Aug. 18, 2021
Building a Fast Growing, High Profit Business with Steve Preda
In episode 84, host Eric Dickmann interviews Steve Preda. Steve is an entrepreneur, speaker, certified EOS implementer, and author of "Buyable: Your Guide to Building a Self-Managing, Fast-Growing, and High-Profit Business." Since the age of ten, Steve (Istvan) Preda dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur, inspired by his great-grandfather, who had built a legendary bakery business in Budapest, Hungary. After working for top consulting firms and banks in London and Budapest, in 2002, he embarked on realizing his dream by starting MB Partners, a consulting firm, helping private companies arrange ownership transitions.
Having overcome many painful mistakes, by 2007, MB Partners achieved market leadership in Hungary, but around its tenth year, the firm hit the ceiling. That was when Preda read Gino Wickman’s Traction, which changed his life and his company forever. A year later a private equity group bought the firm, Steve and his family of six moved to the United States.
Today, Steve Preda's mission is to help entrepreneurial leadership teams succeed, as a Certified EOS Implementer. Since 2016, he has been helping over 35 leadership teams clarify, simplify and achieve their visions, and start living the EOS Life.
For show notes and a list of resources mentioned in this episode, please visit: https://fiveechelon.com/building-fast-growing-highprofit-business-s6ep3/
Send us your questions or comments
A fractional CMO can help build out a comprehensive marketing strategy and execute targeted campaigns designed to increase awareness and generate demand for your business...without the expense of a full-time hire.
The Five Echelon Group - Fractional CMO and strategic marketing advisory services designed for SMBs looking to grow. Learn more at:
WEBVTT
00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.590
Welcome to The Virtual CMO podcast.
00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:35.564
I'm your host, Eric Dickmann.
00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:48.259
In this podcast, we have conversations with marketing professionals who share the strategies, tactics, and mindset you can use to improve the effectiveness of your marketing activities and grow your business.
00:00:48.382 --> 00:00:48.682
Steve.
00:00:48.682 --> 00:00:52.402
Welcome to The Virtual CMO podcast I'm so glad you could join us today
00:00:53.873 --> 00:00:55.492
Hey, Eric, I'm excited to be here.
00:00:55.882 --> 00:00:56.362
Thank you.
00:00:56.453 --> 00:00:57.893
I'm excited to have you here.
00:00:57.893 --> 00:01:06.382
I love having authors on the show especially of interesting books and we're going to get a chance to get into your new book- Buyable, today, which is fun for me.
00:01:06.382 --> 00:01:08.093
You know I think it's such an accomplishment.
00:01:08.093 --> 00:01:11.873
I do a lot of blog post writing and sometimes I think that that's a chore.
00:01:12.052 --> 00:01:16.673
You know putting together several hundred pages of written content, that's quite an accomplishment.
00:01:16.673 --> 00:01:18.293
What made you decide to become an author?
00:01:19.186 --> 00:01:20.537
Well, I'm totally with you.
00:01:20.537 --> 00:01:28.096
I mean blogs can be a big task to come up with a good blog post and you always want to do a better one than the last one.
00:01:28.307 --> 00:01:31.516
So I totally relate to that.
00:01:31.516 --> 00:01:34.786
Basically it's something that I had at the back of my mind for years.
00:01:34.856 --> 00:01:39.301
I wanted to do this, and then the pandemic hit and I said, Oh, wow.
00:01:39.331 --> 00:01:39.601
Okay.
00:01:39.601 --> 00:01:49.402
so my travels stopped, I drove 50,000 miles in 2019, and the middle of March, everything stopped and said, Wow, this is the time.
00:01:49.641 --> 00:01:52.341
So how do I put my time to the best use?
00:01:52.402 --> 00:01:54.171
And I thought, Wow, let's do this.
00:01:54.171 --> 00:01:55.191
Let's try to do this book.
00:01:56.301 --> 00:01:58.402
And that's how it came about.
00:01:58.402 --> 00:02:01.281
So I can thank COVID for the book actually.
00:02:01.542 --> 00:02:02.231
I think that's great.
00:02:02.231 --> 00:02:05.471
You've done what we have encouraged so many businesses to do.
00:02:05.471 --> 00:02:11.861
It's take the opportunity of a little bit of this downtime to create really compelling content that has a life of its own.
00:02:11.861 --> 00:02:16.812
And a book is certainly an example of compelling content that will live on for a long time.
00:02:17.111 --> 00:02:27.252
I think it would be great as we kick off our conversation today if you would just share a little bit with the audience about your background and you know, how that sort of factored into writing this book.
00:02:28.921 --> 00:02:29.162
Yeah.
00:02:29.162 --> 00:02:33.102
So my background is I'm an accountant.
00:02:33.122 --> 00:02:46.692
I started life with KPMG as an accountant, then I became a banker and then I started my own investment banking firm, where I was helping small to medium size entrepreneurs, turn their good businesses into great businesses, and find investors for them.
00:02:47.292 --> 00:02:59.592
And then I became a business coach, a leadership team coach, and essentially, I poured my last 20 years into this book as an adviser, as an entrepreneur, as a business coach.
