Here are 15 things I learned from listening to Brewdog’s COO & President David McDowall speaking at the Getting & Keeping Customers Conference 2022 in Birmingham last week.
1- Say yes to good opportunities even when you’re not ready for them.
2 – The smaller your business, the more agile you are against bigger competition.
3 – Be brutally honest with your team when facing a challenge or delivering bad news.
4 – Your staff should get a share of your successes.
5 – Apply macro thinking with micro detail.
6 – Act in dog years – if it takes others seven months, aim to get it done in one month.
7 – What can you do totally different from your rivals?
8 – What’s your community-building exercise? Equity for Punks changed everything for BrewDog.
9 – You learn more from the tough times than the good.
10 – Simplify your business mission – theirs is; ‘to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are.’
11 – Great businesses always have a great product/service.
12 – Check out how LEGO do things.
13 – Don’t be scared 😱 of standing out from the crowd.
14 – The COO spends a day a month working behind a bar. Do you know what’s happening on the ground in your businesses?
15 – Malmaison Hotel in Birmingham is shite.
Keep reading to see some more pearls of wisdom I picked up from Sara Davies (Dragons’ Den), leading mindset coach Jamil Qureshi and expert marketer Nigel Botterill.
TikTok is something we need to look into and experiment with.
“Someone’s got to win in any industry during a recession.”
Wannabes play safe – pros’ are comfortable with risks.
Start split testing emails/adverts religiously.
“Everything can lead to something if you go into it with the right mindset.”
TikTok isn’t social media. It’s an entertainment platform.
During a recession, a business either seeks to achieve or avoid things.
“Top performers in sports and business always play to win.”
“The future demands us to be different.”
“Opportunities are never completely lost, just found by someone else.”
Food for thought.
Thanks for reading.
Jerry