Destination BootCamp Archives

The Power of Shortcuts, Best Advice Starting 2023, and a Cow that Comes When She’s Called

January 26, 2023 in Blog, Competing in Today's Economy, Destination BootCamp, Small Business Advice, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

So much to cover in this blog post, so let’s start with:

The Power of Shortcuts

This Christmas, I received a new phone. Technically, it’s new to me, but not new (it’s an iPhone 12), but compared to my old iPhone Zero, it’s amazing.

I was trying to figure out some complicated process with it and my son walked by. He watched me for about 10 seconds and then said: “Dad, what are you trying to do?”

I told him.

“Well, just do this.” And he took my phone and with a few click-here’s, a click-there, one swipe this way… he did what I wanted to do.

Young whippersnapper. For him, it really wasn’t so complicated.

It pays to know shortcuts.

In business, there are Shortcuts, too

I just spoke at an amazing conference with hundreds of business owners in my audience and every one of them was a top producing business. I believe most of the owners (if not all of them), ran multi-million-dollar companies and they were all at the top of their game.

But before I spoke to this group, I had interviewed over a dozen of these owners to learn more about problems they were having. And with each interview I completed, with every owner I spoke to, I had a long list of notes on ways these owners were running their businesses ineffectively and how they could run them more easily.

You see, these owners were all marketing their businesses in the hardest way possible. They were using methods that really don’t work well (sometimes don’t work at all) AND techniques that cost them a lot of time and money AND steps that allowed their competition to copy them.

The majority of these owners didn’t know that there are business shortcuts that Destination Business owners use to attract more customers, at less cost, with less time expended, with techniques that make it nearly impossible for your business to be copied by competitors.

Would you like to learn these Destination Shortcuts? Learn them here:

Here’s some Big News on our Destination BootCamp class, the only 2½ day class where I teach my entire 14-step strategy to make your business a Destination.

Registration will open soon for our first live, in-person (everyone sitting in the same room, learning and talking to each other with me presenting in front of the room!), Destination BootCamp class.

This will first in-person Destination BootCamp class since 2020 and this one will be held on April 25-27.

We’re finishing all the hotel details now and our DestinationBootCamp.com website will be taking registrations soon, but if you want to be notified immediately when the site is live, just email me at [email protected] and I’ll shoot you an email first.

Upcoming February 7-9 Destination Train-the-Trainer class:

If you would like to become one of our certified Facilitators who can lead our Destination Creation Course (my shortened version of the BootCamp), make sure you register now for our class on February 7-9, (presented virtually via Zoom).

When you complete the Destination Train-the-Trainer Facilitator class, you’ll join the list of our North American Facilitators who can lead business owners through my class right in your community.

To see our USA Facilitators, click here, and to see our Canadian Facilitators, click here.

When you’re on the DestinationCreationCourse.com website, you can also click on the Facilitator map to find if you State or Province has a Facilitator in it yet.

If you’re wondering if this class would be good for you, your association, or your community, just give me a call at (970) 281-2923. This class isn’t for everyone, but you might just be our next, great Facilitator bringing Destination training to business owners who need it.

My Top Piece of Advice for 2023

Here’s my go-to piece of advice for 2023 and I found this nugget of wisdom on a greeting card. Everyone reading this e-newsletter should paste this on their mirror, look at it daily, and buy a couple of these cards to send to your best friends. Click here to see my advice:

Thank you, Near Modern Disaster greeting card company, for creating this!

The cow who comes when I call her

Here’s something to smile about: Every time Peg and I go to our daughter’s farm, we help her with her cows, steers and chickens.

A couple of years ago, we went with her to a dairy that had several baby calves they wanted to sell and as our daughter picked out the ones she wanted to buy, I roamed around the barn. There in a back stall was a little, shy calf that had a face like Bambi. Big eyes, teetering on her young legs, looking right at me.

“I want this one,” I told my daughter.

Jenna told me that she’d already spent the money she brought to buy the calves she wanted. They were already being loaded in her trailer.

So, I asked her, “How about if I buy her?”

She agreed, I paid, and I immediately named her Fawn.

Fast forward to today, and that little calf has grown up, and still remembers me. In fact, when I go to our daughter’s farm, I can call Fawn from the edge of the fence and she comes running.

For your entertainment: If you’d like to see and hear me calling my cow, click here to see the YouTube video.

Wrap-Up

Don’t overthink 2023. Learn something new. Use powerful shortcuts.

Attend a Destination class!

And you’ll be prepared for whatever economy we find ourselves in this year.

Thanks!

Jon Schallert

The importance of celebrating your successes

January 15, 2019 in Destination BootCamp, Getting Out of a Business Slump, Small Business Success, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

Last Thursday I spent the day in Marshall, Michigan, speaking to nearly one hundred business owners from all over the State. Some owners drove in from over 4 hours away to spend the day learning how to turn their businesses into Destinations, capable of pulling in customers from far outside their marketplaces and keeping the locals spending money at home.

Owners started arriving at 7:30 in the morning, with some finally heading back to their businesses after 4:00 p.m. It’s tiring for me to speak all day, but my day is not nearly as long as it is for the owners who come to learn. All of the owners who attended took time to leave their businesses for an entire day, and when the workshop was done, most of them go back to their businesses to work on the tasks that are still waiting for them.

I’m always amazed by the dedication and work ethic and stamina of the owners in my audiences. These owners not only work hard, but they are also constantly critiquing themselves, always critical of their own shortcomings, always pushing themselves to achieve more, wanting to be better as owners and leaders in their communities.

If you’re an independent business owner who sees yourself in my description above, here’s something I want you to start doing: At the end of each day, I want you to take a few minutes to write down the major successes you accomplished in your day. Find a journal or a notebook that you can dedicate to this purpose and just grab it at the end of every day, and quickly jot down any major achievements you had that day.

