By Beth Bergman, Owner of Wet Paint and Founding Member of MetroIBA
What a treat MetroIBA gave us on October 10th. Ari Weinzweig, a founder of Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Maggie Bayless, a long time Zingerman employee and training specialist, led a daylong seminar for MetroIBA members and friends. Zingerman’s started as a deli and has grown into a multifaceted business over 25 years. As their business grew, the importance of training and customer service became even more important and required more structure. This led them to roll out their internal training programs to share with other businesses as a business entity in itself.
Ari and Maggie are great presenters. Half way through the day, I felt I had known them most of my life. The program was well orchestrated between lecture, questions, roll-play, and small group interaction. Besides getting new ideas from Ari and Maggie, I brought home some creative solutions from my new acquaintances from Warners’ Stellian, D’Amico & Sons, Izzy’s and Chocolate Spoon Café.
Many folks are surprised when I go to training seminars. I’ve been in business for over 23 years. My business is pretty successful. Why go to training? Well, I learn something new all the time. I came home from the Zingerman Experience with a new understanding of how a mission statement is a great tool to use with all employees, not just top management. I came home with new ideas about opening up financial information on my business with my employees. I came home with a new stress releaser called “silly customer.” I came away feeling that Ari and Maggie are in business just like you and me. They are not talking heads in suits. Their examples of training drilled right down to the basics of their business (which in the deli business is knife skills). The commonalities made it hard to dismiss their ideas with the typical statement, “Oh, this doesn’t apply to a business like mine.”
So it was a day of great presentations, wonderful coffee from Amore, tasty lunches from Birchwood, a pleasant facility at Warners’ Stellian and a great bunch of folks from MetroIBA.