Author: MIchael and Bonnie Harvey

Welcome to Business Audio Theatre the Most Effective Onboarding Tool to Reduce Turnover and Increase Engagement
Preserve Founders Legacy through Story Performed by Actors with Sound Effects and Music
DOES YOUR HISTORY, FOUNDING SPIRIT, & GUIDING PRINCIPLES GET LOST OVER TIME?

Does your growth result in specialization, turf battles, corporate malaise, costly employee turnover, and lack of engagement and loss of the big picture?
"Any company that works intentionally on their culture will like this product for on-boarding."
-Bill Higgs, Host, Culture Code Champions Podcast
"TRANSFORMATIONAL ! Tremendous potential for CEO's to tell their story in a new way!"
-Robert Reiss, Forbes Magazine
After building & selling the famous Barefoot Wine Brand and writing the NYT's Bestseller, The Barefoot Spirit, used in 60 schools of entrepreneurship, and after a decade of being trusted advisors to startups, buildups, and buildouts, Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey have developed Business Audio Theatre. As workplace culture experts, they believe the best way to increase engagement and reduce turnover is through story. They believe the best way to convey business story is through audio theatre provided to new employees on day one. Identification with the founders, their story, and their principles is the basis for identification. Identification is the basis for engagement. Engagement is the basis for longevity. Find out more!

Watch C-Suite TV Interview with Taryn Winter Brill:

Listen to The Barefoot Spirit from the C-Suite Library

Call: 707-484-1600

EMAIL: Sales@TheBarefootSpirit.com

Michael & Bonnie in Action:

1.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/svuthvx4uy

2.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/q1t21okz9f

3 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/8y5btoyfrw

10 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/8crj4p1hg9
|Welcome to Business Audio Theatre the Most Effective Onboarding Tool to Reduce Turnover and Increase Engagement
Preserve Founders Legacy through Story Performed by Actors with Sound Effects and Music
DOES YOUR HISTORY, FOUNDING SPIRIT, & GUIDING PRINCIPLES GET LOST OVER TIME?

Watch C-Suite TV Interview with Taryn Winter Brill:

Listen to The Barefoot Spirit from the C-Suite Library

Call: 707-484-1600

EMAIL: Sales@TheBarefootSpirit.com

Michael & Bonnie in Action:

1.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/svuthvx4uy

2.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/q1t21okz9f

3 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/8y5btoyfrw

Watch C-Suite TV Interview with Taryn Winter Brill:

Listen to The Barefoot Spirit from the C-Suite Library

Call: 707-484-1600

EMAIL: Sales@TheBarefootSpirit.com

Michael & Bonnie in Action:

1.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/svuthvx4uy

2.5 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/q1t21okz9f

3 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/8y5btoyfrw

10 minute: https://barefootspirit.wistia.com/medias/8crj4p1hg9

Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University Students Visit Their Outdoor Classroom in Wine Country

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date August 28, 2019
No Comments on Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University Students Visit Their Outdoor Classroom in Wine Country

Instead of listening to a lecture and watching a presentation in a classroom, what if you could get out in nature and enjoy a hands-on learning experience?

Instead of sitting in a lecture, you could watch a skit performed live with actors demonstrating various business principles throughout each story. How does that sound?

Year after year, we’re so happy to welcome the Technopreneurship and Innovation Master of Science program students from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. We invite them to Sonoma County Wine Country after their Silicon Valley tour to enjoy nature, and for a learning experience, they won’t soon forget.

Tour, Drink, and Learn.

This year, we included a nature tour, a picnic in the gorgeous redwoods, and a discussion about some tools these students could use in their new careers. We ended the day with a wine tasting (Barefoot wine, of course!) and a walk through Armstrong Redwoods State Park.

We taught these students about How Soft Skills Earn Hard Cash. These crucial skills are unfortunately overlooked in the search for technological excellence.

Short Skits and Live Actors Instead of a Lecture

This year, there was one noteworthy exception. Rather than a lecture and Q&A, we went for a completely different approach. We organized and performed 6 small skits.

We had 3 acts with 2 scenes each, all focusing on real business challenges. Each act demonstrated one of the three essential business relationships (Vendors, Buyers, and Employees). Each scene within each act showed two methods to handle the challenge, one embracing soft skills and the other one lacking.

These scenes showed these students the possible consequences of each approach to the same challenge.

To make things a bit more fun, we created two fake skateboard companies. One was “Above Board” and the other was “Cheap Skate”. Their approaches to vendors, employees, and buyers were completely different from one another.

