An Open Letter to the CEO of SEARS

Sears

Dear Mr. Ed Lampert,

When you took over as CEO of Sears I assumed you were hoping to make a lot of money and that you were the man for the job. As a small business and franchise consultant, I see a lot of guys who think they can handle the job. As a successful hedge fund manager, it is easy to see how you can take the leap from understanding spreadsheets to thinking that you had a handle on the pulse of retail. After all, there are spreadsheets at Sears.

I watched with great interest as Sears has turned from a family place to shop into a thrift store.  That is what you were working to make it into isn’t it? A smart, successful man like you can’t walk around Sears and think that you wanted people with real money to spend any of it there, so it must be a call to gather all the Walmart shoppers who want to visit a mall setting. Thrift Store in a mall! Genius!

I especially like the way you keep payroll down so you can add more to the bottom line. It took me forever to find someone to allow me to spend over $100 on a new battery for my car. This, I further assume, was to make me wander around the store searching for an employee so I could find more things to buy. I threw out my back carrying the battery, but I did see lots and lots of things on clearance. I will have to add a new rule to my Bulldog Rules for Business – “Make ’em wait!”

Your new tagline is “Life. Well Spent.” I get it now. I can’t spend money at Sears, but I can spend my life trying to find someone to help me. That old tagline, “The softer side of Sears”, was for wusses. Make ’em work to give you money! That must be the best strategy.

When I did find someone to help me he was helping someone else and I had to wait more. More genius! When he was done and the other customer wandered away, I was told I had to wait more since he needed to put paperwork in a little bin somewhere behind a wall. I am not sure what that was for since all he said was, “I’ll be back”, but it was apparently more important than me and my money. Whatever you told that guy his job was, he did it well. I waited for more than 10 minutes and then left.

There are many places to buy a car battery, but there is only one Sears. I think you can be proud of that. No one can be as service-oriented as you and your team. I can tell that you have them all trained that way. The recruiting and training process must be intense. Proud!

As I finish my letter to you, Mr. Lampert, I want to thank you for showing me what it takes to run a big box retailer. I know I am not ready for that level of, um, success. As for you, my retail friend, be ready for more success as things seem to be moving faster than you anticipate. Your spreadsheets can’t tell you the future. They only look at what has already happened. But, from what I saw, I can tell you things will be exciting this year. Exciting!

Sincerely,

Bob Griffin – Bulldog-in-Chief
Business Bulldog, LLC
Bob@BusinessBulldog.com

P.S. I will be happy to talk with you personally anytime, Ed. As a fee for my services, you’ll have to buy me one of those sweet clearance shirts that I can’t look at directly without getting dizzy.

Reaching Goals Without Money

 

I failed. I admit it. I failed.

I wanted to help franchisees in Atlanta, GA raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network and I did not hit my goal. The funds were to be used to buy equipment that would help in the rehabilitation process when a child loses a limb and needs to relearn how to move to get around, grab an object, or even dance. And, I failed to raise the money.

What happened? Why did I not get the donations that would buy the tools kids needed to live full lives? I was focused on the wrong things. How many times have you had a goal and you failed to reach it? Every person fails to reach a goal. It is human nature to push for goals. We all want to win. But, somewhere along the line we miss the mark because we misspent our capital.

You can spend money or time and effort to reach a goal. You can hire people to help you reach your goals. Money goes a long way to covering ground when you want to stand on the top of the mountain and declare a win. As for me, I was looking to raise funds, so it seemed to be counter productive to spend money to raise it. Just like in the model where money is spent to reach a goal, you can find others to help you. I spent my own time and effort to reach the goal and I didn’t look for others to help me.

What would I do differently?

  • Get the message right.  I had a lot of good ideas, but I was a mess when I was asked to explain the process of raising funds.  Figure out, in the shortest way possible, the words to explain what you are doing, why, and where someone can help donate.
  • Ask others to get the word out.  I tried this, but didn’t get the power players involved to give it a strong push.  I should have asked the executive team to mention it in their circles.
  • Look for people who have the same goal.  Reach out on social media and ask.  Combining your goal with someone else’s goal doesn’t diminish your goal.  It makes it bigger.  If you can partner with someone to reach an even bigger goal, do it!
  • Make it easy to find you.  I set up a Facebook page and sent everyone there.  I also set up a Twitter account.  I was bad at keeping them updated.  Spend time each day updating your social media accounts.  Giving someone a consistent message shows them you are serious and organized.
  • Celebrate the people who are helping you.  Speak to them often and in front of the rest of the group.  I should have thanked the group who joined my cause and asked for updates on who they talked to about it.  That way, they would know I would ask and be open to having a discussion with someone new so they could talk with me about it.

Reaching a goal is a tough proposition when you don’t create the plan.  I didn’t plan well and I didn’t hit my goal.  Save yourself from the same fate.  Plan, follow up and implement changes to keep on track.  The biggest thing to remember is that you don’t have to reach for goals alone.  In fact, asking for help is easier now than ever before and there are always people ready to help.  Even halfway across the world, people are ready to help.

What have you failed at and was it money or time and effort that would have made the difference?

Bob Griffin
Questions@businessbulldog.com