ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - June 16, 2006

What an amazing week! Robert Kausen and I have just spent four days with a group of dedicated restaurateurs exploring how to create the effortless organization. The first two days was the Foundations level program for those new to this powerful understanding. The last two days was for alumni and went far deeper.

There is no easy way to explain what this is all about so how about an example of how gaining a fresh perspective shows up on the job? One of last year's attendees told us that since he attended the program, he has cut back his hours on the job dramatically. In the process, his restaurant is up 35%, another of his businesses is up 400% ... and he has started two new companies.

I should also mention that he has lost weight, is tanned and relaxed ... and smiles a lot! What does he realize now that he didn't see before? That is what the CEO Project is all about.

Next week I will be in Las Vegas to show a group of pizzeria operators how to increase their bottom line by 50% in 120 days ... guaranteed! After that, I am taking most of the summer off!

COMPUTER HOAXES - Part 2
This is part two of a rant that I got on last week.

I continue to be amazed at how many people send along cyber-garbage hoaxes. As a refresher on how to tell if something is real before you send it along, see last week's PIO and bookmark those sites on your browser. But I received a "short course" in my mail that struck me as the perfect message. If you want to forward something along to everyone you know, forward this!

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000 and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. MTV will not give you backstage passes if you forward something to the most people. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true". Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit", does not actually make it true.

2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans, Austin or anywhere else. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin. If you are hell-bent on believing the kidney-theft ring stories, please go here or here. And I quote:"The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. None have." That's "none" as in "zero". Not even your friend's cousin.

3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy here. Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on.

4. If the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain-letter?

5. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm that an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with viruses. Even then, don't forward it. We don't care. And you cannot get a virus from a flashing IM or email, you have to download . . . you know, like, a FILE!

6. If your cc: list is regularly longer than the actual content of your message, you're probably going to have your house burned down in the middle of the night by an armed posse carrying torches. If you want to mail to a long list, mail the message to yourself and put in the list a bcc: so everyone will not have to wade through three pages of addresses (and so those addresses stay confidential.)

7. If you're using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write email, turn off the "HTML encoding." People on Unix shells can't read it and don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you're probably forwarding a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway.

8. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line. Besides, if it has gone around that many times, we've probably already seen it.

9. Craig Shergold (or Sherwood, or Sherman, etc.) in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards. He apparently is also no longer a "little boy" either

10. The "Make a Wish" foundation is a real organization doing fine work, but they have had to establish a special toll free hot line in response to the large number of Internet hoaxes using their good name and reputation. It is distracting them from the important work they do.

11. If you are one of those insufferable idiots who forwards anything that promises "something bad will happen if you don't", then something bad will happen to you if your home address ever becomes public knowledge! (See #6 above.)

12. Women really are suffering in Afghanistan, and PBS and NEA funding are still vulnerable to attack but forwarding an e-mail won't help either cause in the least. If you want to help, contact your local legislative representative, or get in touch with Amnesty International or the Red Cross. As a general rule, e-mail "signatures" are easily faked and mean nothing to anyone with any power to do anything about whatever the competition is complaining about. PS: There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow long distance companies to charge you for long distance when using the Internet.)

Bottom Line... composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy as writing on the walls of a public restroom. Don't automatically believe it until it's proven false... ASSUME it's false, unless there is proof that it's true. Got it? Good. Now, forward this message to ten friends and you will win the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes!

I feel better now.

SEIZE THE MOMENT
The Project to Create the Effortless Organization (CEO Project) is an inside-out learning experience where the attendees experience a shift of perspective based on their own insights and realizations. You do not have to attend a program to have insights, of course -- the "ahas" can happen anytime you are fully present and your mind is quiet.

However, insights are fragile and unless you act on them immediately, you are likely to lose them again and slide back into your old ways of thinking. Just as the true entrepreneur will act quickly to put a new sales-building idea to work, the serious students of life will find ways to quickly put new ideas to work.

The universe always rewards action. Just thinking about it is the booby prize.

100,000 MILE TUNE-UP
How Long Do You Expect Your Car to Last?
Most of today’s cars can run efficiently for 250,000 miles or more. Yet most of them are rusting away in salvage yards long before that.

