The ClamBake Cafe has really taken off.  As the media outreach arm of the Business Golf Country Club one of its primary functions is to work for the members of the Business Golf Country Club as a vehicle to bring attention to who they are and what they do to the market using Social Media tools.  The CBC features the Video Chat as a way to offer the greatest impact.

Why Video Chats?

As most consumes and business people know, Trust plays a huge part in what is required to do business today.  If trust is not demonstrated or earned then business will never be done.  The Video Chats show people there is a Real Person involved with the business and someone they could talk to.  The interviews provide an opportunity to outline what business the person is in or what the business the person works for offers to the market.

How to Be Considered for the Chat

First, you have to be a member of the Business Golf Country Club.  Then once you are a member you can ask to be interviewed.  We do ask for you to be patient since it will take a while to do 10 minutes recorded interviews with over 640 members.   Send your request to Scot Duke through the BGCC.

More is coming for the ClamBake Cafe..so stay tuned.  Advertising space is available on the CBC Site.  Information on being a sponsor can be obtained my contacting Scot Duke.

I see it every time I attend a business networking function.   There are more people who was laid off or decided it was time to find another job.  A college graduate eager to find their place in the business world.  A retiree who decided to pass on their vast business experience.  All hit the business networking groups and have NOT a clue what to expect or do. 

This makes it tough getting started.   Everyone who is in business has experience the feeling of awkwardness when they attend their first gathering of other business people.  Sometimes dealing with un-hosted gatherings or gatherings where there is not anyone or leader who makes an effort to meet everyone at the door, it can be a daunting experience.

Though I now do most of my business networking after a round of golf, I do get out to different groups from time to time to see what is happening in other markets and to LEARN new things..yes, even I can learn a thing or two.

My mission has always been to do what I can to help people do a better job in developing business and in an effort to help those here online who need to get offline to survive, here are 21 tips to use when attending a business networking function.

1. Carry a pocket full of Business Cards.
2. Bring everything required to leave a great impression.
3. Be positive and volunteer in talks, but don’t over talk.
4. Ask open-ended questions when discussing an issue.
5. Be as much of a listener as a talker.
6. Be approachable.
7. Visit as many groups of interest as possible.
8. When joining a group commit to help the group grow
9. Make your first impression the best impression.
10. Understand the law of successful giving and thankful receiving.
11. Think about perfecting your handshake.
12. The goal is in developing relationships.
13. Attempt to be at the right place and at right time.
14. Follow up quickly and efficiently.
15. Cultivate an endless referral network
16. Aim to highlight what you do for your business
17. Become someone others come to for knowledge on a subject.
18. Never miss a scheduled meeting or introduction.
19. Put the person you are talking to first and You second
20. Make sure to collect cards from all contacts made.
21. Never miss a networking event.

I know there are more and when I come up with them I will let you know.  This should get you started on a sound foot so Get Out there and build solid business relationships.  It more than likely will pay off more than a Facebook Fan Page.

Let me know how I can help.

So where are Private Golf Clubs and Private Country Clubs going?  The first reaction to this question would be they are going the way of the Pet Rock. Being a member of a private golf club was something that was fun while it lasted but you really can’t figure out what to do with it now that the fantasy has worn off and rationalize the costs for the membership.

Yaw, OK, that was a crappy analogy, but it gave me an opportunity to think about this stupid Pet Rock that is sitting on my desk that I paid like $25 for 20 years ago.

Memberships at private country clubs and golf clubs is not stupid.  For many it is a much cheaper alternative to playing daily fee golf.  But still, the price tag is high and many people are going to question….

“are private club membership fees a valid household expense”

Jim Dunlop, has an interesting article in Golf Inc Magazine on Private Club Survival Strategies .  What made the article on this very important issue a bit more intriguing is how they buried it at the end of the magazine.  Nonetheless, there were some interesting and potential solutions to keeping the mainstay of quality golf going.

