CheckIn with a Geek: Recent Episodes
Pankaj Lad
I am a mid-size hotel operator trying to focus on what matters - my bottom line. Listen to my daily struggles and triumphs as I navigate the waters of entrepreneurship. Come join my journey and let's sail thru adventures together.
I discuss Harvard Business Review's article The True Measure of Success by Michael J. Mauboussin. In this article Mauboussin discusses how sometimes the obvious business driver like Revenues can lead to the wrong overall objective.
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2022! And a huge congratulations for getting thru 2021! You made it! Now let's dig in to 2022.
How can you change the culture within your organization? Can you call an all hands meeting and starting chanting your vision? Let's dig in and explore what might happen
With current market conditions, wages increases are inevitable. However, does your staff know what it takes to fund this wage increase? Let's break this down into numbers that your staff can understand.
I discuss how adding services to an existing service or product can create a sticky situation where subscribers will not want to cancel their subscription.
What happens when your business software resources gets taken down for an upgrade? What is your plan?
I watched a documentary on Netflix about Nirmal Purja. A young Nepalese man who climbed Fourteen 8000m tall mountains within 7months! A crazy, bold, audacious goal!
Kellog's just learned that their company's culture is transparent - you can't hide your toxic culture now. I share how the Reddit community is stuffing Kellog's HR Inbox with more than 2 scoops of raisens!
Here are some takeaways from better.com CEO's approach to laying off 900 employees over a zoom call!
Wow - it's been 2yrs since we had a company holiday party. It was so much fun and I would love to share my takeways with everyone.
As I record and publish Episode 100, I reflect on our journey and look forward to sharing more in future episodes!
In our company's newletter, Mel Kleiman's techniques for winning the war for workers was featured. I walk thru some of the basic elements of each item.
We always want that perfect solution - but perhaps we can solve 80% of our problem with a little tweak in a short amount of time vs. waiting years for the 100% solution.
Today I share with you a situation where persistance paid off for one of my kids. My daughter desparately wanted to join a holiday float but that float was full. Listen to how I draw analogies to our own small business with this family situation.
I share a story from my college days where my room mate and I attempted at saving money but ended up spending more!
I look at Simon Sinek's principle his teaches in his book titled Start with Why to better understand how to ask our customers to write a review.
I discuss a breakfast experience at another hotel that my family experienced while on vacation. This hotel learned from the pandemic and pivoted to improve their breakfast service - hopefully permanently.
Nov 30, 2021 was David Kong's last day as CEO for Best Western Hotels and Resorts. Dec 1 represents his first day towards his next endeavor. Let's wish him great success with whatever lies ahead for him. Thank you David for your hard work and committment to Best Western and the Best Western family. We sincerely Thank You for all of your hard work!
I just visited Orlando, Florida with my family. My wife and I decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Disney World. But I couldn't have planned it by myself. I had the help of Fairytale Journeys by Monica. Monica is a travel agent and an expert with Disney vacations. Listen to how my family's planning stresses were reduced by her services. Contact her at monica@fairytalejourneysbymonica.com or visit her website at http://www.fairytalejourneysbymonica.com
Today we have a special guest host - Mr. Shital Patel from the Upside Down Perspective podcast. Here is a special edition that he recorded just for all of you.
I discuss using the teachings from a senior mechanical engineering class and apply it to your small business. Let's Dig In!
I will share my experience with a meeting with a technology dept and see how I can draw parallels with your possible interactions with your own franchisor or parent company.
On today's episode I discuss how I met a retired Air Force pilot that can do magic to oriental rugs. He operates Khalil's Oriental Rug Workshop based here in Carrollton, TX. He has become quite the oriental and persian rug expert and takes great pride in his work. If you need a rug professionally cleaned or repaired he is the man for the job. Contact him at www.orientalrugworkshop.com or call him at 972-416-4040. He will be fair and honest with the work.
We always talk about that one employee that we had that left and now we can never replace... well let's see what Disney World and the platinum rule have in common. Join me in today's episode where I share a story of my kids teaching me a valuable lesson.
Let's discuss how we can look at scheduling our staff or team in a way that works better for them. I talk about this website called whenIwork.com . check it out as it will allow you and your team to easier communicate scheduling posts and upcoming scheduling changes.
I was recently interviewed by the Change of Altitude podcast hosted by Greg Adams. I share a short overview of my interview and some key take aways. Be sure you listen to the actual interview here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1826463/9513875
We sometimes have a very hostile relationship with our franchisor. It's not a very joyful relationship at times. But how can we make this relationship different? Can we use what we have learned so far to make something useful?