00:02:59.921 --> 00:03:02.142
And I tried to think about the big picture.
00:03:02.742 --> 00:03:10.752
What does it look like to make a business buyable and how to go about it and how to drive this process?
00:03:10.752 --> 00:03:13.782
I've worked with many clients who sold.
00:03:13.782 --> 00:03:19.272
I have them sell their company and sometimes it's worked out great, sometimes it didn't work out so well.
00:03:19.421 --> 00:03:24.852
I mean, the sales are not well, but then the entrepreneur essentially found themselves in a vacuum.
00:03:25.356 --> 00:03:38.947
And I was thinking about how to go about this thing, and this book is basically about the journey and how to think about it and how to manage the emotional side, as well as the technical side of creating a business that people would want to buy.
00:03:40.046 --> 00:03:47.427
I think what's so interesting about it is you really are talking about positioning your business for a potential sale.
00:03:47.637 --> 00:04:02.627
We've talked a lot on this podcast about the difference between being an owner and an operator of your business, and trying to get to a point where your business can be more self sufficient and you don't have to spend you know, 10, 12 hours a day running your business.
00:04:02.867 --> 00:04:14.312
But you're really taking it a step further with this idea of constructing a business in such a way that ultimately if you decide to, you've built it in such a way that you could sell it at the end.
00:04:16.096 --> 00:04:16.307
Yeah.
00:04:16.307 --> 00:04:18.826
So the whole point is buying the business.
00:04:19.036 --> 00:04:29.716
People sometimes they fall into it, sometimes they want to make a lot of money, sometimes they think that if they're going to be successful in this business, then people will love them.
00:04:29.927 --> 00:04:35.086
So whatever the reason that we start businesses, begin with the end in mind.
00:04:35.117 --> 00:04:36.487
So what is an idea?
00:04:36.507 --> 00:04:38.567
What does an ideal life look like for you?
00:04:39.336 --> 00:04:48.906
And it may be the business, but it may not be, or it may be a different, a certain rule in the business, but not doing everything like a lot of entrepreneurs do, right?
00:04:49.266 --> 00:04:50.556
Not very good at their hats.
00:04:50.776 --> 00:04:58.056
I know a successful entrepreneur who builds a national law firm, and then the firm was self-managing.
00:04:58.266 --> 00:05:05.796
He put another CEO, he stepped down from the board, and he went back into the business because he wanted to work on venture capital deals.
00:05:06.156 --> 00:05:11.356
That was his ideal life to work on these kinds of deals and he let other people manage the business.
00:05:11.356 --> 00:05:13.627
And it was still successful, still profitable.
00:05:14.056 --> 00:05:22.757
So whatever it is, whatever is your ideal life, figure it out first, and then let's use the business as a vehicle to get you there.
00:05:23.322 --> 00:05:25.572
Because the business is a great, great vehicle.
00:05:25.572 --> 00:05:30.041
It can create the funds for you to fund that ideal life.
00:05:30.431 --> 00:05:41.621
It can, uh, create, uh, you know, it could be the business yourself that you love to own because you don't have to manage it, or you don't have to work, you know, 50 hours or 80 hours in it.
00:05:41.651 --> 00:05:44.111
You just work 20 hours, whatever works for you.
00:05:44.661 --> 00:05:52.507
So that's basically the idea and if you build that kind of business and you love your business, you don't have to sell it at all.
00:05:52.716 --> 00:05:53.697
You can harvest it.
00:05:53.697 --> 00:06:07.776
You know it's profitable, you can take whatever money you need from it, and you can still be engaged and you can still enjoy working with the people you love to work with, and doing an exciting thing.
00:06:07.776 --> 00:06:13.596
You're growing something which is living, staying at the strategic level, which is always exciting.
00:06:14.641 --> 00:06:31.692
I'm sure you see it a lot, but there really seemed to be at least two different mindsets when it comes to business owners and entrepreneurs, you have these people that fall in love with their idea and they have a very hard time letting it go because it's their baby and they want to nurture it and they want to see it grow.
00:06:31.931 --> 00:06:49.561
But sometimes that idea, honestly, isn't a great idea and the business just ends up going nowhere, and then you sort of see the second class of entrepreneurs, they are excited about bringing new things to market, and when a business reaches a certain level of potential, they sell it to a larger company and it becomes incorporated.
00:06:49.711 --> 00:06:51.661
And then they turn around and start up something else.
00:06:51.901 --> 00:06:53.971
And it's just this cycle of one idea.
00:06:53.971 --> 00:06:57.271
They bring it to a certain point and then they move on and they start something else.
00:06:57.271 --> 00:07:04.822
They just always have this passion for bringing new ideas to market, as opposed to holding on to one idea forever.
00:07:04.981 --> 00:07:06.601
Do you see a lot of that as well?
00:07:08.322 --> 00:07:08.851
Yeah.
00:07:08.951 --> 00:07:14.176
You know there are more entrepreneurs out there, more visionary entrepreneurs, than there are the operators.