Here are some interesting stats:

Source: National Golf Foundation: “The Future of Private Golf Clubs in America”

Solutions:

The issue here is costs and what is driving the pricing private golf clubs are pushing out to potential and current members.  It seems the mission for some private golf club environments I have been associated with over the years was to charge the members for the ‘Air” they were breathing while they were at the club.  Now, it seems the smarter thing to do is charge for what a member actually uses.  If they use the facility for golf..then just charge them for golf..if they use the entire facility for everything..then charge them for the full service.  Smart move, but falls short of what else can be done to cut costs.

I liked the suggestion of taking wasted portions of a golf course and make it into something usable like small Par 3 executive courses or some sort of short courses for the juniors and spouses to use if they find the full scale course to challenging. 

I like the marketing to the member’s interest instead of the marketing to the open market approach.  Still, more clubs need to look close to home for potential revenue instead of trying to offer members who live miles away from the club offers that even if they was FREE they would think twice about taking the time to use.

There were some good suggestions made in this article.  However, there is still room for improving the viability of being a private golf club member.  One of the statistics above was, to me, shocking to a point…”For Business/Networking”.  Could it be that the percentage of usage of the private golf club for business purposes by members is low because the members, nor the club management, know how to use golf as a business tool or promote the use of the club as a business tool?  Hummmm, I wonder who could help them out there?

The show on this issue has just begun.  There will be more thoughts given to what can be done and there will hopefully be the meeting of minds in some kind of summit of people to hammer out what needs to be done in the Private Golf Club and Country Club arena to keep this very important part of the golf economy going.

I’ll be back to report on other finding I make and provide my thoughts on what else can be done to save golf.  Until then, Let me know how I can help.

For the past few weeks many of the people I meet ask…

So, where is golf heading?

Since most of the content of the conversations I am having recently are concerning the economy I am getting this questions asked of me a lot. Many golfers, country club members and golf professionals are looking for the answer to this question also…so am I.

Mark Frost’s article in the Wall Street Journal did an excellent job of outlining the history of golf and where Business Golf was originated.

Golf’s Crash Course in Humility

Its legacy as an indulgence for the wealthy is back in play. How did that happen?

By MARK FROST

Golf Journal – WSJ.com

Since the last economic slowdown of golf in the 1970′s and with the recent emergence of Tiger Woods, business golf has taken on a different form than what history has prescribed it to be in the past. With the deluge beginning in the early 90′s of millions of small businesses hitting the world’s business stage more business people are using golf as part of their business than ever in the history golf. Now what has to take place is for today’s business golfer to find more effective ways to use golf as part of doing business.

Mr Foster mentions…

Corporations will no longer have the same discretionary funds to express their affection for golf. The image of the game itself has taken a hit from these cautionary tales of executive excess. The number of amateur golfers has flat-lined and with an injured Tiger on the sidelines, so have TV ratings. …..

And I totally agree with him when he completes this thought by saying..

… A path forward can be found in the recent victory of the U.S. Ryder Cup team; a group of untested kids and seasoned veterans putting their egos aside, and playing their guts out for nothing but pride. Captain Paul Azinger borrowed a page from the Scots, who still play golf the way they’ve always done on their local, minimal masterpiece tracks. Their game, taken to heart, teaches discipline, equilibrium, modesty, moral rectitude and the lesson that any player forgets at their peril: Golf, like life, is a humbling game.

The image of golf has changed to include the everyday small business person. There are millions of “Joe or Jane the Plumbers” out on the golf course meeting people and letting people meet him or her. These same people are also members of country clubs and golf clubs around the world. And yes, unfortunately, there are those bastions of facilities hanging on to the ‘class distinctions’ that was established hundreds of years ago. The good news is, the weight of the number of today’s New Business Golfers is going to force many of these stuffy golf facilities to embrace these new business thinking golfers.

