10 reasons to never be too cool for Old School
You may think you’re too cool for “Old School,” but there’s one thing it produced that you can’t be successful without: the fundamentals. Here are ten essential operating fundamentals that are timelessly, beautifully, definitively, non-negotiably, Old School.
Financial statements: Become an expert at understanding your financial statements. Spend more time with the numbers below the sales line on your operating statement. Non-negotiable.
Budgets: Yuck, right? But operations work best with a track to run on. Creating budgets isn’t hard – sticking to them is. Grow some discipline and get on track.
Cash management: Whether sales are up or down, you must be intimately familiar with your cash picture today, tomorrow, and six months from now. Do not delegate this.
Inventory: This is a euphemism for cash. Inventory that isn’t turning is declining in value and must be converted into cash – ASAP. And if you aren’t practicing Just-In-Time inventory management, do it now.
Vendors: Their success depends on yours. Talk to them about managing inventory, improving margins, lowering freight costs, and new ways to serve customers. Get rid of any vendor that only wants to sell you stuff.
Systems: These are the structured components in your operation which may be outdated and unproductive. Scrutinize employee schedules, delivery routes, opening hours, (your idea here). Nothing is sacred. Nothing.
Customers: Categorize them from the most profitable As, to the least profitable Ds. Worship the As, cater to the Bs, encourage the Cs, and let the Ds learn the meaning of self-service. You might even have to fire a few.
Products: Same song, different verse: A-B-C-D. Stock the fast-turning As, keep some of the Bs handy, and only a couple of the Cs. But never let a D spend the night under your roof unless a customer has paid for it.
Add Value: Find out what customers want instead of trying to get them to take what you need to sell. If you don’t add value to your customers’ operations, like your unhelpful vendors, expect to be fired.
Employees: Let them help you find efficiencies and opportunities. Encourage creativity and entrepreneurial thinking. Invest in training. Share your plan and let them help you accomplish it. Empower producers and cut the dead wood.
Bankers: Don’t be a stranger. Good news or bad, an informed banker can help you. But an uninformed banker is a scared banker, and no one ever got any help from a scared banker.
Focus on these Old School fundamentals and success will come and play in the New School backyard.
Write this on a rock ... Even if you’re too cool for Old School, you still have to focus on the fundamentals.
Jim Blasingame is host of the nationally syndicate radio show The Small Business Advocate and author of the multi-award-winning book The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance.