Here’s why I’m asking you to do this: The owners I know don’t acknowledge their successes. Most owners are great at beating themselves up over the tasks they haven’t completed. They dwell on the mistakes they’ve made, and the opportunities that might have passed them by.

I think part of this is their perfectionist nature and part of it happens because owners expect themselves to create successes. When successes happen, they don’t dwell on them. They don’t pat themselves on the back when they knock something off their list; they just move onto the next unfinished task and the next challenge ahead.

Writing down your successes will seem foreign to you at first, but just take a couple of minutes at the end of each day and jot down any significant wins you’ve had. That’s it. Pretty simple.

One last thing: Try this technique for 1 month, and then, email me at [email protected] and tell me what you see happening.

We Have Seats in January and February’s Destination BootCamps

Every year, it’s the same: Our Destination BootCamp classes that are held early in the year always have the smaller attendance numbers than the ones that are held in the Spring and Fall.

Year after year this happens and my theory is that early in the year, owners decide to take certain steps to improve their businesses, but by mid-year, when sales haven’t grown like they wanted, owners realize that taking my class might help. Consequently, our later-in-the-year BootCamp classes always fill up.

There are plenty of advantages to taking our January 29-31 or our February 19-21 BootCamps: If you attend one of these classes, the smaller class size means that you receive more 1-on-1 assistance from me. The early BootCamp classes also give you the entire 2019 year to implement the changes you learned, which means you’ll most likely see a greater impact in your 2019 revenue figures.

Finally, my 2½ day Destination BootCamp is only held in Longmont, Colorado, and it’s the only way you can learn my entire 14-step Destination Business strategy that I’ve been teaching since 2002.

If you’d like to learn more about all of our Destination BootCamp classes or you’d like to register for these empty seats, just go to: www.DestinationBootCamp.com.

Thanks, everyone. That’s it for this week. Let me hear of your successes!

Jon

Creating Consumer Preference: The First Step in Becoming a Destination

July 6, 2016 in Becoming a Destination Business, Creating Consumer Preference, Customer Behavior, Destination BootCamp, Maximizing your small business advantage, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

For those of you who just had a 3-day, July 4^th weekend, you might have experienced what I did this past weekend, an overwhelming number of choices on where to spend my 3 days off.

All of these were on my “Possible Go-To” list: There were several 4^th of July parades in our area. There were firework shows on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. Two of my favorite breweries had bands playing at them (Left Hand Brewing and Wibby Brewing). Plus, there’s always a fun concert in our city’s park where they fire off a cannon that makes all the dogs pull out of their collars.

Then there’s the new Independence Day movie. In this one, Will Smith’s character is dead. I heard the movie’s not that great, but I’m still wondering how are we going to beat the aliens without Will Smith?

I’m guessing you experienced much the same this last weekend: Where do you go when there’s too much to see, too much to do, and too little time to do it in?

You did what I did. You made decisions and judgments. Quick ones. You heard about all the things you could do, on television, radio, and from your friends. You read about what was going on, in the newspaper, on Facebook, via Twitter, in emails, and online. You probably discussed all the choices with your family, your spouse, or your friends. Then, you decided. You processed all the choices and said: “This is what I’m doing this weekend.”

Here’s why I’m focusing on this: When a business is working to become a Destination, there’s one primary outcome that they must accomplish. How do we get a consumer to say: “I’m going to that place!” That’s really the #1 Goal. Get the potential customer to come to your business. Do this well and it leads to Outcomes 2, 3, and 4:

#2: Customers connect with your business, and they spend money with you. A little money’s OK, but spending a lot is preferable.

#3: They leave as ecstatically happy customers, and they go out and talk positively about your business, spreading word-of-mouth.

#4: The next big step: Getting them to come back again and again, each time, giving you and your business money.

To summarize: That’s the place I’m going, followed by, that’s the place where I’m spending my money, followed by, that’s the only place I’m going from now on.

It seems easy, but it’s not easy. There’s a definite step-by-step process that must be followed. Now, I’m not saying that the process is hard. It’s not hard. Any business owner can do it if you follow the correct steps to create Consumer Preference, and you know strategically how to push the motivational “buttons” of consumers.

Intrigued? Well, if you’d like to learn how to push those buttons so that customers come to your business again and again, read on.

2016 Destination BootCamps

Most of you know that I spent years discovering what makes one business a Destination that becomes extremely profitable and successful, while another business in the same community doesn’t have that success. To learn this, I interviewed over 10,000 business owners and traveled to over 500 cities and towns. I also kept really, really good notes, processed what I learned from all the brilliant business owners I’d interviewed, and then, (and this took a little luck), realized that what each of these super-successful business owners was doing was actually a repeatable process that I could teach. And for the last 19 years, I’ve taught this.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to take you years of your life to learn this. You can learn how to make your business a Destination in 2½ days, at my Destination BootCamp, held in Longmont, Colorado. (Here’s a photo of our most recent class)

If you want me to teach this Destination strategy to you, you have two (2) Destination BootCamps in 2016 where we still have seats available:

Our next BootCamp, on July 26-28, has approximately 12 seats left, and I expect when it’s all said and done, that the class size will probably have about 25 attendees, based on our current projections. (By the way, with this class, we will pass one thousand (1,000) business owners who have taken our BootCamp.

We’re not giving anything away to the thousandth owner/attendee, but I still think it’s kind of cool.

Then, our following Destination BootCamp on September 13-15 has approximately 8-10 seats remaining. We are estimating this class will fill up.

Miss these 2 dates and you’ll have to wait until March, 2017 (8 months from now), to attend my next Destination BootCamp.

Interested in learning more? Are you interested in learning why hundreds of business owners and entrepreneurs have attended over the last 14 years and you still haven’t? If so, go and read “What You’ll Learn” at the Destination BootCamp by clicking here.

Or, if you’re still skeptical, you might want to read what other previously skeptical business owners (just like you), said AFTER they took the class. Read that by clicking here.

