If the dot-com era taught us anything, it’s that brand awareness isn’t the same thing as brand strength. Even the best advertising can’t create something that isn’t there.
- author Scott Bedbury

The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.
- Agha Hasan Abedi

Marketing is trying to figure out what people want so you can give it to them.

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be backwards, forwards, or sideways. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.”
- Jim Buelt

Looking for a great video energizer/icebreaker for your next meeting? Check out QuoteZILLA our award-winning  program for only $25. Just click on "products" and you can buy it right here online!

60 Second Ideas

King for a Day is Inexpensive Employee Reward. Think beyond traditional rewards like travel or merchandise. When The Automatic Answer Co. asked salesperson John Gurden what he wanted as a reward, he said “I’d like to have a day in my honor.” His surprised sales manager replied, “You got it!” On the designated day, everyone answered the phone by saying “Today is John Gurden Day.” John enjoyed himself hugely — and it cost the company nothing.” I saw this idea in Selling Power, magazine, and thought how much fun it would be to offer as a prize in one of our own restaurants, having servers and hostesses wearing buttons touting the Employee (or Guest) du Jour!

Save time trying to decide how to handle paperwork by asking “How do I plan to use this?” instead of “Where should I put this?”

Keep Waiting Guests Occupied Whenever a customer sends a dish back to the kitchen for revisions at Sanford in Milwaukee, Chef Sanford D’Amato sends something else to the table, such as a quick, appetizer-sized entrée, to nibble on while reparations are being made. Objective: The hungry guest doesn’t have to watch others eat, and fellow diners at the table don’t feel obliged to wait until the problem is corrected.Source: R&I Magazine

“Three for one” rule Improves Training Sessions For every specific objective you want to accomplish with the training, have thee different activities that accomplish that objective. For example, if you want trainees to learn a list of 20 items, select three different ways to get that information to them: lecture, group discussion, and a written test. You may not use all these different activities, but by over planning you give yourself many more creative options. You might find uses for these options later on in the planning process.

People pursue Passion. Says best-selling author Jim Collins: “Good-to-great companies did not pick a course of action, then encourage their people to become passionate about their direction. Rather, those companies decided to do only those things that they could get passionate about. They recognized that passion cannot be manufactured, nor can it be the end result of a motivation effort. You can only discover what ignites the passion and the passions of those around you.” Some call it Employer Branding, I call it leading from the middle.

Show Them The Money (Poster)! The industry average profit on the dollar is less than a nickel, but your staff thinks that you’re making a fortune. A great way to combat this misconception is to show them how 95 cents of each customer dollar actually goes to cover expenses. It has made a big impression on our team and we’ve seen our monthly costs drop by nearly 2% since posting this visual reminder. If you’d like to get a copy of this dynamic full-color coated 11” x 17” poster for your kitchens, server stations and manager offices, just click here. What you reinforce is what you get, what you don’t reinforce is what you lose!

Here's the Free September Edition of the Sullivision
E-newsletter you signed up for. Check out our e-news archives, quote of the day, product catalog and free downloads at www.sullivision.com
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The Shift: How to Plan It, Lead It, Make It Pay
September 2006 by Jim Sullivan

You measure progress by reading a P&L statement, but you make or lose money by The Shift. Shouldn’t managers stop “running” shifts…and begin leading them? I’m excited to share some new insight into Shift Leadership with you this month.

Every shift that our managers oversee is different and challenging in its own way. Each one requires a different management mindset and approach. The 3 basic Shift formats--Opening, Mid, or Closing—require a distinctly different focus, style, and objectives. Factor in to each shift variables like the weather, deliveries, equipment readiness, rookie-to-veteran ratio, slow or busy, no-shows, customer demands, etcetra and you understand the importance of focus, adaptability, and custom leadership on the manager’s part. Until now, many of us have never considered the architecture of the revenue-generating shift and how managers need to vary their approach and style to effectively lead each one successfully.

Our company (Sullivision.com) recently completed detailed video, audio and written interviews with 120 high-performing General Managers from a variety of chain and independent foodservice operations. We supplied 25 of them with recordable MP3 players and asked them to keep an audio diary of seven days of shifts, detailing what they did before, during and after both successful and unsuccessful ones. If you’d like to see video clips of some of these all-star GMs sharing some of their insights, visit our home page at www.sullivision.com and click on The Shift DVD icon.  In the meantime, here's some specific behavior they identified that adds up to a primer of best practices relative to Shift Leadership:

Before Each Shift:

• Complete and review paperwork
• Review the log book entries from the last shift
• Have a focus for that shift and a plan to communicate it
• Review labor schedule. Note rookie-to-vet ratio and who’s here, who’s not.
• Facility Walkabout with a key team member both inside and outside the restaurant
• Food safety, security and sanitation line checks
• Anticipate how weather, special events, etc. will affect traffic, labor, and inventory
• Energize the Team, set goals together, Have Fun
• Pre-Shift Meeting with each department

During the Shift

• Make sure you have your Aces in their Places
• Aid and abet service-giving (be the customer advocate)
• Food safety and sanitation
• Don’ t get stuck in any one position
• Spread Energy and Hospitality/Have Fun
• Manage Labor
• Make certain the menu is being merchandised
• Find coach-able moments with all team members
• Stay Out of the Weeds
• Keep food flowing from the kitchen and customers flowing to the tables from the foyer (or through the drive-through lane)
• See through the customer lens

After the Shift

• Keep the energy high
• Conduct 30 second post-shift meetings as you cut staff
• Recognize performers and performance
• Keep customer focus sharp (especially as it slows down)
• Set up the next shift for success
• Stay vigilant about safety and sanitation
• Write down key learnings in log book for next manager

If you’d like to learn more about how to maximize revenue during a shift, here’s some good news. We just finished producing a dynamic new hour-long interactive DVD called The Shift: How to Plan It, Lead It, Make It Pay. It’s a fun, motivating, fast-paced and insightful program that will teach your managers over 52 creative and classic ways to build sales, improve service, lower costs and build repeat business every Shift. The Shift DVD: How to Plan It, Lead It, Make it Pay is perfect training kit for any foodservice operation including Family, Casual Theme, QSR, Contract, Fine Dining, and Fast Casual. This dynamic new hour-long DVD combines both classic fundamentals with freshnew best practices that test audiences have rated five stars out of five. The Shift DVD is chockablock full of best practices broken into three chapters: Before, During and After the Shift. You can check it out at our website at www.sullivision.com (it’s only $99) but you can save $25 if you order it before midnight on September 24, 2006.

Yep, shifts happen. Anybody can “run” one. But profitable shifts (in which both the external and internal customers benefit) are planned, managed and led by focused leaders. Every shift has its own tempo, rhythm and surprises, to be sure. But if you win the battle of The Shift everyday, your monthly P&L will never be an unpleasant surprise.

Jim Sullivan is a popular speaker at foodservice manager conferences worldwide. Sign up for his free monthly e-newsletter of training tips and see his online product catalog of training tools at www.sullivision.com or call 920.830.3915 anytime.