one of the first restaurant brands to offer chatbot ordering on social media platforms. And Domino’s has become the de facto leader in the pizza segment when it comes to technology.

The key takeaway for restaurants is that the pandemic created a new set of consumer desires and demands and the brands (often chain with marketing teams) already knowledgeable and leading in technology won. This plays out in retail too.  If you’re a retailer and you didn’t have an eCommerce platform prior to March 13, you’re probably hurting bad, or closed.

The pandemic forced many brands to accelerate their use and adoption of technology to meet the new consumer needs.

Conclusion

The bottom line when it comes to brick & mortar businesses is that marketing technology is part of the customer experience and great technology can create a great frictionless user experience. Bad technology can do the opposite. The pandemic forced business owners to embrace eCommerce, digital ordering, and contactless payments and transactions faster than ever before. Consequently, brick & mortar brands must:

  1. Own all the consumer touchpoints
  2. Own customer data
  3. Connect offline to online for a true omnidirectional view of your customers

It’s not easy to keep up with technology. The effects of social distancing and working from home simply made every business pivot or adapt to less touch and more connection via technology.

If Forrester is right, the technology we marketers use to reach intended customers needs to pivot and more companies need to become customer-obsessed to succeed.

Staying ahead of that trend will be very difficult, very difficult indeed.

 

Head shot of Doug Reifschneider
Doug Reifschneider

Doug Reifschneider is a 30+ year marketing veteran in the foodservice industry.  He currently works with Chief Outsiders as a fractional CMO.

https://www.itbpartners.com/doug-reifschneider/

Sources:

  1. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/technology-killing-off-corporations-average-lifespan-of-company-under-20-years.html
  2. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mooreslaw.asp#nearly-60-years-old-still-strong
  3. https://hackernoon.com/moores-law-is-alive-and-well-adc010ea7a63?source=rss——-1
  4. https://cdn.chiefmartec.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/red-hat-martech-stackie.jpg
  5. Source: Winning In The Age Of The Customer Forrester report
  6. Source: The Customer-Obsessed Enterprise Forrester report

 

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Job Search – What’s Your Story?

How To Stand Out?

Now we know what it is like to shelter in place for the better part of two months.  But try to imagine being in the middle of a job search, making good progress, just to have the Covid-19 shelter-in-place recommendation induce a dead stop? What a bummer!  Well, a lot of people found themselves in this situation.  I talked with several and have taken on a few as clients.

I worked with one client who is in a job search for the first time in 15 years.  This client lost her job before the shelter in place began and was just getting traction when everything stopped.  She came to me seeking help with her resume and networking efforts.  She needed a skills tune-up.

A lot has changed since her last job search.  The proliferation of online job boards and electronic resume submissions is a major change.  She wanted to ensure that her resume featured the best keywords to optimize her results with automated resume reading programs.

Then again, job search has not changed that much, especially for senior managers.  85% of jobs are still secured via old fashioned networking.  10% of jobs are found through job boards, with the balance through Executive Recruiters.  Naturally, my advice to job seekers is to allocate their time in the same proportions.  It is not easy at first for those who are not confident networking.  It is easier to sit in front of a computer screen, applying for jobs.  Of course, they become frustrated by the lack of response.

I begin coaching a new client by seeking to understand their career.  This helps me determine how to present the client in a compelling way.  More importantly, I want the client to articulate their story effectively and concisely.  It is not easy at first for most, but eventually, they get it.  This is one of my towering strengths.

The resume is the best place to start.  A well-crafted resume will tell a story about patterns of success and career growth. These patterns reveal the candidate’s orientation toward measurable results, or not.  It also tells something about the type of work and environment where they are most effective.  Are their skills best suited to taking on new projects or assignments?  Are they better suited to turnarounds or troubleshooting?  Do they thrive in ambiguous situations that require rationalization, or making incremental improvements to established lines of business? Whatever the case, I help them identify their career patterns. They become the theme of the candidate’s story.   Make the theme of your career story stand out.

The first time a recruiter or hiring manager touches a resume it is likely to receive little more than 20 seconds of their time.  Obviously, the reader is scanning, not reading. They are absorbing impressions.  Their focus is on the first third of the first page. They are looking for a headline, keywords, phrases, and job titles.  If they are not captivated by what they see, that will be the end of one’s opportunity.  I make those key points jump off the page.

