Meitheal spirit alive and well

Meitheal spirit alive and well


Liam Horan

THE wisdom is all around us. The problem is too many people don’t realise it’s there, or are too shy/proud/unaware to ask, or have no faith in the simple little insights that our peers can give us. If it’s not in a book somewhere, or uttered by a multi-millionaire on the Late Late Show, they don’t see it as having validity. Missed opportunity, number one.
In contrast, there are those who constantly hoover up the wisdom of others. On Thursday last, I facilitated a (for the want of a better word) brainstorming session, with a strong flavour of networking, for Westport Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber invited along about 30 local businesses to talk about their own businesses, and, in the newly-revived spirit of the meitheal*, to help each other through the hump.
What follows – in random order – is a summary of some topics discussed. We could fill ten pages with what came up in three hours. Some may ring a bell for you:
*  Shop-windows have great potential – but only if you use them. What is it doing when you’re closed? How is it encouraging people to come back again? Or, is it the case that when your shop is closed, it truly is closed?;
* It is important to chart The Service Journey of your customers. From the very first phonecall/greeting/email/whatever, you must walk the ground they walk – and see how it feels. If you find glitches, iron them out. Don’t tolerate mediocrity in your business;
·* Put aside time to invoice – some say monthly, others say once a week, and one very successful businessman present said ‘daily.’ He cited the case of the plumber who comes to the house, does the job, goes out to the van, and writes you an invoice from the duplicate book. Contrast that with the plumber who doesn’t invoice you for nine months, if at all. Who’s better able to withstand the bad times?;
* Know your customers – and, even in these bad times, get rid of the ones who take up too much of your time for too little money. Look at your customers and circle those who drain your energy, decline to pay you on time, and expect the most. You’ll be surprised how many bad customers you tolerate;
* Know your business model. Sounds simple, but when you actually get into it, do you actually know what you’re selling? Right here, right now. Not last year, or ten years ago, but now, and next week. Your business may have changed dramatically but you could still be singing the old song;
*  Listen;
*  I said listen!;
* Surround yourself with positive people, and trust that this recession will pass. One man took from his pocket a 1981 certificate from the bank, where the interest rate quoted was 17.5%. Variable. And it rose. So this is not the first bad time most of us have seen.
Much more came up, too, and the Chamber plans a number of similar sessions. There is no magic formula, no silver bullet, no imported solution. The wisdom is all around us.
* Truly, the spirit of the Meitheal has come back with a bang. I wasn’t ten minutes out of Westport when the call to arms came. Hay to be brought in (or home, or in to roost, or whatever the correct term is, I’d pride myself on not knowing too much about those sort of things.) All hands on deck. I hadn’t got a call like that since before the boom. It did my heart good. It did my heart even better when I got there and found they had it all in. But they can’t deny I was a good member of the Meitheal by at least showing my face. A few others, now they were conspicuous by their absence…