Monday (December 7), the winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award were announced. And the winners are:

• Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies:  Kansas City, Missouri (Manufacturing)
• Midway USA;  Columbia, Missouri (Small Business)
• Heartland Health; Saint Joseph, Missouri (Health Care)
• AtlantiCare; Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey (Health Care)
• VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy; Albuquerque, New Mexico

Notice anything about the winners?  Let me help you out.  Three of the five winners were from the state of Missouri.  I don’t like to brag, but it is my blog so I’ll brag if I want to.  Quality improvement is running rampant here in the Heartland of America.

It’s the first time in the history of the award that three organizations from the same state have won in the same year.  The three awards tie Missouri with Texas (a slightly larger state) for the most award recipients.

All three Missouri Baldrige winners are past recipients of the Missouri Quality Award.  Did I mention that I’m an examiner for MQA?

Congratulations to all five winners!

The Baldrige is no beauty contest.  It takes a lot of hard work by a dedicated team and committed management to win the nation’s top quality award.  But the trophy is secondary to the impact that the Baldrige process has on an orgaznization.  There’s a lot of good information on improving your processes and results on the Baldrige web site, the MQA site, or on the site of your local award program.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment here or you can email me.

Christmas Lights at Silver Dollar City

I spent an extended weekend in Branson, MO, injecting myself with a megadose of Christmas spirit.  For those who don’t know, Branson is one of the few places in the world where belief in God and country isn’t just a good thing, it’s the only thing.

Branson is also a shopper’s paradise.  Three outlet malls, a high-end shopping promenade along the lake front, and hundreds of small retail establishments  mean that you can shop ’til you drop and still not get it all in.  Naturally, you would expect the crowds to be small what with the recession and all.  WRONG!

We stayed in our second-choice motel because our first choice was full.  “No Vacancy” signs were visible all over town.  There was a long traffic backup just to get on the parking lot of the largest of the three outlet malls on Saturday morning.  The stores were full and people were carrying packages.

Maybe people were spending less than usual.  Maybe they were attracted to the outlets for their lower prices.  I can’t say.  But the non-outlet stores were just as busy.

One amazing sight was the Coach outlet store.  For the men in the crowd, Coach sells purses at outrageously high prices.  For most people, buying a Coach purse will mean that you won’t have any money left to put in it.  But, I digress.

Again, maybe it’s the discount prices.  But even at an outlet store, a Coach purse is definitely a luxury purchase.  But there was a line outside waiting to get into the  store!  There was a “bouncer” at the door, only admitting a customer when one left.  It looked more like an upscale nightclub in a big city than an outlet store in the Missouri Ozarks.  Amazing!

Make no mistake, people are spending money.  How much money remains to be seen.  But it’s out there.

It’s unfortunate that the media have chosen this particular name for the day that often makes or breaks an American  retailer’s year.  It is the day when many retailers bottom line changes from red ink to black, but the term still has a negative connotation for many people.  In fact, depending on the outcome of today’s business, it may really be a black Friday for some.

Of course, we hope it’s a great day, especially for small business.  Personally I will avoid the malls like the plague.  But my lovely and talented wife and I will spend the afternoon and evening shopping the independent shops on Main Street in Saint Charles, MO.  It’s a “tradition” that we started last year.  The crowds are smaller, and much friendlier, than the rampaging mobs that started surging through the chains as early as midnight this morning.

There are just as many bargains to be had, and the gifts tend to be much more personal, some even personalized, compared to the “Made in China” stuff found elsewhere.

So, here’s hoping that it’s a good day for all of our independent retail friends and the beginning of a successful Christmas shopping season.  That’s all for now.  I’m off to do my part in boosting the economy.

I spent the last two mornings helping set up for a charity auction.  The Poor Clare nuns hold an annual auction to help pay for the expansion of their monastery.  That’s right.  They’re actually expanding.  Reports of the demise of religious orders is greatly exaggerated.  Some orders are actually doing quite well.  But that’s a topic for another time and another place.

Here’s the thing.  There were more people helping over the last two days than there are nuns at the monastery.  How does this happen?  Why are so many people willing to give up their time to help out?

