The Ultimate Business Tune-up for Times Like These
In a tough economy with credit extremely tight, big investments are not an option for most companies. Yet no business can afford to stand still. We asked our favorite entrepreneurs for the tips and tricks they have used to pilot their businesses through difficult times. The result: 23 things you can do right now to energize your employees, wow your customers, and get your business back on track
Flying Chilli
George Naddaff, Boston Chicken
Bring Back the Fun
Paul Graham, Y Combinator
Think Like a Tech Start-up
John Mackey, Whole Foods
If You Cut, Cut Deeply
Scott Cook, Intuit
Think Young
Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing
Take a Risk
Barbara Corcoran, The Corcoran Group
Furlough Your Sales Staff
Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's Community of Businesses
Be a Mensch
Richard Thalheimer, The Sharper Image
Disconnect Your Phone
Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com
Pay Employees to Quit
Chip Conley, Joie de Vivre Hospitality
Find Ways to Praise Employees
Bob Metcalfe, 3Com
Make Everyone Sell
Bert Jacobs, Life Is Good
Listen. Really Listen.
Brian Scudamore, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Rally the Troops
Keith McFarland, McFarland Strategy Partners
Be Brutally Honest
Eric Ryan, Method
Piggyback on Someone Else's Efforts
Bernie Marcus, The Home Depot
Expand Employees' Minds
Jenny Craig
Market More, Not Less
Jack Stack, SRC Holdings
Open Wide
Scott Anthony, Innosight
Go Back to Your Roots
Paul Orfalea, Kinko's
Pay for Leads
Robert Stephens, Geek Squad
Get Crazy
John Chambers, Cisco Systems
Plan for the Upturn
Perry Klebahn, Timbuk2
Get Serious About Service
George Naddaff, Boston Chicken
Bring Back the Fun
Back in the days of Boston Chicken, we had a very effective promotion for slow periods. We had a chicken suit designed. Boy, that thing was chickenlike. One of the employees would slide into it. And then we would "put the chicken on the street." The chicken, armed with coupons, would chase women with strollers, flapping its wings. And the street would suddenly pick up. People would start honking their horns at the chicken. Giving the chicken the thumbs-up. It just made everyone more upbeat.
So I was thinking, What can I do to get more people into my new business, UFood Grill? I went to the guy who designed that chicken suit. And I said, "Bob, I want you to design us some French fries" -- we call them UnFries -- "in a box. And I'll put a person in the box. And I want you to design a cup that looks like my UBerry yogurt. And I'll put a person in that. And we'll put them on the street. We'll create some action."
I put these things in front of our store in downtown Boston. People walking by, wanting to shake hands. Drivers raising their hands, calling out: "Hey, fries!" You create something where people are laughing. People don't laugh today. They're walking around worrying about their 401(k)s.
The suits cost only $2,500 each. We are getting a real bang for the buck, as they say in the trade. It has produced a good 8 percent increase across the stores. We are using the characters in front of all six of our stores in Boston, and we are going to ship them out to our franchises. We have five franchisees opening a total of 16 units. So we have three fries suits and three yogurt suits, and each unit gets to use one set for a week, and then they pass it on. We like to keep the fries and yogurt together because they get along so well.
Paul Graham, Y Combinator
Think Like a Tech Start-up
A recession is a great time to ask yourself, Why am I spending so much money on IT? If you go to a typical Silicon Valley start-up, you will find that its IT expenses consist of laptops, Internet connections, servers, and nothing else. It uses free Web-based software like Gmail. Large software companies spend huge amounts of money sending very convincing salespeople to come and sell you their products. But most companies don't need to pay $1,000 a head for software. Now that you are short on money, you may as well use it as an excuse to clean out all the expensive crap you have lying around.
John Mackey, Whole Foods
If You Cut, Cut Deeply
It's very painful to do, but when you lay people off, it's important to make the cuts deep enough so that you won't have to do it again soon. Your employees will forgive you one round of layoffs. But if you do it a second time, you will lose their trust as people start thinking, My God, when am I going to lose my job?
