When the going gets complicated, good business people go back to the basics of quality service

ONE unheralded quality in good businesspeople is their ability to survive, no matter the odds. yes, there’s the need to change, but survival is the key.

Ross Greenwood talks at the Inner West Small Business Expo at West Ashfield.

ONE unheralded quality in good businesspeople is their ability to survive, no matter the odds.

I have written here many times about the need to change and adapt, but survival is the key.

It might be as simple as having the skill to collect debts, where competitors are more passive. It could be that you are pragmatic about staff levels and get your costs down more quickly. It might be that you allow the business to do a U-turn to chase a different opportunity.

The truth is that while insight is required to make many of these decisions, there is always an element of luck when it comes to timing. But the luckiest always tend to be those brave enough to make big decisions. And those who have the foresight to see the opportunities.

Think about the issues thrown at Australian companies in the past 20 years: Record high interest rates, a recession, falling tariffs, the closure of local industry and local suppliers and a dramatic fall, rise and fall in the Australian dollar. Then there are changing technology, falling prices for many goods and services, and easier access to overseas markets.

The trick, no doubt, is to remain close to your business and close to your customers.

The businessperson who remains solely engrossed in their own operation will soon lose touch with their customers and with subtle changes in the community.

Even worse, if a business prospers or passes to a new generation and lets success lead to haughtiness, then it is ripe for the picking by aggressive competition. Customers — big and small — will always seek to punish companies that become arrogant with servicing, terms or pricing. We all know companies that have become too big, too self-important; they are lightning rods for adverse publicity.

Small business owners (in their own field) have to be vigilant to guard against such an attitude. With all of the other difficulties in running a business, this is one that you can easily control.

GOING WITH THE FLOW TO ESTABLISH INTERNATIONAL BRAND

ABOUT 50 years ago, Tony Manu was in his shop in Chatswood, repairing televisions (for those too young to remember, yes they did used to repair TVs).

A fellow from Readymix Concrete came in and was talking about his industry and about how they had terrible trouble measuring the different chemicals that go into the cement mixture. There were flowmeters sourced from Japan, but they kept breaking.

Tony thought about this and said to his customer: “I think I can fix that”. And so a business was born that today exports around the world. Though modified, Tony’s original flowmeter has not been surpassed. That chance chat was how ManuFlo was created.

Today’s general manager, Tony’s son Alex, said: “The old man was a bit of a thinker. He got a domestic meter and converted it to an electronic meter. He gave that to ReadyMix and it quickly became the global standard.’’

Alex Manu, centre, and his family run ManuFlo, with Chris Ramos, left, and Tony Manu, right / Picture: Braden Fastier.

That was 50 years ago yet the business has managed to succeed through economic cycles, high and low dollar, removal of tariffs and the closure of one of its key client bases, the auto industry.

It is a standard in the concrete and construction game. The Americans came and looked at the company, and then left for home to try to copy it. But the business survived through this and plenty more. “Small business: we are survivors, we are the backbone of this economy. We don’t get enough credit for what we do. We are just typical battlers and survivors,” Alex said.

The company’s great success was in adapting its product to other industries, and then to start analysing the information for its clients. The best example is in the water industry, where the FloMeter tracks household water usage. The company also compiles reports for the government, which has a keen interest in the results.

The greatest testament to its success is its client list. Boral, Holcim and Hanson, Sydney Water, the CSIRO, local Sydney councils, A2 Milk, 4 Pines Brewery, Aldi, ART, Captain Cook Cruises, Coca Cola, and the three largest chemical manufacturers in the world: BASF, Sika and Grace. More than 30 per cent of its product is now exported, to countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Chile.

Yet it remains a family company. But the old man, Tony, is still around the place. “People ask me how the old man is going and I say he’s driving me crazy. But I reckon that’s good.’’