Ever watched Bar Rescue? It's a TV show that reminds me of myself from many years ago when I was on a hamster wheel. In it, Jon Taffer visits failing bars where owners say: "If I could just get more customers, we'll make more money, get out of debt and live our dreams!"

So, Jon Taffer comes in and floods their bar with a ton of customers. Guess what happens next? THEY CAN'T HANDLE IT!

The customers they've been waiting for finally arrive, and they fall flat on their faces. The owner/ GM/ manager wasn't trained properly, so they run out of inventory. The bartenders weren't trained properly, so their drinks are either watered down, too sweet or too strong. Their cook wasn't trained properly so the food is under or over cooked, has no flavor, or is over seasoned, so the customers are dissatisfied.

This leads to waste in alcohol, food, supplies and labor - leading to lost profits. The owner works too many hours and is stressed out. This results in the employees being stressed out, so they quit - leading to the owner to work even more. Or, they simply disengage and let it all fall apart until they need to close their doors forever.

This is not unlike many business owners in our industry who say to themselves at this time of year what I said to myself, year after year: "I'm sick of this s***! NEXT YEAR IS MY YEAR! WE'RE GOING TO SELL $X million!

The question nobody asked me was: What are you going to do differently, and HOW are you going to do it? My answer would've been, I don't know, BUT I'LL FIGURE IT OUT! Guess what happened? Same results, same hamster wheel.

Now, on Bar Rescue, what happens once Jon Taffer exposes the cracks in these businesses, is he then implements systems in them. He teaches the bartenders how to properly mix drinks. He creates systems in the kitchen so that the food comes out cooked properly and to customer specifications. He installs Partender, which is bar inventory software; that way, they can find where the waste is. Once they implement those systems, THEN the bar is ready to grow.

Unfortunately, Jon Taffer won't walk into your doors anytime soon and flood your business with leads.

But let's say he did, and you had all that extra business...would we discover that you don't have effective SYSTEMS in your call center to convert those leads into enough issued appointments for your salespeople?

And even if you did, would we discover that you don't have an effective selling system in place to convert those issued leads into enough sales to justify that marketing spend?

And even if you did, would we discover that you don't have an effective system in place to train your installers to install all of those sales? Because believe it or not, a sale is a liability on your balance sheet until it gets installed, and you get PAID!

Finally, how are you going to find all of the people you will need to add or replace if you don't have an effective RECRUITING SYSTEM to help you sell your goal next year?

Yes, you will need more top line revenue, but it must be generated efficiently to produce what should be all business owners' REAL goal: INCREASE BOTTOM LINE REVENUE! To do that, you must have these 5 things in place:

1.) A PROFITABLE price model (Why do this if you're not making money?)
2.) Benchmarks/KPIs established (REVENUE GOAL/ Marketing budget = How many leads? How many call center agents?/ Salespeople/ installers? IS YOUR GOAL FEASIBLE?)
3.) Replicable systems to deliver predictable results (Marketing/ Sales/ Production)
4.) People (Teamwork makes the dream work!)
5.) Track/ Measure/ Adjust

Get these 5 things in place, and you'll be on firm footing for a breakthrough year! I know because I've been there. In 2015, I was ready to sell out because I was tired of not being able to break past the $2 million mark. But then - I implemented these 5 things, and my growth skyrocketed that year and every year afterward until I hit $10 million and sold the business earlier this year.

There are many home improvement companies in the same predicament, all around the country. And though our industry doesn't have a Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue, you do have a John Anglis!

Just like I transformed my own business, I've helped plenty of entrepreneurs turn their "nightmare" businesses into revenue-generating machines - all by figuring out the right SYSTEMS they need to have in place.

If you're staring at 2024 knowing you're ready for more, but just not sure how to get there, let's talk.  

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