Obviously the volunteers support the nuns’ mission.  The Poor Clares are a Franciscan order and they have a lot of friends.  Their mission of peace resonates with people all around the world.  A lot of people are willing to give their time, their talent, and their treasure to support it.

So how’s this help you?  Unless you’re running a nonprofit, it’s not likely that people are going to work for you for free.  But how often have we seen friends and neighbors rally around a business that’s in trouble?  In times of disaster it happens.

On a day-to-day basis your employees and your customers will do what they can to support you, if they believe in your mission.  The question is:  Do you have a mission that people can support?  If you do, does everyone know what it is?

You may not be looking for volunteers, but you are looking for a staff that works hard and customers who are willing to patronize your business.  It all begins with a solid mission statement.

We’ll be talking more about mission statements soon.  For now, give this question some thought.  Why are you in business and why should I care?

OK, I understand that our elected employees never go out of campaign mode.   At the very moment that the newly-elected employee places his/her hand on the Bible the reelection campaign has begun.  I get that.  But how much is too much?  How much of their reelection process are we, the taxpayer/employers supposed to pay for.

Case in point.  I just received a notice that it’s time to renew my business name registration.  (Actually it doesn’t expire until next April, but I guess the state of Missouri needs my seven bucks to keep the doors open.)  Anyway, I wonder why the renewal notice has to feature a photo of our grinning Secretary of State on its cover?

The photo in question is similar to the one that graces the SOS home page, though it is different.  I guess one official photo, paid for by the taxpayers, isn’t enough.

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute!  Your smiling face has a prominent place on this page.  How’s that different?”  It’s different because this is a private site, paid for by yours truly.  No one is forcing you to visit or pay for the site.  It’s also different because I’m a relatively unknown quantity.  If you’re going to put any stock in my commentary, it may be helpful for you to know that I’m not just another pretty face.

If politicians want to promote themselves, let them set up a personal web site, at their own expense.

I hate to start the week with a curmudgeonly rant, but these little things that add up.  Like most of you, I’m getting increasing frustrated by the antics of our employees in Washington and in our state capitols. Turning an official state document into a campaign flyer hardly seems like the best way to spend our money.

Thanks to Andrew Williams of Vac Shop, Mayfield, Newcastle Australia for pointing out this post at Website Magazine.  Search engines Google and Bing (formerly MSN search) announced last week that they’re going to start indexing Twitter tweets.

According to Website, a new eMarketer report (“Social Commerce on Facebook, Twitter and Retail Sites”) “while some e-commerce merchants are experimenting with these sites, most merchants are still ignoring them.”

Considering that social media sites can be used to promote your business at virtually no cost, it makes sense to use them, especially if your competitors aren’t there.

Here in Saint Louis, a local car dealer, Frank Bommarito, often buys full page ads in the dead-tree newspaper to comment on business topics. He recently did a nice comment piece on the death of his competitor, Dave Sinclair.

But today, in a piece on China’s economic recovery, he made some comments that frankly, scare the hell out of me. Unfortunately the ad doesn’t seem to be available online, but here’s what he said in bullet points:

• China’s economic recovery is progressing nicely. The one weak spot is manufacturing.
• Chinese auto makers have been waiting for the right time to enter the US market. Our weak economy has held them back.
• There are ten thousand US auto dealers who lost their American car franchises in the recent cutbacks by the “big three.”
• These dealers will be lining up at the National Auto Dealers Convention in Orlando, more than happy to take on a Chinese car line.

After many years in the import business there are two sure things I can tell you about Chinese manufacturing.  One is they can undercut any American manufacturer based on their huge labor pool and cheap raw material prices.  The second is that they will build in as little quality as they can get away with.

American car dealers with no cars to sell will be very tempted to jump in bed with the Chinese.  Many of them will be eager to be pioneers in this new business.  At some point they’ll find out that undependable deliveries and inferior products will put them in a very difficult situation.  Trust me.  Been there; done that.

Of course, the high dollar value of a vehicle and the thousands of cars and trucks that will be brought in initially will further tip the balance of trade between the US and China, putting our fragile economy in even more trouble.

