Consistency. Predictability. Replication.
I know: when you see the acronym “CPR“, what comes to mind is the life-saving technique. You breathe air in someone’s lungs, compress their chest to get their blood flowing, and literally bring them back from the brink of death.
It’s not an accident that we chose the same acronym to represent the core of our Small Business success curriculum, and to embody the fundamental principles of productivity – the keys to Small Business profitability
Right from the start, notice that I say “keys” to success, not “secrets” or any other such hype. Success in the 21st Century, post-meltdown economy will be achieved the same way it always has been: through hard work and diligent effort. Hard work should be not be a struggle, but a focused pursuit of a clearly defined goal.
So how do we get there — to success, however we each may define it for our respective businesses? Everyone is up to something different, and I can’t pretend to have a magic mirror where I can see what you’re all up to. The good news is, I don’t have to.
All businesses, whether they make or sell a product, provide a service or manage those who do, must adhere to the fundamentals of CPR in order to be productive and profitable:
- They must have a product of CONSISTENT quality, whether that product is a physical item or an intangible service
- They must have PREDICTABLE delivery of that product
- They must be able to REPLICATE the method of delivering their quality product
Not because I say so – because it IS so. How many start-ups, retails stores, local restaurants or trendy boutiques have you already seen which began with a big BANG and a tremendous flourish of initial success, only to eventually sputter out and die off? If you consider why this happens repeatedly, you’ll find it’s usually because:
- They failed to keep up the quality that won them their initial customers
- The quality may not have failed, but delivery could not keep up with the demand
- The burden fell upon the owner or originator, and the product or service delivery could not scale to match the business’ growth
In the end, they failed to apply the fundamentals of CPR. The specifics of CPR are, of course, different for each individual business venture. But they ALL require it, and none can succeed without its proper application.
In this blog we will examine the principles of CPR in detail, and explore how you and I can best apply them to our businesses to thrive, prosper and flourish in this 21st Century post-meltdown economy. It may not be as healthy as it once was, but we’ve got the technique to bring it back to life.
Stay tuned…