Business Services
Bean counter
How to brew a successful brand
By Abby Cymerman
Smart Business Columbus | June 2008
Page 1 of 2
Greg Ubert
Founder and president, CrimsonCup
Greg Ubert was probably
a childhood whiz at playing telephone.
His talent for communicating
is tapped regularly as founder
and president of CrimsonCup,
a 22-employee consulting business that provides coffee,
equipment, support and training to independently owned
and operated coffeehouses.
Ubert says leaders who consistently explain their vision
will lead the company in the
intended direction.
“It’s not like I can say it once
and be done with it,” he says.
“What I have to do on a day-today basis is continually get
that message out.”
Ubert’s business posted
$6.4 million in 2007 sales.
Smart Business spoke with
Ubert about sharing his message and teaching others to be
successful.
Q. What steps can
executives take to grow
their companies?
People are No. 1. There’s no
way that you can grow if you
don’t have the right people on
board. Is everybody at your
company capable of growing
the business?
And No. 2, are your
employees branded right?
Are you continually getting
out the message of the
brand: Who are you, and
what do you do?
I don’t feel like somebody
who’s had a business for 17
years; I feel like somebody
who is continually learning.
That could be No. 3. I’m not
the most experienced person
in the world; I’m getting better
and better and learning new
things each and every day.
Q. Why is it important to
pursue continuous learning?
When I first started the
company in 1991, I thought it
was all about product. The
next year, I met someone
who put 20 people through
the line and out the door in
five minutes with an espresso-based drink in hand. It was
my first ‘aha!’ moment in
business.
At that moment, I realized
there is much more to having
a successful business than
just having great products. That really
changed the way I
thought about business. I realized that we
had to teach people
how to be successful.
It wasn’t just having
great products.
It’s about getting better and better each
day. If you’re the same
person today as you
were a year ago, you’re
probably not going to
move along in any way.
If I had said in 1992,
‘We know everything,’
we would not be
where we are today or
in this position for
growth.
