McDonald’s faced similar trust issues ten years ago, globally and specifically in the UK. Their loyal consumers and potential customers decided their offering was substandard; their food regarded as unhealthy junk, an opinion reinforced by the film Fast Food Nation and the documentary Supersize Me.

McDonald’s started losing money at an alarming rate. But they didn’t give in – not that you would expect them to. Instead they faced their challenges and took rapid action. They improved quality, rallied the troops, got their crisis management in order, honed their marketing messaging and made a concerted effort to win back the nation’s hearts. Basically they spent money to stop themselves losing more money.

First they invested heavily in the finest ingredients, knowing that provenance was one of the key touch points to consumer satisfaction. They started using 100 per cent British beef, identifying the farmers from whom the meat came. They changed their UK advertising to ensure that it was all about the product. They revamped their photography – some shots taking months to prepare, and used some of the world’s best food photographers.

The changed how they spoke about themselves dramatically and ensured that globally all their advertising and direct mail had consistent quality messages. They started using images of fields, crops and families to highlight their food credentials. Everything they did directly countered the idea that their food was unhealthy junk. And it worked.

Public faith was restored and now McDonald’s sales are at an all-time high. So what can the Conservative party learn? They can get professional help to start tackling their trust issue head-on; start taking their branding seriously, get their messages right, develop strategic campaigns – and stop sticking their head in the sand and hoping it’s all going to go away.

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A sweeping statement? Possibly – and there will always be notable exceptions – but let’s take a look at a group of people who, while their business is incredibly nasty, are still some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs: drug dealers.

These people specialise in one area, making money in an entrepreneurial way. They exploit their victims in a horrific way but their behaviour is entrepreneurial. Drug dealers are true entrepreneurs – and they probably left school with no formal training in business.

Let’s look at what a successful high-level drug dealer does in business terms:

• Finds a product with consumer appeal. He knows his target audience; he knows where they live and what they want. He understands what makes a good quality product for his target audience – and if his customers’ tastes change or a new product is developed he is quick to seize the new opportunity.
• Buys it in bulk from a wholesaler. He has an established supply chain, possible different suppliers for each separate product. He has negotiated a good bulk price for the product.
• Knows the right size of product to sell on to the consumer and repackages the bulk product to suit their needs. He knows what size sells to each of his customer groups and has the ability and work premises needed to cut the bulk product into saleable sizes.
• Adds on his profit but ensures the product still represents value for money. He adds on his own mark-up thus creating a very large profit for himself – but not too large that his product is higher priced than his competitors’ drugs or unaffordable for his buyers.
• Uses a simple ‘just-in-time’ distribution network. He doesn’t hold a lot of bulk stock. Holding too much stock of the product is not only costly but, for him, dangerous.
• Employs sales staff who ‘respect’ him. He has a network of people who do the selling – presumably if they are ineffective or cheat him he ‘sacks’ them. While he probably uses fear (and the drugs) as a tool to keep his staff in order he does engender respect.
• Is mindful of the competition. He knows his competition intimately. He knows their prices and the quality of their products. He uses this information to ensure he keeps ahead of them in business.
• Manages large financial reserves. He has control of his finances – possibly better control than some large corporations. He understands where to hide his money, how to make it work hard for him, how to convert it from dirty money into clean money and how to pay only the tax applicable on his respectable businesses. He has a big incentive to be careful with his finances – if he messes up he could end up in jail or dead.

So, while no-one would ever hold a drug dealer up as a fine example of a businessperson, he is an entrepreneur and he’s very unlikely to have an MBA.

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