00:07:15.317 --> 00:07:29.611
It's much harder to find someone who has the discipline and the consistency to operate a business to not get distracted, to stay to the people they choose, to make sure that the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted.
00:07:30.061 --> 00:07:32.262
It's much, much harder to find the kind of people.
00:07:32.591 --> 00:07:39.051
To be a visionary entrepreneur who is running after different ideas all the time, it's easy.
00:07:39.361 --> 00:07:40.466
You know we are like that.
00:07:40.466 --> 00:07:44.216
That's our natural emo to do that.
00:07:45.366 --> 00:07:53.637
And yes, the smart entrepreneurs who realize that they don't like to operate businesses, they just incubate the idea.
00:07:53.637 --> 00:08:05.551
They get it to the point where the baby can, you know, can crawl or maybe walk and then hand it off to a nurse who will make sure that baby grows up and be taken care of.
00:08:05.882 --> 00:08:16.861
So yeah, we have actually a great entrepreneur, a woman here in Richmond where I live in Richmond, Virginia, Linda Nash, who is doing exactly that.
00:08:16.861 --> 00:08:18.351
She is on her fifth company.
00:08:18.762 --> 00:08:29.776
She has groomed and grown and sold several businesses, and she takes them to that stage where they are no longer family tied atmosphere.
00:08:29.926 --> 00:08:34.187
When you get your gets from this 30 people to a hundred people, she doesn't want to go there.
00:08:34.187 --> 00:08:36.407
She lets let other people deal with that.
00:08:36.826 --> 00:08:37.817
And she started a new one.
00:08:38.517 --> 00:08:44.517
It's definitely a mindset and it's fascinating to see people and how they go into business and really what they want out of it.
00:08:44.907 --> 00:08:58.871
And so again, you know, your book is buildable and I think it's going to be very interesting to sort of follow your thought process as you help give advice to business owners on how they can ultimately build a business that they could sell if they wanted to.
00:08:58.871 --> 00:09:05.442
So there's a lot of information in your book, but I wanted to just kind of go through four high level points, which you focus on in the book.
00:09:05.711 --> 00:09:09.162
And the first one you mentioned is designing your future.
00:09:09.162 --> 00:09:13.572
What do you really mean when you talk about that initial stage of designing your future?
00:09:15.496 --> 00:09:17.736
So it's exactly this kind of thinking.
00:09:17.736 --> 00:09:19.797
What is the ideal life for me?
00:09:20.427 --> 00:09:22.067
What do I want to do?
00:09:22.067 --> 00:09:25.156
What do I want to engage with?
00:09:25.177 --> 00:09:26.506
Do I want to run a business?
00:09:26.506 --> 00:09:39.891
Do you want to create businesses or do I want to engage with charitable activities or do I want to spend my time with my social circles or is there a hobby that I really want to do?
00:09:40.721 --> 00:09:45.591
Do I want to be an author and a speaker and be on the stage?
00:09:45.651 --> 00:09:47.331
So what is it that you want to do?
00:09:47.331 --> 00:09:50.751
That's the first one and that's not so easy to figure out.
00:09:51.417 --> 00:10:01.016
Um, and the most, the actual software store I talked to, they're kind of taken aback by this whole idea that they have to think about themselves rather than the business.
00:10:01.616 --> 00:10:03.057
Um, but that's the first one.
00:10:03.057 --> 00:10:09.866
And when you figure this out, then the question is, Okay, so what does it take for you to get there?
00:10:09.866 --> 00:10:11.906
Often there is a number attached to it.
00:10:12.797 --> 00:10:33.956
For example, maybe I want to start the business which has a bigger potential, and I need to have a starting capital accumulated for that, or I want to retire and I need the number, what it's going to take me to have a comfortable retirement or I want to start with this charity, how much money do I need to make it sustainable?
00:10:35.037 --> 00:10:38.231
So whatever it is, you have to figure out what the number is.
00:10:38.451 --> 00:10:50.081
There is actually a tool for my readers that they can go on a website and they can calculate their magic echo, the magic number that they do need to reach.
00:10:50.141 --> 00:10:50.841
That's the first step.
00:10:50.881 --> 00:11:03.746
And then we can reverse engineer from this magic number the value of your business that it has to reach based on your ownership percentage or taxes, based on the current value.
00:11:03.776 --> 00:11:10.406
Well, actually it doesn't depend on current rate, so what is the value that you need to harvest from this business?
00:11:10.646 --> 00:11:12.326
We value your business in the present.
00:11:12.326 --> 00:11:19.721
There's another calculator for the readers that they can do, that they value their business, in the present, into the future, time horizon.
00:11:19.901 --> 00:11:24.236
So let's say in 10 years, I want to get my$1 million company to$5 million.
00:11:24.836 --> 00:11:27.572
What is the growth rate I have to have?
00:11:28.381 --> 00:11:31.942
And then you basically know what you're aiming.
00:11:31.942 --> 00:11:38.271
In 10 years, you need to grow this company to this point and you know, what the end demand is.
00:11:38.271 --> 00:11:40.121
And that's the first step.
00:11:40.371 --> 00:11:41.871
so that's the first.
