CEO’s Introduction

Born in 1902, Ray Kroc started life in a wholly unimpressive way relative to his later achievements. Initially working as an ambulance driver, pianist and paper cup salesman, Kroc went on to sell multi-mixer milkshake machines. One of his clients was a company owned by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald. The rest, as they say, is history.

Despite there being “billions and billions served,” the number of people knowing Ray Kroc as the builder of what has become the largest chain of fast-food restaurants in the world declines. Kroc did not found McDonald’s but his initial (and very simple) idea resulted in the creation of a company that now has a globally recognized brand.

His idea? Each restaurant needed eight multi-mixers. The more restaurants the brother’s opened, the more mixers he would sell. A partnership ensued and in 1961 Kroc bought the brothers out for $2.7 million. Today the company has annual revenues of around $20 Billion.

Despite the increasing use of the phrase “McMansion” (“a large mansion as generic and culturally ubiquitous as a McDonald’s restaurant”) I am not going to suggest that selling a house is anything like selling a hamburger. The business of selling something however is a fair comparison and deserves attention. The numbers on their own are impressive but what makes Kroc interesting is how he built the business with a system or process for everything.

While in a McDonalds recently (yes, I confess that I enjoy the occasional Big Mac) I noticed that every employee was (or at least looked) under 25. Here, in a brand new building, with equipment and product totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, hundreds of demanding customers were served throughout the day by a collective process that appeared to run flawlessly. Whatever your opinion is of fast food, one has to marvel at the apparent simplicity of it all. McDonalds is now the proverbial ‘turn key operation.’

I have long been a student of business leaders; their thoughts and routines fascinate me and help as I focus on my own business. Whether you follow Ray Kroc’s methods or those of that other great icon and visionary of American business, George Costanza (who teaches us to “Never walk without a document in your hands,” “Look impatient and annoyed” and to “Use sighing for effect”), a continued pursuit to improve your business should be at the core of everything you do.

Charles Schwab went into semi-retirement several years ago leaving his company in the hands of David Pottruck. After some unsuccessful deals that seriously cut into profits, growth and stock price, Schwab returned to replace Pottruck. But how do you turn around a company that manages over a trillion dollars, generates profits in the hundreds of millions of dollars and has thousands of employees?

Schwab collected his management team in a room and with a whiteboard and pen wrote out what Charles Schwab (the company) means. In its simplest terms that meant ‘What do we do and how do we do it.’ Product lines were evaluated, client fees reviewed, business areas scrutinized for profit and more importantly, loss. Ilana DeBare said of that time “As founder, Schwab was uniquely suited to guide the company through this forest of retrenchment.” Schwab himself said “Only a founding father could really do these things, because they were pretty scary for anyone else to do.”

Schwab took dramatic steps cutting millions in expenses, eliminating thousands of jobs and cutting costs. What amazes me most in all of this is that Schwab decided to solve his problems not with technology, not by spending a small fortune on a marketing plan but by picking up a pen and paper and taking a fresh look at a very mature business. And he is not alone. Richard Branson (a lowly 245th on the world’s richest people list) is known to run his business empire using a notebook and pen. There’s not a laptop in sight.

The real estate industry isn’t known for changing quickly, but today it is changing quicker than ever before. It won’t be an overnight process, but success will follow those Realtors who spend time now, right now, looking at what they do and how they do it. This should be a continuing effort. When was the last time you worked on your business rather than for your business? If you haven’t asked yourself “How will I grow my income in 2008?” perhaps now is the time.

But how do you gauge the success of your efforts? Ray Kroc said “The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.” With market conditions as they are, is now the right place and time to be thinking about how to do things differently? Listen to your clients. If the only thing you hear is “I’m loving it” the signs are good. But if you are hearing something else, then it might be time to get out a notebook and pen. “Serenity Now. Serenity Now!!”

As always feel free to contact me personally, at any time, for any reason.

Stephen Fells,
CEO

Question: I have a question about the stats. In general, I would expect the number of Visits to be lower than the number of Page Views, and that’s how it started out for my site. However, for quite some time now, it’s been flipped. The stats are showing more Visits than Page Views, and I can’t make sense out of that. Can you please help me understand what’s going on here? Click here to read the answer.

Do you have a PowerSite success story? We want to hear it.

We are looking to feature profiles of our clients and how they are using PowerSites on our blog, Website, newsletter and press material.

Whether you are just starting off with PowerSites, or have been using them for years, we would like to know how they have enhanced your marketing presentations and how you are using them in conjunction with print, Internet and other forms of advertising.

For example, we recently received this email from Ralph Fleming of Hudson Valley Consultants in New York: “I’ve had a great experience with my first Agency Logic Website and plan on using it for all of my listings. My listing was advertised on the NY Times online with a link to the Website, and I had 6 showings and an OFFER in less then 1 week.”

If you are interested, send an email to samanthau@agencylogic.com. Feel free to write us about your experience using PowerSites, or if you prefer, we’ll call you to set up a brief telephone interview. We are looking forward to hearing from you and highlighting your success!