Hold an open day

This article first appeared October 18, 2011.

This morning I walked past my local group of shops, which contains the usual assortment of butchers, bakers, florists and specialty retailers. But tucked away at the back of the strip is a relative newcomer – a personal training studio.

Being a new business to the area, I took another look and noticed the sign: “Open Day”. The studio will throw open its doors on the weekend, inviting people to come and check out its facilities, meet the trainers, do a few free fitness tests and generally “meet” the business.

School and other organisations have open days all the time, but I love the idea of a business open day and rushed back to work to get my team onto the job of organising one.

Our open day will have a few purposes. We’ll invite suppliers and customers to come and check out what we’re doing, we’ll invite people from our local community to come in and meet us, and perhaps most importantly we’ll invite family and friends of the staff to the day.

What better way to thank the support teams of our employees by giving them a tour, some lunch and a better understanding of what their mums, dads, spouses and friends actually do.

Get it done – today!