You don’t have to be a fortune 500 (or even a fortune 500,000) company to take advantage of these tips for good business practice. In fact, some of the best small businesses have evolved and succeeded by implementing some of these principles.
I will be using the restaurant industry as anecdotal examples throughout this article, but you will see that the principles below apply to any industry. Maybe you will identify some restaurants in your area that aren’t following these tips. Watch them struggle for business, and ultimately close down as a result.
Know-How is Not Enough.
Just because you’re an expert in your field doesn’t mean that you have what it takes to be a business owner. When you hang out that open sign on day one, it is unlikely that customers will flock to you right away just because you know what you’re doing. You’ll need marketing and administration (at the very least) to grease the wheels of your company.
How many chefs or self-professed foodies have you met or known to open a restaurant because they love food and cooking, only to have it close down months or years later because people weren’t beating a path to their door when they opened? Making good food isn’t enough; people have to know about it to experience it. You also have to run a tight ship financially, which requires the advice of tax and financial experts, and ultimately an experienced general manager at the helm.
Hire the Right People.
If you are technically proficient in your field but lack marketing knowledge and expertise for example, then be prepared to hire the right people to fill in the blanks. This will start the trend of people beating a path to your door. The next trick is to keep them coming back and referring their friends.
Don’t Hire your Friends!
This may seem obvious to some, yet I’ve seen it done over and over again. Not only can it compromise (and in some cases destroy) a perfectly good friendship, but it can do the same to the business.
Sometimes, it works. But hire with caution, and a heck of a lot of communication (both in the friendship and business). Be prepared to wear different hats while at work and after work.
Don’t Make Snap Decisions. Planning Strategy is Everything.
I have an acquaintance who recently stepped in as part-owner of a restaurant. The restaurant is well-situated and ultimately successful, but with a slow-down in businesses in the area, they have to work extra hard to keep enough customers walking through the door and keep them leaving happy.
After one particularly harrowing night when everybody in town decided it was the place to dine and not enough wait staff were scheduled, their patio was drowned out with rain, and one of their head chefs walked out, the owners made some snap decisions during the aftermath. One of their decisions was to double the number of wait staff on shift all the time. It is my feeling that they didn’t truly see this idea through to conclusion before implementing it; they now characteristically have way more wait staff than necessary on shift. The hourly wages paid out are increasing exponentially (and unnecessarily). Each servers’ share of the tips has significantly decreased, and often a number of them get cut before the night is over. The restaurant will likely lose their best servers because of this.
You may say “so? Big deal. Hire more servers,” but servers are the front lines of a restaurant. Poorly trained or inexperienced servers can be the death of a perfectly good restaurant; retaining the good ones is crucial. This was a snap decision may be a critically detrimental one.
Hiring/Promoting From Within isn’t Always Good.
Although promoting from within encourages staff to “reach for the stars” and gives certain personality types something to work for, it isn’t a good idea to categorically hire from within. Sometimes the skill sets just aren’t there within the existing employee base.
A bar/restaurant I know of only hires bartenders from within. If a server has proven themselves with blood, sweat, and tears, they may be so lucky to be promoted to bartender. Sadly though, servers and bartenders are not one and the same. The skills are not transferable, and not all servers understand the finer points of tending a busy bar. Hence, their bartenders are more often than not under-skilled and unprepared for being in the trenches. They don’t have mixology knowledge at their fingertips, they can’t make drinks quickly, and they don’t have the rhythm to manage a fast-paced bar when it gets crowded. They are simply thrown into the fire and made to survive by trial & error or go down in flames, ultimately quitting or being fired.
They are losing business because they insist on promoting servers from within to become incompetent bartenders, instead of hiring proficient bartenders to begin with. And when you’re running a busy bar, a good bartender is an essential element to make things run smoothly.
Good Business is in Consistency.
This could be the very key itself to good business practice. If you do nothing else, be consistent. E-Myth is an excellent book by Michael Gerber centered around this crucial concept.
Consistency is what franchises are built around. McDonald’s pioneered and epitomizes this idea. When you walk into a McDonald’s anywhere in the world, you know exactly what you are going to get when you order a quarter pounder, right down to the exact ingredients, quantities, and order of toppings.
A fledgling restaurant I worked for many years ago liked to think it was fancier than it was. The chef often played around with both presentation and ingredients for their standard entrees, thinking that he was adding variety and constantly improving upon the dish. Unfortunately when I ordered the salmon I never knew how spicy it was going to be, what it came with, and even how it was prepared. You don’t create a loyal clientele or repeat business with discrepancies; you do so with dependability and consistency.
With consistency, professionalism, proper planning of strategies, and alignments with the experts, you can run a top-notch successful business. Don’t reinvent the wheel, or ever find yourself saying “my business is different, I don’t have to follow that rule”. Because the wheel is pretty darn efficient, and I’m sorry to say, your business just isn’t that different. Good business management equals good business. Period.