00:11:42.221 --> 00:11:45.606
Like in businesses, we often talk about with retirement, right?
00:11:45.606 --> 00:12:01.646
If you want to retire at age 65, and then you figure you're going to live for another 20 years after that, you need to figure out how much of a nest egg do I have to have to retire at 65, to you know play golf or whatever, travel the world, whatever it is that you want to do.
00:12:01.736 --> 00:12:04.586
So in some ways, this is a very similar type of calculation.
00:12:05.776 --> 00:12:06.976
It is very similar.
00:12:07.037 --> 00:12:16.876
And the idea is that it may be more than just your master, because you also want to start up a business or you want to buy your toys, but it's basically the same idea.
00:12:16.876 --> 00:12:24.856
So what is going to be your annual retirement burn rate times whatever number is that spiral correlation.
00:12:25.336 --> 00:12:28.736
And then what are those toys that you want to buy?
00:12:28.736 --> 00:12:31.466
Do you want a second home or third home?
00:12:31.866 --> 00:12:36.297
Do you want to fund your kids' colleges or your grandkids colleges?
00:12:36.626 --> 00:12:38.697
Do you want to give away money?
00:12:38.726 --> 00:12:40.736
Whatever it is, it's also power calculation.
00:12:41.037 --> 00:12:42.386
But it's the same idea.
00:12:42.417 --> 00:12:42.626
Yeah.
00:12:43.386 --> 00:12:50.807
So once you go through, you do those calculations, then your phase two, your next step is really all around orchestrating your business.
00:12:50.807 --> 00:12:54.376
So what do you mean when you talk about orchestrating your business?
00:12:55.442 --> 00:13:03.506
So orchestration means that you make your business well run and there are three purposes to that.
00:13:03.506 --> 00:13:15.636
First is you want to make your business self managing because ultimately as long as you're running a business, you are trapped in it, and you're at the mercy of the challenges of your business.
00:13:16.576 --> 00:13:29.381
For your business to be really buyable, for other people to be able to take it over and run it and use it as an asset, it needs to be independent of you, so it has to be self managing.
00:13:29.711 --> 00:13:41.751
The second thing, it has to be growing at a good pace because businesses that are not growing are not able to attract A players because they want to join businesses that go somewhere where they can have a career.
00:13:42.322 --> 00:13:49.542
They are not going to be able to sustain their position in the market and they're not going to be very profitable.
00:13:49.621 --> 00:13:52.331
They will be kind of followers, not leaders.
00:13:52.331 --> 00:14:00.912
So your business has to grow at a reasonable clip and then you want it to be profitable as well because that's the oxygen.
00:14:01.151 --> 00:14:03.312
So without profit, you're not able to grow.
00:14:03.611 --> 00:14:05.831
Growth, it takes a lot of money.
00:14:06.131 --> 00:14:08.802
It sucks money out of the business, essentially.
00:14:09.101 --> 00:14:15.401
So you need to have a healthy, profitable to be able to fund your growth, to keep the business, to keep owning the business.
00:14:15.731 --> 00:14:27.221
If that's what you want to do and to keep the business house and give you some room to make some mistakes because along the way, you're going to make some mistakes, you need that buffer of profitability that will save you there.
00:14:27.511 --> 00:14:38.067
So these are the goals and this can actually be all be achieved by just implementing seven management concepts that have emerged the last 100 years.
00:14:38.677 --> 00:14:50.386
The first one was 1911, the publication of scientific management by Frederick Winslow Taylor, who figured out that if you processize your work, you can improve your productivity.
00:14:50.807 --> 00:14:54.406
And there are the concepts, and I'm happy to talk about them.
00:14:54.406 --> 00:15:03.371
So seven management concepts, if you implement those in your business, then you will have the self-managing, fast-growing, and high profit business.
00:15:03.822 --> 00:15:05.351
And that's what I call orchestration.
00:15:05.621 --> 00:15:07.151
This is not rocket science.
00:15:07.151 --> 00:15:18.701
This is something that you can, you know, you can either do it yourself with the use of management blueprints, or you can hire someone to help you and be your guide on this journey.
00:15:19.182 --> 00:15:30.641
Now, the management blueprint concept, before you ask it is essentially the idea that these seminars, of course they have been implemented by the fortune companies, have impacted them.
00:15:30.912 --> 00:15:32.591
You used to work for Oracle, right?
00:15:32.912 --> 00:15:38.111
So they have implemented this decades ago, these ideas.
00:15:38.846 --> 00:15:48.616
And you can, however, if you're a small business, there are books out there that give you a cookie cutter way of implementing these concepts into your business.
00:15:48.616 --> 00:15:50.956
So I call these management blueprints.
00:15:50.956 --> 00:16:00.016
The first one was the E-Myth 1986 by Michael Gerber and then there's traction, and there is a Great Game of Business and Scaling Up, and others.
00:16:00.606 --> 00:16:09.126
So you can pick one of those or you can have a guide who will advise you in what combination is the best one for your specific business.
00:16:09.886 --> 00:16:15.417
But the point is that you can implement this concept and then you have a well managed business.