We even whipped up some fun props, including hats printed with the company names, telephone bells, and skateboards, of course!

Cheap Skate’s CEO operated on a platform of fear and limited wealth. He had a narrow-minded and short-sighted perspective, leading him to lose his best salesperson, his credit, and his spot at Skate Board Depot.

Above Board’s CEO, on the other hand, demonstrated inclusiveness, empathy, and concern for his peoples’ goals. He avoided turnover, attracted the best employees, got extended terms and credit, and had his products promoted at the Skate Board Depot.

The students discussed what happened after each scene and why things progressed the way they did. We believe they will be much more likely to remember and utilize these important lessons since they were able to see them first-hand. Oh—and we acted it out!

Students of Nanyang Technological University—Thank you!

We want to extend our thanks to these students for allowing us to experiment with our pragmatic learning format. We thought it was a great learning experience (for us, too!).

We hope Nanyang’s students will continue to benefit from using soft skills to increase their credit, reduce their costs, and promote their products.

Let’s raise a glass to always staying Above Board in the way we treat others in the business world and in life!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

On Being Practical and Indispensable

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date August 15, 2019
No Comments on On Being Practical and Indispensable

When we were developing the Barefoot wine brand, we drove our staff crazy. Every mistake, every glitch, and every accident would result in a brainstorming session to prevent the same thing from reoccurring.

Our people would retort with, “Don’t worry about it! It’s all taken care of!” and “Look, we’ve solved the problem—can’t we just move on?!” as if the only thing we were worried about is quickly getting past the problem. But neither one of those responses does anything to prevent the same issue from happening again. The opportunity is still there for a painful and expensive issue to present itself in the future.

As leaders and business-owners, we took the philosophical position that preventing a problem was more important than brushing it under the rug, washing our hands of any wrongdoing, or coming up with a quick fix. It will come back to haunt you! And it will hurt your business if you don’t take it seriously.

So, what are your options? One option is to be proactive instead of reactive. To put it simply, start to expect a mistake, glitch, or understanding before it happens. Don’t just wait for it to show up a second time. Do what’s necessary to prevent it in advance.

For example, create a crosschecking system. Keep double-checking your work before it moves out of your hands, and make it a habit. Set up other crosschecks too, like getting another set of eyes, to prevent the mistake from happening again.

Once you establish these procedures, use them! And frequently. We would ask our people for a rewrite of a procedure. We would then require a checklist if the rewrite wasn’t enough. And if that didn’t work, we’d ask for a signoff sheet. If all of those options failed, we would finally issue a pink termination notice.

When you choose to be reactive instead of proactive, you’re telling your boss, “I really don’t care about this job; I just need the money!” Show your customers and your higher-ups that you do care. Create new procedures that slash the likelihood of a mistake’s reoccurrence. Act proactively to improve everyone’s experience—not just your own.

Because we were so nitpicky about proactive prevention, one of our people protested, “You guys are trying to make everything idiot proof!” To which we replied, “No we’re not, we are just trying to make things idiot resistant!” He then responded, “But even now, as we sit here, trying to make things idiot resistant, they’re building a better idiot!”

After all, it’s because of this better idiot that proactive people will always be essential and won’t ever run out of jobs to do. This is why companies with these kinds of people will ultimately have the best practices and the most success despite the “better idiots”!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development Sales

Russian Students at the Russian River!

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date August 7, 2019
No Comments on Russian Students at the Russian River!

Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting 40 Skolkovo Moscow School of Management entrepreneurship graduate students. They were in the area to visit Silicon Valley and learn from the temples of American Entrepreneurship. Once their tech tour finished, we asked them to join us in Russian River wine country. They got to experience some time basking in nature, had a few discussions about entrepreneurship, enjoyed lunch outdoors, and of course, had a wine tasting after learning about Sonoma County wine.

Skolkovo is among the top universities around the globe and is affiliated with MIT. These students were already in their 30s, many of them with their own businesses. Other students were either considering the idea of entrepreneurship or just wanted to learn.

Familiarizing These Russian Students with Soft Skills

We knew that they already learned a lot about hard technology during their time in the Valley. Between all the VCs and the tales of lucky tech success, we thought a more natural environment and a different type of discussion would be refreshing. So we gave them our course on “How Soft Skills Earn Hard Cash.”

We guided them through the three foundational soft skills (Acknowledgement, Appreciation, and Communication), and how they relate to the three foundational business relationships (Vendors, Buyers, and Employees).