To tell an effective story you must know your audience.  Are you sending your resume to an internal or an external recruiter? Maybe it is going to the hiring manager.  Are you responding to an online Job Posting? Are you scheduled to attend a networking meeting or maybe a one-on-one?  Is your LinkedIn Profile current?   Each point of contact represents a different audience, requiring a different vehicle.  Your job search tools include your resume, Bio, Cover Letter, LinkedIn page, Key Results Summary, and business cards.  They are to be used in a coordinated manner, each for a specific purpose.  A detailed resume is your foundation document.

Make your resume an interesting read.  Make it read like a story.  Each sentence must draw the reader into your journey.  Make them want to read the next sentence, then the next.  When you review your resume, look to see if it tells a story.  Is it clear and compelling?  Is there a common theme woven throughout?    Does it make you look interesting?  Does it entice the reader to schedule a meeting?  If the answer to those questions is not in the affirmative, you have work to do.

Thank you for visiting our blog.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

 

Posted on

Plant a Pine Tree!

Do you know the best time to plant a pine tree?

TWENTY YEARS AGO!!

Do you know the best time to plan your exit strategy??

The first day you stick the key into the front door of your new office!

Franklin Covey said, “Start with the end in view!”

I know in the excitement of launching a new venture and all the chaos that ultimately ensues, an exit strategy is the LAST thing on an aspiring business tycoon wants to consider.  The problem is that once it is pushed to the back burner, it tends to stay there for the next 30-40 years!

So let’s compromise!  If you are 55 years old and own a business, it is time to start giving serious consideration regarding what your ultimate destination will be.  An “Exit Strategy” is about selling the business off and a “Succession Plan” is about passing it down to the next generation, but both demand serious consideration well before you are ready to step away.

Two realities must align at the same time to maximize the value of a business: The owner must be mentally and emotionally prepared to walk away from a business they birthed and nurtured for the last 30-40 years AND the business must be structured to operate without the daily oversight of the owner and generating the highest level of profitability possible. Invariably, the business owners get to the finish line before the business is ready to command its highest multiple!

Now a good M&A guy can recast your financials to take out the country club membership and the spouse’s Cadillac, but if profits have been leaking out of the business, there just isn’t enough lipstick to make that pig win the blue ribbon!

The reason a 10-year runway is advised is to be able to make any necessary corrections in the business and run at that higher level for at least 3 to 5 years prior to going to market to demonstrate sustainable profitability.

As Dr. Ortego used to say, “The VALUE of a thing is the PRICE it will bring!”

Plan NOW to MAXimize Your Exit!!

 

Ralph Watson

Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.

Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field.  In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.

Ralph C. Watson, Jr.   404-520-1030

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Employee Engagement – Why Is It So Critical Now?

Today’s employees are facing unprecedented levels of stress both personally and professionally.

Employee Engagement

In many companies, employees face uncertainty and perhaps a furlough, layoff, or pay reduction due to the economic impact of the pandemic. In other companies, where the demand for their service or product suddenly increased (PPE products, telemedicine software, or video conferencing) employees find themselves overwhelmed with excessive hours week after week, perhaps in addition to now having to home school their children. And then there are the essential employees that have been asked to risk their own health to meet the new societal demands brought on by the pandemic.

Every day, we are reminded of the toll the pandemic is playing on employees. You can hear it in employees’ conversations and see it play out live on Zoom conference meetings. The daily news is filled with employees’ reactions to their company’s actions in response to the pandemic. Some companies like Amazon and Google made national news as employees expressed concerns to the press.

How employers treat their employees and how employees perceive their company during this challenging time will have a long-term impact on employee engagement levels for years to come. We saw proof of this in the years that followed the 2009 financial crisis. During that crisis, many companies failed to demonstrate compassion and their actions did not facilitate trust. As companies focused on the economic downturn, they failed to take steps to keep their employees engaged. As a result, many companies experienced decreased productivity, reduced customer satisfaction, and higher levels of attrition for years after 2009. Similarly, their brand was impacted for years to come as potential new hires used social media and networking to uncover past employees’ perceptions of their employers.

Organizations that take steps now to prevent a long-term disengaged workforce will reap benefits not only in the short-term but for years to come after the pandemic is history. Even as companies work hard today to contain costs, there are a number of simple, low-cost actions all employers can take to keep their workforce engaged.

High Impact, Low-Cost Employee Engagement Actions

Ensure alignment of the leadership team. Senior leaders set the tone and are responsible for making sure all managers model the tone and deliver consistent messaging.

Constant, transparent communication with employees is key, especially in trying times. Companies can keep employees informed through various channels, including corporate-wide virtual meetings, manager 1:1 meetings, and electronic updates.