What is your escape from your day to day work? Do you have a place you can go to take a mental and possible physical break from your work?
With the isolation and reduction in travel over the past 18months, this Veteran's Day is extra special. So a special salute of Thanks to all of those veterans in our lives.
Be sure to visit www.GeekBusinessTools.com for resources and tools to help increase your profit!
Our fax printer copier died today and I had to replace it - at 5pm! LOL! So here is a quick recap of my journey as I am purchasing a new unit.
Be sure to visit www.GeekBusinessTools.com for resources and tools to help increase your profit!
I discuss how my electricity vendor saved us some serious cash in 2020 by signing a contract 5years before! Who knew how important this contract would be!
To reach my contact at EnergyBy5.com reach out to Taylor at taylor.duncan@energyby5.com or call her at 512-565-4174
Be sure to visit www.GeekBusinessTools.com for resources and tools to help increase your profit!
I want to share what could happen when a large volume customer finally gives you a shot and then challenges you.
We spoke about workplace culture - but what does that mean? Here are 2 examples I share with everyone.
73 episodes later and I decide to tell all of you why I called this podcast Checkin with a Geek
With the current staffing crisis, we think the only knob we control is the compensation knob. But have we been ignoring the culture knob? How does this affect your employee moral?
My resource directory webpage www.GeekBusinessTools.com is live and ready for action. I will be using this site to post links to various tools and resources that I discuss in my podcast.
I had discussed nametags before. Now, let's look at how a staff's uniform could be looked at thru the lens of a customer.
I had asked my staff about name badges and I ended up looking at snapchat! Let's dig in and understand why!
Your time is valuable. Are you spending it on mudane tasks that are not your forte? Take a look at a site called Fiverr.com and use it to oursource some of your graphic design and/or audio/video editing tasks that you should not do in house.
We spoke about falling in love with your solution... now let's talk about choosing the BEST solution!
I look at how business to business lead generation could be so much more than just interrupting someone's day at work. Let's figure out how we can provide value to someone else so they enjoy your contact the next time.
I wanted to share with everyone what is happening with that abandoned building next door to us.
I received feedback from ACME Roofing - from Jody himself and I share with all of you what he said regarding Episode 30.
I look at an old 1999 interview with Jeff Bezos discussing how his expansion strategy didn't align with Wall Street's expectations.
Let's continue our journey about the RFM report and share with you how we can use this tool to increase our bottom line.
We are conducting experiments on our breakfast and started asking Why and we may have ended up somewhere else!
Can you focus on all of our customers or just a portion of your customers? Which portion would you focus on?
Sometimes we are frustrated with a situation and we want to start with a blank slate, but does this create new problems that we haven't thought about?
So I fell into a trap but now here are some more learnings I have had around the topic of TVs
We all get busy at our workplaces, but sometimes we need to take the time to show a little appreciation to the ones super dedicated to their jobs.
We discuss TV sizes in a previous episode - now let's figure out if it is going to impact our bottom line.
If we are part of a brand, sometimes these brands will ask you to make capital improvements. I explore a recent improvement plan that my hotel brand is thinking about making.
I spoke about alignment in a before episode - well let's talk thru some specific examples of alignment and how we could move the need together!
Kiosks are supposed to reduce your labor cost. What could go wrong? Could you labor costs actually go up?
Why your bottom line matters? Because that's why we are in business! Let's rally and focus around this one aspect.
Managing sales accounts can be a difficult task - let's see how we can use some old tested tools to cut thru this fog!
Brand level discussions can be hard if the right alignment is lacking. Then discussions go in circles.
I look at when interior design needs to be good enough to earn repeat customer business. But sometimes we as owners feel we need to take things over the top - which could lead to a diminishing bottomline.
Being a good neighbor is so important. You never know when you will need help. I discuss how a business neighbor was very combative to our start and how it has ended up.
I look at how pivoting with your business could mean the difference between survival and boarding up your business.
Let's look at business reviews and dig deeper about a journey with Shital Patel with Upside Down Perspective podcast
I was able to attend HITEC 2021 here in Dallas, TX today and it was really neat. I talk about two key areas of what I observed and share my thoughts.
Let's not loose focus on giving feedback to our staff. A little feedback goes a long way.
In all of our businesses we always ask for customer data, but what do we do with it? Are we setting up for high expectations from our guest? If we don't deliver, do we end up disappointing our customers?
I know all of you have suffered from new hires that ghost you or not show up after a few days. It's frustrating. So let's see if we can apply a framework to help attract the right candidates and reject those that just want to play games.
