The Positive Training sponsored Franchise Acceleration Bootcamp
Positive Training had the privilege of sponsoring the Franchise Acceleration Bootcamp on the 17th of October held at the Beau Monde International. The event was hosted by Tom Schaff and Scott deMoulin with Janine Allis – the founder of the ever delicious and popular Boost Juice – as keynote speaker. The secrets to psychology, leadership and affecting change were just some of the gems that these highly-qualified guests imparted on the audience.
The speakers
Janine Allis – Founder of Boost Juice
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Janine Allis says. And this bubbly, passionate lady knows a thing or two about company culture having started and grown one of Australia’s most successful and colourful franchises. With 250 stores in 14 countries – and counting – Janine knows that it’s people that can make or break a business and, if you have a bad culture, your customers will feel it and it will eventually affect your bottom line and your future success.
As the event’s keynote speaker, 2004 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year Janine Allis was inspiring (she started the business whilst on maternity leave from her day job and is now raising 4 children), truthful (one of her marketing “P’s” in the beginning was “Petrified”) and knowledgeable (Janine says success is 10% strategy, 90% execution).
Boost Juice can credit a lot of its success to its clever marketing. With a tight marketing budget, Boost Juice is King – or is that Queen? – at cutting through the noise with fun and spirited campaigns that often spin into free publicity. Some of Boost’s campaigns have included the Whats Ya Name Game, Undie Monday and a $300,000 Boost Juice bar giveaway.
But Janine said it wasn’t all smooth sailing, with some seriously tough challenges along the way. However, she says, you learn more in the bad times than the good times and Boost Juice is better for it.
Janine imparted a ton of knowledge at the event – here are some of the highlights:
- Remember to step away from your business every now and then, and see it as the customer would see it.
- Take responsibility for your business – don’t blame other people, the environment or the economy for its failings. There are certain things that affect your business that you have no control over but you DO have control over how you adapt to what’s going on around you.
- If you’re standing still, you’re going backwards.
- Keep your franchisees fully informed and be transparent – knowledge is power. Their success is your success and vice versa.
- Do ANYTHING to make your customers happy.
- Don’t accept mediocrity.
- Have a clear vision for your business and then hire people who share a similar vision – don’t just make a vision up as you go along.
- Don’t hire yourself – find people that compliment you and have skills that you don’t.
- Incentivise your staff. Ask them what they want – you may be surprised to learn it isn’t always just about the money. Education is also a form of recognition.
If there’s one thing we can take away from Janine Allis it’s that it’s never too late to become the person you always wanted to be.
Tom Schaff – Business Growth Expert
Tom Schaff, author and business growth expert, helped host this event together with Scott DeMoulin. Tom – who is full of energy, passion and wit – says that as a leader you need to raise your expectations when it comes to what you expect of those around you. “You make someone stronger by raising your standards of them.”
As a leader, it takes a lot of courage to stand up and make critical decisions, break a few hearts and hurt some feelings. Schaff says be firm, fair and easy. Align the skills and attributes of the job with the people for greater success, and be clear on job descriptions.
Schaff makes an important point about up-skilling your staff. “Make sure you up-skill your staff before giving promotions – don’t just assume that because your sales person is great at sales that you can promote them to a management role without training.” Often people ask “what if I invest in my staff and then they leave?” Schaff says a better question to ask is “What if I don’t invest in my staff and then they STAY?”
Scott deMoulin – Transformational Leadership Coach
Scott deMoulin is the founder of Destiny Training Systems and one of the top sales and performance trainers in America. To say he brings energy to a room is an understatement and with clients like Paramount Pictures, KPMG Consulting and the Ritz Carlton, Scott brought with him a wealth of experience, knowledge and passion.
Are you playing not to lose, or playing to win? There’s a massive difference in psychology and the difference can be seen in the success, or otherwise, of your business.
Scott had everyone look at some of their negative beliefs that may be holding them back from implementing the key distinctions learnt over the day, and in true DeMoulin style the audience was breaking wooden boards with their bare hands before you could say “own your own problems”. “Responsibility is the key to freedom,” Scott says.
Understanding your staff
There are four components that make up everyone’s behavioural style. These are:
- Decisive – how you tend to approach problems and makes decisions.
- Interactive – how you tend to interact with others.
- Stabilising – how you tend to pace things in your environment.
- Cautious – your preference for established protocol/standards.
Understanding the different styles of behaviour can not only help you appreciate why you do what you do, but it can also help you understand your staff both when hiring and managing them. Tom took us through the different components as well as helped us interpret the results.
How to be a great manager
Our speakers all made some fantastic points on how to be a great leader or manager. Here are 5 nuggets worth remembering:
- Make sure everyone knows their job and has the right tools to do their job effectively.
- People don’t work for companies, they work for managers. People work for people.
- Measure EVERYTHING. What gets measured, gets done.
- Managers and leaders need to say more often, “I believe there’s more in you than you’re giving”. It raises people’s standards and belief in themselves.
- Courage is vital for leadership. People with courage are driven by something bigger than themselves.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Janine Allis said it, Tom Schaff said it and Scott DeMoulin said it – goal setting is vital. Both in business and personally, setting Big Hairy Audacious Goals is the driving force behind WHY you do what you do – and your ‘why’ will always beat your ‘how’ any day of the week.
My BHAG is to build Positive Training to $1 billion in sales, and as a key advocate, donate all proceeds to raise funds for awareness and research that will find a cure for Cerebral Palsy. What’s your Big Hairy Audacious Goal that gets you out of bed in the morning?
Great leadership, understanding people and a smart business action plan are all keys to helping you accomplish your Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
And finally…
The beauty of a franchise is that the action plan is included. But these messages are transferable across all types of businesses as people’s basic behaviours don’t change and the theories remain the same.
Learning how to manage people and guide them through complex change within a business is fundamental to being a strong leader.
So after empowering ourselves by breaking wooden boards with our bare hands, eating copious amounts of lollies from the lolly cart, devouring superb catering and learning incredible business lessons from three of the most respected authorities, the event was at an end.
And when all is said and done, Tom said it superbly when he said “People do business with people”.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Ghandi
