FRESHviews
WALLY AMOS:BE POSITIVE
IT HAS BEEN said that common sense is not
so common. When I was an agent in show
business, attending a recording session or a
television taping, and the performer would
miss a lyric or flub a line, the producer or
director would stop the tape, have a friendly
chat with the artist, and announce, “OK, let’s
do another take. We’re rolling, take 25.”
Why is it when people make a “mis–take”
in business we get so angry, and our re-
sponse is anything but friendly? It would help
us all to remember the times we made a
mis–take and to realize we are all in training
and in the process of becoming a better par-
ent, student, friend, employer and employee.
I can clearly remember the times I
caught an employee burning a rack with
20 trays of cookies, and just before I yelled,
a little voice reminded me of the times I
burned cookies. I settled down, explained
Common sense
Wally Amos is
the founder of
Uncle Wally’s
Muffin Company.
You can reach
him at www.
wallyamos.com.
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On
“Co
Editio
Get ready, get started
MOST BUSINESS owners feel it’s mission accomplished when they make a sale or close a deal. Not so for Costco member Chris Zane, owner of Zane’s Cycles in Branford, Connecticut. “At Zane’s, we’ve failed if all we’ve done is complete a transaction with a customer,” he writes in Reinventing the Wheel: The Science of Creating Lifetime Customers (BenBella Books, 2011;
www.chriszane.com). That’s because success lies not in a single sale, but in establish- ing a connection with a customer that can last a lifetime. It sounds odd to pooh-pooh a sale, but here’s why: Zane, who has run his bike shop since 1980, has figured out that an average customer will spend $12,500 on bike products and services over his or her lifetime. Thus, Zane’s philosophy is to
go far beyond expectations to create customers for life.
Some of his offers are pretty extreme:
• A lifetime service guarantee
for every bike, covering parts,
labor and even tune-ups
• Flat-tire insurance—for a
one-time fee, Zane’s fixes
flats forever
• A trade-in program for kids’
bikes, lasting 10 years (or more)
These measures, Zane concedes,
don’t come free. But in terms of their
long-term payoff, they add up to smart
business expenses.
Is it working? Zane’s Cycles is experiencing annual sales growth of 23 percent,
with sales of $15 million from retail and
corporate customers.
For any business, Zane says, strong
connections with customers are at the
heart of long-term success. Of course, the
specific ways of making those connections change from business to business.
He says, “No matter what kind of
business you run, you should be in the
relationship-building and experience-sell-ing business, because that is how you
will find the greatest success.” C
PHOTODISC
the tremendous loss incurred when we burn
cookies—ingredients, labor, time, etc.—and
told the employee to do another take, only
the next time more carefully. Patience
and periodic explaining can go a long way
in encouraging your employees through
their mis–take.
I am reminded of another popular quote:
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.” In personal or business relationships, a
little tender love and care can go a long way
toward increasing productivity and loyalty.
In looking for ways to save money and
time and motivate your employees, a good
starting point might be to examine how you
treat your people. It costs a lot more to train
a new employee than it does to help and encourage your current employees to get each
“take” right. Your employees are your most
important assets. Happy, positive employees
create a strong bottom line.
So, remember one more age-old saying,
“Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you.” As they say, it’s just good
common sense. C
The true value of
customer service
ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS, mark November 14–20 on your calendar. That’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), with thousands of events in more than 100 coun- tries, aimed at entrepreneurs everywhere. Activities include virtual and face- to-face events, large-scale com- petitions and intimate networking gatherings. “Global Entrepre- neurship Week 2011 will [feature] more than 40,000 events, engaging roughly 40 million entrepreneurs in
more than 110 countries
around the world,” says
Jonathan Ortmans, president of
Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Created by the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation (
www.kauffman.org),
the world’s largest foundation dedicated to
entrepreneurship, GEW will feature programs
and competitions at local colleges, high
schools, government agencies and entrepre-
neurial support organizations for budding
entrepreneurs. Each participating organiza-
tion is encouraged to create its own unique
event, and GEW offers four featured activi-
ties in which aspiring and existing entrepre-
neurs alike can participate.
Startup Open: Open to entrepre-
neurs who have just started, or are
about to start, a new venture.
The 50 most promising start-
ups will be recognized as
“The GEW 50.”
Cleantech Open
Global Ideas Competi-
tion: Sharing the best
clean technology ideas
from around the world,
finalists will deliver a five-
minute pitch to an audience of
investors and entrepreneurs, with
a chance at winning $100,000 in sup-
port and services to help turn their idea into
a business.
Your Big Year: Two winners will receive
a yearlong trip around the world, meeting
leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs in
different countries. Participants must be over
the age of 18 and register by September 1.
e h i r t IMAGE SOURCE
Startup Weekend: Developers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts
will gather to share ideas and launch new
start-ups. Attendees in dozens of cities will
determine the most promising concepts, focusing on customer development, idea validation
and creating a viable product, competing for
prizes to help speed them to launch.
To view a list of participating countries
and organizations, or to learn more about
GEW, visit
www.unleashingideas.org. C
AUGUST 2011 ;e Costco Connection 11