Issue #5

Sound The Diving Alarm!

What Do Nuclear Submarines Have To Do With Marketing, And Growing Your Business?

Well... the Navy’s “secret” can make your company prosper!

This past year being the 100th anniversary of the submarine, "boats" have been in the news lately - not to mention the recent tragedy in Hawaii.

We all have to look back at life’s experiences, find the lessons, and apply them to our present situation. At least we should be learning from our experiences, right? I never thought that spending four and one half of my eight years in the US Navy aboard a nuclear submarine (www.ultranet.com/~harryh/ssn603.shtml) - much of that time underwater, hiding in the briny deep blue sea - would provide lessons for me in the business world. (The same "secrets" that the Navy uses in its submarine fleet can produce consistent results in your business - when properly executed.)

If a crew of 120 nineteen year olds can, with the supervision of a few 25-35 year old officers, consistently submerge and surface a 400-600 foot “boat” and circumnavigate the globe from beneath the waves - with no windows (or screen doors) - then you and your employees can run a little old business that delivers products and services with the same level of precision and consistency.

While submariners typically do not discuss submarine operations, I will reveal this one “secret”. It’s this: Everything is done according to a written set of standard operating procedures. Every operation is documented and strictly followed. Training is intensive and unending, to ensure adherence, and every crew member undergoes a rigorous qualification process on the ship’s systems and procedures. Everything is broken down into sequential steps, then the process is followed to the letter. The emphasis is on the procedures, not the people involved in implementing them. When "SOPs" are followed - predictable results occur.

Your business can operate by the book, with proven systems - as you define them, and with documented procedures to ensure consistently delivered products or services. The goal is to create a predictable, turnkey operation.

The point is... finely tuned systems and marketing models will yield predictable results.

Many of the business owners that I work with are truly living their dream, and it’s fun to watch them prosper. Their business may not be perfect in every way but it is giving back more life to the owner, the employees are growing, and their customers are accustomed to expect a certain level of predictable, consistently outstanding service.

The focus I am referring to is the belief that their business can run without them, and is not built around themselves. This topic should resonate with you if you are burning the midnight oil seven days a week, working like a dog while life passes you by. If this describes you, then I have good news. Commit to make your life better by making your business work better, or decide to cash out, sell your business and go find a good job working for somebody else. You’ve heard it before, I’m sure: work on your business instead of in it. (In fact, you can read more about this approach in Michael Gerber's E-Myth Revisited).

So, here goes. Apply the submariner's approach of standard operating procedures to your business: three things that I want you to do if, indeed, you are serious about working on your business and drawing more life from it:

1. Pretend your business is a prototype for franchises just like it. There is a huge difference in doing the work of the business and running a business that does the work (through others). You must go to work on your business and put people in place working in it. The goal here is consistent delivery of products or services, as promised to the customer, even if you are on safari in the jungles of Kenya! Start by redrawing your company’s organization chart with a circle and four quadrants (A compass rose) Marketing & Sales, Operations, Human Resources, and Finance. Identify your top 5 problems/challenges in each quadrant - and put a plan in place for solving them.

2. Develop your company’s story: your vision for the business, why your company does what it does so well, your philosophy about serving your clients and your employees (who work in your business) Then start telling that story and selling your company’s value. Start by telling it to your best customers and to your employees! Survey your customers to help get at the "real story" you have to tell.

3. Get your business ready for sale - even if you are the buyer! That means having a system for everything. It means going to the calendar and setting a date 3 years out from now when you plan to “sell the company to yourself”. Then set monthly goals to get your business ready for the big day. Set a dollar value for your company 3 years out, then set your plan in motion.

All of this sounds easy - but it’s not, or you’d already be doing it today. If you are a small business owner, you wear too many hats in your business to focus on it all of the time. If you are ready to get started on a path that will give you more time with your family, more time to develop that golf handicap, more money from your business to achieve your primary aim in life, or just remove the chaos and put you back in control, then you should take a close look at how you are doing things today. Remember, insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results!

A FREE tool to help you:

I have a “self assessment” survey to help you identify your key frustrations and best marketing opportunities. Request a copy via fax or e-mail, please.

Until next week,

Bob

Home | Consulting Services | e-Marketing Services | Products | Seminars & Workshops | Articles | Marketing Newsletter | Resource Center | Contact Us

JMB Marketing Group
14A Riverview Rd
Sterling, MA 01564

Voice (508) 481-8383
Fax (508) 481-8381
email: bobmartel@jmbmarketing.com

© 2005 All Rights Reserved
Site Design by Coyote Technologies Inc