Tag Archives: Business and Economy

April 26, 2019 · 1:55 pm

Passover Baking And Business

This Foodie Friday, we are most of the way through the period during which observant Jews don’t eat leavened goods. That means no bread or anything else that involves flour or anything that could make the baked good rise. Think about anything that you bake. I’m guessing that it has flour or baking powder or baking soda or yeast. All of those things are big no-nos to those that observe Passover.

I’m not a baker, as I’ve written before, but since I’m often tasked with preparing the food for Passover I’ve learned quite a bit about baking during this time of the year. Oddly, it doesn’t really require a huge shift in your thinking these days since many people are on some sort of gluten-free diet. That accounts for shifting away from flour and into things such as finely ground nuts, which are totally fine for Passover. In fact, my Aunt Ileen’s nut cake was always in demand and it wasn’t until recently that I realized it was gluten-free. Who knew 30 years ago when I got the recipe from her!

How do you make cakes rise with no leavening agents? Whipped egg whites will get the job done. Everything becomes a sort of chiffon cake (or a tart of sorts). Then, of course, there are things such as macaroons (not the delicate French kind) that are just scoops of coconut or almonds held together with sugar syrup and often dipped in chocolate.

What does this have to do with business? While the easiest thing to do at this time of the year is not to bake due to the conditions having changed, instead people learned to adapt. If you have anyone with gluten intolerance in your life, you may have already begun to make that change, not realizing that it would come in handy in other situations. Businesses need to be prepared to do this sort of thing as well. Markets and business conditions are constantly shifting, and the ability to adapt and change is one of the most important things a business can have. Maybe it’s a supply-chain disruption. Maybe it’s the loss of key personnel or of an important client. Continuing on in your business, even if you have to make product changes to serve the customer, is paramount at all times of the year, unlike Passover.

I’m very much looking forward to getting back to leavened bread but I’ve come to appreciate what we can learn from how the rules shifted this week. You?

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April 24, 2019 · 2:09 pm

Good Caddies, Great Business

I like walking the golf course with a caddie. I really don’t get to do so much anymore since not a lot of places employ caddies. Even rarer are the places that employ professional caddies (as opposed to some kid who will carry your bag but knows less about the course and golf than you do).

I was thinking about the differences a professional caddie can make and it dawned on me that some of the things I appreciate most about good caddies are the same things that can help transform a good business into a great business. Ironically, those things don’t include what is often cited as the caddie’s three jobs: show up, keep up and shut up. There are, however, a number of other things I’d like to point out.

First, great caddies are available. What I mean by that is that they keep up with you and are by your side when you need them to be. They also leave you alone when you don’t need them, as you chat with your golfing companions. Great businesses are available as well. You can reach someone 24/7, even if it’s only to get told “we hear you and someone will get back to you by 9am” and their website information is up to date and complete. Great businesses let you know they are available and they hear you.

A caddie is an epitome of combining service and convenience. That’s what your business needs to do as well. The convenience of someone buying online and the service of going to pick up the order at a special desk at your local retail outlet does that (and saves shipping charges as well as time).

Caddies are proactive. They have the right yardage figured out when you get to the ball and they hand you the right club for the shot. By the way, great caddies give you the club you need, not necessarily the club you want. After a few shots, they’re pretty good at assessing your game and understanding the best way to help you have a great round. Great businesses are the same – they’re proactive. They know their customers and have what they want before they ask for it.

Finally, the best caddies are fun people. They’re great to talk with, generally have a decent joke or two to tell, and help you to focus on your task at hand. They make it easy to have the best experience possible. Isn’t that exactly what great businesses do as well?

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April 22, 2019 · 12:31 pm

Let Me Call You Back

One thing I deal with constantly these days is getting people on the telephone. I will often make 20 calls in an hour or two and only get a few people – all of whom have requested that someone call them – to answer the phone. Sometimes when I reach them they’re at work or driving and they ask if they can call me back. They hardly ever do, even when we set up a specific time. They don’t call me so I’ll call them at the appointed hour. They rarely answer.

It sounds awful, right? They claim to want information about new opportunities yet they won’t answer when opportunity comes knocking. My question to you concerns your business doing the same thing. No, not having customers hang up on you, but the opposite. Are you hanging up on them?

When was the last time you looked at your inbound customer service metrics? Do you even have such things? Research shows that consumers value efficient service and knowledgeable staff when they call a business. They find being kept on hold, rude service, and automated phone menus frustrating. You can measure on-hold time and you can test the customer service reps to be sure they’re knowledgeable and personable.  You can check when call volume peaks and schedule more reps during that time.

One thing I’ve come to like quite a bit is the “let me call you back” option when there is going to be an on-hold time of more than a few minutes. You know what I mean – “press 5 to get a call back when there is an available representative or press 6 to schedule a time to be called back.” That’s customer-friendly and shows them that you respect their time and have empathy for their problem. When I hear “your call is important to us,” I always think “if it’s so damn important, why aren’t you answering?” Calling back shows it really is important.

It’s the little things we do in business that say a lot about how we run our firms. What messages are you sending? Are they the kind that will get customers to return?

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