Even though you need much more than soft skills to find success, their absence can lead to cripplingly expensive turnover, loss of credit, higher operational costs, and worst of all—a loss of customers. In short, you must be able to balance soft skills and tech skills in order to be successful.

The students’ genuine interest in achieving business success was impressive. We started our discussion by identifying what we had in common—a need for extended terms and credit, a desire for loyal and enthusiastic employees, and a need for continuously increasing business.

Yes, there are many cultural differences between our societies, but business is business. People are people. How they are treated can make a monumental difference in their decisions regarding your goods and services. As a businessperson, possibly the most important consideration you can pay to others is respect for their concerns.

If they are your employee, do you have their best interests at heart?

And do you show it? For example, are your people able to enhance their careers within your company? Do you give them the recognition, security, compensation, education, and vacation time they need to stay loyal to you?

If they’re your buyer, are you servicing what you’re selling?

Do you stand by your warranties? Do you provide the support they need in order to do business with you, promote their products, and increase their purchases? Do you address buyers on every level, from your warehouse to your end-buyer, so your products can navigate freely through all channels?

If they’re your vendor, do you respect their salespeople?

If you know you’ll be late on a payment, do you call in advance with a plan to bring your account current? Have you developed a long-term contract so they can confidently extend the credit and terms you need to support your business?

This all comes down to one thing—being able to put yourself in the other guy’s shoes. Understand that by getting them what they want, you get what you want. Our friend Ivan Misner likes to say, “Take off the bib and put on the apron!” Or, as we say, “If you’re going to be a jerk, get out your wallet! It’s going to cost you more.”

These lessons cross all cultural boundaries and have withstood the test of time. Anybody that can change the world with a great idea will benefit by practicing these soft skills. They can make or break your success.

When we initially got into business, we were under the misconception that our products would sell themselves—they were Gold Medal winners at less than $6 per piece! We didn’t understand why people weren’t breaking down doors to get to us. It cost us a whole bunch of money, time, and frustration to finally develop and understand these crucial skills that ultimately brought us to success.

We were ecstatic to share the real benefits of applying soft skills in business with the extraordinary Skolkovo students. We wish them nothing but the best in their own endeavors and we’d love for them to visit their “Outdoor Classroom in the Wine Country” again! Надеюсь увидеть тебя снова в ближайшее время!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Growth Health and Wellness Technology

It’s Official: Spending Time Surrounded by Nature Reduces Stress

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date July 30, 2019
No Comments on It’s Official: Spending Time Surrounded by Nature Reduces Stress

We’ve done this for all our lives—when we feel too stressed, we take a break in nature. We even spent our own money, time, and energy on restoring a creek near our home by eliminating waste and invasive species. We invite our clients, students, friends, and neighbors to take a stroll on our “Nature Trail”. Why? Because we know it’s centering, calming, and just plain beneficial for your outlook on life.

But we never had real evidence that nature reduces stress—till now! A study published in Frontiers in Psychology by the University of Michigan has confirmed that a “Nature Pill”, AKA time spent in nature, actually encourages our brains to reduce cortisol, a stress-inducing hormone.

In the study, a group of adults was asked to spend at least 10 minutes surrounded by nature three times a week for eight months. Every other week, the scientists observed cortisol levels in saliva samples to determine how nature experiences affected them.

The study’s lead author, Mary Carol Hunter, said, “[The] participants were free to choose the time of day, duration, and the place of the nature experience, which was defined as anywhere outside that, in the opinion of the participant, made them feel like they’ve interacted with nature.” The participants were also asked to avoid social media, conversations, reading, and phone calls while taking their “nature pill”—any factor that could possibly influence stress. To put it simply, just be present in nature for only 10 minutes!

Our business cards refer to us as “Advisors, Speakers, and Hikers”. We spend as much time as we possibly can in nature. As we hike, we see other people on the trails, but not really being present in nature. They’re texting, talking, or completely engrossed in their smartphones instead of appreciating the beautiful surroundings. We really appreciated that the Michigan team eliminated this clear source of stress from their research.

Hunter also said, “Our study shows that for the greatest payoff, in terms of efficiently lowering levels of the stress hormone, you should spend 20 to 30 minutes sitting or walking in a place that provides you with a sense of nature.” She further adds, “This will allow customized nature pill prescriptions, as well as a deeper insight on how to design cities and wellbeing programs for the public.”

We love the concept of “taking a nature pill”. Think about how many stress-reducing pharmaceutical prescriptions could be eliminated. Maybe we should put our smartphones down for a little bit each day, let Mother Nature do her magic, and reacquaint ourselves with our natural roots on our wonderful planet.