There is still good in golf and their is still extreme value in business golf if you know how to play it correctly. Golf is going to go through some rough times over the next year or so. If you love golf then every golfer needs to do their part to supporting golf as much as they can…business golf is something to consider.

Let me know how I can help.

Every once in awhile I get someone who, because of their position in world of business or society, wrangles with me on the worthiness of golf being used for anything other than a frilly game. Admittedly, golf can be whatever a person wants it to be, however, many of these top level misinformed business people take an adversarial attitude against golf. It generally only takes asking them two questions to find their attitude is based on something other than fact.

Statistically, six out of ten business executives today play golf regularly. That number has grown in the past five years and according to the studies I have done within the past three years shows golf being played by seven out of ten business people.

So, there is usually three or four people out of ten people I speak with who take a rather dim view of golf as being much more than a incredible waste of time. Unfortunately, these people hold a position of control in their company and their attitude towards golf suppresses a huge group of men and women who do play golf avidly and work for them or are customers of their business.

Generally, the anti-golf executives I meet will hammer golf’s image in business based on what they have read or heard about recently on a Fortune 100 company’s abuse of their business’ funds by taking congressmen out for expensive rounds of golf. True, there are those over zealous corporate executives who take pleasure in spending stockholders funds on expensive golf excursions. These few incidents makes my job a challenge. However, on the most part, these occurrences represent a microscopic percentage of how golf is really used in business.

Many business people I talk to see golf as not being something they interested in using for developing business, but when I drill down to find out what they do use for their clients’, employees’ and vendors’ gatherings I find they will spend thousands of the company’s funds on other activities that take up the same amount of time as a round of business golf and receive less of a return on developing business.

During a recent gathering I was invited to attend, I spent a hour of my time visiting with a gentleman who was quiet giddy about inviting his clients to his quarterly afternoon brunch and two hour lecture on bird watching. Another executive I visited with uses yachting for his client appreciation gathering. Of course, with the crowd I some times run in, there are the few who host a night at the Opera for their business’ gatherings. And, OH, yes, living here in Dallas, there is no getting around running into those executives who want spend the time or money on golf but will quickly fork over millions on a suite at the new Dallas Cowboy Football stadium or Mavericks American Airline Center.

Participation Factor

What I find interesting is the customer participation or interest levels towards those activities these business people sponsor. When I ask them..

Out of all of the customers you invite to your customer appreciation or business gathering function, what is the acceptance or attendance level from the total number invited?

Reality Check

Here is where the conversation I have with these business people sometimes turns to them clinching their jaw. It seems, on average from the people I have visited with over the past three years, their non-golf activities have about a 30% to 40% attending from the total number invited. When I point out that the golf functions, golf tournaments, or one-one golf outings, I have have been involved with over the past 15 years have a 75% to 80% attendance factor the conversation changes to a…”Oh, Really?” moment.

Granted, I have not set up a controlled test to see out of the same list of invitees who prefers golf over bird watching, but I can extrapolate from my experience of being invited to both of these type of functions which I would prefer, and I am in the 60% of business people who play golf. I would say that would make golf better than a 60% bet for increased attendance.

Of course there have been the few executive who quickly caught on to where I was going with my questioning and politely excused themselves to go freshen up their Shirley Temple to keep from them having to admit that their activities usually are driven by their personal interests. Again, I concede to the fact that my use of golf as a business tool is based on my personal interest. However, my interest in business golf is back up with several years of using other activities to create a good opportunity to get to know who it is I am working for or doing business with.

What Works and Doesn’t

I have used everything from Bass Tournaments to Cooking Schools as activities to gathering people together in an attempt to get to know them better or as a business development activity. I can factually confirm none of them worked as well and is as complete in finding out the real person you are dealing with in business, than playing a round of golf with them. I will not argue the fact that personal interest is what floats many people’s boat and drives what activities are used in a business. I encourage business people to use what ever activity that interests them to bring their customers, employees and vendors together. In today’s economy I highly recommend every business consider doing something to gather their stakeholders in their business together to get to know them better.

