To read the introduction to this "Greatest Mistake" series click here.

“In 2001, we purchased 6 locations from 4 owner groups in Utah and Idaho over the course of 4 months (Mistake #1). To manage the new stores we hired people from outside the company (Mistake #2). Viewing travel as an expense, we limited the travel between the old stores and the new stores (Mistake #3). The stores performed poorly for years. Eventually we ran out of patience, fired the general manager and started over from scratch with 5 people steeped in the company culture traveling to the new stores — every week — until we got things turned around. It took time, but today we are very proud of those stores and their performance.

“Mistake #1 — We tried to do too much at once. The 6 new locations doubled our size. All the locations were different. We didn’t have the manpower, nor the acquisition expertise, to pull off something so complicated.

“Mistake #2 — No one from our existing business moved to the new area. As a result, there was no sense of our culture present in any of the new stores. The managers we hired from the outside did their best, but they never fully grasped our way of thinking about the business (probably because we didn’t have it defined clearly enough ourselves).

“Mistake #3 — Prior to these acquisitions, we had historically pulled together our key managers regularly for meetings. That’s easy when everyone can drive to the meeting. It seems expensive when travel includes plane tickets and hotels, so we skipped it. As a result, our way of thinking never translated to the new stores.

“Lessons learned? 1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. 2. Culture transfers best when people steeped in the culture lead the acquired stores. 3. Travelling out to build community, culture and learning in an organization is an important investment, not an expense. 4. The biggest lesson learned was the value of a clearly defined, easy to communicate culture.

“Prior to these acquisitions, our culture wasn’t clearly defined, so it wasn’t easy to communicate. The largest benefit of going through the crucible of turning these stores around was that the effort led us to clearly define our culture and refine our understanding of how the business works and our philosophy of the business. This understanding has led to our successful growth over the past 10 years.”