The Gray Cat Blog
A growing library of practical business articles and insights created to help entrepreneurs, small business owners, franchisees, and multi-unit operators strengthen leadership, improve operations, drive growth, and build more profitable organizations.
As a multi-unit retail or franchise organization grows, one of the most important milestones is the formation of regional advertising cooperatives, or co-ops. Well-managed co-ops allow individual st...
One of the most valuable branding exercises I have facilitated with executive leadership teams is the Semantic Differential exercise. While the name sounds academic, the concept is surprisingly practi...
Anyone who has managed multiple departments knows the feeling: at times, it seems less like leadership and more like herding cats.
Early in my corporate career, I was responsible for five very diff...
Looking for practical ways to improve your business?
Sometimes one great idea can make all the difference.
Whether you’re looking to trim unnecessary expenses, generate fresh marketing ideas, improv...
 “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” — HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Today’s business leaders have access to more ...
One of the questions I hear most often from successful independent business owners is, “Do you think my concept is franchisable?” It is an exciting question because franchising can be one of the faste...
One of the biggest differences between average organizations and exceptional ones is where they spend their management time.
Most leadership teams devote the majority of their monthly meetings to r...
“The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.”
— John Harvey-Jones
Humor aside, there is a great dea...
For decades, convenience stores built their business around fuel, cigarettes, beverages, and packaged snacks. While these categories remain important, shrinking margins and changing consumer expecta...
“Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!”
When it comes to foodservice and retail, there are few sales strategies more powerful than group orders. One large catering order can generate the same reve...
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” — Cool Hand Luke
Too many organizations still follow the same communications strategy:
Ready. Fire. Aim.
Communication becomes an afterthought unt...
If you operate a multi-unit retail chain, chances are your stores tell the story of your company’s history. Some locations are new, others are decades old. Product assortments have evolved, fixtures h...