00:16:15.746 --> 00:16:20.726
You know, 90% of businesses never survive beyond their owners.
00:16:21.266 --> 00:16:23.876
And it's a shame because that's a lost opportunity.
00:16:24.057 --> 00:16:29.276
Imagine it's like 90% of the GDP, so it's like you're losing 90% of the clients.
00:16:29.307 --> 00:16:30.026
That's the same thing.
00:16:30.026 --> 00:16:31.646
You have to get new clients all the time.
00:16:31.947 --> 00:16:46.466
The economy has to generate new businesses all the time, because we are losing these businesses because they are not well managed and you can fix it., We can fix that just by implementing these concepts, this business can be well managed, and that's where it orchestrated.
00:16:46.466 --> 00:16:52.317
And often just by orchestrating your business, you already can take it to the size that you need.
00:16:52.766 --> 00:16:58.496
And you can go to phase four or you can, if you're not there yet, you can go to phase three, phase three.
00:17:00.745 --> 00:17:03.595
Hey, it's Eric here and we'll be right back to the podcast.
00:17:03.595 --> 00:17:08.454
But first, are you ready to grow, scale, and take your marketing to the next level?
00:17:08.664 --> 00:17:15.025
If so, The Five Echelon Group's Virtual CMO consulting service may be a great fit for you.
00:17:15.295 --> 00:17:21.204
We can help build a strategic marketing plan for your business and manage its execution, step-by-step.
00:17:21.444 --> 00:17:23.995
We'll focus on areas like how to attract more leads.
00:17:24.265 --> 00:17:28.404
How to create compelling messaging that resonates with your ideal customers.
00:17:28.765 --> 00:17:32.335
How to strategically package and position your products and services.
00:17:32.664 --> 00:17:37.075
How to increase lead conversion, improve your margins, and scale your business.
00:17:37.404 --> 00:17:45.174
To find out more about our consulting offerings and schedule a consultation, go to fiveechelon.com and click on Services.
00:17:45.625 --> 00:17:46.884
Now back to the podcast.
00:17:48.934 --> 00:18:02.984
What's so interesting about that and we've had conversations on this podcast about it before is that certainly technology has changed, you know how the economy works has changed, sectors have come and gone in terms of their importance.
00:18:03.194 --> 00:18:10.904
But some of these core business principles remain the same and can be applied, whether you're a high-tech company or you're a steel manufacturer, right?
00:18:10.904 --> 00:18:15.345
There are still some basic business concepts and frameworks that you need to implement.
00:18:15.585 --> 00:18:20.055
And one of the things I thought was interesting about what you said was really designing for profit.
00:18:20.484 --> 00:18:24.714
And I think many businesses out there profit is sort of an afterthought.
00:18:24.714 --> 00:18:33.474
It's just what's ever left over after they're done with everything else as opposed to specifically designing their business around profit and profit margins.
00:18:33.907 --> 00:18:46.298
Yeah, So, I mean, that's not the only thing, but it's really important because you know, you can be successful if your strategy is not great, you can be successful, but, but you are profitable.
00:18:46.298 --> 00:18:50.048
You can be successful if you don't execute flawlessly, but you're profitable.
00:18:50.437 --> 00:18:54.627
You can be successful if you are not the market leader, but you're profitable.
00:18:55.498 --> 00:18:58.742
You can be any of those things if you're not profitable, you're going to fail.
00:18:59.222 --> 00:19:01.462
So profit is really the missing link.
00:19:02.413 --> 00:19:03.833
No, that's good.
00:19:03.833 --> 00:19:08.542
And so you mentioned step number three now, which is all about growth and value.
00:19:08.873 --> 00:19:14.002
And obviously if it was as simple as saying, well, I want to grow at 5% this year, you know, everybody would be doing it right?
00:19:14.002 --> 00:19:16.373
Growth is sometimes hard to achieve.
00:19:16.643 --> 00:19:24.383
So when you're talking about this and adding value to your company, how do you recommend that companies take a look and think about growth?
00:19:26.192 --> 00:19:38.792
Yeah so I would say that by even do seven management concepts, which are actually the culture,, the structure, the organization, the vision, the strategy, execution, processes, and alignment.
00:19:38.972 --> 00:19:43.157
If you implement those, it's highly unlikely you will not grow.
00:19:43.187 --> 00:19:44.877
But maybe you're not growing fast enough.
00:19:44.877 --> 00:19:49.667
So the third phase is growth driver is still in growth drivers in the business.
00:19:49.667 --> 00:19:59.057
So maybe if you want to grow faster than you would normally be able to, then you can, go and bring these growth drivers in.
00:19:59.538 --> 00:20:02.597
So one of these is the differentiation of your business.
00:20:02.752 --> 00:20:05.962
So, how are you different from others?
00:20:06.062 --> 00:20:07.613
How do you differentiate?
00:20:07.853 --> 00:20:09.173
I mean, that's your area, right?
00:20:09.242 --> 00:20:09.903
Yeah,
00:20:10.222 --> 00:20:16.458
So do you own some real estate in the mind of your customers?
00:20:16.958 --> 00:20:25.577
Do you have certain terms that remind them that you are different?