译文:
建立有效商业管理机制的六条建议
即使你并非世界500强企业（或者连50万强也不是）也可以借鉴以下建议来实现良好的商业运作。事实上，很多小型企业已经采用了这些建议并且取得了成功。
下面我将列举餐饮业的一些事例，你会发现这些建议适用于各个行业。或许在你周围的餐馆没有参照这些建议，他们正艰难度日，直到关门大吉。
只有专业知识远远不够
即使你是某个领域的专家也并不意味着具备了建立企业的能力。如果在开业第一天展示了你的专业技能，顾客也不一定会因此蜂拥而至。你需要实行有效的市场营销及管理策略促进公司的发展。
我们认识的有多少主厨或者是自诩美食家因为喜欢做饭，喜欢吃就去开饭店？结果几个月以后就门庭冷落最后只好关门。仅能制作美食远远不够，还需要了解、感受这个行业。要建立严格的财务团队，需要税务顾问、财务专家和一名经验丰富的总经理。
聘对人
如果你熟练掌握专业技术知识但缺乏营销经验，那么就要雇到合适的人来弥补了。这样才有可能招揽到顾客，使他们再度光顾，并把你的店铺推荐给朋友。
勿聘朋友
许多人都很清楚这一点，但是还有很多人聘用朋友。这样做不仅会伤害（有时是毁灭）友谊，而且也会对企业带来坏处。
或许这样做也有好处，但是要小心，并且一定要多交流（不管是公是私）。要准备好在工作和私交时扮演不同的角色。
勿匆忙决定，计划策略最重要
我的一个朋友最近合伙开了一家餐馆，餐馆的位置很好，经营也非常成功。但是随着区域商业普遍不景气，他们必须加倍努力，以招揽更多的顾客并使他们满意而归。
有一天晚上，来吃饭的人很多，但是饭店人手不够，平台上又积满了水，实在没有办法，一位主厨出来帮忙，在这种糟糕的情形下，老板匆忙做了一些决定。其中一个就是，大量增加服务员数量，24小时轮班。然而我认为，在实行这个制度之前，他们并没有充分考虑到后果。现在，服务员人数大大超过了实际需求，小时工资成倍增加，这些支出完全是没有必要的。另一方面，服务员的小费大量减少，很多人的收入都大打折扣。因此，饭店很可能失去一些优秀的服务人员。
也许你已经看出来了，雇更多的服务员是一笔很大的开销，而且并不划算，服务质量是一家饭店的门面，素质低或者没有经验的服务人员很可能使一个近乎完美的饭店垮台，留住合格的人员非常关键。因此，上述举例中，老板的仓促决定对饭店发展及其有害。
勿经常内部聘用/提升雇员 虽然内部提升可能激励雇员努力工作，节节高升，为他们的工作提供精神动力，但经常这样做并不好。因为有时候，这些员工并不能满足我们的需求。
我知道的一家酒吧，就只从内部聘用招待员。如果一个服务员肯卖力气干活，那么就很有可能升为招待员。但是，服务员和招待员并不是一回事。这两种工作不能互相转换，因为并不是所有的服务员都懂得如何在一个繁忙的酒吧里工作。因此，那些内部聘用的招待员常常不能胜任这样繁忙的工作。他们不知道如何使客人喝的更快，如何在人多的时候把握住客人更替节奏，他们只能冒冒失失，摸着石头过河，直到最后坚持不下去或被辞退。
他们之所以失败就是因为总是从内部挑选不合格的招待人员，而不是从外面聘用能胜任这项工作的人。要经营一家生意好的酒吧，优秀的招待员必不可少。
保持一致性
这一点对于做好生意来说，至关重要。
即使上面的几项都做不到，那务必坚持这一点。在Michael Gerber 的名为
E-Myth的书中对一致性问题作了详细的阐述。
获得连锁经营权的企业必须遵循一致性原则。麦当劳是这方面的先驱，给我们做了很好的榜样。我们在世界上任何一个麦当劳，只要点的东西的数量，成份，佐料相同，就能知道我们会吃到什么。
几年前我在一家刚开业的饭店工作，那里的人很是自命不凡。厨师经常胡乱改变主菜的样式和原料，自认为是在增加菜品样式，提高质量。但是，当我点鲑鱼的时候，我不知道这个菜怎么样，什么原料，怎样制成的。这样的不一致性不会形成顾客忠诚度，也就不会有重复消费。只有保持可信性与一致性，才能保证这种顾客忠诚度。
有了一致性，专业知识，适当的计划策略和行业专家，一定会在商业运行中取得成功。不要试图彻底改变这些建议，或者认为“我的企业与众不同，不需要遵循这些条文”。因为这些建议非常有效，而且你的企业也没什么不同。有了好的商业管理机制就一定会获得成功。全文完。