What Can You Learn About Business From An Indy 500 Pit Crew

Learn About Business From An Indy 500 Pit Crew

You can learn a lot about how to run your business better by looking outside your industry. “Small Business Stacey” shares what you can learn about business from an Indy pit crew. #SmallBizMarketingWiz #ASmallBizLife

Marketing in 2 Minutes or Less: Learn About Business From An Indy 500 Pit Crew

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Here’s the transcript:

What does an Indy Pit Crew have to do with your marketing? I’ll be talking about it today in Marketing in Two Minutes or Less.

Hey, everybody, Small Business Stacey here. In my book, Small Business Marketing Made EZ, I talk about the different approaches that small business owners take when it comes to their marketing. There are a few of them, but the one that is the absolute worst, and unfortunately, most small business owners do it is what I call Ant Marketing. Imagine a row of ants and you’re just following what everybody else does, but no idea where you’re going or where you’re going to end up. This is what so many small business owners do.

Hank’s Heating and Air Conditioning is running a value pack, so everybody else in the industry does the same. Susie’s Hair Salon runs a 50% off coupon, so, every other nail salon does the same. Small business owners tend to follow and emulate what people in their industry are doing, and it’s such a bad strategy because it’s probably not working and everybody’s just sort of dumbing down their industry and creating really bad expectations for the customers, clients and patients.

So, what does that have to do with an Indy Pit Crew? Well, the CEO of Southwest Airlines realized that he only makes money when his planes are up in the air. When they’re down on the ground, they were taking 45 minutes to an hour to get them cleaned and ready for the next flight to go. So, he wanted more planes up in the air. How could he do that? He went outside of his industry to figure out how to do that. He didn’t look at what the other airlines were doing. He actually went to an Indy Pit Crew and had them come in and help them really streamline their process because nobody changes things faster than an Indy Pit Crew. It’s so amazing just to watch how they do that. I was there at the Indy 500 and it was just shocking. It was just amazing how boom in seconds, they change the tire, change the oil, got the car, just boom. Ready to go.

So, Herb Kelleher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines was brilliant by going outside of his industry to thinking how he can then relate this to what they’re doing. Of getting more planes up in the air and it worked. So, while the average airline takes 45 minutes to an hour to change a plane, Southwest Airlines does it in under 20 minutes. While every other airline is only getting, I think, five flights per gate out a day, Southwest Airlines has more than doubled that. 10.5 flights a day, and so, therefore you know, the more flights that go out the more money you make.

So, today’s marketing lesson is, think like an Indy Pit Crew. How can you think outside of your industry to do things better, different, and faster. I’d love to hear your comments. Leave me one below. This is Small Business Stacey, your Small Biz Marketing Specialist, here to help you get your marketing into action and help you become a Small Biz Marketing Wiz.

This is Small Business Stacey, your Small Biz Marketing Specialist here to help you get your marketing into action and help you become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz.