Excerpt

I walked into the coffee franchise. There was a short line. I gravitated towards the back while I looked down at my handheld device. Looking back and forth at the menu board, I acted as if I was trying to figure out what I wanted, while I was actually taking notes in my hand held device. A couple of people went before me as I continued to look at the menu and take notes (pretending to type a text message). I finally got to the counter and placed my order. I walked to the side where my drink was being made, pretending not to be paying attention. The barista handed me the drink and I sat down.  As I drank my drink, I continued putting all of the information into my phone. 

“Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer”

-Michael Corleone

Randy had been generous enough to open up his establishment to let us learn about the business. He walked us through his operation and gave us valuable information on how to run a coffee business. Picking his brain about any and everything was a great help and we appreciated him for the service. Eventually, we formed a coffee network to support and help one another grow. I actually just got off the phone with Randy who was asking me to borrow a couple pounds of decaf coffee.

Everyone was not as helpful as Randy in starting our business. He is someone with whom I have a mutual trust and am willing to share ideas. I have the same relationship with two other coffee shop owners. We even had a joint flyer done with another coffee shop when the Super Bowl® came to town. 

For every business that was willing to share information, there were hundreds (such as the corporate coffee shop in the previous story above) that were less obliging. In these cases, we learned the art of the sneak and peek, or as I call it cheating. We could hire consultants or partner with experienced individuals, but there was no better learning experience than seeing for myself. There is an old saying that “you can show someone better than you can tell them.”

Corporations spend millions of dollars attempting to learn the secrets of their competitors.  They research pricing, operations, service, recipes, etc.  All that we needed to learn their secrets was a little sweat equity and a willingness to be crafty. I learned many of the industry standards with a few trips to the big coffee franchise as well as some of the smaller shops. 

There is a great commercial running now, where a small advertising agency asks what a larger advertising agency would do in a situation and the larger advertising agency asks what an even larger advertising agency would do, and so on. Finally, the largest advertising agency asks what the small advertising agency would do. Cheating is commonplace in all industries. Smaller groups are trying to think and grow like larger companies and the larger companies are trying to think and stay creative and flexible like the smaller companies. They are constantly stealing from one another to benefit their business. 

We utilized the information obtained through our “research” to make a lot of decisions for our business. Our prices, for example, were set five cents cheaper than the average. By incorporating the information that we obtained, we were able to establish numerous benchmarks. The corporations set the bar for the market. Ground businesses have to take notes and think big to be successful without losing their character and identity.

Another way to learn about an industry is through internships. I am currently working with an intern who wants to open a coffee shop. They learn a lot about the intricacies of the business by going through its daily activities with an experienced coffee shop owner. It is about the learning process and not the money. They actually pay for the experience as part of a “consulting package.”

I was unable to find someone with whom to intern, so I took the time to cheat. Getting my hands on information from competing businesses did not take away from my creative freedom. Most businesses within industries have similar operations.   Creativity sets my business apart. I did not need to reinvent the wheel to start the business. The research had already been done. I had no problem cheating off the big boys. Because I learned quick lessons via cheating, I had time to focus on the smaller things that set my business apart and put us ahead in the game.

Key Points

·  Spend time learning competitors’ practices

·  Apply industry best practices within business

·  Find creative ways to distinguish yourself from your competitors

·  Seek internships with established business