Q. How do you set
clear goals?
At the beginning of a
quarter, a manager
would meet with a subordinate
and say, ‘What are your goals?
This is what I would hope to
have as goals this quarter.’ It’s a
team effort of combined
thoughts and visions of where
we need to grow and how we
need to grow the business.
Both people sign off on that
with appropriate timelines and
clear targets.
Those targets are really what
are going to move the business
forward. It’s not about your
everyday tasks but what’s really
going to move the needle of the company, what’s really going to
take it to the next level.
Those (types of goals) are
really what’s set. It’s only five to
10 of them every quarter, but
they’re really big ones: accounts
we want or reducing your cost
of goods by a certain percentage or a certain amount of
growth numbers for a quarter.
It’s really striving for excellence and not just striving for
mediocrity — not just doing
things you’re supposed to do
every day on the job but things
that move the needle.
Q. How do you take the
company to the next level?
You look for things that are
new, things that are not on the market yet — things that consumers are looking for or that
you would hope they are looking for. Everything is perception, and you create the perception.
I don’t think anyone knew
they would need e-mail as
much as they need it today. It’s
the perception of that type of
fast communication that has
created a higher demand for it.
It’s thinking outside the box.
Tea is tea; everyone knows
tea. But how can you make tea
unique? Whether it’s through
flavor profiles, using herbs or
ingredients nobody’s ever used
before in the marketplace … or
like our flowering teas. They’re
new; they’ve never been on
the market before.
That’s something you can
create through perception. At
the end of the day, it’s still tea
leaves. But it’s tea leaves that
are presented in a whole different fashion.
Q. How do you know if a
product will catch on?
You don’t know unless
you’re following the leader.
But when you are the leader,
you’re taking the chance.
You’re creating things you
want your customers to
want.
So you’re the one who is
creating things and taking a
big chance. Will they want it?
Is this what they’re looking
for?
It goes back to creating
that perception of what you
are as a company and what
you are in terms of creating
new products. It’s not always
easy to say, ‘This is what the
customer wants,’ because
you have to create it.
HOW TO REACH: Numi Tea Inc., (866) 972-6879 or www.numitea.com