EntreLeadership - #216: Jon Taffer — Rescue Your Business

Episode Date: August 7, 2017

When it comes to a struggling business, we’ve heard pretty much every excuse in the book: a terrible economy, a bad location, an overcrowded marketplace. But this week’s guest, Jon Taffer, isn’t buying it. The no-holds-barred star of Spike TV’s hit show Bar Rescue explains why excuses are the common denominator of all failing businesses—and exactly how to kick them to the curb for good. entreleadership.com/podcast Super Selling Cheat Sheet Free Growth Plan Black's BBQ EntreLeadership E1D Livestream Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now, here is your host, Ken Coleman. Broadcasting from the Music City, this is the podcast of leaders, by leaders, for leaders. Thank you so much for joining the conversation. Our feature interview, this episode is with John Taffer. If you don't know who John is, oh, you're going to thank me. This is so refreshing.

Love this guy. He's a no-nonsense. entrepreneur. And if you don't know who he is, he is the star of the show Bar Rescue. Now, I will tell you plainly, I had no idea about the show. But in doing research, Eric, the producer sent me all kinds of clips. And boy, oh boy, is it entertaining. So this guy understands how to fix small businesses that is on target with what you want to know. And then also we're going to bring you a fun conversation with one of you people. We like to call it our main street conversation. Barrett is an entree leader. He runs an organization called Black's Barbecue. Full disclosure.

He essentially bribed me to pay attention to him by bringing in an amazing amount of food about two years ago to the Dave Ramsey show. I was hosting the video channel at the time and I did about a two-minute live hit on the video channel eating the food from Black's barbecue. And all of a sudden, if you just noticed that slight pause, that was my mouth watering. I had to swallow and keep going. So will the engineer leave that in there because that's really true? I was remembering eating everything and I've, you know, you've ever had that before where you're thinking about food and your mouth literally all of a sudden explodes in salivation? My salivation glands. I don't even know if you can say that salivation glands. I just did. Oh my gosh.

The food was incredible. But here's the deal. Why do we air these stories? Because they're winning like you. and you can take so much from somebody who understands exactly what you're going through as a small business leader. So let's get right to it. Our feature interviews with John Taffern. Well, John, before we dive into some content, I'd love to know the backstory. How did the show, Bar Rescue, how did that opportunity come to you? Well, I've always been pretty entrepreneurial, and I've been involved in a bunch of businesses at the same time. And one of them was I ran the nightclub and bar convention in Las Vegas, which was a huge trade show.

and I was giving the keynote speech at that event, and afterwards somebody ran up to me and said, you have to be on television. So I wrote up a little page and a half or so, Ken, that's all, and took it to a friend of mine who I happened to know who ran television for a large studio. I met with him, he read it, he looked at me, he said, John, you will never be on television.

He says, you're too old, you're not good looking enough, please, you know, don't waste your time. And it really became a vendetta to me. So I shot my own sizzle reel, which is a little three-minute snaps out of the show, so to speak, and I sent it to four companies. And Story has it. This is absolutely true.

I got four offers, Ken, in about a week. Wow. And then I picked a company that actually didn't give me the best offer, per se. I picked a company that I felt could do the best job. And they were the producers of the biggest loser at the time, and that was Three Bowl Entertainment. I signed with them. The network picked up the show, heck, a week later.

So in under a year from the day that person said, I'll never be on TV, the series actually premiered. I'm very proud of that. Normally it takes a lot longer. Oh, way longer. I mean, many times years and years and years. That really is a great story. And I love this. I mean, because I've done some research, watched some of the show, and, you know, you're coming in and it's no nonsense trying to turn an organization around.

And we have a lot of men and women, entrepreneurs, business leaders, small business owners that are listening in here, John. And, you know, there's something, you said something in a previous interview of a good friend of ours, Gary Vaynerchuk. You talked about that status quo thinking and acting when it comes to running a business, you come in and you begin to instruct and shine the light on things that aren't working. And yet there's not always change. Why is that in the human condition that we struggle so much with making changes, even when we know it's not working? Well, you know, I think it's deeper than that. I think there's an excuse somewhere by not making. to change. Ken, I've now done 147 bar rescues. I've seen levels of failure that the average

business person doesn't see. Again and again and again. After seeing it so much, I think I've discovered the common denominator of failure. I do. And it's so darn simple. And it's just an excuse. So if I wake up in a morning and blame it on my location and my building exterior or my this or my that or the president or Congress or the economy or the recession, then I have no reason to change. every morning I wake up and I say, that darn, well, this person, and I'm angry at them. I have to get them to own that failure.