I also recommend every business look for ways to find out who the person is they are doing business with. Trust is going to be a huge factor going forward in today’s business world and trust is a two way street in business. If you trust the person who comes to your bird watching just for the drinks, then go for it.

BOTTOMLINE:

Don’t wave off things you do not understand as being worthless or trivial. Business people need to take their blinders off and start looking around for things to use to build business while keeping the business they have spent years building. To survive in the economy that is developing today businesses of all sizes, in all industries, need to get back to the basics of doing business. Get to know who it is you are doing business with and you will discover their needs and wants. Once you have that valuable information doing business with them should be that much easier to do.

Don’t discount the value of golf because you do not understand golf or have a misperception of what golf really is about. Golf is more than a game or a sport, it is a tool to use to get to a person’s true self and this cannot be experienced or understood by watching golf being played or listening to someone else who does not understand golf describe it. Try golf out either by learning to play or hiring someone to produce a business golf outing for you.

Learn how to play Business Golf then determine if it works for you or not. Either way, after learning what golf is about I am certain you will then understand why so many business people are playing golf. Golf is good for business and is one of the best investments a business can make towards developing new business and keeping the business you have.

Let me know how I can help

The day the staunch older members of country clubs around the country have been putting off and dreading for years is finally here…The Forced Rebuild of their Clubhouse.

Years ago when country clubs went about initiating the start-up of their membership and building their state of the art facilities little thought was given on what to do when the clubhouse became old and out of date.  No thought was given on what was to be done when the plumbing stopped working, the wiring starts to fray, the air conditioning system becomes outdated, the building doesn’t meet current city building/safety code, the roof leaks, the place starts smelling like Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon and the old members start die off.

Oh, well, the ‘old members dying off’ part was thought of but only in that it was a fact and was usually mentioned by the club’s governing board (or owners) when the issues of spending money to rebuild the club’s entire infrastructure was brought up.  Their standard remark to defending off doing anything that cost money was to say..

"Oh, I’ll be dead when that happens so I’ll let the next generation deal with paying for that.."

Well, that day when the governing board and owners of Old Country Clubs starts dying off is here for many older country clubs around the country and it could not have come at a worst time.  Many country clubs that were built in the 50′s and 60′s are now starting to show their wear and to survive they need to update to appeal to the new, younger country club membership. 

It just goes to show, that not everything can last for a lifetime.  When many of the country clubs around the country organized and built their clubhouses did so with the mind set of the clubhouse lasting forever…or forever in the sense of the people saying it meaning it would be forever for them and their lifetime. 

True, some of the more ancient country clubs were built to last the test of time…but on the most part…country clubs around the country are today having to deal with what to do about dilapidated clubhouses and other building on their property that are way past overdue needing to be completely redone, bulldozed and completely rebuilt from the ground up.

Yes! To do that takes money.  Lots and lots of money.  And today, getting that money is near possible.

So what does a semi-private or private country club do?

Sitting tight would be the wise thing to do, but if the infrastructure of a country club is costing more a month to repair than the monthly interest on a capital improvement note then maybe sitting tight is not the right answer. 

Increasing revenue is the optimum option which would usually mean raising membership fees or bring in new members.  The thinking that these two options are the only ways to raise revenue is where most governing boards and owners of country clubs begin to limit themselves.

New Young Country Club Membership

One of the directions an old country club can take to develop the funds needed for a complete new clubhouse is to bring in New Members.  The prime market or demographic to target is the 25 to 35 yr olds.  The over 50 yr olds and the current membership isn’t going to wait around that long for a new facility where as the younger generation has a few more years to enjoy a long term construction program.  

However, to get that younger member interested in becoming a member of an aging country club the club Has To Have new fresh designed clubhouse friendly to today’s business’ needs and very, very family oriented.  Without a new updated clubhouse the New Young Members are not going to want to sit tight or join a club that is not willing to set aside the funds needed to build the clubhouse while marketing to younger members.