This is only one (scientifically-proven) reason to preserve our environment and make nature a part of our daily lives once again. We’ll see you on the trail—without your smartphone!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Entrepreneurship Leadership Personal Development

In Some Cultures, Soft Skills Are Signs of Weakness

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date July 18, 2019
No Comments on In Some Cultures, Soft Skills Are Signs of Weakness

We like to invite Entrepreneurship Masters students from around the world to the wine country—our home. We enjoy giving them a break from the concrete jungle and campuses they visit in Silicon Valley. These students come from all over to pay tribute to the Technopreneurship success stories of our time. After being wowed by tech, lectured by VCs, and dazzled by Google, Twitter, and Facebook tours, they have a chance to put their feet on the ground again—literally. We bring them to “Your Outdoor Classroom in the Wine Country.”

We offer creeks, redwoods, and grassy meadows next to a Russian River Valley vineyard, instead of glass, steel, and concrete. Rather than talking about engineering, VCs, unicorns, and tech, we like to discuss soft-skill approaches to the three essential relationships in business: Employees, Buyers, and Vendors. We choose a natural setting and engage these students in a conversation about using soft skills to earn hard cash. After all, it’s through soft skills that we can attract, train, and retain the best staff. It’s through these essential skills that we can extend our credit and terms. It’s also through soft skills that we can make sales and keep loyal customers.

But some students’ cultures look down on soft skills as if they are indications of weakness or “softness”.

Their cultures might be new to entrepreneurship. For example, these students themselves might have great reasons not to trust their governments or corporations. They might think that strength, wealth, monopoly, and coercion are the best tools with which to achieve success.

The biggest problem with that mindset is that it lessens the opportunities for entrepreneurship unless you are already in a wealthier class. You can easily suffer from high turnover, lack of staff engagement, and overspending because nobody trusts you.

This brings us to these students’ fascination with the West. Our business culture is based on a foundation of trust! And trust is based on empathy. “Does the person I’m doing business with understand, care, and acknowledge my challenges? Do they communicate with me in ways that make me feel comfortable taking a risk with them?” If answered in the affirmative by your vendors, employees, and buyers, these questions can slash your need for capital and thereby increase your bottom line.

Building culture on a foundation of trust is NOT weak!

A business’s strength relies on the creation of entrepreneurship and mutual benefit—not just “old money”. This creation leads to more breakthroughs that will bring costs down and the standard of living up. Most US jobs today are with small entrepreneurs.

On one hand, we have engineering, which is based on physics and science. On the other hand, we have a negotiation, which is based on mutual benefit and soft skills. A great negotiator will find efficient solutions that benefit both parties—this is anything but weak. On the contrary, it shows a unique strength that transforms competition into collaboration.

Cultures that are new to entrepreneurship send their students to America to learn why our type of entrepreneurship works as well as it does. We hope to share these foundations of soft skills and how they impact trust to promote loyalty, terms, and credit, reducing the need for cash. We want to get across the fact that soft skills earn hard cash!

Maybe these students will sow these soft skill seeds in their own backyards. And maybe they’ll bloom into many opportunities for their own people! Soft skills are not weak—they’re strong!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Personal Development Sales

Navigating Breakthroughs

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date July 9, 2019
No Comments on Navigating Breakthroughs

These days, it seems like we’re hearing about breakthrough after breakthrough. It’s easy to assume that these are spontaneous bursts of clarity from the most gifted people. Every so often, there’s an unexpected stroke of genius that leaves us with our mouths open. But usually, the real breakthroughs are years in the making, coming as the result of thorough analysis and collaboration. Of course, there will always be the “Why don’t we just…” moments, but the longest-lasting breakthroughs require teamwork and tenacity. Here’s our experience with many breakthroughs that happened in our business.

1. Other Practices in the Industry

We weren’t able to keep our signage on supermarket shelves. Our competition (and the cleaning people!) regularly removed them. Sometimes, we couldn’t even get our marketing materials up on the shelf. Our distributors tossed them in the dumpster. We had spread ourselves so thin that we couldn’t get our limited staff to all of our stores.

We noticed that one soup brand had a medal on each can to show the shoppers its value. Within two years, we worked out every mechanical issue to put our awards on each of our bottles, right on the bottling line. Finally, we had just one piece of marketing material that could not be removed from the shelves! The best way to get out of the box is to go straight up. It’s at that 10,000-foot level that you can see how other businesses tackled similar hurdles to yours!

