The naked truth

I THINK Teazers boss Lolly Jackson is an example to small business owners. Simply put, he has many attributes and skills South African entrepreneurs could learn from, especially in areas like marketing and keeping a high profile.

Now I'm sure that opening is going to draw plenty of abuse from the bunny-huggers who read this column. However, considering that he is probably financially more successful than 98% of the people who are going to post comments below this column, I'll take the criticism with a pinch of salt.

A few weeks back in a blog post I wrote, I was quite complimentary to Jackson on his marketing and protection of the Teazers brand.

However, this week I have a bone to pick with him and I think it provides a lesson to other small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners about knowing what your staff members are doing.

Until last Saturday I had never left Teazers with money in my wallet and an unswiped credit card. That the occasion was my brother's bachelor party makes that fact even more intriguing.

After nearly being bankrupted by previous trips to Teazers, I had promised myself that the next salesperson I hire for my small SME would be a stripper.

My logic was that they could sell ice to Eskimos, never took "no" for an answer from potential clients, and were used to selling from the moment they clocked in at work to the second they left. And if things became really tight, I could confiscate their passports in case I ran into cash flow issues.

Slipping through the cracks

So I was gobsmacked when we couldn't give our money away on Saturday night.

Admittedly, my brother's friends may be a little geeky-looking, but they're all loaded IT geeks dying to see a naked woman and I'd have thought our table of 10 would have been considered easy money for somebody.

After trying to get the attention of some dancers for two hours, they eventually bailed to go home and play Xbox. They threw some money down on the table for the pleb journalist and banker to "have a little fun".

While I'm sure Jackson is not going to miss my couple of grands' worth from our table, it did get me thinking about what oversight I would want in place in my business to make sure that opportunities did not slip through the, umm, cracks.

Sales are the absolute lifeblood of a small business. If they dry up it doesn't matter how funky your marketing is, or how well constructed your board of directors - your business is finished.

Whether it is Teazers or your local retail store where you have hired a sales attendant to sit behind the counter, you need to be very aware of who is representing your sales force on the frontline.

In many of the business plans I get asked to read over, I get the sense that a lot of people like the idea of being in business, but don't necessarily have too many plans about how they are going to do business.

While Lolly Jackson's fleet of sports cars probably excludes him from this category of entrepreneur, hopefully our experience at his business is a lesson to others.

- Fin24.com