Develop a culture and expectation that all managers check-in with their employees on a regular basis. By checking in with employees and listening, managers will develop an understanding of each employee’s concerns, needs, and goals.

Establish and communicate the go-forward vision for the company so employees can understand and support the vision.

Create an informal or formal mechanism to take the pulse of employees. Then ensure senior management receives this important feedback and as needed, takes actions in response to the feedback.

Regardless of the specific impact the pandemic is having on your business, the key to successfully and rapidly getting back on track at the back end of the pandemic will in a large part depend upon your workforce. By focusing on these employee engagement best practices, employers will foster a culture where employees are motivated to help the company achieve its goals. An inspired workforce will work hard to achieve productivity and sales goals. A disengaged workforce will complain to customers and resign when the job market picks up. Given the strong link between an engaged, motivated workforce, and corporate success, there has never been a better time for companies to focus on employee engagement.

 

Anne Gildea-Olt

Anne Gildea-Olt is the managing member of Strategic HRM Solutions, LLC., an HR consulting firm committed to helping companies successfully navigate change, accelerate growth, and deliver proactive innovative human capital solutions.

Anne@gohrmsolutions.com https://strategichrmsolutionsllc.godaddysites.com

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The Laws of Growth

Growing up on a small farm in South Georgia, I learned at an early age there were laws that governed the growth of crops and animals. Now as an adult I hear everyone talking about growing a business, growing a family, growing a political party, growing a church – it seems like everybody is trying to grow something!! It has occurred to me that the Laws of Growth I learned on the farm about growing an organism might also apply to grow an organization.

The First Law of Growth is that Growth is the NATURAL RESULT of a healthy organism.  We did not go out every morning and wake the cows up and encourage them to grow! We kept them fed and watered and they just grew!  For those of you who have children, you never had to go in the baby’s room and tell Junior it was time to start stretching so he would grow! You just had to keep him fed and watered and he grew!

May I be so bold as to suggest that if we have a healthy organization, it too will naturally grow?  If we build an organization where people want to work and contribute, they will not want to leave and will become a brand ambassador for other people looking for a healthy work environment. And our clients and customers will benefit from their loyalty and will want to purchase as many of our products and services as they can use, and they too will become brand ambassadors for others needing what you provide!

So how do you go about creating that healthy organization?

The Second Law of Growth is you must Plant the Seeds to Reap a Harvest. You can’t just lay the seeds on top of the ground and expect to reap anything on the farm, and you can’t just talk about what you’re going to do, you must actually DO something!

You have to break up the fallow ground, plow it up, loosen the soil, allow it to breathe and accept rainwater! When is the last time you took a long, hard look at how you do what it is that you do? How long have you been doing the same old thing the same old way? Are there parts of your organization that needs the refreshing of a good plowing?

Now, this is not the “just change something to be changing” mantra, but would any of your key people benefit from some additional training or a motivational seminar?  Are there processes that could be changed to produce better outcomes? Would it help to have a consultant or outside advisor come in and give your organization a complete evaluation top to bottom? What would happen in your organization if you pulled your salespeople into work in operations and sent your operations people out to make sales calls – even for a short period of time?

It has been said that a RUT is just a grave with the ends knocked out and ruts can be deadly in an organization if not plowed up!

The Third Law is you REAP what you SOW! This could be a book in itself!  You will reap the ATTITUDE you sow! You will reap the employees you hire! You will reap the character you develop! You will reap the policies you implement!

On the farm, it didn’t cost much more to purchase the BEST seeds, and, in the long run, they always gave the best yield. Might I propose that hiring the best people will, in the long run, be your best bargain? Hiring less than the best is a false economy – you will always get what you pay for!

The Fourth Law is that your Harvest is directly proportional to the care you provide your crops. You have to make sure your plants are receiving adequate water and fertilizer, and your employees must be receiving adequate compensation and training!  Your clients and customers must be receiving high-touch relationships and quality products and services! Start being stingy and your organization will react.

The Fifth Law is you must PULL the WEEDS! If there is someone in your organization that is not contributing, either motivate them, train them or fire them.  If there is anyone sowing discord, fire them immediately. Crops cannot compete with weeds for water and fertilizer and your employees are not going to thrive with negativity in their world.  And dare I say sometimes a client or customer can become a weed.  Don’t be afraid to fire one of them if they are creating more problems than they are worth.

The Sixth Law is you will always reap MORE than you sow!  For every seed of corn you plant, you will reap 2 to 4 EARS of corn come the harvest!  There should be a positive ROI on every employee and every customer, and that ROI is going to be influenced by how well the leader leads. Unfortunately, this law also works in the negative – reaping more grief than was sown.