2. Beginning at the End

Our success made us suffer. We were selling our products so quickly that we ran into a lot of out-of-stock and run-out situations. It was really hurting us. Our products weren’t being reordered quickly enough! And to make it more difficult, we had to go through middlemen to get to our retailers. The one thing we knew about these situations was to compare shipment reports or Depletion Reports. This was tedious and onerous work. By the time we figured out that a store didn’t order this month after ordering last month, we were taken out of that store for lack of sales. You can’t sell if you aren’t reordered, of course.

So we asked ourselves, “What do we really want here?” The answer wound up being, “Early Warning!” and “Specific Addresses.” We had our hearts set on that reorder, even if the distributor’s salesperson didn’t—before the store’s system recorded no sales for 30 days.

In order to do this, we needed to get into the software business and create an application that could use data to provide a list of stores that ordered last month but not this month. This early warning gave us more time to put these stores on the top of our priority list for reorders. It gave our sales reps a better sense of priority as well. But this breakthrough was 3 years in the making!

Because we started with an idea for the results we wanted, we worked backward to discover the breakthrough itself.

3. Know the Need

We encountered a problem—store managers and owners weren’t giving us enough time to present ourselves successfully. Our people ran into buyers who wanted everything concise and fast, yet compelling.

We asked our staff to better describe their frustrations to understand the problem at hand. We figured out that if buyers could simply wait until we assembled a display of our marketing materials and products, they would buy from us 75% of the time. So what could we do to reduce the presentation time?

One of our salespeople had the idea that we could copy the Mary Kay ladies and Fuller Brush man with their portable, briefcase-style displays. We then created what we referred to as a Sell Case. Our sales shot up by 50%. Our rep would just open the case and all the work was done—all the bottles were lined up, and all the marketing materials were all in one place. And just like that, instant presentation!

Instead of putting your people on a “need to know” basis, let them “know the need”. You’ll be much more likely to overcome your challenges!

4. Sleep on It

The brain works on our problems around the clock, even when we’re on vacation or sleeping. We sometimes have a take-charge approach, where we review the problem over and over again. This can actually prevent the issue from being solved.

During one of our big growth spurts, we faced a particularly difficult organizational issue. All businesses face these same problems when shifting gears between dependence upon those few big clients who keep the lights on, to building and expanding across the nation. We were losing many business opportunities because things were falling through the cracks.

Eventually, we said, “OK! I guess we need to take a break!” We went to Kauai on a hiking trip, away from people, business, and phone service. We felt a bit guilty, but we admit it was heavenly. On the way back, we completely reexamined our business and thought about putting our existing people in new roles. The opportunity to take our minds off the problem enabled the answer to present itself. This overhaul brought us to expansion, which led us to become a top national brand!

Your brain is tired. Let it work on the problem while you’re away or asleep. You’ll be shocked at the flashes of insight you may get in the shower the next morning!

5. Keep Going

Sometimes, a breakthrough is the result of years of persistence. You might need to wait until the timing is perfect. Even when you’re prepared with a breakthrough idea, people may not be ready to accept it. In these situations, determination always pays off.

We had an excellent salesman, Jack from Holland, who used to entertain us with his language, context, and accent. He would go see a major buyer every month, and each time he would return empty-handed. We would ask, “How did it go this month with the big buyer?” and he’d just shake his head and persist, “She’s not shopping!” Every single month, that was his answer—“She’s not shopping!”

Fast-forward a year later and Jack skips into our office with a purchase order for 2,000 cases from that same big buyer shouting, “She’s buy-ing!” His persistence led him to success because when the buyer was eventually ready, Jack was there! Through his failed efforts, he had developed a relationship with her over time, so he was at the top of her list when she was ready.

Breakthroughs are never a one-way street. You might have your breakthrough, but you need the market to be ready to acknowledge and accept it.

The Future

Today, crowdsourcing is a pretty incredible way to achieve breakthroughs and solve problems. You can now share your problems with the world to find the best ideas instead of just asking your own staff and associates. This international brainstorm alone can lead to limitless breakthroughs.

First seen as a source for funding, today’s crowdsourcing is a source for everything. But how can you use it for your business? Check out www.crowdsourceweek.com to learn more. This year, they’re focusing on breakthroughs! Who knows? Your next big breakthrough could come from Nepal, Norway, or even Nigeria! There’s only one way to find out.

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Growth Personal Development Women In Business

The National Entrepreneur Center Supports Businesswomen

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date June 28, 2019
No Comments on The National Entrepreneur Center Supports Businesswomen

Our last presidential election, the #MeToo movement, equal-pay movements, and the surge in women-owned businesses all prove that things are finally changing. And this change is great for everyone—socially, politically, environmentally, and economically. There are zero downsides! Bonnie was ecstatic to be the Keynote Speaker and workshop leader at the 2019 Women’s Business Conference in Orlando, hosted by the National Entrepreneur Center. Close to 200 businesswomen attended.

