Bettering Business, One Group at a Time

Know where you are.

That's the first step to turning your business around, according to Brad Cotton, a consultant who specializes in streamlining businesses.

He spoke to a group of business owners on a recent Saturday in 's hall. It was the first Hold Fast Leadership Workshop, organized by .

"If you want to transform something, you've got to know where you are now," said Cotton, a member of the church.

Cotton described how, as the Principal Engineer of Vehicle Safety at Jaguar and Land Rover, he turned around that department and increased its productivity.

"One job could take three months. One job could take an hour. I said to my team, 'I want to do more,'" he said. "I sat and watched what people did. Two-thirds of the time, they were doing somebody else's job."

The trick was to ask the right questions, he found. "I didn't increase the headcount, but I doubled the throughput. They did double the work in four days," he said.

"Just imagine what you could do with double capacity," Cotton added.

The first step is to create urgency: "What is my burning platform?" according to Cotton.

Then:

• Get people motivated;
• Create a vision;
• Get managers to communicate the vision;
• Create empowerment.

"You enable others and you're there to catch them if it goes wrong," Cotton said.

He admits his process may not be gentle to the struggling business. "I'll be as brutal as I need to be to get you to wake up," he said.

Part of modern business is the Internet. Parrs credits the Internet with the longevity of his business.

"Without a website, I wouldn't be standing here today," Parrs said.

He outlined several of his guiding principles:

• "You are your typical customer."
• "If your company does not have a website, it cannot be found."
• Attract visitors to the site first, then convert them into customers.
• Use social media and blogging. Parrs said he's written 32 to 33 articles about pool and spa care, which have been accessed thousands of times. "You put yourself out as an expert," he said.

In general, his idea is, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time," Parrs said.

One way is YouTube. "If you're on a real tight budget, like zero, you can do a video and just put it up there," Parrs said.

"Think mobile," he added.

One business owner, Rich Theiss, said he wanted to update his family business, Associated Water Industries Inc., which services southern Fairfield County wells and businesses. He used to design water treatment plants.

Erik Horwedel, a consultant, said he appreciated the advice on "being able to communicate with customers."  

For more information on Hold Fast Leadership Workshops, go to www.TransformMyCompany.com, or call 888.698.3696 or send email to info@TransformMyCompany.com.

Another seminar will be held again soon.