And finally, if you have any questions about how my BootCamp can help your business, feel free to call me directly at 303-774-6522, extension 104. I’m happy to talk to you.

Thanks! Hope to see you in Longmont soon!

Jon

The Dangers of Using 5-Legged Cow Marketing

March 11, 2016 in Destination BootCamp, Increasing Customer Traffic, Small Business Advice, Small Business Success, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

While you’re contemplating the title of this post, let me tell you a quick story.

When I was 22 years old, I drove from Colorado to Connecticut to start my first job following college. If you’ve ever drove east out of Colorado, you know that most people end up taking Interstate 70, which stretches for over 400 miles across Kansas.

For those of you who’ve driven this highway, no sooner are you over the Kansas border motoring east when you start seeing signs like the one above proclaiming that if you stop in Prairie Dog Town in Oakley, Kansas, that you’ll get to see a Russian Wild Boar, an 8,000 pound prairie dog, and a live 5-legged cow.

For a 22 year old like myself, starting his first career job and feeling very free and adventurous, the first time I saw this sign, I knew I had to stop. I mean seriously: Who doesn’t want to see an 8,000 prairie dog and a cow walking around with 5 legs?

Once you cross the border at Kanorado, Kansas (yes, that’s its name, and think about how few cities really have names that tell you their exact location), it’s about 75 miles to Oakley. And just to make sure you don’t forget that there’s an 8,000 pound burrowing rodent waiting for you, the owner of Prairie Dog Town placed hand-made-looking signs all along the interstate.

Now, some of you who are Kansas experts know that the Prairie Dog Town attraction is now closed, but let me clarify that their business closure happened fairly recently. For decades, this interstate highway tourist attraction remained open, so much so that any time I drove through Kansas, in my 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and nearly all through my 50’s, this place remained open, beckoning me with their signs to stop.

But let’s get back to when I was 22, and first decided to stop and see Prairie Dog Town. If my memory is right, it cost me $15 to get in. There were several rooms filled with stuffed animals (stuffed by taxidermists, not cuddly teddy bear stuffed animals), and many cages with animals stuffed in them. I remember one glass cage filled with rattlesnakes, and I do remember asking to see the Russian Wild Boar, which looked more like a small pig that had very little wildness about him.

Honestly, the cages didn’t interest me. I wanted to see the massive rodent and the 5-legged cow. I can share this with you now that the attraction is closed: The 8,000 pound prairie dog was actually a concrete statue. I remember protesting to the owner of the business that I had expected a massive live prairie dog, but he just kind of laughed me off as a City Boy that didn’t understand animals and pointed out that he never had said it was alive.

Which brings me now to the LIVE 5-legged cow: There were several cows out in the nearly-all-dirt pasture, but none that had 5 legs. It was easy to look at their legs from afar and see that every cow I spotted only had 4 legs on the ground. When I again protested that his signs had misled me, he took me out to a cow in the far pasture. We approached it together, and he told me that this was his live, 5-legged cow. Well, it really didn’t have 5 legs touching the ground, but it did have 4 on the ground and one long appendage hanging off its shoulder. Genetically, yes it was a leg that was horribly deformed that had sprung from this cow, but without his pointing it out, I would have assumed it was just some elongated shoulder growth, City Boy I was.

I left Prairie Dog Town a little disillusioned, feeling cheated out of $15, but moderately pleased that I had at least seen an animal oddity that I’d never seen before.

So here’s my question to all of you: In the 35+ years following my visit to Prairie Dog Town, do you think I ever stopped again to see how these animals?

Nope. Definitely not! I never stopped at that place again, even though I drove past it scores of times over the decades. One time, being conned and misled by this attraction, had caused me to decide that I’d never stop again.

My lesson to all of you is probably obvious, but I must say it: With today’s customer, you can ALWAYS get them to come in once. That’s not the problem. Getting a consumer to come into your business ONCE is NEVER a problem! It’s actually quite easy to run a nifty ad, place a creative Facebook ad or post, or use any of the myriad of social media tools that are available to your business today and it is EASY to get the consumer to come to your business. One-time!

But if you ever convince a consumer to come in your doors and you’ve conned them, or deceived them, don’t expect them back. It will be a one-time victory, but the negative ramifications of your one-time success will be devastating to your business, especially in this world of viral social media.

The sad truth is that there are business owners every day relying on 5-Legged Cow Marketing to lure consumers in for a one-time hit.

Don’t be one of them!

That’s all for this week, everyone! Have a great weekend!

Jon

9 Business Authors You Gotta Know Who’ll Help Your Business Grow

September 11, 2015 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, Destination University, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

If you’re like most business owners, you don’t have a lot of free time. You especially don’t have a lot of time to be reading business books that won’t help your business grow.

Unlike you, part of my job is to consume business books. I read them and decide which ones can help my clients grow their businesses, and then, interview the authors for our Destination University online training library (DestinationUniversity.com). After I interview them, we upload the recording to our computer servers, and any owner, anywhere in the world, can access those webinars and learn from them.

At our Destination BootCamp last week, a business owner asked me what single book she should read, knowing that she has such limited time. 1 single book. That was a tough one. After a week of thought, I decided to create my definitive list (in alphabetical order by author’s last name), of books that business owners should make time for:

