|
|
|
|
Improve Your
Profit Margin |
|
| Profitability consultant and speaker Ron Yudd delivered
a "rapid-fire" hour-long seminar focusing on small business profit improvement at the 2001 NATSO Convention & Exposition in Los Angeles, Calif. Yudd opened the seminar by explaining his mission to "provide profit enhancing 'take home' ideas" which operators could immediately implement.
|
|
|
|
|
Yudd began his presentation by outlining three keys to small business success. These three guidelines to success
are: re-define and remind yourself, identify the crinca1 points of profit, and explore with childlike eyes. Re-define and remind yourself means that the operator should think about what he/she does and why he/she does it in order to maintain a sense of purpose. Another important factor in sma1I business success is identifying the top five critical points of profit including buying, receiving and storing, and reconciliation.
|
|
| Yudd explained that operators should "explore with childlike eyes" and examine their business as if they were seeing it for the first time. Often by working at the same place day in and day out operators become so accustomed to the setting that they don't examine how inviting it may be to road-weary travelers entering it for the first time.
|
|
Yudd also spoke in detail about the importance of small businesses
implementing a strong orientation program. He sees this as the greatest gift on owner or manager can give to their employees because the employee then knows both your
expectations and how their service is in comparison to those guidelines. When their role and responsibility is clear an employee is enabled to take on more responsibility and become
a leader.
Yudd's approach to increasing small business profitability is a combination of business sense, common sense,
interpersonal skills and customer service. His "four elements of excellence," passion for service, focus on details, real
measurement, and clear role and responsibility reflect this ideology. When an owner implements the "four elements of excellence" they
are providing a valuable service not only to their customers, but also to their staff as well while benefiting from the increased profitability.
The final "take home" that Yudd provided was his
"profitability bonus," a list of the three things customers need to keep coming back. These three elements to
creating a relationship with a customer are: acknowledgement, genuine concern and a hassle free experience. There was no
mention of pricing or specific good, rather Yudd's approach toward creating a loyal customer is more humanistic. While the business needs to be clean and
inviting, the staff also needs to show genuine concern about customers. One easy way to do this is by establishing eye contact when a customer enters the business.
|
|
|
|
Yudd learned much about customer service as director of food service for the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. He served in the Senate for over 21 years. The Senate Restaurant serves over 10,000 meals per day in ten different restaurants. Ron supervised over 200 associates in the daily mission of delivering the highest quality food with a passion for personalized service.
|
|
|
|
Yudd used the seminar to share his creative ideas for not only making a
truck stop more profitable, but also providing a "hassle free experience" for customers to keep them coming back. He stressed the importance storing popular items where they won't get stolen as well as acknowledging and having a genuine concern for customers. No doubt his broad, common sense approach and take home ideas had many operators returning to their businesses and viewing them with new "childlike" and customer-centric eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For more information,
contact Ron Yudd at: ronyudd@ronyudd.com
10181 Nightingale Street Gaithersburg, MD 20882 Phone: 301-540-5791
|