00:20:25.577 --> 00:20:31.488
I mean, look at Starbucks, Starbucks branded even the size of the cup, they call it venti, right?
00:20:31.698 --> 00:20:32.867
They branded this as a cup.
00:20:33.137 --> 00:20:36.437
They branded the server of the coffee, they call them barristers.
00:20:36.857 --> 00:20:45.337
So they brand everything and therefore Starbucks is like, adored apart from all the other coffee shops, it is Starbucks, Starbucks coffee.
00:20:46.397 --> 00:20:50.327
So how do you differentiate yourself in the mind of the customer?
00:20:50.988 --> 00:20:58.067
What is your brand promise and what is your brand guarantee and what is your one phrase strategy?
00:20:58.067 --> 00:20:59.268
One phrase strategy.
00:20:59.268 --> 00:21:03.917
So again, Starbucks, they are the third place between the office and the home.
00:21:04.337 --> 00:21:17.722
And that's what everything is subordinated to this idea, to be the third place, to have the ambience, to have the coffee smell, to have the baristas being nice to you, and you can listen to music.
00:21:17.782 --> 00:21:19.823
It's all about being the third place.
00:21:20.302 --> 00:21:26.972
So how do you differentiate yourself?Now, the second one is this idea of consistent growth.
00:21:26.972 --> 00:21:30.002
And Jim Collins calls it the 20 mile march.
00:21:30.393 --> 00:21:40.353
So it goes back to the race to the Antarctic in 1911 when Scott and the Monza and the Brit, and the Norwegian explorers were trying to get there.
00:21:40.353 --> 00:21:50.647
And Scott would, if there was nice weather, he would have his team march 70 miles, and then the next day it was cloudy and stormy.
00:21:50.647 --> 00:21:51.667
They would stay in their tent.
00:21:52.238 --> 00:22:01.958
Now um, I'm wondering what he did was he said 20 mile march every day, begin to March, uh, March 20 miles come rain or shine and it kept up their morale.
00:22:02.048 --> 00:22:10.357
Uh, they didn't never fell into a funk and they they're very consistent, they get there first, they got back with food to stair Scott's team.
00:22:10.772 --> 00:22:14.643
I go there second, and then they died on the way back, uh, of starvation.
00:22:15.153 --> 00:22:16.502
So the 20 mile march.
00:22:16.532 --> 00:22:22.532
Creating this consistent growth in your business, figuring out what your 20 mile marches and, and instilling it in the business.
00:22:23.163 --> 00:22:26.732
Uh, the third one is, is building a talent attracting culture.
00:22:27.692 --> 00:22:38.883
So you really have to have a culture which attracts the right kind of people to you, because ultimately your business is your culture and that's the greatest competitive advantage.
00:22:38.913 --> 00:22:53.673
If you have a strong culture, then you will not have to pay the top dollar to people and you will be able to keep your people longer, and most businesses rely on the intellectual capital in the people's heads.
00:22:54.212 --> 00:22:56.373
So, so that's a really critical one.
00:22:56.942 --> 00:22:58.022
And then maybe a last one.
00:22:58.022 --> 00:23:00.333
I mean, there are others, but the last one I want to mention is.
00:23:00.623 --> 00:23:02.333
Is having an internal sales engine.
00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:20.075
I see some businesses who made this mistake that, Oh, I outsource sales, um, to a business development company at the, or, or I, you know, contracting companies, they go to somewhere like contracts or connections and uh, they will sign up and then they would get leads from someone else that's lethal.
00:23:20.164 --> 00:23:23.075
That's legal because you don't own the relationship to the customer.
00:23:23.105 --> 00:23:24.994
You are commoditizing yourself.
00:23:25.595 --> 00:23:28.444
Um, maybe your sales engine has to be internal.
00:23:28.444 --> 00:23:37.144
It has to be really, uh, it's part of your strategy, its part of what makes you a viable businesses to have a really good sales engine in house.