What does it take to keep a car on the road three times longer?
Experts say that the key is good gas, regular maintenance and the willingness to invest in keeping the car tuned up ... even when it seems to be running OK.

Keeping A Restaurant Performing at Its Peak Is No Different
Just as your car needs a major tune-up from time to time, your restaurant periodically needs some detailed diagnostic attention to continue to perform to its full potential.

When a concept has enjoyed success in the market over time, it is easy to start taking it for granted. The concept gradually – almost invisibly – gets stale ... and staleness is like rust under the paint of your car, weakening the integrity of the vehicle before you ever see it.

Super Summit 2006: Your 100,000-Mile Tune- Up is a tightly focused program that will provide you with specific skills, ideas and plans to make your operation more competitive and let it draws from an ever-expanding market with an appeal that never dies.

The 2006 Super Summit is a hands-on, practical program that will rekindle your passion for your work and reposition your restaurant for success over the long term. If you have 100,000 miles on your present operation and would like it to run smoothly for another 100,000, you definitely want to look into Super Summit 2006. For a sneak preview of what we have in mind for a select group of operators next September in Charleston, South Carolina, click on the link below.

See the preview of Super Summit 2006.

THE JUNE SURVEY
"If we build it, they will come" may work in the movies but it is a lousy way to staff a restaurant. You can't pick the right people unless they apply and the good people are not wandering the streets looking for work.

This month we look at what operators are doing to take charge of their staffing and attract the right sort of applicants. This should be eye-opening information for anyone who sees their staff as a competitive advantage.

As usual, I will provide a compilation of all the responses to everyone who contributes to this project. Just click on the link below to participate in the June survey.

Click here to download copies of all past EHC surveys, including the massive WOW Ideas collection.

Add your thoughts to the June survey.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?

I try (not always successfully) to talk and listen to each of my managers and hourly team at least weekly. Sometimes I will call them into my office and just try to get to know them better, sometimes it is more formal (a weekly manager meeting...all staff meetings)

But most of my listening comes from a once a month "review" committee meeting where anyone who works for us is allowed to propose a change to a standard, a process, equipment, or facility with all of the managers and the owners present to discuss. A lot of great marketing ideas and new standards come out of them and best of all, it empowers the staff with ownership.

They get to cast their vote on anything that matters enough for them to show up at the meeting, and it allows the managers to not have to be the bad guys...after all we all either agreed or had our say. feel free to share if you use this information if you want. -- Ken Henson, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Oregon City, OR

What Ken is suggesting is not management by committee but rather a different sort of listening process where everyone has a chance to present their position and preference on items of mutual interest. The final decision is still up to management, but now it can be made with much more accurate information.

The value in sessions like this is in the quality of the listening that takes place. Just having an opportunity to speak up is meaningless -- even detrimental -- if the speaker senses that nobody is really paying attention or that no action is likely to result from such outside input.

In my experience, if you staff knows that you might actually DO something based on their suggestions, they will not bring you junk. Ken was in Nashville with us this week. I will be interested to hear about the dimension his meetings take from here on.

Never doubt that the most critical -- and perhaps profitable -- management skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen.

I will continue to collect your answers to this important question ... and you can add comments as often as you want. Just click on the link below and contribute your insights for the common good (and your own as well!)

(NOTE: Enhancing your listening skills is just one of the skills you will develop at the annual Foundations level program of the CEO Project. We will soon be accepting applications for the next program, scheduled for June 2007. Mark your calendar and apply early.)

What did YOU learn from YOUR staff today?

WHERE’S WALDO?
Since people often ask, here are some upcoming public events where you can attend a seminar or an event with the Doc:

* June 20-22, Pizza Insight SuperConference, Las Vegas, NV
* Sept 13-14, Northeast Pizza Expo, Atlantic City, NJ
* Sept 20-21, Mid-Atlantic Food, Beverage & Lodging Expo, Baltimore, MD
* Sept 25-26, Super Summit 2006, Charleston, SC
* October 17, New Hampshire Hospitality Expo, Manchester, NH

Contact me for more details.

© 2006 Restaurant Doctor