Marti Barletta is the definitive expert on how to market to women, the #1 consumer group most businesses should be targeting. Lots of wannabees pretend to know what Marti knows, but don’t be fooled because Marti is the one true source who really understands how businesses should change their focus and improve their sales by going after female customers. Plus, she shows you how to do it. Her “Marketing to PrimeTime Women” book is a must read. If you’re a guy, you’ll love it until you get to the part where you learn that males die 6 years earlier than their wives.
Eric Chester is the Man when it comes to understanding how to get the most from your employees. One of his first books, “Getting Them to Give a Damn”, and his book, “Reviving Work Ethic”, are must-have guides to getting employees to be productive or, the alternative, getting them as far away from your business as possible.
Andy Core’s first book “Change Your Day, Not Your Life” is probably my favorite book to slap into the hands of an overworked business owner who tells me their life is out-of-control. Every page of this book has value. You read it and suddenly, you have the tools to get your life more under control as you move toward your most important goals. Plus, if you ever get to Arkansas, you can also visit his family’s craft brewery (which I think can contribute to the whole life-balance equation, too).
Gotta include on this list author Debra Fine, and her book “The Fine Art of Small Talk”. Business owners and entrepreneurs waste hours of time going to networking events and not doing networking while they’re there. Debra has broken down the process of how you can talk to anyone, bond to anyone, get away from a conversation with anyone, and get a referral from anyone. Need I say more?
Shep Hyken cranks out customer service books and does keynote speeches on customer service at a tremendous rate, but personally, I really can’t stand customer service books that keep saying the same stuff that you know your employees are really not going to do anyway. But Shep’s books are different, especially his book “Amaze Every Customer Every Time: 52 Tools for Delivering the Most Amazing Customer Service on the Planet”. Open any page of this book and you can apply it to your business and it works! It works!
Jason Jennings is a great friend, a wonderful business writer, and a skilled professional speaker, but the problem with putting Jason on this list is that it’s honestly hard to recommend just one of his books. One of my all-time favorites is “The Reinventors”, but you won’t go wrong picking up any of his books, including his new one, “The High-Speed Company”. Fantastic author to interview, too! (You’ll see when you join Destination University).
Mike Kerr is a writer and speaker out of Canada. If I remember correctly, he was once a park ranger, and he could be a stand-up comedian, but he’s also written some killer books on how to bring humor and inspiration to your business. You might say: “Who needs humor and inspiration in a business?” (and the answer would be everyone who’s in your business), but after you read his book “You Can’t Be Serious” and his newest one “The Humor Advantage”, you’ll figure out why adding humor to your business is really one of the most profitable steps you can take.
I have to put Henriette Klauser on this list. Her book, “Write it Down, Make it Happen” is the most important business book I have ever read because it helped me leave my “I’m-going-to-slit-my-wrist-if-I-have-to-do-this-job-another-day” job, and create the company we have now. Her book was the guide, and I just followed it. I buy this life-changing book for more of my friends who are in dead-end careers than any other gift.
Last but not…well, you know, is Lynn Robinson. Lynn is an intuition expert. I didn’t know what that meant, but after I read her book “Trust Your Gut” and “Listen”, I realized that listening to my gut instinct was really one of the smartest business decisions I could ever make. I don’t care what business you own, these books can help.That’s my Top 9 list. My apologies to my other author friends, but to all of you who own businesses, this would be where I’d put my time, if my time was as limited as yours.

Check out our Destination BootCamp Graduates

26 business owners and community leaders took 4 days of their time to come to Longmont, Colorado. They are now changed business owners. Just ask them. Shoot, just look at them! They have a new business strategy and a new process to grow their business, and during the BootCamp, I even tell them what to do first when they return to their businesses to get the most impact. Plus, they get a nifty collectible t-shirt!

Congratulations on the communities of Leavenworth and Hutchinson, both from Kansas, for sponsoring groups of owners to attend, all made possible with the help of the amazing Network Kansas organization.

Seats still available for our September 29 — October 1 Destination BootCamp

Our Destination BootCamp at the end of September is the only remaining 2015 workshop where we still have open seats, and since we just added the class a few weeks ago, we have lots of empty seats for this one. That means that if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make your business a Destination using my 14-step process (that your competitors probably don’t know), and you’ve also wanted a small class where you can get a lot of 1-on-1 attention, this is the class for you! It’s less than 3 weeks away so sign up now at www.DestinationBootCamp.com

That’s it everyone! Stay in touch and let me hear of your successes!

Jon Schallert
Want to connect? (303) 774-6522 or email me at [email protected]

When Buying Local Doesn’t Feel Local

September 9, 2014 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, General, Small Business Advice by Jon Schallert

I understand why I should shop local, and I do. I’ve always thought locally-owned businesses add the flair, the uniqueness, the character, and the differences that make a community shine. Without them, one city is pretty much like all the rest.

I also understand the economics and the importance of spending local dollars in local businesses, and the value of those dollars recirculating, rather than spending my money in a superstore where most of my dollars end up in Bentonville.

I get all that.

And remember, I’m also the guy who consults with independently-owned businesses, teaches them how to beat larger competitors by becoming Destinations, and even has a webinar called: “How to Get Locals to Spend More Money Locally.” If there ever was a guy invested in shopping local, it’s me.

But I’ve got a problem: What’s a person to do when there are locally-owned businesses that don’t feel local at all, and national chains that do?

Let me explain.

I buy most of my groceries at Safeway, a national grocer. I’ve always gone to Safeway, even as a child: My first memories of shopping were at the Safeway in Littleton, Colorado in the Woodlawn Shopping Center. Every time my brother and I went with our Mom to shop at Safeway, it was an event. The lady in the bakery always gave us a free cookie. We got to hang on the cart as we were wheeled around. There was a mechanical horse that we got to ride while Mom was checking out, if we’d been good.

Fast forward 50 years, and today, when I walk into my Longmont Safeway, I know most everyone by name. And best of all, they know me. Now, I’m not going to embarrass them by using their real first names (so I’ve changed them), but Bill in the produce section rides his bike to work each morning and we often complain about customers who think they can tell good corn-on-the-cob by tearing it open. His assistant, Roger, shares with me the best craft breweries he’s hit over the weekends. Sam in the deli knows that when I ask for a quarter pound, he better not hit 1/3 of a pound and he knows I’m always going to ask him to slice it fresh.

When I’m done shopping, I know all the cashiers: Miguel has a couple of kids and last year had his home burn down, and everyone in the store took up a collection for him. Jenny loves George Strait and spoils her grandkids. Roberta’s from Kansas, works at the local school as a second job, and always works holidays to get time and a half. Margaret is always there early in the mornings, always cheerful, and totally ignores the sign that says: “15 item limit” when I’m in line.

