Peer Benchmarking Review Groups
Ron's Experience With Peer Benchmark Groups
As someone who has built several successful businesses over my career, I often get asked the same question: What do you do differently that makes you more successful than your competition?
I'd like to share with you one thing that I believe explains a lot of my success.
Back in 1989 when I owned an auto salvage operation, I joined a business mentor group of other yard owners from across the country. We agreed to meet twice a year to mentor each other and compare all of our key operating numbers.
At each meeting all of us would post the numbers on a white board. We shared such things as how many cars each of our dismantlers were tearing down per day, our monthly sales volume per salesperson, etc.
Typically, most of us had numbers that were around the industry average or a little better, but one owner usually had a jaw-dropping number. That person shared what they were doing differently. One of the benefits of peer mentoring: we all left knowing how to dramatically improve that facet of our business.
I never left our business mentoring sessions without three or four specific things to do to improve my business.
During the 10 years that I belonged to the group, competitive edge grew larger every six months. The auto salvage yard owners in our group were among the first to be purchased when the industry consolidated. They were the best run and most profitable businesses in the sector.