Page 219 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Recognition

store turn around and walk right out, not wanting to face
those long lines at the register. In my consulting practice
today, we call this missed opportunities.
At McDonald’s, when the lines started to grow, we’d
open another register. Think of this in today’s competitive
business climate. In the fast-food industry, it is worthwhile
to pay a person’s $10 hourly wage (use a realistic aver-
age) and ring up an extra $100 or more in sales. But con-
sider other retailers, such as in the home-improvement
sector, where the average customer receipt could be as
high as $70. You’re still paying that $10 hourly wage, but
the register is ringing up even bigger sales. It is investment
spending of the highest order. Do the math.
Of course, you can’t bring someone in for a one-hour
shift to handle a peak hour for sales. So you bring in
someone for a four-hour shift . . . you’re still ahead. 189
Enhance that strategy with a recognition program, and
you are bound to build loyalty with both your employees
and your customers. Quality and speed of service are
uncommon in most retail businesses today. Stand out.

“If we worked in a McDonald’s ourselves as crew, it was
indelible,” Fred Turner recently told me, when commenting
about leadership skills within the company. “We had every
respect for those working crew.”

Learning to Hustle
Back in 1966, I discovered this culture at McDonald’s without
really understanding it when I first started there at age 16 work-
ing crew. At the time, I fretted over whether I had the skills to