The Seventh Law is you reap LATER than you sow! There is no magic wand to instantly create a healthy organization.  It takes time for the efforts you put in to produce the results you are wanting, but don’t let that discourage you from starting the process. Consider it motivation to start NOW!  Get a sense of urgency about creating a great organization.

So, in closing, I recall the words of Kevin Costner in The Field of Dreams, you build a healthy organization and they will come! Employees will come! Clients and customers will come! Profits will come!

Ralph Watson

Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.

Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field.  In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.

Ralph C. Watson, Jr.   404-520-1030

Thank you for visiting our blog.

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

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The 7-R’s of Resiliency

Doug Reifschneider

Building portco resiliency right now 

The current COVID-19 crisis is already changing the economy in extraordinary and unexpected ways. But there are steps private equity firms can help their portfolio companies make to help weather the storm, and recover when the clouds lift, according to Doug Reifschneider, a CMO with Chief Outsiders.

 The world’s best epidemiologists only have models to predict the full depth and breadth of the COVID-19 pandemic, but companies are already feeling the weight of the economic fallout. They’re scrambling to find the best way to respond, and in many cases, survive, all the while being rightly concerned for the health of their families and communities. It’s not easy, and this is no time to pretend otherwise.

Some enterprises might be dusting off contingency plans for downturns or large-scale threats, but this moment requires more than that. It demands a resiliency program, one that’s clear-eyed and proactive. If the outlook is too bleak or too rosy, the result can be the same dangerous inertia. But Doug Reifschneider, a CMO with Chief Outsiders, has a series of initiatives that can counter that.

Building off his extensive experience in the retail and restaurant industries, Reifschneider has devised what he calls the “7 Rs of Resiliency Programs.” It’s a checklist that can help frame and direct the efforts to respond to COVID-19. “It’s based on a mental framework from the US Marines that is centered on three steps in coping with a crisis: improvise, adapt and overcome,” says Reifschneider. “Plenty of people are improvising at this point, but it’s time to look at more constructive ways to adapt and plan for recovery.”

Private equity firms would do well to look within each company of their portfolio and help guide them in executing each one of these steps.

Review costs. “Most people are already doing this, as they’d have to be asleep at the wheel if they weren’t,” says Reifschneider. Still, beyond canceling recurring services that are simply irrelevant, like window washing, it can involve hard calls about labor and supplies. A lot of restaurants, retail brick & mortar and even brand HQ’s are furloughing employees and the current stimulus will help alleviate that pain, but those cuts need to be executed without crippling the resiliency program.

Reassign tasks. Sometimes the best thing a company can do is focus on what it can give back. In the short term, that can be repurposing the business for strictly philanthropic purposes. He cites one restaurant that used its parking lot for a Red Cross Blood Drive. “It doesn’t address the bottom line, but it establishes the business as a partner in the community,” says Reifschneider.

Rethink offerings. For restaurants that never considered takeout or delivery options, this is the time to launch those. For retailers, this can involve more online ordering and curbside pick-up. But creativity is key here. Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chao was centered around its all-you-can-eat in-house dining experience. “So they became a butcher shop, offering their unique cuts of meat so folks could cook them at home,” says Reifschneider. “It’s a savvy way to redeploy inventory and keep sales from cratering completely.”

Another example is the company Wow Bao, that created a special licensing deal to allow other restaurants to produce and sell its dumplings by selling the ingredients and a few pieces of equipment to do so.

Reconsider sacred cows.  As businesses rethink their offerings, they can run smack into certain “sacred cows” that seem to be integral to their identity. That high-end eatery may balk at delivery options since that fish dish might be ruined in the thirty or forty-five minutes it takes to deliver it. “This is no time for those kinds of pretensions,” warns Reifschneider. “Find a way to make a meal pack, which are popular now, or focus on offerings that can be delivered successfully.” Several restaurants have created pop-up drive-throughs, with no more than a tent and a landlord’s blessing. And the likes of Home Depot have shifted to curbside pick-ups even as it prided itself on counseling customers in the store.

Reschedule Initiatives. Retailers and restaurants that had planned remodeling projects could move those up, but only if they have the resources to do so. “It would take only the best-capitalized businesses to embark on such remodeling projects, but if they can, it’s worth doing,” says Reifschneider. “Instead of closing for that week in August to remodel, do that now.” Of course, such initiatives can still be hindered by government directives that limit non-essential work.

Reconnect. Communication matters more than ever. “We may be keeping our distance physically, but we’ve never been more social,” says Reifschneider. “We have regular Zoom happy hours and contact clients regularly.” B2B companies will have closer relationships since they sell directly to their clients, but B2C companies shouldn’t go quiet either. They need to reach out every few days, so long as they are mindful of tone and content.

Reifschneider cites a recent study by Edelman that surveyed over 12,000 people across 12 countries on brand trust in the wake of COVID-19, which finds that 71% of respondents would lose trust in a company forever if that company is seen as putting profits before people right now.

 

“Every enterprise should take that 71% seriously, and make sure their communications are exclusively about how they’re helping their communities, their customers and their employees cope with the situation,” says Reifschneider. “Striking a tone of generosity and support is crucial.”

Ready the relaunch. There is no reliable guidance for when any company will return to normalcy. However, Reifschneider notes this shouldn’t prevent companies from planning the steps for a reopening. Employees will need to be retrained with new procedures for interacting with customers, and in the restaurant business, there are likely to be new protocols for food prep and increased sanitation. Dining rooms and showroom floors will get dusty during the shutdown, so time needs to be allocated for a deep clean. “This also might be a great time to retrain employees in customer service, stocking shelves, or getting CPUs in line,” says Reifschneider.

However, no one should take any of these steps in a vacuum. Each needs to be tailored to the market reality facing a given enterprise. “At Chief Outsiders, we vet all assumptions, with hands-on research initiatives that capture how customers and peers are thinking and acting,” says Reifschneider. “And we do this even when the market is stable and growing, let alone during a crisis that can change everything overnight.”

So perhaps the first step in any resiliency plan is for a business to get its bearings, and understand exactly where it stands at the moment. It might be all the more important to listen before speaking, to ask, and use that feedback to gauge what to do next. The best private equity firms will already have open channels with their portfolio companies and that level of candor and sense of collaboration should be extended to all stakeholders.

In times like this, humility might be a secret weapon, provided it doesn’t stop a company from acting. Fortune may still favor the bold in times like these, but only if the bold is informed and willing to help.

Doug Reifschneider
Doug Reifschneider

https://www.itbpartners.com/doug-reifschneider/

Thank you for visiting our blog.

I hope you enjoyed our point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber – Managing Partner, ITB Partners

 

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The Isolation of Ownership

Bottomline First: Owners don’t really have anyone to talk to about their problems. Reach out to those in your care.

Outside of a preacher in a small church, I don’t know of a more lonely calling than a small business owner.

I will often ask them, “Do you know what your friends think of you?”

They look at me with stunned incredulity since I had only met them a couple of hours earlier and know none of their friends.

I proceed to tell them, “Your friends think they have it made, they think you come and go as you please, hire people to do what you don’t want to do and write it all off on your taxes!!  They think you have the Life of Riley!”

Then they say, “You know, you are absolutely right!”

And I assure them if they try to convince their friends just how hard it is owning a business, they think you are pulling their leg!

And THIS is during the GOOD times!  The loneliness is only getting worse in the economic environment of the day!

Many times business owners will become overly friendly with their employees to cope with their isolation knowing they get the day-to-day stresses with which the owner is dealing. But that becomes a management problem within the business and makes it almost unthinkable to furlough them when times get tough.

Business owners are seen as “having it all together” not only by their friends and the public at large but also by their families.  I can’t tell you how many times I have interviewed a business owner during an analytical survey of their company who was showing a loss on their P&L only to discover he (or she) had not told their spouse. And let’s be honest, men, we are more guilty of this than our sisters-in-business. That stinkin’ EGO of ours gets us in trouble and then cuts off the support we so desperately need!

So to you advisors of these stalwart but hurting heroes of our economy, reach out to them! They need to know there are people and places that can be safe for them to unmask their pain.

Bankers, attorneys, wealth advisors, CPAs, insurance agents, consultants, accounting firms, HR firms – any trusted advisor in their life can just BE THERE for them and let them know it is OK for them to share anything that is bothering them.

If you are in a role they might not feel comfortable due to the business relationship (like their banker), try suggesting they might want to talk to a friend of yours.

As Charles Dickens wrote in the Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of time…”  We have been brutally snatched out of “the best of times” and forced into what is arguably “the worst of times.”

As a man of faith, I would that all men and women would seek guidance from the Creator of us all to lean into Him and His wisdom for our individual and corporate deliverance.

Let’s all be there for each other as we walk through the valley of shadows.

Ralph Watson

Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.

 

 

Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field.  In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.

Ralph C. Watson, Jr.    404.520.1030

Ralph.Watson@BeGreaterFaster.com