Increase Initiation and monthly dues

As a last resort, old country clubs could raise the initiation fees for new members and raise monthly dues for current members.  This decision comes with a real high risk factor.  Any increase of monthly dues are going to force the older members to leave the club due to 1, not seeing the value of spending more funds a month for something that does not fit their needs, and 2. the increase placed the membership dues out of reach.  These members leaving for any reason is a lost of current revenue a country club of any stature can not afford. 

Then secondly, the new member is not going to want to pony up any amount of money to become a member of an worn out country club.  Especially it there are other choices in the same area.

How did Country Club Facilities get this way?

Country Club Clubhouses do not last forever.  Even the clubs that are hundreds of years old deal with aging infrastructure and generational attitudes towards new designs.  Fortunately, many of the older more established country clubs’ forefathers thought ahead enough to construct their clubhouses out of materials that would last for hundreds of years.

During the 1950′s and 60′s when the economy was shooting up and the attitude of millions was to leave for today and enjoy life today, the thinking was..

Capture the market now and deal with other issues later.  

So over time the quality standard of a clubhouse’s infrastructure became set for making something last 20 to 30 years since by then whoever owned the facility then will be in a position to rebuild something better. 

Consequences

So, what if a country club that has a golf course, or two, or three, does nothing to improve its facilities for the next generation? 

Overtime, the value of being a member of the club that is haunted with the problems created from years of neglect will go down.  What will drive the value of a country club membership down further is the members not wanting to use the facility due to its dilapidating infrastructure (restrooms that don’t work, 20 year old furniture and fixtures, cracked or buckled cart paths) or dated image. 

One of the main activities a country club was organized for use for the clubhouse to be used for the members’ business outings.  Everything to Holiday parties to business conferences, the clubhouse offered the members a private and special place to go to project his or her business’ image.   If the facility does not reflect the same high standards of a business’ operations or project the level of professional image the member has for his business then the value of being a member is greatly diminished.

Once the value goes down the members start to drop out.  When the membership drops the revenue drops and when revenue drops below the operation’s budget needs then priorities of what gets repaired are made and things start not getting fixed which perpetuates the continuing cycle of decreased value further.

Sell Off Begins

Once the revenue for a country club hits the bottom bad things will probably happen rather quickly.   The governing board or owners of the country club will be faced with some tough decisions that will Have To be made.  Sometimes, they maybe forced into making them especially in the cases where city, state or federal dwelling and safety codes are not met.

They will either have to:

• Pay for the complete rebuild of the country club’s facilities out of their own pockets with hopes their next of kin will benefit from it since the return on that investment will be 20 years or more. This action would be the most respectful action a owner could do for a membership that put up with the decay of the facilities for many years.

• Sell off some of the real estate the club owns to raise capital needed for the reconstruction. If there is more than one golf course one maybe sacrificed to finance the survival of the other course. This action would result in the owners given a huge black eye from the surrounding community who invested in the surrounding properties of the golf courses and place remaining members in a shadow once the word gets out they are a member of a club that sold off the property the are partnered with on the value.

• Or, sell all the facility and walk away. This action would trigger yet another layer of economic concern on the community since the new owners could turn the facility into multi-resident dwelling driving the home owners of the property around the golf course out placing the area into being nothing more than a bedroom community needing even more of the city’s budget to maintain.

These drastic steps are real and are happening right now around the country with even more munis, country clubs and golf courses reconsidering their value.

Isn’t there another way?

Hopefully, somewhere somehow the owners of country clubs will look at enduring the direr economic situation and look for other solutions to keeping golf going at their facilities instead of running away from the problem by taking the Sell Out route. 

