The HTG Way

Many of you know that I maintain several Blogs. This one is primarily for the benefit of our clients or potential clients. Though it does occasionally contains some technical content, it is primarily focused on Business and Business Relationships. At Quality Systems Solutions, Inc., we understand that we serve businesses, through relationships, buy addressing their technology needs. The technology itself means nothing, outside of a relationship.

If you have followed this Blog at all, you will know that I am a member of one HTG Peer Group and the Facilitator of yet another. The Founder of the HTG Peer Groups is posting a Series call the HTG Way on his Blog.

I think that it is important for our clients or potential clients to understand and appreciate the impact that my involvement in HTG has on my business, so I am reposting each installment, in its entirety here. A link to the original article will be posted at the end.

This is the first in a series of posts around HTG and exactly what it is.......

HTG is built upon the premise that peers working together and investing in each other can impact our businesses, leadership and life. We live by the Go-Giver mentality – pay it forward if you will. The purpose of our peer group program is to drive value into our member companies and collectively raise the value of all members’ organizations as we apply sound business principles and execute those in a culture of accountability. That value should take a couple forms. First the valuation of member companies should be higher than those of the industry when a member decides to sell, merge or pass on his organization. We believe that peer to peer interaction causes our members to grow more quickly and profitably than the industry at large. HTG is currently participating in a study being led by the University of Nebraska Kearney to measure the impact of HTG on our member organizations. It is our belief that because of the way HTG members collaborate, execute and manage through accountability relationships, that their company has more value than the one down the street. This longitudinal study by UNK will measure and verify our belief.

The second area where value occurs is in the people who participate in HTG. Operating in a culture of accountability is a competitive advantage for owners and managers in our industry. The peer board of directors format causes behavior that does not occur without accountability. That behavior changes companies, leadership and lives. That is evident through observing hundreds of interactions and measuring the impact of goals and execution. Peer pressure works equally well on executives of companies as it does on the playground in kindergarten. HTG is focused on creating an environment of positive peer pressure that drives change.

The basic premise of HTG is execution driven by accountability. As Thomas Edison once said “vision without execution is hallucination”. It does no good to learn without doing. HTG quarterly meetings are focused on driving that execution. Each quarter every company has to set three goals which are due in 90 days. As the next meeting starts, companies must defend their accomplishment of those goals to their peer board. Failure to execute is not accepted lightly. HTG uses the “Survivor” model where non-performing companies are voted “off the island” in their individual groups. This is serious business. HTG members understand that each seat in their 12 member group has significant value and must be filled by a member that performs. So accountability is a key tenant of how HTG functions. Goals need to be set using the S.M.A.R.T. method so they can be fairly measured and evaluated.

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Six Things Small Business Owners Do to Undermine Their Success

I discovered this article posted my Mitch York and found it to be particularly relevant. Assuming that you are a Small Business Owner, how may of these traps have you fallen into over the years?

"In the small business I own, I’ve noticed an ebb and flow through the years–periods when I am really “on it” and other times when I am either coasting or not as engaged as I need to be. Fortunately, I’ve been very much on my game for the past two years (thanks in no small part to my collaboration with my coach). For the two years prior to that I was up and down and, no surprise, my results were erratic. I have been thinking about what’s different now compared with then in terms of my activity and attitude. I bet that anyone with a small business goes through the same cycles. Maybe if you read this you’ll snap out of a down cycle and get back on your game. So here goes: 6 Things Small Business Owners Do To Undermine Their Own Success.

I am not going to to focus on what to do about each factor, basically because just noticing the problem is in itself the cure. But if you have other solutions, please comment.

Get Fried by Their Business. Not much in life is harder than building a successful business–whether it has one employee, 10 or 100,000. Nature does not want your business to succeed. All gravitational forces and systems conspire to kill a new business, so you have to overcome the viruses, diseases and mutations that want to extinguish your venture. Often, small business owners are the business. They play many roles, not necessarily by choice but by necessity. Not everything can or should be delegated early on, or maybe ever. So owners get fried. When you’re toast you can’t be creative. If you are not creative in your business, it is already starting to die.

Get Bored with Their Business: Since the advent of the supermarket (maybe before), being human has gotten way too easy. A man with a spear and an empty stomach is rarely bored. But our bellies are full and you can’t fit a spear into a Prius, so we’re bored! And distracted. We find it hard to focus on the day to day, nuts-and-boltsy stuff about small business that keep the wheels from coming off. It’s a weird genetic quirk, but for many small business owners the only thing that snaps them out of their boredom and subsequent lack of attention to detail is when their checking account is empty–the modern equivalent of the hungry cave-dweller.

Start Cutting Corners: When you’re tired and bored in your business, you start cutting corners. You used to maintain meticulous records in your CRM, and now you’re a little less thorough. Your used to review your systems and procedures quarterly to make sure your operating methods were up to date, but it’s been six months since you did your last review. You do a monthly email newsletter but the last one went out seven weeks ago.

Don’t Follow up with all Prospects Thoroughly and Immediately: A small business owner I know called me twice about her promotional products business. Each time she promised to send me a link with products she had picked out for me. I haven’t heard from her in two months. She worked hard to get me to be receptive and poised to buy something, and then let the ball drop.

Don’t Follow Up with Existing Customers on a Scheduled Basis: My business doubled when I created a system for follow-up with existing customers. This goes back to the caveman discussion. We like hunting a new bear. But we have a thing about leftovers. It’s nuts! We all know existing customers are more profitable than new ones. They’re just not as exciting to catch.

Miss the Opportunity to Add Another Product or Service to an Order: There’s a reason we all know the expression, “Would you like fries with that?” We tend to sell the products that we find easiest to sell. Sometimes an ancillary product is not as fascinating to us. Yet by offering it we can increase our sales and marginal profit tremendously. Wonder why we don’t do it every single time?

Just six things for a Wednesday morning. I got a million of ‘em. Share yours and let’s all stop doing them."

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