00:00:31.339 --> 00:00:33.590
00:00:33.829 --> 00:00:35.564
00:00:35.899 --> 00:00:48.259
00:00:48.382 --> 00:00:48.682
00:00:48.682 --> 00:00:52.402
00:00:53.873 --> 00:00:55.492
00:00:55.882 --> 00:00:56.362
00:00:56.453 --> 00:00:57.893
00:00:57.893 --> 00:01:06.382
00:01:06.382 --> 00:01:08.093
00:01:08.093 --> 00:01:11.873
00:01:12.052 --> 00:01:16.673
00:01:16.673 --> 00:01:18.293
00:01:19.186 --> 00:01:20.537
00:01:20.537 --> 00:01:28.096
00:01:28.307 --> 00:01:31.516
00:01:31.516 --> 00:01:34.786
00:01:34.856 --> 00:01:39.301
00:01:39.331 --> 00:01:39.601
00:01:39.601 --> 00:01:49.402
00:01:49.641 --> 00:01:52.341
00:01:52.402 --> 00:01:54.171
00:01:54.171 --> 00:01:55.191
00:01:56.301 --> 00:01:58.402
00:01:58.402 --> 00:02:01.281
00:02:01.542 --> 00:02:02.231
00:02:02.231 --> 00:02:05.471
00:02:05.471 --> 00:02:11.861
00:02:11.861 --> 00:02:16.812
00:02:17.111 --> 00:02:27.252
00:02:28.921 --> 00:02:29.162
00:02:29.162 --> 00:02:33.102
00:02:33.122 --> 00:02:46.692
00:02:47.292 --> 00:02:59.592
00:02:59.921 --> 00:03:02.142
00:03:02.742 --> 00:03:10.752
00:03:10.752 --> 00:03:13.782
00:03:13.782 --> 00:03:19.272
00:03:19.421 --> 00:03:24.852
00:03:25.356 --> 00:03:38.947
00:03:40.046 --> 00:03:47.427
00:03:47.637 --> 00:04:02.627
00:04:02.867 --> 00:04:14.312
00:04:16.096 --> 00:04:16.307
00:04:16.307 --> 00:04:18.826
00:04:19.036 --> 00:04:29.716
00:04:29.927 --> 00:04:35.086
00:04:35.117 --> 00:04:36.487
00:04:36.507 --> 00:04:38.567
00:04:39.336 --> 00:04:48.906
00:04:49.266 --> 00:04:50.556
00:04:50.776 --> 00:04:58.056
00:04:58.266 --> 00:05:05.796
00:05:06.156 --> 00:05:11.356
00:05:11.356 --> 00:05:13.627
00:05:14.056 --> 00:05:22.757
00:05:23.322 --> 00:05:25.572
00:05:25.572 --> 00:05:30.041
00:05:30.431 --> 00:05:41.621
00:05:41.651 --> 00:05:44.111
00:05:44.661 --> 00:05:52.507
00:05:52.716 --> 00:05:53.697
00:05:53.697 --> 00:06:07.776
00:06:07.776 --> 00:06:13.596
00:06:14.641 --> 00:06:31.692
00:06:31.931 --> 00:06:49.561
00:06:49.711 --> 00:06:51.661
00:06:51.901 --> 00:06:53.971
00:06:53.971 --> 00:06:57.271
00:06:57.271 --> 00:07:04.822
00:07:04.981 --> 00:07:06.601
00:07:08.322 --> 00:07:08.851
00:07:08.951 --> 00:07:14.176
00:07:15.317 --> 00:07:29.611
00:07:30.061 --> 00:07:32.262
00:07:32.591 --> 00:07:39.051
00:07:39.361 --> 00:07:40.466
00:07:40.466 --> 00:07:44.216
00:07:45.366 --> 00:07:53.637
00:07:53.637 --> 00:08:05.551
00:08:05.882 --> 00:08:16.861
00:08:16.861 --> 00:08:18.351
00:08:18.762 --> 00:08:29.776
00:08:29.926 --> 00:08:34.187
00:08:34.187 --> 00:08:36.407
00:08:36.826 --> 00:08:37.817
00:08:38.517 --> 00:08:44.517
00:08:44.907 --> 00:08:58.871
00:08:58.871 --> 00:09:05.442
00:09:05.711 --> 00:09:09.162
00:09:09.162 --> 00:09:13.572
00:09:15.496 --> 00:09:17.736
00:09:17.736 --> 00:09:19.797
00:09:20.427 --> 00:09:22.067
00:09:22.067 --> 00:09:25.156
00:09:25.177 --> 00:09:26.506
00:09:26.506 --> 00:09:39.891
00:09:40.721 --> 00:09:45.591
00:09:45.651 --> 00:09:47.331
00:09:47.331 --> 00:09:50.751
00:09:51.417 --> 00:10:01.016
00:10:01.616 --> 00:10:03.057
00:10:03.057 --> 00:10:09.866
00:10:09.866 --> 00:10:11.906
00:10:12.797 --> 00:10:33.956
00:10:35.037 --> 00:10:38.231
00:10:38.451 --> 00:10:50.081
00:10:50.141 --> 00:10:50.841
00:10:50.881 --> 00:11:03.746
00:11:03.776 --> 00:11:10.406
00:11:10.646 --> 00:11:12.326
00:11:12.326 --> 00:11:19.721
00:11:19.901 --> 00:11:24.236
00:11:24.836 --> 00:11:27.572
00:11:28.381 --> 00:11:31.942
00:11:31.942 --> 00:11:38.271
00:11:38.271 --> 00:11:40.121
00:11:40.371 --> 00:11:41.871
00:11:42.221 --> 00:11:45.606
00:11:45.606 --> 00:12:01.646