The large corporations that own multiple country clubs may have to do what other corporations today are going to have to do which is drastically cut executives’ salaries and reduce the dividend paid to investors.  These are the two things that got them into the mess they are in and now will have to be dealt.  These large groups of investors and corporations that paid, in some cases, over valued prices for the country clubs will now have to pony up clean cash taken from one of their many war chest to pay for complete updates to facilities they own.  This will be the only way they can achieve a return that is based on a more realistic term based not on minutes but years, or to improve the value of the facility to attract buyers.  

The private owned country clubs that are surviving on a limited membership are going to have to find creative financing.  Infrastructure updates could be paid for partly from the membership thru small assessments fees to the membership over a period of years instead of all at once, however, other options could be realized if they opened their doors to outsiders a little more.

Semi-Private and daily fee facilities are going to have to look at alternative revenue sources outside of green fees and F&B. They will have to look for people who can offer greater thinking than offering Hamburgers at the turn included in the green fees.

BOTTOMLINE:

Every golf facility is going to be faced with revenue challenges to survive.  Those facing the need to update their facilities are going to find it hard to survive and will have to make some hard decision.  However, there are other solutions to many of these golf facilities’ issues.  The answers will come from reaching outside the boardroom walls to business people who have dealt with these decision before.

For all us golfers and members of country clubs everywhere, we can only hope they will make the right decision…and soon.

Let me know how I can help.

Unless you have been stuck on the back nine since last Sunday, you are aware of the economy here in the states taking a dive. And if you really were stuck out on the course and have not been inside to catch any of the recent new…you are a very lucky person, or maybe not.

Yes, things are not looking good for the economy and it figures that what will have to take place to settle things down is businesses are going to HAVE to pull back on soft costs of operations if they plan on surviving…like executive salaries, stock dividends and other very unpopular changes

This includes the golf industry. There is some room for adjustment in the golf industry that maybe some of the non-golf companies may want to consider making also.

The changes that have to be made in Golf are not going to be popular. Just writing about what changes will have to be made is not very popular. I expect many of the companies that are going to read this are going to not want to make the changes and debunk everything said so to substantiate that there is no need for a change.

On the most part, golf has gotten overly expensive. As a result the majority of the golf population is going to evaluate golf’s value. And yes, the golf industry is not going to like what they decide to do…which is not play golf.

Since I am in the golf marketing field I can tell you golf is going to be tough to market….not impossible, just very tough.

Prices for golf equipment, green fees and other items and services essential to playing a basic round of golf have all gone up. Sure the cost of manufacturing, operating and insuring everything in golf is what caused the increase…so what else is new? The question becomes…

What does golf have to do to survive?

I have been pondering this question because nearly everyone who services the golf industry is going to be affected. And the answer is…golf is going to have to make some changes…mainly in reducing the prices that effect playing golf.

Yes, I know, if you are a golf facility you did not want to hear this and probably have a library of binders substantiating the costs and the pricing. But pricing golf out of the golf market is not going to get golfers to play golf no matter how much money they make. People playing golf is what makes the Golf Industry and golf economy keep moving.

Everything in the mainstream of the golf industry..club manufactures, country clubs, golf clubs, golf retail, golf wholesale, golf resorts…..all are going to have to reduce their pricing for products and services.

No longer will foreign manufacturers be able to mandate MSRP on their products…if they do, they probably will not enter the American market because nobody is going to buy it at that price…and no longer will wholesalers be able to go on a cost plus high percent. If the cost of wholesale is already to high before the mark up it will not go to market. Golfers are just not going to spend money on things they absolutely do not need or want.

Yes, I know. That is a huge change in the golf industry but that is how much things have to change if golf is going to survive.

The good ol boys of golf who have been heard saying in the back rooms of the top private golf clubs in this country that the price of golf at their facilities will remain high to keep out the people who cannot afford to play at their facilities will probably not change. That is they will probably not change, but there is a chance they will be pressured to change from the economy within the club. They will wish they had changed when after a few long hard months that extra cash flow coming from the golfer who would splurge to pay their over the top green fees all dry’s up after they evaluate the value of that experience. The same for the golf resorts and golf travel industry…all of them are going to have to drop their prices. It is just as simple as that.