Hopefully Bommarito’s prediction will turn out to be wrong.  Hopefully our friends and neighbors who have lost their livelihood due to the mismanagement of American car manufacturers won’t be sucked in by the promises that the Chinese car makers are sure to make.  (Again, been there; done that.)

I sincerely doubt that our current administration  would dare take any steps to stop this disaster before it occurs, especially since we’re so deeply in debt to the Chinese.   In the midst of all the other turmoil in our capital, this whole thing could slip by under the radar with no one even noticing until it’s too late.

This might be a good time to write to your representatives and senators, voicing your objections to any more erosion of the US manufacturing base by Red China.

Thanks to Phil Reed of  Vacuums and More in Lincoln City, OR for sending me the link to this article from MSN City Guides.  It’ s directed toward your customers.

The article, by John Rossheim,  begins by appealing to shoppers’ civic pride and their desire to help their fellow citizens.  If that doesn’t move them, Rossheim points out that $68 of every $100 spent with local merchants stays in the community compared to just $43 out of $100 when you spend it with a national chain.

The article points to a few “buy local” programs including my personal favorite, the 3/50 Project.  Here are the five tips:

Visit an independent before heading for a big box. The article suggests that the shopper think of one item that could be purchased locally and to scan local advertising before heading out to shop.

Patronize local merchants who add value. Shoppers should consider more than just price when they purchase.  Professional guidance may not be necessary when you buy laundry detergent or toilet paper, but in other cases the expertise of the merchant often more than offsets a slightly higher price, if the price is actually higher.  Often it isn’t.

Hold the plastic and pay cash. The author throws this on in even though he fails to cite an advantage to the shopper.  Of course there’s a big advantage to the merchant if the customer opts to pay cash.

Beware “local-washing”. Some national merchants pretend to be “local” though I can’t imagine anyone would actually fall for it.   If there’s a competitor in your market doing this, I wouldn’t hesitate to point it out both in-store and in my advertising.

[This post originally appeared at Mine Your Own Business on November 2, 2006.]

In this past Sunday’s (actually 10/29/06) Napa Valley Register, writer Beth Pratt exposes 8 myths about starting and running a small business.

1. Over 95% of small businesses fail. In the 1990s there was a report that said 95% of all new restaurants fail. Somehow, like the old “telephone” game, this statistic somehow got applied to all small businesses. According to the Small Business Administration 2/3 of new small businesses survive at least two years. Over 1/2 survive at least four.

2. The government will give you cash to start a business. The SBA will guarantee a loan, but the government isn’t in the business of making loans.

3. My favorite. Small business owners are rich and get to take it easy. No comment needed.

4. I’m a good cook so I should start a restaurant. Feel free to insert any specialty in place of the word “cook” and any type of business in place of “restaurant”. As we all know, there’s a big difference between doing any other type of work and running a business.

5. Failure is bad. Most successful business owners will tell you that they failed many times before they became successful.

6. Small business owners, with few employees, don’t really have to worry about federal and state labor laws. As you know, it just isn’t so. In fact, lacking human resource and legal departments, small business owners may have more to worry about than their larger counterparts. This is one you’d better take seriously.

7. You need a lot of money to start a business. It depends on the business, but getting the money is usually not an obstacle to getting started.

8. Money will fall out of the sky if you have a great idea. Money’s never easy to come by, but hard work and persistence are usually more important than the idea. Edison had lots of great ideas, but he had to work awfully hard to make any of them successful.

What with high gas prices and time pressure, your customers and prospects are using the phone more than ever to get price and product information.  How you and your staff handle this important means of communication may well determine whether you ever get a chance at someone’s business.

Jeff Mowatt provides an interesting telephone test on the business know-how web site.  Questions include how long your phone rings before it’s answered, what you say when you answer it, and how you put a caller on hold, among others.

One point that’s very important is how you juggle a phone call and a customer who is actually in your store.  I recently waited several minutes, cash in hand to make a purchase while the person behind the counter looked things up for someone on the phone, never even making eye contact with me.  I eventually left and went to the competitor down the street.

You want to turn callers into customers, but you can’t ignore the people who have taken the time to make the trip to your store.  It’s a delicate balance, but one that can have a big impact on your business.

[This post originally appeared at Mine Your Own Business on October 2, 2006]