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5 Steps To Enterprise Reinvention

5 steps to reinventing the business

We’ve seen tech-driven companies thrive in the pandemic, from Amwell in telemedicine to Zoom in telemedicine. But what about the rest of the economy? A fast growing pizza chain shows Covid can create a great fresh start for all types of industries. The history of this company – rooted in five key steps in leadership – contains lessons for all types of organizations looking to seize this moment as an opportunity to reinvent themselves.

Marco’s Pizza is one of the fastest growing pizza chains in America. Based on the franchise system, the company has nearly 1,000 branches in 34 states. I recently spoke to Tony Libardi, the company’s president, about his organization’s journey through the early months of the pandemic and the lessons he learned from it.

Step 1 – People First: In all the types of businesses I’ve surveyed about pandemic response in the past few months – a school, a body shop, a sophisticated payments company, Google, and more – a common denominator has been that team member care must come first . If people are unsafe and the lines of communication are not flowing, no further progress can be made. As Libardi put it, “Put great emphasis on your people.” Aside from providing reasonable ways to protect the front line restaurant and delivery staff, he doubled the frequent communication between employees and franchisees, including weekly system-wide calls and daily executive team meetings. Communication is the installation that lets the other work of reinvention flow effectively.

Step 2 – set a vision: Libardi made it clear from the start that at that moment it wasn’t just about Marco surviving the crisis, but rather about how the company can really thrive. He created a task force called “Beyond the Future” to make it clear that the organization should think long-term, even when dealing with short-term needs. He urged the team to ask difficult questions about basic assumptions in the business model. Did restaurants need dining rooms? Did they even need guests?

Step 3 – Root Your Team In Customer Insight: Marco was lucky enough to have a solid intelligence-gathering operation before the pandemic. He explains: “We ask every consumer for feedback on the overall experience, employee friendliness, product quality and much more. There are more than 25,000 responses per month. This would allow us to quickly incorporate innovations such as contactless delivery into this model. We could also pick up on early signals. For example, masks weren’t the norm at the beginning of the pandemic, but we learned very quickly that consumers wanted to see masks even when the scientific evidence wasn’t clear. They also wanted refurbished pens or contactless payment. We saw it quickly so we can react quickly. “The company used this data to get quick feedback on what their customers were doing, so they could think beyond the meal and about the overall customer experience.

Step 4 – Experiment: Marco’s investment in future orientation quickly became apparent here. Libardi’s organization involved experiments with all sorts of changes. The seemingly smaller ones include automated doors, walk-in windows and contactless payment. However, the company is also considering big moves, such as setting up a kitchen in a remote location in Los Angeles that is not for guests and has no signage. Rather, the small 185 square meter kitchen is produced exclusively for delivery. Another innovation is a stand-alone “podular” unit that can be used almost anywhere with plumbing and electricity to give the company quick access to promising locations. By quickly implementing these experiments and tirelessly measuring the findings, Marco’s can understand the operational details and market realities of implementing his diverse ideas.

Step 5 – forging a new identity: An organization with thousands of employees and franchisees could be unsettled by rapid changes. Anchoring the transformation in a clear identity gave meaning to the various movements and gave confidence in the direction of the compass. Libardi oriented the company to “Delivering Memories”, a campaign for consumers that showed how Marco’s can make this year’s little moments special, even if the big moments are often gone. This campaign also gives employees confidence that change has a purpose.

These five steps are possible for any company. Together they offer a short, concrete way to reap the benefits of change.

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by Stephen Wunker, author of JOBS TO DONE: A Roadmap for Customer-Focused Innovation and Charlotte Desprat and Jennifer Luo Law.

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