So I have to look them in the face and say, wait a minute, somebody else with this location is succeeding. Look at this guy. He made money in a recession. Look at this. So I have to prove their excuses gone and force them to actually say, I'm failing because of me.

And the minute they truly believe that, Ken, then I can start to change their thought. In essence, if they wake up in the morning, blame someone else their day is going to be the same. If they wake up in the morning and blame themselves, they got a chance of changing. That's why it gets so intense on Bar Rescue. People don't like that confrontation. They don't like me forcing them to do that. But Ken, if I don't, I have no chance of them changing. Yeah, it's so true. You talk about fear and pride are the two great motivators. Break that down for us. Sure. If you own the business,

and let's say that you were making a series of decisions again and again and again. And I come in and I tell you, you know, you're not running your business right for this reason and that reason and this reason. Heck, I'm not the first person who's told you that, Ken. Probably your wife, your son, your partner. You've heard this before. So how do I crack through in a way that's different? First, pride.

How are you going to feel when you're successful? You open this business to be something in your community. You want to be somebody. Your children are looking up at you now with pride. Try to play to that ego, if you will, that drive of success. More often than not, that doesn't work. and I have to take the second route, which is fear. And sometimes, and you probably have seen me do this on TV,

I'll take a picture of their kid, hold it in front of him and say, how do you like saying no to him all day long? What are you going to say to him when you don't have money for college? How do you feel when you lose your house? And I have to make it serious. I have to make it life-changing for them to be changing. And you know, what I say is, and you'll smile when they say this, if I try to change what they do, they'll keep doing.

I got to change the way they think. That's the only way I can change what they do. That's right. And you know what? There's one more step there, I believe. You're changing the way they feel first. You're attacking an emotion and making it become so visceral that then the emotion leads to the change in thinking and the change and thinking changes the way they act. Do you agree with that?

Completely. And sometimes that fear becomes shame, which is a very powerful asset as well. I'll shame them in front of their partner, in front of their partner, in front of their partner. of their partner in front of their wives. You know, I'm there for four days. It's a very unique situation, Ken. I have only four days. They're depending upon me.

And it gives me this license to be so aggressive because I'm going to get that hug in the end. So, yep, if bringing their wife in and showing their wife what a terrible manager he is of their family business will change their lives, I will do it. Yeah, well, this is obviously intense. But I think there's something here for folks. Not everybody gets to be a part of a reality show, but they need to find their John Taff or somebody that, A, they respect enough to give, B, the permission to be brutally honest. Because that's the hardest thing sometimes is, you're like this giant mirror, and you're just showing them what the reality is. There's some real strength in that, and I want you to talk to our owners and people that are running businesses.

Who are they looking for? They're not going to have you. But if you were to say to these folks, all right, this is the description of a person that you need to have come into your life to do. do essentially what I do for these bar owners. How would you describe that person? You know, that person is that honest uncle who has experience and knowledge. A concept being if there is experience and knowledge, then you'll listen. If there's some emotional connection, then you can put your ego aside.

And you really have to have those three combination of a trusting relationship, experience, and knowledge. And you know what's fascinating is I think they can do it themselves. and I'm working on my new book now, which comes out next year, and the premise of the book is don't BS yourself. If you just don't allow excuses to get in your way, that becomes very powerful. If you wake up in the morning and really attack every excuse you've had impeding your success, I don't have enough money, I don't have any ideas, my location isn't good,

you know, the Internet is really difficult today. It's so noisy out there. You know, I'm not making the engagement that I need to make. If you own it, you'll fight harder for it. And I think that it's very easy to slip into those excuses. But I also think, Ken, consciously, we can stop ourselves from doing so. That's a big step in itself. Yeah, it really is.

Let's let you teach here. Let's take an excuse that would fit, certainly for a bar, and could translate to our listeners and how you would attack it. Because excuses are something that just pop up. That's a reality. And I love that you said you've got to attack the excuses. So, an excuse. We don't have enough people coming in to our bar because our location stinks.