Bonnie’s workshop focused on three crucial business relationships—your vendors, employees, and customers—but her Keynote served as an important message to any business selling goods and services. Today, women make over 80% of purchasing decisions! How did that happen? A long time ago, men resigned their purchasing power to women with the simple question, “What’s for dinner, honey?” But to answer that seemingly simple question, this is what a woman had to do:

Create a menu for every meal
Translate this menu to a grocery list
Take money and drive to the store
Make brand decisions
Fill up bags of groceries, leaving enough time to spare to prepare tonight’s dinner
Drive home and put away the groceries
Cook that night’s dinner
Serve dinner to her family

Did you notice the part about taking money and making brand decisions?

In her speech, Bonnie went on to discuss how women are in a position to encourage companies to address their concerns about health and the environment simply by choosing and avoiding certain brands. This is the real “power of the purse.”

A woman’s networking and multitasking skills are ideal tools to master these 3 essential business relationships:

1. Vendors

Whether your vendors are supplying you with funds, goods, or services, they’ll be much more likely to extend your terms and credit once you show empathy for them. They pay their own bills with your funds. Instead of waiting until it’s too late, give them a remediation plan ahead of time if you know you won’t be able to make a payment. Don’t put them in a risky position. Share your challenges and growth plan with your vendor—show them how they’ll be a part of it and benefit as a result. Make sure they know you are committed to helping them grow. Vendors have a ton of information about the market, your competition, and trends. Don’t make them wait when they pay you a visit. Invite them inside for some coffee and pie!

2. Employees

Your people aren’t just working for a paycheck. They’re invested in their skills, their career, and being recognized and validated in order to improve. They want a career that will give them time off to be with loved ones, as well as health insurance, retirement, and general job security. Make it known that you have their best interests at heart. That way you’ll be as profitable and productive as possible while reducing turnover—the number one hidden cost of businesses in any industry.

Instead of putting them on a need-to-know basis, put them on a know-the-need basis! By sharing your opportunities, goals, and challenges with all of your people, you show your respect for their loyalty, intelligence, and financial interest in your company.

When groundbreaking ideas come from your employees, make it a point to publicly acknowledge them. Explain the problem and how their ideas solved it. This will encourage them to keep working hard, earn their teammates’ respect, and show the rest of your people that their good work will also be recognized. After all, your staff knows your company better than anybody else.

3. Customers

When we say “customer” we don’t necessarily mean your end-user. You might have to get through many groups of “customers” to get to the end-user. Who are the “buyers” that lie between you and your final customer? And what do they want? Imagine yourself in their shoes.

Try not to assume that every customer is engrossed with benefits and features or even your prices. For example, we had sold to distributors who were more concerned with the strategic advantage they would have with their retail buyers by carrying our product over our competitor’s. Their managers were worried about their quotas. Their sales reps’ top priorities were their incentive programs. The retailers were more worried about tried-and-true sales and the seasonal marketing materials we provided. And the retailers’ clerks were more concerned about being recognized for reordering our products—or not!

Did you notice that none of them were worried about quality, price, design, or even the product itself?

You need constant feedback in order to keep your goods and services relevant. Your customer has the power to give you only two things—money and feedback. Understand that feedback enters your business through your sales reps and customer service team. Establish formal lines of communication between these two groups, and your marketing and production people. This will ensure you’ll stay relevant.

Bonnie was enthusiastic to share the lessons she’s learned on the road to building a national brand, to meet those women who also make a difference, and to celebrate every woman’s power of the purse!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Personal Development Sales Women In Business

Women Make More Than 80% of Buying Decisions!

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date June 19, 2019
No Comments on Women Make More Than 80% of Buying Decisions!

When her husband or partner asks, “What’s for dinner, honey?” he’s actually telling her to plan this week’s meals, make a shopping list, buy this week’s food, make each buying decision and charge it to their card, come home and put everything away, prepare tonight’s dinner, and serve him a meal.

Yes, we said, “make each buying decision”. According to Forbes, women made 80% of the buying decisions back in 2015. And it’s even higher today. In March, we celebrate Women’s History Month, and these facts are becoming more and more relevant.

Historically Honoring Women

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter acknowledged March 2-8 as National Women’s History Week. But by the end of 1987, Congress announced that March would permanently be National Women’s History Month.

