Little carries big message for PMA Foodservice attendees
Little carries big message for PMA Foodservice attendees
MONTEREY, CA -- Produce companies pride themselves on providing freshness in their products, but what consumers really care about is taste, Steven Little told his audience at a July 25 session during the PMA Foodservice Conference, Tours & Expo, here.
Mr. Little hit his audience between the eyes with a sprinkling of comments such as the one about taste, telling attendees at the outset that he was not a motivational speaker but a speaker who speaks the truth and has information to impart.
Mr. Little -- a senior consultant for Inc. magazine -- talked about purpose, focus and the opportunity of change with advice on how to experience growth in business. Prior to his consultant and speaker roles with Inc., Mr. Little was president of three companies he brought to a "sustained growth" level, which he defined as 20 percent or greater revenue growth for five successive years.
Commonalities that growth companies share, regardless of sector, include having a strong sense of purpose.
"It's never about money, Mr. Little said. "Money is a way of keeping score.
Growth companies inevitably have a value system in place, a distinct culture, and unifying elements and always have a myth, lore and legend about the company's founding -- often much removed from reality. Growth companies do their business differently than has been done before, he said.
In concert with his comment about taste, Mr. Little told the audience that produce in the supermarkets and restaurants where he lives in North Carolina looks great but doesn't taste great; just the opposite is true in Mexico where he lives half the year, he said.
He told the audience of produce professionals that they are too internally focused and need to focus more externally on what the consumer wants. Growth companies have a balance between internal focus and external focus, he said.
Small businesses are good at handling things such as cash flow but often don't see the macro changes in the outside world, Mr. Little said. He encouraged the audience to read two magazines a day, with roughly half of these being in areas with which the reader has little familiarity. "Do it for one year and you'll get wiser, he said.
Effective growth planning involves utilizing a written plan that is well communicated to employees and regularly updated, Mr. Little said. Companies of 20 or more employees should have a written plan while smaller companies can achieve similar objectives "around the water cooler, he said. Typically, it may take two years of meeting quarterly before results of the growth plan start to show, he said.
Mr. Little said that technology is critical to growing a business and that while the fresh produce industry is behind in high-tech areas, every industry "is behind in technology.
Employee retention equals customer retention, and companies "should be slower to hire and quicker to fire, Mr. Little said.
Who companies hire, sell to and buy from is changing. Trends Mr. Little encouraged the audience to watch include the "graying of the population, which is even more pronounced in western Europe and Japan than it is in the United States. The 60-plus age group has two-thirds of the disposable income in the United States.
Mr. Little pointed to China's rapid economic growth as an example of a macro change that will continue to affect the worldwide business landscape.
"China sets the rules on pricing around the globe, Mr. Little said, adding that this year China will be a net importer of grain for the first time. But he said that the opportunity exists to help feed China's 1.3 billion people.
Mr. Little said that 15 percent of the U.S. population speaks Spanish as a first language, placing the United States second only to Mexico in the number of Spanish-speaking residents. That percentage in the United States will climb to 25 percent "in our working lifetime, he said. The state with the fastest-growing Latino population is North Carolina, he said.
Mr. Little hit his audience between the eyes with a sprinkling of comments such as the one about taste, telling attendees at the outset that he was not a motivational speaker but a speaker who speaks the truth and has information to impart.
Mr. Little -- a senior consultant for Inc. magazine -- talked about purpose, focus and the opportunity of change with advice on how to experience growth in business. Prior to his consultant and speaker roles with Inc., Mr. Little was president of three companies he brought to a "sustained growth" level, which he defined as 20 percent or greater revenue growth for five successive years.
Commonalities that growth companies share, regardless of sector, include having a strong sense of purpose.
"It's never about money, Mr. Little said. "Money is a way of keeping score.
Growth companies inevitably have a value system in place, a distinct culture, and unifying elements and always have a myth, lore and legend about the company's founding -- often much removed from reality. Growth companies do their business differently than has been done before, he said.
In concert with his comment about taste, Mr. Little told the audience that produce in the supermarkets and restaurants where he lives in North Carolina looks great but doesn't taste great; just the opposite is true in Mexico where he lives half the year, he said.
He told the audience of produce professionals that they are too internally focused and need to focus more externally on what the consumer wants. Growth companies have a balance between internal focus and external focus, he said.
Small businesses are good at handling things such as cash flow but often don't see the macro changes in the outside world, Mr. Little said. He encouraged the audience to read two magazines a day, with roughly half of these being in areas with which the reader has little familiarity. "Do it for one year and you'll get wiser, he said.
Effective growth planning involves utilizing a written plan that is well communicated to employees and regularly updated, Mr. Little said. Companies of 20 or more employees should have a written plan while smaller companies can achieve similar objectives "around the water cooler, he said. Typically, it may take two years of meeting quarterly before results of the growth plan start to show, he said.
Mr. Little said that technology is critical to growing a business and that while the fresh produce industry is behind in high-tech areas, every industry "is behind in technology.
Employee retention equals customer retention, and companies "should be slower to hire and quicker to fire, Mr. Little said.
Who companies hire, sell to and buy from is changing. Trends Mr. Little encouraged the audience to watch include the "graying of the population, which is even more pronounced in western Europe and Japan than it is in the United States. The 60-plus age group has two-thirds of the disposable income in the United States.
Mr. Little pointed to China's rapid economic growth as an example of a macro change that will continue to affect the worldwide business landscape.
"China sets the rules on pricing around the globe, Mr. Little said, adding that this year China will be a net importer of grain for the first time. But he said that the opportunity exists to help feed China's 1.3 billion people.
Mr. Little said that 15 percent of the U.S. population speaks Spanish as a first language, placing the United States second only to Mexico in the number of Spanish-speaking residents. That percentage in the United States will climb to 25 percent "in our working lifetime, he said. The state with the fastest-growing Latino population is North Carolina, he said.