How do they attack that? Well, a couple of things. One, have you ever seen other locations that you say to yourself? Wow, look at this place. It's in the middle of nowhere, but it's packed. That's right. We've all seen those. So let's first get rid of the excuse.

It isn't the location itself. It's the fact that you're not successful in getting people to come there. Because people drive out of their way. They park their cars nine blocks. way in cities to go to places and they can be extremely inconvenient if they have a reason to go. So the problem isn't your location. The problem is the reason to go. So let's pick that apart.

And there's a number of ways that we would do that. A, if there's no cars driving by your street and we have no visibility from the building, then we have to take a different route. You know, learnings of Gary V very much apply in those situations. How do we work social media? How do we work local channels? How do we do neighborhood marketing programs? Because most businesses live or die within their own backyards.

How do we compel people to come through the front door? That's the problem, not the location. Get rid of the excuse and focus on the real problem in that case. When you walk into a situation, I love this. Four days you're shooting. And there's an untold amount of interruptions. So it's really less than four days. Yes.

So you're in there. What are you looking for? And here's why I'm asking this question. Because I want for a moment for our leaders and business owners who are listening in right now, folks, when we're listening to John, I want you to take what he's saying and then translate it to you. I want you to put on John Taffer glasses, if you will. So, John, when you walk in day one, you know you've got a failing situation that you're trying to help turn around. What specifically are many upfront, very important items that you're looking for?

Well, you know, there's the basic things in a bar business. obviously you can walk in and there can be an odor that tells you everything. Right. It can be a visual disaster that tells you everything. But, you know, the first two things I typically look at is organization and structure. And that might surprise people. But if there's a structure and an organization, that tells me there's an engaged owner. If there is no structure, no organization or no standards, that tells me I have an unengaged

owner. And every failing business has a failing owner. So I always land at where is the individual failure within this business model. And let me take a second to define standards if I can because often we don't really understand what a standard is. A standard is a measurement's performance that are qualifiable. This is what I want you to do. Quantifiable. This is when I want you to do it.

And verifiable, I'm going to make sure you do. And those are the elements that in fact define a standard. If you don't have all three, then we have nothing. So let me ask another question that trying to get in the heads here of people who have a similar environment in the type of employees that they're going to be hiring, certainly in the range of salary. So you've got a bar or restaurant and you hear a leader say, man, it's just so hard to find good people. Now, you know as well as anybody that obviously structure organization and people are the pillars of a successful organization, good people. what do you say when the excuse comes at you, oh, I can't find good people? Well, you know, is it an internal problem or an external problem?

Internal means that there's people coming through the building good employees, but they're not staying there because the business is so disorganized or uncomfortable or underperforming or whatever the case may be. So it could be a four walls problem, if you will, Ken. Externally, it might be the way they go about hiring people. And, you know, the hiring process and interviewing, I think, is one of the big, setups in all of business. And, you know, let me ask the question, what is the difference between teaching and training?

You know, we use the word in business, I'm going to train you, I'm going to train you, I'm going to train you, I'm going to train you. But training is behavior modification. And if I meet somebody, let's say, you play with you, Ken, you're an employee. Hi, Ken, how are you today? You say, yeah, fair to Midland. Tomorrow, how are you today, Ken, hanging in there. Next day, how are you, Ken? Eh, one hour to go.

I mean, 365 days. Ken is never happy. Ken is never upbeat. I can't change that. If Ken doesn't look in my eyes when he answers, if he doesn't walk with energy, if he doesn't have team building skills, I can't change that. So we in business don't train anybody. All we do is teach people to work in our businesses.

So we better find the right personality. And here's where it gets really absurd. I interview you, Ken, and I ask you the question, gee, Ken, are you good under pressure? Well, you know what answer I want to hear. So you say, oh, John, I live for pressure. I'm the best under pressure. Nine o'clock at night. I'm not even busy yet.