Sure, there are going to be golf businesses go under…mostly those who are sitting on very high mortgaged real estate. However, there will be many mainstream golf businesses who will be on the verge of collapse who will still refuse to make the changes necessary to survive.

I really hate to see it but change is what the golf industry really needs to make to keep he golf industry going into the next generation.

BOTTOMLINE:

The golf industry has got to keep golf affordable…not much else is going to matter until brighter days come again.

An interesting questions was asked of me recently that got me to thinking, again.  With the failing economy more businesses are having to break down their product and services to fit into what I define as Micro-Niche markets.

Micro-Niche: A very small group or part of a community that has special needs or interest.  These groups represent less that a fraction of a percent of the entire Niche.

EXAMPLE: Since Business Golf is a Niche of the golf community, and example of micro-niche would be the golfers who already know how to play business golf.

The questions I was asked was..How would I use Social Media in a Micro-Niche market? 

Since Niche marketing is a very special type of target marketing it only makes sense to use social media to promote the niche or the service that is offered the niche.

Since Social Media is defined as…

The interaction, and the manner in which information is presented to small groups or on a one-on-one basis.

It makes sense to use Social Media Marketing to Micro-Niche Markets.

Social Media Marketing is defined as..

Social Media Marketing is all about collaboration between people. It is about participating with everyone and sharing information. It is as much about giving as it is about receiving from the group. The premise of social media marketing is engaging with the consumer and providing value.

I see no reason why social media could not be used in a Micro-Niche.  Matter of fact I could see how social media would be one of the only ways to market to a micro-niche.

For businesses to survive they will need to get back to basics of doing business.  Gone are the days where the CEO or entire C Suites sit in their boardrooms twittering away their time attempting to solve problems that are all caused by bottomline problems.  These business men and women will now have to get their hands dirty and get on the frontline with the rest of the staff to get to know their customers.

It would be good if businesses look at their services and products and identify what their Micro-Niches are and start marketing to these customers using social media methods.

What is not Social Media is…

Social Media Marketing is not about spamming. It is not about copying certain links and spamming it in discussion groups and forums. It is important to create value for the people with whom you are dialoguing.

If you are not using Social Media to market your business you need to get on the stick.  If you need to learn how, Let me know how I can help.

I was having dinner this evening with a table full of friends and clients and as is always the case the focus of the table’s conversation eventually turned to everyone wanting to know how my new business, IBGS, is doing. Since the majority of my social and business acquaintances are business owners or executives of large firms who work in the rigidly slow moving world of mainstream American business where I came from, they enjoy drilling me with questions starting with the word “How”… that quickly generates the counter questions that start with the word “Why!”.

Right after I left the corporate world for semi-retirement and to find my mission in After-Corporate life, the questions my close friends drilled me with had skeptic tones based on their uncertainty of my business model and lack of understanding of how entrepreneurial stuff works. After four years of these dinners these questions now have turned to more me holding court and doing what I am good at doing..mentoring.

However, in this particular dinner, the questions started reflecting issues these businesses were dealing with today… the failed economy. The topic that took the dinner discussion clear through to dessert and the after dinner Brandy, was “Innovation”.

It seems in the world of large mainstream businesses, innovation is not frequently used, or understood. Since my entire second life in business has been a steady stream of innovative thinking and finding solutions for my clients through innovation, the word “innovation” to me has become rather cliché, but in the environment of this dinner with friends, I found talking about innovation rather confirming of things I do in my business I didn’t realize were innovative until this group pointed it out.

How Would I Bring Innovation Into an Old Business?

Naturally, any conversation held today is going to lead off with the mess the American economy is in and then backed up with fleeting comments reflecting what most business executives are dealing with in the boardrooms around America and that is…what do we do to get through this?

