Americans are so darn smart
Appell Pie
May 2021
In the pandemic months beginning in March of 2020 people from all over the world have had their lives turned upside down and sideways too. Some have endured the loss of a parent, friend or relative yet the will to live carries us forward. The will to survive in business and life itself is extremely strong and creates achievements never thought of before.
The year 2021 has shown us that if we collectively set out to solve a problem we can do it in this country.
The word pivot has been used by business people when asked, what is the one thing you had to do to survive these tumultuous times? Pivot in business is defined as fundamentally changing the direction of a business when you realize the current products or services aren’t meeting the needs of the market. The main goal of a pivot is to help a company improve revenue or survive in the market, but the way you pivot your business can make all the difference. (Google Search) www.google.com
Working remotely has changed the way we will be doing business well into the foreseeable future. Zoom type meetings have substituted for person to person meetings and sales calls. The remote call has its pluses and minuses. The plus is that your reach has grown substantially to cities and people around the world without the expense and time of travel.
I recently was in a Zoom Networking call and the speaker was critiquing our “1 minute elevator pitch” The speaker asked us to pivot from the normal name, telephone number and description, which is fine but we were asked to add a short story about one of our successes. I thought about it and I remembered a situation when one of our steady advertisers called me and yelled into the phone. “Don’t ever ask me if I want to renew my ad, I just made a sale in Miami of over one hundred thousand dollars, just run the **@#%** thing” As I regained my composure I shared his success with a feeling of pride to know that we helped him get the sale.
Upon further thought I realized that my successes have always involved pivots. Most of the pivots were caused by outside circumstances, but change was required to maintain my business and sometimes personal life. We pivoted in 2001 when terrorism took center stage. In 2008 during the financial crisis and business almost took a knockout punch we pivoted in 2009 and redesigned the look of the newspaper and our website. In 2018 after twenty two years of publishing in print we pivoted again to an all-digital format and redesigning our website yet again. We added Email marketing, Restaurant Leads Reports and Networking meetings. In 2020 we along with the rest of the world, pivoted again to Zoom Networking meetings and added a second weekly meeting. Each time we pivoted we got better.
Imagine the pivots yet to come by companies like Tesla, Amazon, and other technology companies and yes, even restaurants. The changes to the labor force are forcing companies to pivot from humans to robots, self- driving delivery cars and drones. Beam me up Scotty. I can’t wait to pivot again and get even better.
For more industry related news visit www.trnusa.com
About Today’s Restaurant News
Today’s Restaurant News is now a digital trade newspaper for the restaurant industry, celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary in 2021. Publisher, Howard Appell has been in the foodservice industry since 1977 as a manufacturer of restaurant equipment, equipment and supply dealership, manufacturer’s rep and publisher. To reach him by email howard@trnusa.com or phone 561 620-8888 www.trnusa.com For more industry related news visit www.trnusa.com
Recent Comments