You're crying in the corner. The interview process is often bold because the questions lead us to the answers that we want to hear. So we've worked on a process using the eight adjective system whereby we changed the interview process to asking people what they like to do in their free time, what did they enjoy doing in high school. And we start putting yeses and knows. next to adjectives that describe their personality. We don't hire for job experience. We hire for personality. We hire people that will connect with our customers,

understanding that their experience and using a cash register in the end means nothing. It's their ability to connect with customers that means everything. And that we can't teach. Yeah, that is so good. All right. Now, this is fun, folks. We submitted an opportunity to you to put a question in for John, email and social media. I'm going to read some of these, John, for you, because this is wonderful.

So we're going to start with Patty. She says, I'm a first-time restaurant bar owner in Bridgewater, Virginia. The town has varied demographics, and I'm wondering how best to appeal to a varied demographic market. Well, you know, restaurants and bars, and a lot of businesses can't be everything to everyone. So there's nothing wrong with creating different theme nights. I mean, you can have a burger night on Wednesday. You could do weekend Wednesdays if it was a bar-oriented basis and draw a very different. crowd. You could have a steak and wine event on Friday and Saturday that draws an older demographic

again. So within the perception of a business, and I mean a brand perception of a business, there's always some movement. So what is the movement within your brand? Is it from hamburgers to steaks? Is it from sandwiches to sit down on? Find the vertical movement in your brand. You can change music from day to day. You can change focus of food items from day to day. You can do fish fries on Friday, which draws in a completely different audience again. So look at the envelope of your brand and find places where you can land for various demographic groups in a small market like yours. All right, good stuff.

Thanks for that question. Patty. Now, this one, John, this is, I can't wait to hear you answer this one, because this is so transferable to many of you folks out there listening. This is from Oscar. He says, I'm an independent restaurant tour with one location. Now, over the last five years, they have gotten the best Mexican restaurants. restaurant vote in that category. So they're doing very well. Several suggest that he

open a second location. They're full, John, 75% of the time. This is a long question. I'm reading through this to be quicker. He says, I'd rather have one exceptional location rather than risk sacrificing what we've built by having two locations. John, how do you feel about me expanding to multiple locations versus keeping the single location? I'm going to suggest you do one and a half locations, and Ken is now scratching his head. In Bar Rescue, we did an operation called Moonrunners. And rather than opening a second location, they created a food truck. Now, that food truck doesn't have a lease.

It doesn't have real estate taxes. It doesn't have dishwashers and rent and the amount of employees, but it's completely branded for your restaurant. You now take that food truck around town to events, and you can generate significant revenue. without being committed to a particular location. Not only that, as you move the food truck around your market, you put it on social media so people know where you are or you park at the same place certain times. You give out coupons back to the restaurant,

from the restaurant back to the food truck, and I think you can have your cake and eat it too. I love that. And is that a long-term strategy or just gives him a little bit more courage to maybe tiptoe into that second location? I think it's both. I think it's a long-term strategy,

because that food truck can make business obviously forever. Sure. But also he can test locations, test market areas and say, wow, we do so well here. This is a great area for another location and then, you know, move to food truck to another area. But I think that it's a great way to test market and sustain a long-term revenue. It really is. I got to ask a question based on that. I was at an event last night, John.

There were about 12 food trucks, and I couldn't decide what I wanted to get. I was overcome. I was paralyzed because I thought they were all legitimate. Is the food truck, is that, what's the iteration going forward on that? Because I think people accept that more and more and more. And it's a great way to get into the restaurant business, is it not? Oh, it's fantastic. Most food trucks today are actually chef-driven.

So it's a chef who's in this business. And, you know, you can buy completely equip, open up a food truck for lobster rolls or put out true gourmet, wonderful food. Yeah. And you can, you're in business. for well under $100,000. To do the same in a restaurant, you're approaching a million dollar investment. So it's a great way to get into the business, prove that people love your product, develop a

following. In theory, you could have a social media base in a following of millions when you open your first bricks and mortar restaurant. So there's a real opportunity in it also for catering, going to parking lots of events, etc. And again, as you said, the food is establishing great credibility in food trucks now. I'm going to go to a question from Jason. And I thought for a moment, John, that I was going to ignore this question and go with some others.