OK, so compare this to the locally-owned supermarket that came to Longmont last year, directly across the street:

I know who the owners are (they live in Boulder, 15 miles away), but I’ve never seen them in the store. In fact, all of their company’s marketing materials, including their e-newsletter, are for their Boulder store, not the Longmont store. I could care less about the Boulder store. If they’d like me to bond to this store, start with locally-focused marketing materials.

Next, their employees: I’m sure they’re nice enough, but honestly, I can’t tell. Most of the time, they’re talking to each other. Literally, I can walk by, or stand behind them trying to get to groceries, and they are oblivious to my presence. Sometimes, they look right at me, but do not speak. Weirdest thing. When I walk into the produce department, you have to interrupt them if you want any response, otherwise, they’re hell-bent on pyramiding the apples.

Next, the deli: There’s never the same person in the deli, and I don’t trust their recommendations. The last time I asked which roast beef was best, they sold me a brand that had the texture of a Croc’s sandal. Right next door is their meat department which makes great chicken sausages. But this weekend, I needed a bunch for the football tailgate party, and they were out of every flavor but one.

Finally, the cashiers. I hate to say they’re lifeless and emotionless, and I understand that cashiering is not a glamor job, but honestly, they seem the most excited when I say I don’t want a paper bag.

OK, so earlier I asked for your advice on what to do: Shop with a chain that feels local? Or, should I spend money in a locally-owned business that makes me feel like I’m shopping Walmart?

Here’s what I do:

I support the independent businesses that value my business, where they know my name and appreciate my dollars. I support businesses that go out of their way for me when I have a special request, and in turn, I go out of my way to spend with them. Bottom line: If a business delivers the products and services I need and I have a relationship with the business, its owners, and its employees, I spend money there.

Since I’m also a shop-local kind of guy, I avoid national chains and superstores whenever possible, unless somehow, they’re able to transform themselves from big and impersonal, into local and familiar (which I have to admit, doesn’t happen very often).

Which brings me to Safeway and the locally-owned store across the street. I’ll shop both, but I’m going to tolerate the locally-owned one that doesn’t feel local, and I’m going to keep spending the majority of my grocery dollars at my local Safeway. That’s because Bill, Roger, Sam, Miguel, Jennie, Roberta, and Margaret do a good job, plus they are my neighbors, and they make me feel like their neighbor, too.

PS: I’m sure this locally-owned store doesn’t know this, but on top of having employees who are responsive to customers, there are 13 additional marketing techniques that any business can leverage to show its customers that it’s a locally-owned business and that it values local customers. Would you like to know what they are? Read on!

Still Time to Save $200

Our final Destination BootCamp of 2014 occurs on October 7-9, only held in Longmont, Colorado.

(And yes, during Day 2, around 11:00 a.m., you will learn the 13 different shop-local marketing techniques that most businesses don’t even think about using).

You will also learn during my 2½ day class the entire 14-step process to make your business a Destination that I’ve developed after 27 years of interviews with thousands of successful business owners. I’ve taken the lessons from North America’s most brilliant independent business owners, and distilled it into a proven system that allows you to attract more customers from a greater distance, keep more local customers buying with you, while attracting the media for free publicity (which means your marketing costs can decrease).

Not only will my Destination BootCamp help you increase your customer traffic and sales, if you register for our October 7-9 Destination BootCamp, you can take $200 off your tuition cost by using the Promotion Code “Escape” when you register (sorry, this does NOT apply to Community Reinvention Program groups from the same city).

Need more convincing? Just click over to our DestinationBootCamp.com Testimonial section where we have the words of actual owners who have been through the same class.

Successful Independent Business Magazine

Wrapping up: I’ve always wanted to create a publication that would help independent entrepreneurs and show them how to make their businesses more profitable, while bringing more customers in their doors.

I am pleased to announce that our new magazine, Successful Independent Business, will be available soon. Here’s the inaugural edition.

Successful Independent Business Magazine

Successful Independent Business is designed to tell the success stories of owners just like you, located in large cities and small towns, achieving spectacular success by following the Destination process that I teach.

If you’d like to receive Successful Independent Business, you can read it online or have it mailed to your business. You just have to tell us how you’d like to receive it by going to this link (click here), and signing up for it.

OK, that’s it for this week! Thanks for tolerating my rambling and I hope to see you in Longmont next month at our Destination BootCamp!

Jon Schallert

What to Do if Your Business is Stuck

September 4, 2014 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, General by Jon Schallert

We all know what it’s like to personally get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing, again and again. Sometimes, it can take a lot of effort to jumpstart ourselves out of non-productive patterns, in order to accomplish new goals.

Well, businesses get stuck in ruts, too. And it’s easy to know when a business is in a rut because it exhibits signs of stagnation, or as I like to call it, a plateau. The most obvious signs are a slowdown in sales, a decrease in customer traffic, or a failure to reach previous year’s profits, even though the owner might be working as hard or harder than he or she worked the previous years.

Getting out of a personal rut can be grueling, but it can also happen overnight, if one decides to change right now.

Getting a business out of a sales rut can be more difficult: It’s my experience that many business owners think they can jumpstart revenue growth by spending more hours in the business and working harder. There’s nothing wrong with working harder and longer, as that type of effort often caused the business to reach its current success level.

But if you’re trying to achieve larger, double-digit sales growth, it rarely happens by working harder and longer.

As an owner, when your business is stuck in a rut, generating the same revenue year after year, you must be willing to step back and admit that there might be a better way to grow sales, instead of just doing more of what you’ve always done!

It’s time for a change in business strategy. It’s time to look at how other successful businesses broke out of their ruts, and it’s time to admit that there might be an EASIER way to generate higher sales that you don’t know.

