(Part 1 in a series) 
While there is reason for cautious optimism in the flooring market, predicting what’s going to happen is nearly impossible. So, how can you as a flooring retailer navigate the economic uncertainty? The sport of skydiving can point the way.
In 2019, at the age of 52, I became a licensed skydiver. Skydiving is a sport that is obsessed with safety because it’s fundamentally a risky undertaking. In other words, it’s a dangerous sport that can, with the right preparation, be done safely. (Which also happens to be an apt description of being a business owner.)
By law, skydiving rigs are equipped with two parachutes: the main and the reserve. The main is what’s used during normal, problem-free jumps and the vast majority of the time it gets you to the ground in one piece. But every once in a while, (statistically about 1 in every 500 skydives) the main parachute malfunctions so badly that you have to cut it away and deploy your reserve. I’ve never had to deploy my reserve but, as I write this, I’m sitting at 497 skydives, so statistically my number is coming up. Am I worried? Nope. I’ve got a plan in place in case my main chute malfunctions. The plan is called “emergency procedures” and includes the following steps:
- Bring my legs together and bring my arms to my chest.
- Visually locate the cutaway handle; then grasp it with my right hand.
- Visually locate the reserve handle; then grasp it with my left hand.
- Pull the cutaway handle. (This releases my main parachute and automatically deploys the reserve.)
- Pull the reserve handle. (In case the reserve doesn’t automatically deploy.)
- Bring my arms back to my chest.
Now, imagine you’re streaking toward the ground at 120 miles per hour and your main chute has malfunctioned. That’s a high-stress, high-stakes problem, and there’s a hard deadline for fixing it. Are you going to remember all those steps and deploy them correctly and in the correct order in time to save your life? Not likely while under that kind of pressure. That’s why you have to prepare ahead of time by drilling them over and over again until they become muscle memory.
I’ve drilled these steps—physically practiced them—thousands of times. Before jumps, after jumps, between jumps. You could wake me from a dead sleep and scream, “Jim, your parachute malfunctioned!” and I could perform my emergency procedures flawlessly. I’m always prepared because I approach each skydive assuming my main parachute will fail and I’ll have to deploy my reserve. Not preparing can mean death.
In other words, I assume the worst is eventually going to happen and always have a plan in place for when it does. You should do the same in your business. Make sure your business is set up to cope with a malfunction in the economy. Put your emergency procedures in place now, and when the economy tanks (because sooner or later it always does) you won’t be plummeting toward the ground trying to figure out how to save your business because your plan is already in place.
Jim is the founder and president of Flooring Success Systems, a company that provides floor dealers with marketing services and coaching to help them attract quality customers, close more sales, get higher margins and work the hours they choose. For information, visit FlooringSuccessSystems.com.