But it's so specific. And I think it's so realistic for the small business owner. Jason says, if you have $15,432. I love that he went to $432,000 to spend on advertising marketing for the year. So that's not a lot of money. Small business here. where would you recommend he spend that money? Well, let me share a couple of things we did

that a few people really talk about in a restaurant business. If somebody comes to a restaurant for the first time and has a great experience, the statistical likelihood of a second visit is under 40%. If you come to that restaurant a second time and have another flawless experience, the statistical likelihood of the third visit is about 42, 43%.

If you come for a third visit, the statistical likelihood of a fourth visit is now over 70%. Wow. So smart restaurateurs market to three visits, not one. Because three visits can get you into a lifestyle cycle. And think about it. You've been to many restaurants.

You've had a wonderful time. But, you know, it just didn't get into your life cycle. So you never went back again. You would, but you just don't think about it. It's out of sight out of mind. So what we do is, you know, the average cost of a new customer through traditional media, and it varies by market. It can be anywhere from 20 to 100.

$20. When you start advertising in traditional newspapers, traditional radio, traditional television, et cetera, gets expensive. So what we do is we put together a three-step program. We call it the Red Napkin program. Let's say that you have the best tacos in town, and they're famous. We would actually create a postcard. We have the best tacos in town.

We're so sure of it, present this for a completely free taco. You look on the card that doesn't say you have to be with somebody making extra money, no restrictions, none of that. You come in with the card. As you enter the restaurant, the hostess says, hi, have you been here before? You say, no, it's my first visit. Once she sits you down, she puts a red napkin in front of you.

You're a pretty smart guy, can you look around the room? Everybody else is white napkins. You got a red one. You ask the waiter when he comes to the table. Why do I have a red napkin? Ah, we always like to tag new customers. So welcome. We're really happy to have you here for your first time.

And you say, I'm here for my free taco. You have the free taco. As you're getting ready to leave, the manager comes up to the table. He knows because you have a red napkin. Says, how's the tacos? Absolutely unbelievable. You know what? You got to have our burrito.

I write on the back of a business card. $5 off burrito. Come back, please. Now I connected with the customer he leaves. Higher statistical likelihood of his second visit because of that handwritten business card for the $5 off burrito. Cut three days later, he comes in for his free burrito.

Everybody knows second visit on table 104 because he has a burrito card. At the end of that, visit manager hits the table against is how was it it was great I am stuffed outstanding goes you know what next time I want to buy a piece of cheesecake here you go now they've come three times and the statistical likelihood of a fourth visit is 72 percent think about this the free taco let's say cost a dollar the five dollars off burrito was break even and let's say the cheesecake was a dollar so with the postcard I spent a total of three dollars for a new customer but two of the three I didn't spend until they come.

Now, people get addicted to discounts, and media is very, very expensive. If you use this three-visit approach and target a few hundred people in your marketplace, you completely change the sales dynamic of your restaurant. That's the way to market a restaurant. Yes, it is. And boy, boy, is that not budget-friendly as well, folks. My goodness, that's a brilliant, brilliant plan. Ken, for his $15,000, he could really target, you know, four, five,

5,000 local people, get them in three times and change the entire course of his restaurant. Yeah, I once heard Seth Godin refer to Kevin Kelly, who's a futurist, and Kevin Kelly wrote a long article on this idea of 1,000 true fans is all you need to succeed in any business. I mean, let's just boil that down to this example. If you're spending that 15,000 and out of it, you get 1,000 true fans of your restaurant, you are winning big, yes? Oh, absolutely. And today, through social media, if you're good,

You go into their social media pages and you connect with their friends and you build a whole online community, which brings me to another interesting topic, if I can. You know, there's three things to marketing almost any business. And when I was young, Ken, I had an experience that changed my life. I was general manager of a hotel, small holiday in hotel. And I was struggling with labor costs and marketing costs like everybody else's in an independent business too. And every month I'm trying to shave an hour off labor and trying to shave energy costs. I'm fighting and I'm fighting and fighting and fighting under expenses. And somebody walks in and guys, gives me this idea for promotion.

I did it. Make a long story short, my revenue went up by about 30%. And for the first time, I didn't have a labor cost problem. I didn't have a marketing expense problem. And I learned when I was about 24 years old that revenue cures everything. Everything is cured by revenue. So I became a revenue nutcase at a young age. So when I take a look at revenue and marketing in almost any business, there's only three things.