00:12:01.736 --> 00:12:04.586
00:12:05.776 --> 00:12:06.976
00:12:07.037 --> 00:12:16.876
00:12:16.876 --> 00:12:24.856
00:12:25.336 --> 00:12:28.736
00:12:28.736 --> 00:12:31.466
00:12:31.866 --> 00:12:36.297
00:12:36.626 --> 00:12:38.697
00:12:38.726 --> 00:12:40.736
00:12:41.037 --> 00:12:42.386
00:12:42.417 --> 00:12:42.626
00:12:43.386 --> 00:12:50.807
00:12:50.807 --> 00:12:54.376
00:12:55.442 --> 00:13:03.506
00:13:03.506 --> 00:13:15.636
00:13:16.576 --> 00:13:29.381
00:13:29.711 --> 00:13:41.751
00:13:42.322 --> 00:13:49.542
00:13:49.621 --> 00:13:52.331
00:13:52.331 --> 00:14:00.912
00:14:01.151 --> 00:14:03.312
00:14:03.611 --> 00:14:05.831
00:14:06.131 --> 00:14:08.802
00:14:09.101 --> 00:14:15.401
00:14:15.731 --> 00:14:27.221
00:14:27.511 --> 00:14:38.067
00:14:38.677 --> 00:14:50.386
00:14:50.807 --> 00:14:54.406
00:14:54.406 --> 00:15:03.371
00:15:03.822 --> 00:15:05.351
00:15:05.621 --> 00:15:07.151
00:15:07.151 --> 00:15:18.701
00:15:19.182 --> 00:15:30.641
00:15:30.912 --> 00:15:32.591
00:15:32.912 --> 00:15:38.111
00:15:38.846 --> 00:15:48.616
00:15:48.616 --> 00:15:50.956
00:15:50.956 --> 00:16:00.016
00:16:00.606 --> 00:16:09.126
00:16:09.886 --> 00:16:15.417
00:16:15.746 --> 00:16:20.726
00:16:21.266 --> 00:16:23.876
00:16:24.057 --> 00:16:29.276
00:16:29.307 --> 00:16:30.026
00:16:30.026 --> 00:16:31.646
00:16:31.947 --> 00:16:46.466
00:16:46.466 --> 00:16:52.317
00:16:52.766 --> 00:16:58.496
00:17:00.745 --> 00:17:03.595
00:17:03.595 --> 00:17:08.454
00:17:08.664 --> 00:17:15.025
00:17:15.295 --> 00:17:21.204
00:17:21.444 --> 00:17:23.995
00:17:24.265 --> 00:17:28.404
00:17:28.765 --> 00:17:32.335
00:17:32.664 --> 00:17:37.075
00:17:37.404 --> 00:17:45.174
00:17:45.625 --> 00:17:46.884
00:17:48.934 --> 00:18:02.984
00:18:03.194 --> 00:18:10.904
00:18:10.904 --> 00:18:15.345
00:18:15.585 --> 00:18:20.055
00:18:20.484 --> 00:18:24.714
00:18:24.714 --> 00:18:33.474
00:18:33.907 --> 00:18:46.298
00:18:46.298 --> 00:18:50.048
00:18:50.437 --> 00:18:54.627
00:18:55.498 --> 00:18:58.742
00:18:59.222 --> 00:19:01.462
00:19:02.413 --> 00:19:03.833
00:19:03.833 --> 00:19:08.542
00:19:08.873 --> 00:19:14.002
00:19:14.002 --> 00:19:16.373
00:19:16.643 --> 00:19:24.383
00:19:26.192 --> 00:19:38.792
00:19:38.972 --> 00:19:43.157
00:19:43.187 --> 00:19:44.877
00:19:44.877 --> 00:19:49.667
00:19:49.667 --> 00:19:59.057
00:19:59.538 --> 00:20:02.597
00:20:02.752 --> 00:20:05.962
00:20:06.062 --> 00:20:07.613
00:20:07.853 --> 00:20:09.173
00:20:09.242 --> 00:20:09.903
00:20:10.222 --> 00:20:16.458
00:20:16.958 --> 00:20:25.577
00:20:25.577 --> 00:20:31.488
00:20:31.698 --> 00:20:32.867
00:20:33.137 --> 00:20:36.437
00:20:36.857 --> 00:20:45.337
00:20:46.397 --> 00:20:50.327
00:20:50.988 --> 00:20:58.067
00:20:58.067 --> 00:20:59.268
00:20:59.268 --> 00:21:03.917
00:21:04.337 --> 00:21:17.722
00:21:17.782 --> 00:21:19.823
00:21:20.302 --> 00:21:26.972
00:21:26.972 --> 00:21:30.002
00:21:30.393 --> 00:21:40.353
00:21:40.353 --> 00:21:50.647
00:21:50.647 --> 00:21:51.667
00:21:52.238 --> 00:22:01.958
00:22:02.048 --> 00:22:10.357
00:22:10.772 --> 00:22:14.643
00:22:15.153 --> 00:22:16.502
00:22:16.532 --> 00:22:22.532
00:22:23.163 --> 00:22:26.732
00:22:27.692 --> 00:22:38.883
00:22:38.913 --> 00:22:53.673
00:22:54.212 --> 00:22:56.373
00:22:56.942 --> 00:22:58.022
00:22:58.022 --> 00:23:00.333
00:23:00.623 --> 00:23:02.333
00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:20.075
00:23:20.164 --> 00:23:23.075
00:23:23.105 --> 00:23:24.994
00:23:25.595 --> 00:23:28.444
00:23:28.444 --> 00:23:37.144