Managing your declining business

[Wags]

I’ll start with the adage, “Anyone can manage a business when times are good. Only a few can manage a business when times are bad.”

Someone in this forum wrote, (paraphrased), “if 20% smoke, that leaves 80% of new customers to go after.” (If you are the one that said this, stand up and be heard!) That kind of pissed me off until I started thinking about it. He is absolutely correct. Smoking is a dead horse. The room owners can complain all they want but the laws are not going to change back. In fact, if history is a guide, the laws will only get worse. Hence, the question is, Where to go from here?”

Understand, I am against the smoking laws for many reasons but, the issue is a dead horse. Quit beating it. So, how does the 80% find their way to the door? That is the question. If there was a pat answer to that, I’d be rich. (Alas, I’m not rich.) I can offer some loose suggestions.

First of all, everything is subject to change. EVERYTHING!!!

Raise prices, discount pool, lay-off employees, hours of operation, counter hours for the owner/manager, room cleanliness, equipment condition, employee discipline, adding other sources of revenue, sources of free advertising, networking, customer considerations (incentives, language used, jukebox(background music), etc.), taking on a partner, simplifying menu (inventory), interior improvements, discontinue outsourcing (uniforms, bookkeeper), competitive purchasing.

There is a pretty good start on a checklist of items to be looked at. If you can’t find something in that list to change for the better, then good luck to you.

If there are changeable items…MAKE A DECISION.

I’ve seen more businesses go down because the tough decisions weren’t made. Yes, it’s tough and, yes, it’s scary, but, no decision is worse than making a wrong decision. Of course, you are going to research whatever you can, get feedback from supposedly competent sources and ideally you have made good decisions in the past to support your style of change management. If a wrong decision is made, you’ll know, just make another change. Don’t be afraid of changing. Remember, the worst you can do is close your business, which will happen anyway if you don’t try. The more money that needs investing to make changes, the more careful the change decision. If saving money from changes, DO IT NOW.

That’s enough posting for now. I’ll be glad to be a backboard for discussion. Just PM me.

Jay
www.cuesport-lessons.com

 

[PoolTable911]

I’ll start with the adage, “Anyone can manage a business when times are good. Only a few can manage a business when times are bad.”

Someone in this forum wrote, (paraphrased), “if 20% smoke, that leaves 80% of new customers to go after.” (If you are the one that said this, stand up and be heard!) That kind of pissed me off until I started thinking about it. He is absolutely correct. Smoking is a dead horse. The room owners can complain all they want but the laws are not going to change back. In fact, if history is a guide, the laws will only get worse. Hence, the question is, Where to go from here?”

Understand, I am against the smoking laws for many reasons but, the issue is a dead horse. Quit beating it. So, how does the 80% find their way to the door? That is the question. If there was a pat answer to that, I’d be rich. (Alas, I’m not rich.) I can offer some loose suggestions.

First of all, everything is subject to change. EVERYTHING!!!

Raise prices, discount pool, lay-off employees, hours of operation, counter hours for the owner/manager, room cleanliness, equipment condition, employee discipline, adding other sources of revenue, sources of free advertising, networking, customer considerations (incentives, language used, jukebox(background music), etc.), taking on a partner, simplifying menu (inventory), interior improvements, discontinue outsourcing (uniforms, bookkeeper), competitive purchasing.

There is a pretty good start on a checklist of items to be looked at. If you can’t find something in that list to change for the better, then good luck to you.

If there are changeable items…MAKE A DECISION.

I’ve seen more businesses go down because the tough decisions weren’t made. Yes, it’s tough and, yes, it’s scary, but, no decision is worse than making a wrong decision. Of course, you are going to research whatever you can, get feedback from supposedly competent sources and ideally you have made good decisions in the past to support your style of change management. If a wrong decision is made, you’ll know, just make another change. Don’t be afraid of changing. Remember, the worst you can do is close your business, which will happen anyway if you don’t try. The more money that needs investing to make changes, the more careful the change decision. If saving money from changes, DO IT NOW.

That’s enough posting for now. I’ll be glad to be a backboard for discussion. Just PM me.

Jay
www.cuesport-lessons.com

Tap! Tap! Tap! Good post Jay....

 

[cueandcushion]

I know I have made that comment before in threads about nonsmokers. I am old enough to remember when old timers talked about desegregation. All white pool rooms had to let black players come in. You know, big government driving business under. SOUND FAMILIAR??? Of course all the white players would leave and pool rooms that all went under in the 60s in the South was all about desegregation. Funny how a couple generations later everyone conveniently forgot about that thinking. Two generations from now, surviving rooms will talk about the old days of smoking and how all the tables were dirty and slow from the nicotine. They will say," I cannot believe people played like that way back in the 90s and 00's.

Today I hear the exact opposite rhetoric from different generations. I hear kids all talk how nasty it is we still let people smoke. How they hate coming in on busy nights because they stink when they get home. And everyone over 50 tells me when the state bans smoking every pool room in the state will all shut down. I hear how every business owner in the country that bans smoking must be the biggest idiot in the whole entire universe. Yeah its about that exaggerated....

Tough economic times for us has always meant diversification and cost cutting. Trying to sell snacks, or drinks, more cues, more service calls on repairs. Accepting work we used to decline. Change is never easy when running a business. There is always the chance you made the wrong decision. Or made the right decision too late. Or too early.

 

[scdiveteam]

I’ll start with the adage, “Anyone can manage a business when times are good. Only a few can manage a business when times are bad.”

Someone in this forum wrote, (paraphrased), “if 20% smoke, that leaves 80% of new customers to go after.” (If you are the one that said this, stand up and be heard!) That kind of pissed me off until I started thinking about it. He is absolutely correct. Smoking is a dead horse. The room owners can complain all they want but the laws are not going to change back. In fact, if history is a guide, the laws will only get worse. Hence, the question is, Where to go from here?”

Understand, I am against the smoking laws for many reasons but, the issue is a dead horse. Quit beating it. So, how does the 80% find their way to the door? That is the question. If there was a pat answer to that, I’d be rich. (Alas, I’m not rich.) I can offer some loose suggestions.

First of all, everything is subject to change. EVERYTHING!!!

Raise prices, discount pool, lay-off employees, hours of operation, counter hours for the owner/manager, room cleanliness, equipment condition, employee discipline, adding other sources of revenue, sources of free advertising, networking, customer considerations (incentives, language used, jukebox(background music), etc.), taking on a partner, simplifying menu (inventory), interior improvements, discontinue outsourcing (uniforms, bookkeeper), competitive purchasing.

There is a pretty good start on a checklist of items to be looked at. If you can’t find something in that list to change for the better, then good luck to you.

If there are changeable items…MAKE A DECISION.

I’ve seen more businesses go down because the tough decisions weren’t made. Yes, it’s tough and, yes, it’s scary, but, no decision is worse than making a wrong decision. Of course, you are going to research whatever you can, get feedback from supposedly competent sources and ideally you have made good decisions in the past to support your style of change management. If a wrong decision is made, you’ll know, just make another change. Don’t be afraid of changing. Remember, the worst you can do is close your business, which will happen anyway if you don’t try. The more money that needs investing to make changes, the more careful the change decision. If saving money from changes, DO IT NOW.

That’s enough posting for now. I’ll be glad to be a backboard for discussion. Just PM me.

Jay
www.cuesport-lessons.com

Great Post Jay!!!!

Hi,

If you can stay in business while others are going out of biz, then when the ball knockers come back and money is flowing again, things will be very good again. Less pool halls equal more demand thus time to raise prices. That's down the road but it will be a reality.

RG