New customers, customer frequency, and how much they spend. That's all we've got. So the program that you and I just described, A, got them through the door and established some frequency from them. But the average business, and I'm speaking in a broad stroke sense here, if the average business can increase customer transactions by one time a month, that's about a 12% increase in revenue. Some industries up, some industries down.

We don't work frequency as a separate thing, and new customers is a separate thing, and spend is a separate thing in the independent business world. And that's a real disadvantage. We need to know that. A, how many people are coming through my door clicking through? If that number isn't going up, then I have a serious problem. Two, how often do they walk through my door, click through, buy my products, etc.? Three, how much are they spending every time they do?

If I don't know those three questions that you're not managing revenue, you're just accepting revenue. That, folks, right there is an unbelievable formula. Those last two answers are so good for all of you running organizations across the board, just transfer that great knowledge, systematizing the engagement. That's what you've done so well, John. Folks, we've got to let him go. We could be with him all day, but he's a busy man. and John, thank you so much for being with us. I know you've got a lot going on, but we're much better business people for hanging out with you today.

It was a lot of fun, Ken. Let's do it again soon. Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did so much to take away. But when we started talking about 1,000 true fans, this idea of, hey, win the customer. I thought what he broke down, this idea of those several steps. What are the steps of when a customer comes in each time? What do you do each time? I think that's brilliant. And I think you would do very well, by the way, to go back and re-listen to that with your top sales and marketing people. And then just do a little fill in the blank exercise. So instead of a restaurant scenario, what is your scenario? And I would literally storyboard that out.

What does our engagement look like the first time a customer touches, feels, smells, taste, whatever? What's the second one? What's the third? Fourth. I think that is a formula that is repeatable. I think it's brilliant. I'm telling you, folks, you won't hear anything more practical on any podcast in America that'll help you grow your business, more practical than that right there.

So this is fun. If you want to learn more, go to John Taffer.com. That's J-O-N-T-F-F-E-R.com. John Taffer.com. And this is fun. He sent several books to us and shut it down. He's known for saying shut it down. He gets to this high-pitched New Jersey voice there, and it goes really high.

It's like eight octaves higher than his normal voice. And we'll bring that in here to me. So Eric, the producer, and me, the host, didn't get one of these. Somehow, Will the engineer got one of these shut it down buttons. And so it's like the big, you know, easy button in life. You hit it, I'm going to hit it right now. And before I hit it, it says shut it down. So you're going to hear it.

I'm going to put it up to the mic. But here's the challenge as we move on from John Taffer. You got a cancer in your organization. in the form of gossip, in the form of bad attitude, you got some bad processes that don't work, and the only reason that they are a process is because 500 years ago, somebody in your business thought this is the process,

and it's been proven that it's not working, you get where I'm going here, right? So if you have a problem like that, there's only one thing you can do. I'm going to hit the button, and this is what you need to do. There you go. That's all you need to do.

Will, I'll be honest with you, buddy. You may never get this button, all of a sudden I've got this idea as a parent that I'm going to take this thing home with me in the attitude and the back talk hey kids hey hey I don't want to hear it there it is right there hey attitude fighting with me about clothes in the morning or or hey you don't want to get in bed oh that's a bad attitude oh my gosh you see what's happening you do it so much that the kids have to give in it's like a form of torture. This is really incredible. Before I move forward, Will, you're going to have to get me

one of those, because I will feel bad about taking yours, so you need to give me one of those, because I kid you not, I might walk around with that thing and my own little amplifier, like, you know what I mean, so that it's so loud, it echoes through the house. You know what I mean? I'm sitting there on a Saturday morning, having coffee, watching something, and the kids maybe getting a little scrap, I got my own sound system downstairs in the living room. I don't even raise my voice, nothing just Shut it down. There it is. Boy, I got to tell you, I got to move forward, folks.

Or I can keep coming up with scenarios for you people to use that button. All right, folks, hey, we've got great resources for you to help you. Antre has got the super-selling cheat sheet, the secret to serving your customers well. This is a fantastic tool. It's going to help you. If you're thinking John Taffer, you got that wisdom bouncing around in your brain. This is a great resource to take what John taught you and make it come alive. It's the super-selling cheat sheet, the secret to serving your carfer.

the secret to serving your customers well. Two ways to get it. Text EL Sales to 33444. Text EL Sales to 33444. Or just go to our show notes for this episode on Entreeleadership.com. Click on podcast. It's right there. And then in Fusion Soft, I love this.

