After 13 seasons and 250 episodes of the reality TV show “Bar Rescue,” Jon Taffer is well acquainted with failure.

The common denominator among struggling establishments, he says: Excuses.

“The excuse is the vehicle by which failure survives,” says Taffer, who addressed America’s Credit Unions’ 2024 Marketing and Business Development Council Conference Sunday in Las Vegas. “Failure lives in a blanket of excuses.”

The top five excuses he sees:

1. The fear excuse. This is the fear of failure, investment, rejection, and other factors. “Fear should play no role in any decision we make,” Taffer says. “Fear clouds the facts and makes them emotional. Fear should never be in our business emotion set.”
2. The knowledge excuse. This revolves around blaming a lack of easily obtainable product, industry, sales, business, and marketing knowledge. “When someone uses this excuse, they’re lazy,” he says.
3. The time excuse. “There’s no such thing as a time problem. It’s a priority problem,” Taffer says. “Lack of time isn’t a valid excuse.”
4. The circumstance excuse—blaming the economy, recession, lack of employees, inadequate resources, or other factors for failure. “You have to function within the circumstances you face, and react to the marketplace,” he says.
5. The scarcity excuse—a lack of money, staff, and marketing and sales training resources. “We don’t need money,” Taffer says. “We need ideas. If we could get the excuses out of our lives, imagine what changes would occur in each of us. When we stop accepting excuses and own our failure, we find success.”

The best way to stay relevant and competitive: Be reactional, not transactional, he says.

“We live and die by the reactions we create. Whoever creates the best reaction wins,” Taffer says, noting that applies to serving members, acing a job interview, or succeeding at work. “If we manage those moments, we create our future.”

He suggests creating customer reaction opportunity windows (CROW) to build touch points that make an impression on people.

“Everyone wants to feel relevant and important,” Taffer says. “You must be able to transfer this to members via CROW. It all comes back to reaction management. When we connect with members and staff, our business will go to the next level.”