From the Department of Redundancy Department:
What makes you go to Starbuck’s for coffee, buy a computer from Apple, or a television from Best Buy? What is their secret, their mojo, their formula? What made these companies stand out in their field? One word…repeatability. The ability to produce a product or service that is consistently the same every time it’s produced. Quality and consistency can produce a brand, and that brand can cultivate loyal customers. The fact that just about every time you order a Caramel Brulée Crème Frappuccino® Blended Crème grande with 2% milk, it will taste exactly like the one you ordered yesterday and will taste just like the one you will have tomorrow. The store in Seattle will look pretty much like the one in Dallas, Texas or Tokyo. The Starbucks menu will be as familiar to you as much as the people slumped in their chairs and on their laptops….that’s “repeatability”.
“I didn’t invent the hamburger. I just took it more seriously than anyone else…We take the hamburger business more seriously than anyone else.”
Ray Kroc, former owner of McDonald’s
Of course once you have a quality product or service that is consistent at a cost that is profitable, you must now combine a workable budget, employees with the company’s philosophy executed, and an environment to produce and serve for customers and employees. What’s their secret? How do they execute a formula that starts as a coffee shop in Seattle, Washington and operates 23,768 shops worldwide? How do you become a company like Starbucks that between 1987 and 2007 opened an average of two new locations daily?
“Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it’s done right.”
Walt Disney
Quality control, competition from other businesses, corporate governance, public company demands, stock value, changing styles and tastes, consumer expectations, government regulations, supply and demand and more are all headaches a business must deal with and understand. There is no one simple formula or strategy. If there was…we would all be Walt Disney or Sam Walton. Each successful story has trials and tribulations and what works for one may or may not be “repeatable” for another. One thing is for sure, if someone can find the “repeatability mojo” for their endeavor then success is sure to follow.
Sam Walton’s 10 Secrets for Running a Successful Business
- Commit to your business – If you run a business, you need to believe in it more than anyone else.
- Share your profits – Treat your associates as partners and get them personally invested in the business.
- Motivate your partners – Money isn’t enough. Set goals, encourage competition and have fun!
- Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners – The more they know, the more they’ll understand. The more they understand, the more they’ll care. Makes sense, right?
- Appreciate everything your associates do for your business – Words often speak louder than money (and they’re free). So instead of just handing out bonuses, make sure to tell people when they’re doing a good job.
- Celebrate your successes – Find some creative ways to have fun and celebrate your successes in an enthusiastic way. And don’t forget to find some humor in your failures.
- Listen to everyone in your company – The people on the front lines (i.e. your sales team, customer service reps, etc.) know what’s going on with your business, and sometimes better than you do. Make sure you’re finding ways to get them to talk, and that you’re listening!
- Exceed your customers’ expectations – Do this and you’ll have repeat customers for life. Let them know you appreciate them, make good on your mistakes, and don’t make excuses.
- Control your expenses better than your competition – Efficiency is the cornerstone of Wal-Mart’s business; they were able overcome a lot of hurdles just by keeping expenses low.
- Swim upstream – Ignore conventional wisdom and look for ways to do things differently (e.g. Wal-Mart focused on rural locations one region at a time, while everyone else was starting discount chains in big cities spread across the country). You can often find a niche that will set you apart from the competition.
To fully illustrate the power of repeatability, one need look no further than the Forbes Magazine annual list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. Perennial Richest Man in America Bill Gates has a net worth of $81 billion; if Sam Walton were alive today, he would have a net worth in excess of $130 billion…ahhh, the power of repeatability!!