I love that they titled it, Free Growth Plan, because it's free. Everything we give you is free on these resources. So here's the deal. we know how valuable your time is. You're stretched, pulled, pushed, so many different directions. So this plan is going to help you with some actual tactics to convert leads into loyal customers and raving fans. Calls to action designed to earn customers' trust and more importantly, win their business. So you're going 100 miles an hour. This is a great growth plan for your business that you can actually put in place.

So very simple. link for InfusionSoft in this episode show notes at entreleadership.com. Barrett Black is a part of a great family business. They make great barbecue and they are a great business. Why? Well, they've been intentional. They're a big part of entree leadership. They've taken the plan and they have customized it to fit their business and they're winning. We really love this organization and we love Barrett because this guy is truly the personification of an entree leader. My name is Barrett Black, and I am the fourth generation in our family's barbecue business. My great-grandfather started Black's barbecue back in 1932, just as a little meat market and grocery store,

just as a way to make a little bit of money during the Great Depression. And it was then passed on to his son, my grandfather, who worked there with his wife, my grandmother, for over 65 years. and those are who we have to thank for the great recipes and the dedication to the craft they had and everything that is now the legacy that my dad and I are trying to live up to and carry on the tradition. And it's something that I owe a deep amount of gratitude to my grandparents on what they did and what they passed on to me right now and the responsibility it is to live up to 85 years of history. I've been around our business pretty much my entire life as much as I could, as much as my grandparents would let me. During the summers when I was younger, I would go down to Lockhart and hang out with my grandparents and do as much as they would let me. Started off with just working the drink counter and serving sodas and different things like that. But that's kind of where my love of barbecue started to get in my veins and start inhaling the smoke and falling in love with that flavor and that smell and just kind of the lifestyle of it.

But education was always real important to my family and my grandparents, and they did this to their sons and to me too. And they said, if you want to ever work in this business, you better go off and graduate from high school, get yourself a college degree. And then maybe we'll let you come back and learn a few things from us. But we want to make sure you get a good education and have some other options and everything. Because where they came from, you know, they were doing barbecue before barbecue was cool. And so now it's, you know, provides a great living for my family and I. and we're growing, but they really had to struggle through all those years and really ingrain that into us that, you know, make sure you get an education. But I did graduate. They did let me come back

and I started at the bottom. I was mopping floors back at the drink counter again back, you know, when I was younger and just doing the basics, a cleaning tables and interacting with customers and started over a couple of years, worked my way through pretty much all the basic positions of the restaurant to really get a firm foundation. of it. And then I've always been kind of entrepreneurial, just been interested in starting businesses and always thought I wanted to start my own business. But all of a sudden, different opportunities started coming to the restaurant where I could kind of start a business within the business and started reading a few books and was able to start our web order program. We now ship our barbecue all over the country from our

website. That was something a couple friends and I started and is now still going strong and growing. And was able to work myself out of that job because it was growing so much. And another opportunity came, we were able to go on QVC and sell brisket on TV, which was pretty crazy. I got lucky with my grandparents did all the legwork for me. So now I just have to not screw anything up. So for 80 years, you know, we just had the one restaurant. And when I first started working there, you know, my dad and I got really good at one restaurant, really optimizing it, bringing it. some of the systems into the current century and doing all those things. But we've been looking for a couple of years to expand, to scale the business because we had so much knowledge and so

much practice and a great product. And we knew people wanted more of it in different places and started to listen to the podcast and the different resources that they have and everything. And then finally joined up with all access. And that's when really things started to become much more clear. You know, the first year or so of opening was rough, just like any restaurant. We were successful sales-wise and everything, but it was always the people that I was struggling with. And, you know, if we were ever going to grow and scale even more that we wanted to, and those

were our hopes to open even more restaurants, I knew I had to figure out a way to get the right people in the door. And that's when I really started to dive into all the resources that John Taffer talks about in a lot of his books. you know, if you have the right people at the host stand or at the bar or whatever, you're going to have repeat customers. It's going to make your life easier and you'll be able to have the freedom to expand. And so it's just within the last year, it's taken about a year to really hone my systems

