In a successful operating company or any successful company for that matter it is essential that every division of the company performs at the highest level, and works in harmony with the other divisions within the company. It won't work any other way. It only takes one hole in the boat to sink it, and business is no different.
This happens somewhat automatically in a small company environment. Everyone starts their day in the same office and knows their tasks for the day. As an owner or manager, you know who's doing what, or you're going to do it yourself. In a small company environment there are fewer players and accountability is absolute and easily identifiable. Titles and divisions of responsibility are moot points for the most part in small companies. At Sugarloaf, you are dependent on 700 co-workers in 50 states every day to be successful. That is our company's strength when we get it right, and our weakness when we don't.
When we get it right, all the components of our company are executing. I break these components into three very large pieces of a company that are equally interdependent on each other. No one sector of a company can carry the load alone. If you have a great sales force but can't get the job done in the field, you will lose. If you are supplying all of the newest and best products but don't have the proper operational support to take care of them, keep them working, or a delivery system to get your products to the field, you lose. If your customer is your best friend but you supply broken-down products and lousy service, you will lose. In a successful company, it takes sales, operations and product to all perform together, much as an orchestra depends on everyone to know their part and execute it perfectly. An orchestra with 95% perfection, and 5% of the group playing it wrong, ends up a miserable failure that no one wants to listen to.
Think of sales, operations and product in business as a three-legged tripod. All legs are equal in length, equal in strength, and totally dependent on the other two legs showing up to get the job done.
Clearly, operations are the workhorse section of any business and in my mind, the toughest piece, simply because of the large number of variables that must be dealt with in any given day. These are the people installing and servicing the machines, counting the money, cleaning the machines, placing the toys in the machines, etc. These are the managers who ensure that route people are running efficient routes and handling the unplanned events that always occur, whether it's people not showing up for work, weather conditions affecting schedules, machines not showing up on time you name it. These are the people everyone in the company calls when they have something that comes up at the last minute. Then the impossible, sometimes ridiculous request is accomplished, somehow. There is no substitute for strong field personnel.
It seems so simple: Give the people the products that they want to play and pay for. It's buying the right coin operated equipment mix, plush toys, the best redemption items, the hottest bulk item, and the most popular kiddie ride. No matter how good you are at everything else, if you're presenting to the customer products that they don't really want, nothing can make up for that. The pressure here is to know your customers' wants and needs. In our business, it's offering the latest and greatest products, but it's also knowing that NASCAR is big in the South. It's knowing that they hunt a lot in Oklahoma. It's knowing that in New Mexico and Texas, they have heavily Hispanic populations the further south you go. The list goes on forever. There's nothing easy about making buying decisions in this industry today. A few wrong buying decisions can wreck profits for an entire year.
Being a good "salesman" is a misnomer. Any good salesperson has a talent set that includes great customer relationship skills. People aren't "sold" products as much as they are aided in identifying products that they need in their businesses. Great sales-people are great problem-fixers.
I much prefer looking at what I do as helping customers obtain their goals by providing them a service. I like it when customers say they like so-and-so because they can depend on them getting the job done. New business is about someone trusting you to perform. In many cases you've performed impressively for someone else who referred you. Good customer relations are all about honesty, integrity and reliable followthrough. Anything less is transparent, insincere and worthless.
Hopefully you've earned the trust of a current customer, and they are rewarding you by expanding your business with them. The stereotypical fast-talking salesman approach went out of fashion years ago. Sales are the result of healthy business relationships. It's ironic that as business becomes more sophisticated and decisions are made at the speed of light (or email), business relationships remain the essential part of any successful business.
I truly enjoy getting to know people who, were it not for our particular business responsibilities, I probably would've never met. You get to know people from all different walks of life. Many people shy away from getting to know their customers, but it's generally easier than you think. And it's always rewarding. It is true that you spend more hours working in any given month than you do socializing with your friends. So why not make a few business friends along the way? There are operators all over the country who have developed personal relationships with customers that have ended up being some of their life-long closest friends. Good customer relationships make for long-term clients. You can have all of the greatest products to offer and be operational gurus, but if you don't have someone who knows the customer on a personal basis, you run the real risk of being perceived by your customer as a commodity.
In fact, it's when you don't know the customer that you get blindsided by calls to go pick up your equipment. You know, the calls where everyone sits around and says, How did that happen? It happens everyday in this industry and others. The customer contact begins at the route driver level but involves all levels of an operation, including the owner. If you know your customer there should be no surprises.
On a good day, the three-legged tripod is intact, standing tall. By design, if a company is successful under this model, it requires all three legs of the tripod to be exactly the same. On not-so-good days, it's still upright but listing, as one of the legs isn't carrying its load. On a bad day, the tripod is laying on the ground and everyone is looking for answers.