Getting a reputable roofer is always tough - but you can count on ACME Roof Systems here in the DFW Metro area. Call Jody at 817-281-1150 - they will treat you right!
Anyone who has opened a business has gone thru many hard ships - especially opening a hotel. I share with you what happened to me the day we opened our hotel.
Customers can be very, very demanding. But sometimes it's worth listening to their pain points to really deepen your relationship and generate profits along the way.
Let's take a look at discount websites and see if they really can drive profitable business to you. If used the wrong way, we could end up hooked on drugs with no profitable source of business.
Does your website have a website? Ah perfect, well now you can rest easy because life is great, right? Not really. It's like having a billboard but where you put it matters. Let's go thru what businesses have to grapple with on a ongoing basis to see how we can help.
Wow I can't believe I made it to episode 25! Let's see where we go together and THANK YOU for coming along.
Do you have advertising contracts that coming up for renewal? How do you know if it is working? I have a situation with an upcoming ad that I want to share with you. Let's look thru this together.
I look at our franchisee and franchor relationships can get frustrated at times. Perhaps there is a better way to move forward.
We all have heard that it is good to attrack customers - but what about rejecting customers. When would you reject customers?
We all have received some free yummy treats at our place of work from a vendor. Question is did you remember who brought these for you! Let's dig into this episode about food as a sales tool.
When our next door neighbor helps me out of a jam - it makes me appreciate the community near our hotel, the Best Western Plus Duncanville . I share a story of the headaches of renovating our hotel and then a next door business comes to our rescue! Please be sure to check out
The Furniture Shop
930 E Hwy 67,
Duncanville, TX 75137
972-572-0939
www.thefurnitureshopdfw.com
We all have vendors that support our businesses, but how do you measure success their success? Is it just pricing? I share a story of how one business here in Duncanville took the time to understand our business and reduced the impact of downtime to our hotel while we made the updates to some guestroom furniture. I highly recommend using:
Upholstery by Bonilla
424 N Main St
Duncanville, TX 75116
Call them at 972-283-8505
I make a short announcment about how I plan to share the tools I'm using with all of you! Stay tuned!
We all hear about cutting the cord. What does that mean? Well I experiment with this at my own home and realize something basic - I didn't pay attention to my audience! Let's see how this applies to our businesses as well.
All of our businesses are multifaceted - but if we don't focus on the basics, we could lose customers.
We all have to do mundane tasks like vehicle inspections - why not have a little treat at the same time. I saw how a local business recogized their parade of customers and decided to increase sales by merely offering a little value to their inspection process.
Check out: Inspection Express, 703 S Main St, Duncanville, TX 75137
972-572-2200
https://goo.gl/maps/sxtFwTHJA1wsEnHn7
Vehicle Inspection Express https://fastestinspection.com/
Have you tried to get an ice cream at McDonald's lately? It's been a long battle between franchise owners and McDonald's. Buying in bulk should be better, right? Let's look at when a bulk purchase or single source for equipment can go bad for owners.
People are so important to any business - especially all of those small retail businesses out there. I discuss my family's Friday night pizza ritual and discuss how I explored a new pizza restaurant in our neighborhood. Click here to check out Zalat Pizza
Ryan Levesque wrote Ask where he teaches his principle of using surveys to generate revenue. Most surveys that I've encountered typically allow you to vent - or complain. But how many surveys have you taken that acutally help sell a better product to you.
I describe how we experiemented with different placements of our drink display in order to increase sales.
I explore how your stream of customers could be worth something to another complementary business. The partnership together could offer more value to your customers. This is the ultimate win. Let's explore this example together.
As hotels experience an epic staffing crisis, rehiring will occur. I look at applying lessons from Jim Collins Good to Great with respect to building teams and really looking inwards and asking yourself - Do I have the right people on my bus?
Our brand is considering upgraded coffee as a new amenity. I ask, how will this improve my bottom line?
This past weekend a large hurricane came thru the Gulf of Mexico and I discuss how this effects our hotel staff.
The staffing a hotel is never easy and I explore some learnings about our Front Desk hiring process.
The housekeepers at any hotel are the hardest working group of staff. But their job has suffered amenity creep over the past 2 decades yet operators have not changed. I explore some observations and implement some changes to help address staff turn over.
Let's explore the purpose of hotel loyalty programs and understand their costs and who is paying for these costs.
I explore why measurements today can get fuzzy and not track what really matters. I reference Measure What Matters by John Doerr .