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Alpha Dogs Need the Whole Team Pulling
03/27/09
Becoming the leader of the pack in your marketplace often requires standing out from the rest. It can be difficult and costly, but when done correctly, those short-term costs can lead to long-term success.
Donna Fenn, author of Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack, in her Catalyst Session of the same name at CAMEX 2009, described how other businesses have succeeded and how to adapt their practices to your college store.
Fenn compared the current college marketplace to that of the auction industry when eBay first appeared on the scene. She described how some auction professionals were up in arms over the site and didn't know exactly what to do. But one professional, Deb Weidenhamer, thought, "'Anything that scares my industry so much must be a good thing,'" Fenn said.
Weidenhamer went on to embrace the new medium for auction sales and turned it into a multimillion-dollar business. Fenn hopes college store professionals will do the same thing with the electronic-book revolution. Stores must first maintain good business practices before they can be a leader in the industry.
The focus for any store must begin with its employees, not its customers, Fenn said.
To support that premise, Fenn used Norman Mayne and his Dorothy Lane Market as an example.
Independent grocery stores are a dying breed, but Mayne has kept the family-owned company growing mainly through dedicated and happy employees.
"He's converted them into true believers—people whose words and deeds thoroughly and consistently reflect his long-term vision. Dorothy Lane started as a roadside stand and is now over a $60 million market," Fenn noted.
Every Mayne employee must be interviewed a minimum of three times and take an integrity test before being hired. Mayne himself then spends an hour with the new hire, explaining the company. In addition, he not only sends employees to other stores to see how things are done, he sends them to where his store gets its products so the employee knows exactly how to sell them. Each employee is also assigned a mentor to walk them through the process.
A promoter of transparency, Mayne provides all full-time employees with access to the store's financials.
Fenn quoted Mayne saying, "Information is power and I want everyone to know the score of the game."
There are three types of employees, Fenn said: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged. The latter cost businesses millions of dollars.
Businesses lose customers for various reasons. One percent of customers are lost through death, 3% move, 5% are influenced by friends, 9% are lost to competition, 14% leave because of product quality, and 68% leave because they were turned off by a rude or uncaring customer, Fenn noted.
In order to maintain an outstanding employee base, businesses must follow Mayne's tactic of hiring selectively. They must also offer a solid foundation with an initial orientation program and then train employees continuously.
Making them feel part of the ownership team also goes a long way. In addition to allowing full-timers to see financials, Mayne also took care to recognize employees' efforts, sometimes in unusual ways. Mayne had a longtime employee who worked the grill area of the store. This employee, named Jack, was a worker who rarely took time off and was loved by customers.
Mayne himself told Jack he needed to take a break. When Jack returned from his vacation, there was a new marquee above his work area that read, "Jack's Grille."
"Our employees are more important than our customers," Mayne told Fenn.
The result is much less turnover than a similar business, happy and engaged employees, and satisfied customers.
—Dan Pender
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