So if you’re in a business rut, or you just like the idea of double-digit sales growth, here’s my advice:

Attend my next Destination BootCamp on October 7-9. When you come to Longmont, Colorado for my 2½ day class, I’ll take you through a 14-step process that I’ve developed after 27 years of interviews with thousands of successful business owners. I’ve taken the lessons from North America’s most brilliant independent business owners, and distilled it into a system that allows you to attract more customers from a greater distance, keep more local customers buying with you, while attracting the media for free publicity.

And if you don’t believe me, just click over to our DestinationBootCamp.com Testimonial section where we have the words of actual owners who have been through the same class.

Best of all, if you register for our October 7-9 Destination BootCamp, you can take $200 off your tuition cost by using the Promotion Code “Escape” when you register (sorry, this does NOT apply to Community Reinvention Program groups from the same city).

Hope to see you in Longmont next month!

Jon Schallert

Free Webinar! 9 Amazing Marketing Resources: Use Them Now and Have a Great Holiday Season

August 12, 2014 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, Free Webinars, General by Jon Schallert

Yes, it’s the middle of the Summer, but it’s time to think about the 4th Quarter of the year. Why? Because there are only 100 days or so until Thanksgiving, and if you don’t focus now during these warm months, you’ll be kicking yourself later when you’re out in the cold.

Here’s a webinar that I conducted on August 11 that might help you. This webinar shows you 9 different low-cost, high impact marketing tools and resources that you should be using if you want your year-end sales to be the highest ever.

This webinar takes 32 minutes and 5 seconds. During that time, I explain these 9 amazing marketing resources and tools that you’re probably not using. And if you are already using some of these tools, you’re probably using them incorrectly.

Once you watch this webinar, I’ve also provided a link to a free report that will help your business stand-out from the crowd in such incredibly easy ways that you’ll go to bed at night wondering why you never used this technique before

Plus, at the end of the webinar, you’ll receive a $200 value bonus.

If you’ve never watched one of our online webinars, here are a few tips:

First, use Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari as the browser to watch the webinar. Do NOT use Internet Explorer.

Second, when you click on the link below to start the webinar, in the upper right hand corner of the screen you will see a box with an arrow point diagonally to the right. Hover your cursor over it and it says “Pop Out”.

Click on that box (it looks like the image to your left), immediately after the webinar starts and it will be much easier to view on your screen.

Just click on the title to watch my free webinar on the 9 Amazing Marketing Resources to Use Now to Have a Great Holiday Season.

Feel free to share this link or this blog with any of your colleagues, friends, business owners, or community leaders who might need a little good karma and some great advice to drive their sales higher!

Thanks, everyone!

Jon Schallert

PS: I’m always open to hearing your comments on my webinars. Send them to [email protected]. Thanks!

3 Killer Customer Questions, PLUS: My Super-Secret 1-on-1 Consulting, Coming to Kansas next week, and October Events

July 29, 2014 in Destination BootCamp, General, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

The 3 Most Important Questions to Ask Every Customer

When I’m traveling to consult with my clients in their businesses, it means eating in places that I wouldn’t normally eat. Last week I spent two days consulting with a new client in Mississippi, and on the way, I grabbed a bite in a fast food restaurant as I traveled to her retail store.

In this restaurant, I ordered a submarine sandwich, and I stood there and watched as 9 people took their time NOT fixing the sandwich. They all looked remarkably busy, walking around and talking to each other. The problem wasn’t their work ethic. It was that no one seemed to be assigned to the task of actually fixing the food for a customer.

When I asked how my sandwich was coming, the person at the register would calmly reply “They’re making it”, yet there was no sign of activity behind her.

When I finally got my food, it was quite ironic that at the table, there was a complaint card waiting for me, with a host of questions about my meal. The questions ranged from:

How was the service?
How was the temperature of the food?
Were the restrooms clean?

I looked at the list of questions and what was missing were the 3 most important questions that you have to ask a customer, if you really want to keep that customer coming back.

The 3 most important questions you must ask every customer who has spent money in your business are these:

You just spent money with us. Would you come back?
Why or why not?
What would you tell a friend about our business?

Ever other question is extraneous! You will learn more from these 3 than any other questions.

Apply this to your business: Do you have any feedback sheets where you can learn your customers true feelings about your business? And if you do, are you asking these questions? Have you created a mechanism for customers to give their honest feedback and talk behind your back? If you haven’t, don’t expect honest responses.

The final step: Once you get honest feedback, take it to heart and make changes! This is how you’ll get customers returning again and again!

My Super-Secret 1-on-1 Consulting

Last week, when I mentioned to a colleague that I was consulting 1-on-1 with a client in Mississippi, he said to me: “I didn’t know that you did that with business owners.”

That comment made it obvious to me that I haven’t done a good enough job explaining to the world what a Destination Business consultant does.

Yes, I consult with individual business owners, often in their location. It’s not supposed to be a secret!

If you would like to learn more about how I can consult 1-on-1 with you about your business, just click on these words and complete this form and I will personally contact you to discuss your business challenges and your consultation options.

If You are in Kansas or Nebraska next Tuesday, August 5, head to Norton!

Next week, Norton Kansas is opening up registrations to my workshop on Tuesday, August 5. This was a closed workshop, and they have room now for outside attendees! Don’t miss this opportunity! If you’re within driving distance, come spend the day with me learning how to increase the sales and profits of your business. If you’d like to attend, call 785-874-4816 or email [email protected]

Why You Should Attend Our Final Destination BootCamp of 2014 from 2 World-Class Retailers

We are 70 days away from our October 7-9 Destination Business BootCamp where you can learn my entire 14-step strategy to make your business a Destination. You can read about all you’ll learn at my workshop by going to www.DestinationBootCamp.com, but it might be easier to let you read what two leading retailers in their fields said about our class after attending:

First, from Larry Edwards, the founder of The Light Center – Lighting Showroom in Fort Collins, Colorado:

“We came away from BootCamp with so many ideas to incorporate in our lighting store that made the experience invaluable…Personally, Jon’s workshop had an overriding theme to help retail owners develop a “self-sustaining” business that makes competitors no factor! Too many areas to mention, but all subjects and examples of success stories were intoxicating. Every hour was valuable and every subject thoroughly presented–clearly and with Jon’s unique humor. We endorse Jon’s Destination BootCamp without reservation!”

