Eliza Doolittle sings, “Words, words, words. I’m so sick of words…” I can understand her sentiments as there are times when I wish life would just get quiet. Quiet allows me to ponder, to consider and to plan. Quiet can also be a warning…Parents of toddlers know that when the house gets quiet, worry. Those are the times that trouble is brewing. In our business life, quiet often eludes us with phones ringing, customers coming in and sales people dropping by. Words often take over our day and the busy-ness keeps us from effectively running our business. At these times quiet can be a welcome respite.
I have developed a list of seven words that I have found help me to apply focused effort to improving our business model. These words are true no matter the business you are in, but they can be especially helpful in our field, where days are unpredictable and time to look at business planning can be short. By applying this list to your company, you can see where you come up short and where you are “hitting a home run.” You don’t have to wait for quiet times to create a business plan; all you have to do is look at the list, determine what “word” you will focus on and start working your plan to a better business operation.
1. Communication: This is the most important aspect of any business. If you do not have clear communication, important details get missed. Staff does not know what is happening and jobs are left undone. You must create systems to ensure that every person knows what is going on, when it is happening and who is responsible for getting it done…which leads me to our second word…
2. Accountability: If you say you are going to do something, do it. If you are assigned a task, complete it. So often others are counting on you to get your part of the task done before they can complete their piece of it. If one person in the chain fails, the entire job stalls. This can create a dissatisfied customer, disgruntled staff, even lost business revenue. Companies must put accountability high on their list of importance. If a ball is dropped, look first at the procedures in place to determine if protocol was followed correctly, but the plan is flawed. If not, then the employee (or manager/owner) must be questioned as to what went wrong. Barring a plausible reason, steps must be taken to make sure corrections are made so that this is not repeated. Blame is not the objective, but understanding the reason why and taking corrective action.
3. Customer Service: At a recent Disney Customer Service training I attended, the speaker said, “Since most people have set their bar so low with respect to customer service expectations, you don’t have to go the extra mile to “wow” them, even the extra inch will do.” Pretend that you are your customer and look at what they experience through new eyes. Are people greeted warmly when they enter? Are their questions answered fully? Do they feel rushed? What is your policy on handling complaints? Are there follow up phone calls or letters? Where can you find that small, next step you can take to provide an experience that your families will share with others?
4. Appreciation: Do you have a way to thank your customers for choosing you for their funeral and burial needs? Is there a referral plan in place to track who is sending you new business? Do your employees know how much you value their commitment to your company? This can be as simple as taking a moment to telling them that they make a difference and are doing a great job. Employees, do you tell the management how much you appreciate working with them? Do you ever say, “thank you” when pay day arrives?
5. Efficiency: Where do your systems lag? Have you utilized technology fully to make tasks easier? Have you allowed technology to actually slow things down and make it more difficult to get things done? Do job assignments need to be moved around so that things run better? With less people sharing more work, it is imperative that every minute is spent judiciously and not wasted effort.
6. Consistency: Make sure that each time a task is done it is completed the same way, no matter who is doing it. This requires having systems in place and training your staff to follow them. Multiple locations makes this even more important. In the early days of the KFC franchise, Col. Sanders actually visited locations and would take away his equipment and shut down any location that did not follow his system exactly as he laid it out. Consistency is key to an organized business plan.
7. Unity: It is important that your staff feels like they are a part of something bigger. When asked where they work, the response should be one of proudly telling the company’s name and knowing that they are a part of a greater whole. A team works together and covers each other seamlessly. They work as one, support each other and love coming in to be with their “day time family.”
Review, ponder and consider these seven words and how they fit in with your company plan. Take some time before the new year begins to look at how you can make improvements in the way your business operates in 2015. I have provided a guideline that I use. You may have a few words of your own to add to the list. If you do, share them with me and I will include them in a future article. Until then, find a system, tweak it until it works, then tweak it some more…and some more…for there is no end to improving our business models.