Female Power

We recently witnessed an incredibly historic election, where more women than ever in our country’s history were elected. The Speaker of the House and both senators in our state of California are women. Statistically, women vote more frequently than men, and they’re making more and more decisions on their own. What does this all mean?

For one thing—it’s democracy in action, plain and simple. We also think it bodes well for the US. We are overdue to embrace many skills women have excelled in. Whether these skills are hereditary, or whether they come from culture, environment, or education, they are sorely needed.

A Woman’s Advantage

Where men seem to complete tasks and thoughts linearly, women seem to excel at multitasking. Mothers are often the ones to juggle finances in order to meet their family’s budgets. A woman’s so-called “nesting instinct” may make her more likely to hone in on security, avoiding conflict, and discovering common ground. Women are also more likely to choose to work in a team-based environment, rather than trying to do it alone. Sounds like something we need right now, doesn’t it?

Our Own Experience

Barefoot Wine was aimed at a 35-year-old mom with two children, making her way through the grocery store, looking for a reliable wine that fit her budget.

Our business was mostly run by women. Two of our four Board of Directors members were women. Our VP was a woman, and she had total veto power. Our Marketing Director, Winemaker, Traffic Manager, Accountant, Office Manager—all women. And we had one of the first female Sales Managers in the industry. Plus, Bonnie, our Co-founder, has her own footprint on the label of what is now known as the biggest wine brand of all time!

Simply Put—It’s Good Business

Women have a multiplier effect. Rarely do they ever buy just for themselves—they buy for their partner or entire family. Any business should understand that if the market were gendered, it would be female. This is truly the power of the purse!

Women demonstrate their concern about the environment. Nielsen released a report that shows how today’s consumer prefers products that advertise sustainability, and we now know that 80% of these consumers/purchasers are female. Mothers want to give their kids a thriving environment in which they can enjoy their future. They do this by voting with each purchase.

We are eternally thankful for women’s contributions over the years, and especially now as they confidently and firmly take our economy and government by the reins. We are excited to see their natural cooperation and preservation tendencies play themselves out, both in politics and in business. We continue to encourage young women to start a business of their own and speak out for what they believe in.

Women: The world is ready to invest in your products and to listen to what you have to say!

You continually make a positive difference, and everybody benefits from your contributions. Women of the United States—Thank you!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Biography and History Culture Growth News and Politics Personal Development

Will the Draft End at the Hand of 18-Year-Old Women?

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date June 6, 2019
No Comments on Will the Draft End at the Hand of 18-Year-Old Women?

Recently, we learned that a Houston Southern District Court Federal Judge ruled an all-male draft to be unconstitutional since it violates equal protection principles. All males must register with the selective service once they turn 18, despite nobody being conscripted for more than 40 years. One would presume this requires 18-year-old females to register as well.

This development brings up a series of debates about female equality, women in the military, and changes in military tech, but an even bigger debate is whether or not we even need a draft.

The Dreaded Draft

Michael lived in fear of being drafted throughout his entire college career. Thankfully, he never was. Vietnam wasn’t exactly a popular war among the young soldiers who were forced to fight it. Most were drafted against their wishes—taken from their classrooms and put right on the front lines with barely any training. Many died, and many of those who didn’t come home with lost limbs, PTSD, and/or drug addiction.

Despite the fact that many women enlisted and served, they weren’t drafted against their will—only men were. This, combined with the war’s unpopularity, ultimately ended the draft.

Both of Michael’s brothers voluntarily joined, hoping for a choice of duties rather than waiting to be drafted. Michael filed for student deferments, which became less and less effective as time went on. His classmates were being drafted and sent away to Vietnam. Many people left the country and were therefore branded as draft-dodging, and “un-American”. Imagine that—being too young to vote, yet you could be drafted at any time against your will to fight a war that you don’t have a say in.

Eventually, the Selective Service hosted a lottery and actually had a woman on TV pulling Ping-Pong balls out of a huge bowl like she was hosting Keno or Bingo. There were 366 balls with a birthdate printed on each. The first balls drawn represented the birthdates of the first young men drafted. Thankfully, Michael’s birthdate was drawn toward the end. But the draft ultimately ended, and so did the war—and the US stopped punishing “draft dodgers” in 1977. What a relief!

Reconsidering Our Votes When it comes to Drafting

What’s most interesting about this story, as scary as the draft was, is that it forced the US to take an interest in the way their officials thought about the draft and the war. The draft was solely responsible for numerous casualties of those who were ripped from the general public to be conscripted into duty.