Second, from Gregg Curtis, owner of the Good Earth Garden Center in Little Rock, Arkansas:

“When I was first introduced to the idea of going to the Destination BootCamp, I thought, yeah maybe there were a few things I could learn and bring back to The Good Earth Garden Center…but most likely, not much since we had our stuff together. After all, our business was winning all kinds of local awards, we had a solid team and we were growing. We had a lot going for us and I was focused on those things, thinking we were doing it right. As it turns out, I was immediately amazed at the opportunities we were missing! When Jon mentioned other businesses and what they were doing and the opportunities that were being passed up, I realized we had been doing the same. The BootCamp encouraged me to raise the bar; and I hadn’t been thinking we were below the bar!

Take something as simple as our logo…I hadn’t thought much about changing it, it was getting the job done. But during my first paradigm shifting moment, I started re-thinking how it could be utilized. How something so simple could change the way our customers see us and how we see ourselves. We now have a fresh, fun, and wearable logo, inducing sales on shirts, hats, water bottles and so much more. When advertising was discussed, my thinking was shifted away from the traditional specials, sales and coupons to the wow factor. That would not have happened without Destination BootCamp. My eyes were opened to a whole world of re-invention…and this was just from the advertising part of the BootCamp.

I learned that everyone wants to be a destination but I had the opportunity to creatively position my business to actually BE a destination through atmosphere, uniqueness, and attitude. Without Destination BootCamp, we would not have gone from receiving local awards to national awards such as the Most Revolutionary Garden Center in the Nation as we did last year. And if that isn’t eye-opening, what is?”

Our last BootCamp of the year almost always fills up early! Don’t wait to register! You can do that now by clicking here.

And come next year, I might be using one of your testimonials!

Until next week, everyone!

Jon Schallert

The Power of Mom and Pop Businesses

April 3, 2014 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, General, Small Business Advice, Small Business Success by Jon Schallert

The other day, a friend asked me: “Don’t you worry about the future of Mom and Pop businesses?’

My answer was: “Nope, not at all. The future’s bright for small businesses.”

Here’s how I know this to be true:

3 times a year, I get to witness something amazing that confirms to me that Mom and Pop businesses can overcome any challenge that’s put in their way.

Let me share with you what I get to see:

Most of you know that I conduct a workshop in Colorado called our Destination BootCamp, where for 2½ days, I teach owners and community leaders how to make their businesses and communities irresistible to consumers.

At each BootCamp, owners of retail stores, restaurants, service businesses, professional practices, and even online businesses attend. To paraphrase Forrest Gump’s life’s like a box of chocolates quote, with every BootCamp, “We never know what we’re gonna get”.

Unlike typical association conferences where everyone is from the same industry, our BootCamp mixes business owners from different industries and different parts of the world and puts them together in one room for 2½ days. Most aren’t competition to each other and most have never met before. It surprises me, but I’ve also learned that even business owners from the same city or town who attend together often don’t know each other very well. But it makes sense: Who has time for friendship when you have your business to run?

But here’s what happens when you put this diverse group together and show them new ways to grow their businesses, everyone (regardless of their type of business, their sales volume, the physical locations, or the number of businesses they own), starts percolating together.

It’s not enough to say that there’s an energy that spreads between the participants or a synergy that occurs when you mix these owners together. It’s more than that. When one entrepreneur meets another one, and they start discussing their challenges, I’ve found there is a natural inclination for owners to reach out when someone needs it.

“You’re an owner, just like me. You have a problem?”

“Here’s an idea that’ll help.”

Sometimes I just stand at the front of the room watching as one owner voices a concern she’s having, while another owner chimes in on how he overcame that same problem in a different industry. I watch as owners grow in confidence as they realize that regardless of their business-type or business sales volume, they have information that can help someone else in that room. And in just a matter of hours, I can watch owners who previously didn’t know each other start freely sharing their expertise with the person sitting next to them.

There are moments during every BootCamp where I just stop teaching and as I look out over the room, and I’m amazed at how such different businesses come together, learn together, and honestly share their success stories and business setbacks with each other.

Here’s one of the best stories from our March BootCamp: On the last day of class, Sarah, a retailer from Kansas who owns two retail stores, told me that she had met with Christi, a retailer from Texas who owns a chain of women’s clothing stores, and they had sat up talking until 11:30 at night, as they shared ideas, buying tips, and product sources with each other.

Here’s my challenge for you if you’re a business owner or an entrepreneur reading this blog: Starting today, look around and be aware of that owner down the street who might need some help or advice, who probably doesn’t know how to ask for it. Be aware that one single suggestion from you to a fellow business owner might be the breakthrough that an owner is looking for. From this day forward, instead of just saying hello and walking by a fellow business owner, take some time to engage. To share. To show you’re around, if help’s needed. And when you’re in need of assistance and you’re at wits end, the law of reciprocity will work for you, too, bringing help back your way.

The future of Mom and Pop businesses is extremely bright, especially when independent business owners take time to lend each other a hand, an ear to listen, and have each other’s backs.

Until next week,

Jon

A New Attitude Beats a Positive Attitude

February 5, 2014 in Destination BootCamp, General, Jon Schallert Blog, Small Business Advice by Jon Schallert

You’ve probably heard motivational speakers talk about the need to have a positive attitude.

With all due respect to Norman Vincent Peale, a positive attitude for independent business owners isn’t enough.

Today’s entrepreneurs need a New Attitude.