and train some other managers on how to hire and figure out the kind of person we're looking for and how to write the ads and do all the things that need to be done to get the right people in the door and keep the crazy ones out, that I now have the... freedom mentally, physically to even think about opening up another store. So we're in the middle right now of actually signing a lease for a fourth location, which is a little daunting for me. But now that we've been through two openings that happen, which is pretty much the same month, I know it's a challenge that we can overcome. And I look forward to the challenge. If there's anybody else out there in family business, you know it is hard. There's a lot of great

days that it's the best thing that you get to come to work and see your family, your brother, your cousins and your dad, but there's also some other days where you wish, I just want to, you know, tell you like it is and how it needs to be done. I wish I could talk to you like an employee, but you have to filter it. But I've learned the hard way, I've gone through some tough stuff with some parts of my family, that it's overcommunication is the key to staying together as a family, having a successful family. and a successful business because you have to be on the same page, whether it's about the color of the chairs that you're going to buy or the type of meat you're going to buy or what you're going to do with the profits.

As business owners, we want to do, do, do, and get out there and help the customers. But a lot of the success from our family business comes from communication and agreement and being on the same page. So what keeps me engaged in all access is trying to put the right people in the right seats on the bus. but what we need right now in our weakness is always just getting the basics of the right people in the right seats on the bus in our business. So that kind of thing. So that really has revolutionized what we've done in our business because like I was talking earlier, it allows for so much more freedom, you know, just headspace to even think about trying to hire a marketing person or do an email marketing campaign or anything like that because we've been so busy dealing with customers coming in the door.

and the problems and antics of, you know, bad hires. So now that we've eliminated so much of the bad hires and the bad eggs and put systems in place to, you know, make that more of a streamlined process and a better place to work and trying to be the best barbecue place to work or restaurant anywhere to work. And that's kind of the goal. You know, Dave always talks about how he's one best place to work in Nashville for, what, 10 years or something like that?

that's something that whenever I go to work I think about that is how can I make this the best place to work? And I've got a long way to go, but just slowly but surely from listening to Dave and plug in the mastermind and sharing my problems on the Facebook group and getting so much quick and almost instant feedback on the Facebook group. That's been a wonderful resource is just having that so many people from different industries. I don't know if there's a ton of restaurants on there, but that doesn't matter because we all experience similar problems and even hearing about it from a different person. perspective or how different industry handle it doesn't mean that I can't use it and I actually do and appreciate that perspective. And so it's been fun to receive and to give just in that group. Well, folks, I hope you're encouraged by that. And listen, Black's Barbecue, they ship nationwide. I'm just going to put this out there real quick, blacksbbq.com, blacksbbq.com. And they're going to give you a 10% off

on your first order. Just enter the code, entree. Enter the code. entree. We love them. Just wanted to give them some love. And who doesn't want some great barbecue? Speaking of barbecue, barbecue is a process. I mean, if you've ever done any research on how long it takes to make barbecue, anything, it's a process. I mean, these guys are smoking for hours and hours, days. I mean, the good stuff, it's always a process. And so that leads me to the process of growing as an entree leader. How do you do that? Well, our live events is a great place to start. In two months, for the second time ever, we're going to stream our Entree Leadership One Day. This is the one-day event where we unpack the playbook that has allowed Ramsey solutions

to grow at the rate that it has and sustain that success. October 27, 2017. You can stream it from anywhere or if you'd like to attend in person. We're excited to be doing this in our hometown, Nashville, Tennessee. I'll be there hosting the event. Dave Ramsey, Chris Hogan, Christy Wright, speaking to you. It's going to be great. And as I said, you can stream it for any.

And here's the best part. An event pass, which means one pass, anybody that you can cram into your building. If the fire marshal says you can have 250, we're okay with you doing 275. Because why wouldn't you? It's $29. You're not paying $29 per person. It's $29 flat. Bring the whole stinking neighborhood.

We don't care. It's $29. Anybody that can listen, anybody that can watch, they're invited. So click the link in this episode's show notes to get the special. $29 event pass. Well, folks, that's going to do it on behalf of Eric the producer, engineer Will Rudder and the entire Entree leadership team. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.

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