Today, the debate to eliminate the draft is based on the idea of volunteer-based armed forces—a professional army. While we are eternally thankful for volunteer soldiers’ sacrifices, we worry about the possibility of apathy and a disconnect with the general public.

Wars with a draft did not exceed 4 years, for the most part. Now, they can apparently go on forever! Why? With the draft, it hit too close to home. Now, it’s “someone else’s job.” With the draft, sons were torn away from their careers and families without their consent. But now, with volunteering soldiers, people may say, “They knew the job was dangerous when they took it.” Some folks are even discussing turning certain wars over to private businesses to avoid repercussion.

As awful as the draft was, it forced people to be opinionated and speak publicly about the wisdom of the war. When officials fought for reelection, the vigilant and motivated majority held them accountable. The draft was on everyone’s mind.

But having said all that—we are not in favor of the draft. We are, however, against the kind of apathy that encourages warfare without accountability. Maybe with women now subject to being drafted, we’ll come up with a way to end it all without starting endless wars. Our servicemen and women deserve civilian oversight and constant awareness of the important decision-makers that put them in harm’s way.

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Best Practices Growth Investing Negotiations

Make an Agreement; Don’t “Cut a Deal”

Post author By MIchael and Bonnie Harvey
Post date May 15, 2019
No Comments on Make an Agreement; Don’t “Cut a Deal”

What’s the Deal with Making Deals?

A new four-letter word has become quite pervasive in our vocabulary. It’s all over our social media headlines and feeds. We hear it daily on the morning news. The word in question? “Deal!”

“Deal” has historically been used to describe real estate transactions. Typically, each party is polarized and one must give in to reach a deal. One side negotiates more than the other, the other side caves in, and one side “wins”. There’s quite a lot of pretense on the front end that translates to retaliation on the back end.

Every deal has a winner and a loser. In the car industry, you try to negotiate a deal on a new car. In gambling, it’s the dealer’s choice, the dealer themselves, and the double-dealer you have to be on the lookout for.

Is this starting to sound contentious and competitive? Well, it is. The implication of a “deal” is far away from cooperation, reciprocity, and empathy. Those make up the recipe to a well-thought solution to the differing needs of stakeholders. This is why we prefer to say “agreement” instead.

A Better Term for All Sides

Even the word “agreement” sounds more positive. It implies that both sides won. Each side worked toward the same agreement—working together and making intelligent concessions to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

You “reach” an agreement. You “cut” a deal. Making deals has become aggressive, and has lately been reduced to a form of coercion, hostage-taking, or extortion. When you make an agreement, on the other hand, it symbolizes a beneficial, respectful, and constructive arrangement.

By referencing the desired outcome as an agreement, you avoid the egotistical pretense and angst that are implied in a contest-like “deal”. You set the stage for the friendly conversation during which stakeholders can collaborate effectively. And moving forward, you form a bond with the other party without grudges or regrets.

What’s in a word?

Absolutely everything! When you negotiate a business solution, anyway. Before, during, and after the whole thing, why shouldn’t you use a word that shows your respect for the other side and reinforces your belief that you’ll work together to achieve a beneficial relationship? It can open the door for future collaboration.

When it comes to Barefoot Wine, we always used “agreement” to earn national distribution and extended credit, and to connect with the right people at the right times. In our agreements, there were always at least two “winners”. It’s crucial to view the other party as a partner, not as an adversary. In real estate, the parties are finished when the transaction is finished. But in many businesses, agreements can symbolize the beginning of strategic partnerships that provide benefits well into the future.

No More Cutting Deals; Reach an Agreement

Let’s stop using the word “deal”—with all of its competitive and aggressive undertones. Let’s touch back into the reality that any kind of secure agreement is bound to lead to longtime partnerships. And let’s stop watching deal-making as a sport—being entertained by two enemies battling it out until there’s a winner and a loser.

If there is a loser, after all, both sides will lose eventually. The other side just can’t wait to get out of their “deal”. We’ve learned that, without trust, there’s no legally binding contract that can hold them to a certain level of performance. Yes, you can file a lawsuit and make both sides’ attorneys rich, but is that how you want to use your precious time and money?

According to the Japanese, it’s rude to talk about anything except the weather for the first few minutes of a business conversation. They use this “pointless” banter to establish a sense of agreement by understanding what they have in common with the other party. They know that being on common ground with the other side sets the tone for a respectful, productive discussion, paving the way for mutual, long-term benefits.

Don’t cut deals anymore—Start making agreements! Both sides can be winners!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

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