When business owners tell me they are dissatisfied with their business performance and they want more customer traffic and higher sales, I tell them this:

When you step into your business this morning, take a look around and realize that the business you occupy is entirely your own creation. Sure, maybe someone passed it down to you through the family, or you bought someone else’s business, or you’re running a franchise that has limits not of your own design, but the bottom line is: The business that surrounds you is what you’ve built, with your money, hard work, and vision.

You, as the owner, are the only one capable of changing your business in any significant way, and it begins with singular NEW moments of vision. These moments will only happen if you are willing to question what you have in front of you, and come up with something better. Something totally NEW.

As the owner, you cannot focus on all the reasons you feel your business hasn’t succeeded. You must focus on what you can control. It might be absolutely true that your city isn’t as business friendly as somewhere else, or that your Mayor has never spent a dime in your business, or that your downtown doesn’t have the parking garage that you feel it should have. But you must ignore these things! You are going to focus on what you can do right now that will increase your business performance and you are going to quit focusing your energy on areas that are out of your control. Doing so is a waste of time, and when a business needs help, time is a critical commodity.

Let me take a step back for those of you reading this who don’t know me: For the last 12 years, I’ve conducted a Destination Business BootCamp where business owners spend over two straight days with me, learning techniques to reinvent their businesses. And while the owners in that BootCamp class are as diverse a group as you’ll ever find sitting together for two days, there are two things these owners have in common:

#1: A willingness to learn, and

#2: A nagging dissatisfaction with their businesses.

And #2 is critical: For owners to move forward, they must reach a point of discontent where they want change to happen now, not sometime in the future.

If you’re a business owner, developing a NEW attitude is easy. Just look at those concrete components of your business that make you unhappy. Your store interior. Your front windows. Your advertising. Your marketing message. Your website. Your energy-sucking, waiting-to-be-told-what-to-do employees (I’ve heard some owners have these). You name it. Look at these tangible components and decide how you would like them to be. See them NEW and don’t compromise with your NEW vision. Be demanding! Be unreasonable! Be unrealistic! See it in your mind like you want it to be, and don’t settle for what you have.

Notice that I said look at those concrete components that you want to change. Don’t look at your sales growth and say, “I’m dissatisfied with my business sales and I want more revenue.” Wrong! Sales are a function of the concrete components you’ve created that aren’t operating effectively, and a reflection of the strategy you’re using to draw customers to you.

When owners change their components and change their strategy, guess what happens? Owners start walking in their doors every morning with a positive attitude.

But seeing your business NEW is the first key and this demands you bring some creative thinking to the table, taking a step back, and not settling for the business that’s in front of you.

You brought this business into the world. If you’re unhappy with the results, reimagine it as the business you’ve always wanted.

It’s a New Year: Quit Running

January 22, 2014 in Becoming a Destination Business, Destination BootCamp, General, Proactive Communities, Quit Running on Your Hamster Wheel by Jon Schallert

I’ve spoken and consulted in more downtowns in the United States (over 500), than any other business consultant , but one of my most memorable workshops happened in downtown Stamford Connecticut in April, 2003. That morning, before I addressed an audience of business owners, I decided to insert an image of a hamster running in its wheel. That image seemed to me to be similar to what I had seen owners doing, working extremely hard, endlessly repeating the same tasks, even though those tasks never helped them achieve the progress they wanted in their businesses.

When I flashed the image on the screen, an owner of a baby specialty store (where Katie Couric shopped, I remember him telling me), rose out of his seat and shouted: “That’s me!”

The audience roared. That little hamster resonated with owners.

Fast forward a few years. On a whim, I decided to see if anyone knew why hamsters ran endlessly on their wheels. And to my surprise, I discovered Dr. Chris Sherwin of the University of Bristol, School of Veterinary Sciences, who had published a paper on “Voluntary wheel running”.

Who knew there was an actual expert who studied why hamsters run on their wheels! Intrigued, I downloaded and read Dr. Sherwin’s 40+ page treatise and I’ll summarize it for you:

Dr. Sherwin found that hamster running occurs when a hamster is part of a “captive environment”, and it has an “urge to remove itself from its immediate area”. As they run, they perceive their activity as being “important”, and the running itself becomes “self-reinforcing”, causing them to continue spinning in circles, going nowhere. Finally, their running is “a result of feedback dysfunction”. They think they’re getting somewhere, but they aren’t.

So how does this apply to you and your business?

If you’re in business today, you have your own hamster wheel, and no owner (including me), has mastered how to escape the wheel completely. We all have a hamster wheel because our business models (the process by which companies provides value to customers and they, in turn, provide company revenue), doesn’t always operate correctly, efficiently, and at its optimum level of profitability.

My guess is that most of you have never looked at how you can alter your business model. You’ve just been doing it, day after day, week after week, and for some of you, year after year. It’s actually fascinating how an owner can create a business that year after year, generates about the same revenue as the last, and even more fascinating to me, how an owner can be annually as displeased with the results as the previous year, and still not change!

Want to change your business model. Here’s how to start, by asking yourself these four (4) key questions:

What parts of your business model are still operating efficiently and profitably, and meet your expectations? (Think of the parts of your business that you’re satisfied with.)
What parts of your business model are dysfunctional, inefficient, don’t create the revenue you want, or don’t make you happy?
What changes would have to happen in question #2, that by the end of 2013, we can list it under question #1 next year?
Finally, what would have to change in you for your business model to start working more efficiently and profitably? (By the way, if you have a spouse or partner who is also a decision-maker in your business, this includes the changes they would have to make, too).

2013 is gone, it’s a New Year, and you have a choice: If you’re not generating the revenue in your business that you want, it’s time to look at your business in its entirety and question everything that doesn’t produce the results you want. You built this business, you created your business model, and frankly, you’ve built your wheel. And you have the choice to change it.

You’re not a hamster. 2014’s the year to quit running on your wheel.

Registration is open for our March 4-6, 2014 Destination BootCamp. if you’re unhappy with your current business results, check it out by clicking here.