BOOSTING YOUR BUSINESS
7
Ways To Boost A Family Business At Rocket Speed
“ Customer behavior constantly shifts from one generation to the next . An inability to adapt to customer needs can quickly make older businesses irrelevant .”
The average family business only lasts sixty years . More often , younger generations aren ’ t interested in , or capable of , maintaining the business , let alone growing it exponentially . Patrick Devlyn Jr . is the rare exception . A thirdgeneration Devlyn , Patrick took over the operation of his family ’ s optical business when it was 350-stores strong . Most other inheritors would have simply cruised along , reaping profits and not risking the status quo .
But Patrick , a member of YPO since 2007 , wasn ’ t satisfied with good enough . He wanted Grupo Devlyn to be the biggest and the best . Thanks to his vision and the teamwork of other third-generation Devlyns , the company ( which just celebrated its eightieth anniversary ) now has 1,250 stores throughout Mexico , Latin America ( Guatemala and El Salvador ), and the United States ( Southern California and Texas ).
Devlyn has expanded creatively , gaining a presence in LASIK clinics , department stores , and supercenters . The company now focuses beyond prescription optical services and carries designer sunglasses and even hearing aids . Patrick has a clear philosophy about how to take something good and turn it into something great . Here are the major takeaways from his family ’ s journey :
1 . KEEP CORE VALUES ALIVE AND RELEVANT . With thousands of employees , the company requires a consistent approach . Core values are at the heart of Devlyn ’ s culture and decision making .
We usually review our core values every three to five years . What we try to do is to focus on what our founders ’ values were and how they expressed them and acted on them . Then we try to ‘ translate ’ them in a way that is more up-to-date and current with today ’ s lingo so that our family and team can readily identify themselves with these values , and adopt them as a reference for our daily activities and intentions behind those actions .
2 . VALUE YOUR EXTENDED FAMILY . Patrick knows that he and the Devlyn clan can ’ t do it all . He makes sure the company provides a comfortable and energizing environment for everyone in the Devlyn extended family , including each and every one of their more than five thousand employees .
They are the ones that , day-to-day , help us make the difference with our valued customers .
3 . DON ’ T DEPEND ON THE PAST . It would be easy to look backwards and admire what the Devlyn family has accomplished . Participation of the Devlyn family in the optical business began in 1936 in Ciudad Juarez , Chihuahua , when Dr . Frank Devlyn and his wife , Nelva Mortensen , started the business . But this new generation is looking forward . Patrick ’ s team is constantly looking for new ways to innovate , whether by executing a strategic alliance with his main competitor ( and growing more than 30 percent as a result ), implementing SAP and the Omni Channel strategy throughout the organization , or opening the largest optical lab and DC in Latin America .
4 . MAKE IT ABOUT THE CUSTOMER . Customer behavior constantly shifts from one generation to the next . An inability to adapt to customer needs
14 | SPRING 2017