My offerings to the conversation was to tell the group that “innovation is dead in most mainstream businesses”. From there, the entire evening became a group mentoring session with the discussion centered around how innovation can be brought into older mainstream businesses. First, in order for businesses to attempt to survive through the economic mess they will have to embrace innovative thinking. The questions was asked to me, “How would I bring in innovation to a older business?”. My response took up the remainder of the evening.

Bring Innovation Into the Mainstream

Innovation is in every company or business. Everyone had within them the ability to think and be innovative in solving problems. Just driving to work in the morning requires a person to demonstrate several times innovative thinking. So, bring innovation into older businesses is not the issue…it is allowing innovating thinking to take place.  Old thinking and business plans is why it appears a workforce does not have any innovation.

For most mainstream traditional businesses innovative ideas are usually hashed out during the development of the business plan. Once that plan is stamped off by a business owner it very seldom is changed since their thinking is that everything the business can do was thought out in the plan. So, why change the plan?

This type of thinking use to work, but now feelings of change is not needed should be be placed in file 13. For the more moderate businesses of the world who have adapted a more flexible approach to business, innovation appears to be mainstay of the business but in reality it is only at the executive level. There is a fear within many companies that if innovative thinking and action was allowed outside the executive suite that production would bottom out and nothing would get done. Again, example of another way of thinking that pushes a business into a nose dive that they will not be able to pull out. Either way, a complete void or a modified tolerance of innovation will not get businesses through touch times. Here is why…

Void of Innovation

Innovation will be hard to develop within the businesses who void out fresh thinking through ridge business policies and processes set up to keep the workforce focused on mind numbing tasks. Bring innovation into a company that has none will be looked at as radical change. Most people to not accept change very well. So in order to get things working in a ridge environment the executives have to overcome the challenge of comforting the need for change in the business. To accomplish this, the very top executive has to demonstrate change by doing something nearly out of character for him or her. This starts the ball rolling for the entire organization to see that change is good which will click on the innovative thinking that is inside everyone in the organization.

Modified Innovation

In the businesses that leave the innovative thinking to the few people at the top, they have a challenge of implementing overall innovative thinking because they have a trust factor created from them demonstrating their innovative thinking but not allowing it to be shared. So, in order for these businesses to implement innovative thinking they have to demonstrate to their workforce, and sometimes to their clients, that they can be trusted to truly allow throughout their enterprise.

How to Implement Innovation

Bringing innovation into a business is easier done if innovation is part of the daily work routine. In order for innovation to take hold the top executives need to communicate directly to the workforce and to their client base. No matter if the business has one employee or the corporation has 500,000 employees, the top executives need to devise and innovative way to talk to each and every employee face-to-face.

It can be done, I have seen it happen and it worked. It took about three months but the leader of my fortune 100 corporation made literally a world wind tour of the entire corporation and met in groups of five to ten employees for a couple of hours each. I distinctly remember him talked directly to ME and the others, on how he needed our help to make the change in the company…obviously that message stuck with me and will stay with me for the rest of my life even though I am not longer in that corporation…that is how impacting direct communication can be towards developing innovative thinking.

Bottomline: Things are going to get touch and there is absolutely no way of telling what a business will face tomorrow. If a business is not set up to immediately initiate innovation in solving problems or changing a business model, then they will be the first to lose the markets interest.

Consumers are not going to be very trusting of a business that cannot change to their needs or wants. The market is going to slash through old traditional business models to get to the products and services that can be brought to them quickly and affordably.

Employees are only going to work for businesses that let them get involved in securing their employment. The one thing that is going to glue all of the pieces of the cracked economy back together is COMMUNCATION.  And, that communication will only be heard by the market or employees through face to face, “stir you in the eye”, frank talk from the leaders of the world’s business.

There will be some concerning times ahead, but there also will be some exciting times with it…let me know how I can help.

Innovative Business Golf Solutions offers services to business people who are looking for sound business problem solving.

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