Greetings!
We have completed discussion of the sales process for the time being, so we are moving on to other ideas about developing a more successful business. The subject of our first article, If You Measure It, You Can Improve It, we discuss the importance and give examples of effective measurements. The second article, The Importance of Good Feedback, emphasizes using data and observations as feedback to staff. Finally, A Customer Driven Organization, refreshes our focus on the most important thing in business. Enjoy!
Patriot Business Coaching |
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If You Measure It, You Can Improve It
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Most businesses or organizations could not exist without a scoreboard. In sports, that scoreboard will report the runs, hits, and errors. In business, the scoreboard may be a financial statement or a sales report. In a non-profit, it may be the number of people served or the number of programs run. These scoreboards reflect the end result of the business' activities, but these types of measurements are difficult to use in defining a specific problem or developing programs to make improvements.  Let's use the analogy of scoring in baseball, in which a team is yielding an unusually high number of runs per game. Is this the problem or is this just a manifestation of the real problem? A well-defined problem is a critical starting point in the development of an effective solution. It is a manifestation that requires further analysis. For example, the cause of the high numbers of runs could be a poor infield defensive plan, or too many passed balls by the catcher, or the pitching staff giving up too many home runs. Now we are getting to the heart of the issue, the real problem, a key measurement, and the potential for corrective action. If in measuring the short stop position, it is found that there are an excessive amount of errors, we can to begin to measure the errors per game and then work on plans to reduce their occurrence. We might decide to increase the daily work a short stop does on fielding ground balls. There might be another player who could be substituted. There are now a number of possible plans to begin to address this issue and then produce the resultant reduction in the opponent's runs.
As we work with many businesses, there always seems to be the need to setup a measurement system related to the issue they wish to address. If they wish to address employee morale, there may be no measurement of employee turn-over or absenteeism. If they wish to address sales, there may be no measurement of quotation activity or closing rate. Here are some examples of simple measurements that lead to solutions and improved performance. On-Time Start-Up A well-established manufacturing company was concerned about productivity in the machining department. Machine downtime seemed well above expectation. As the plant manager toured the plant one morning, he realized that many of the operators were not starting their operation until 5-10 minutes after the start of shift. When the whistle blew to start the shift, many operators would then be leaving the lunchroom, walking to their machine and then beginning their operation. Over the period of two weeks, he began to manually record the percentage of employees starting operations at the start of their shift. He plotted the results on a graph which indicated that only 50 % of the operations were starting on time. One could also project that the habit exhibited at the start of the shift also occurred after break and lunch periods. Click here to continue reading this article on our blog... |
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The Importance of Good Feedback
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Getting good feedback from customers and employees is vital for any business that expects to grow. Without knowledge, business leaders can not make educated decisions. Uneducated decisions lead to a higher rate of failure, which can have detrimental impacts on a business. Without high quality information, a business owner is flying blind.
When flying an airplane, pilots depend on their instrumentation to tell them how they're doing, where they are going, and where they need to go. The artificial horizon helps them control their altitude, a compass helps them navigate, and other instruments give them vital information. Even data received over the radio from airports is crucial. All this information is vital for the safety and success of the flight. Just as a pilot needs feedback, so do business owners. A pilot would never fly blind except in extreme situations, and a business owner is doing the exact same thing if they don't educate themselves before making important decisions. Of course, the best way to educate oneself is to ask the experts. In a business situation, the very best experts to ask are your customers. After all, they're the ones who are buying whatever it is you're selling. Gr abbing data is one thing, but grabbing the right kind of data is entirely another. When the title of this article says "Good Feedback," it means high quality feedback, not just positive feedback. Negative feedback can be of high quality and is often more crucial for businesses than positive feedback. Anyone serious about making educated decisions should have a great, scalable survey solution in place. Scalable means you can use it for a small business all the way to an enterprise level system. A survey solution should give you full control over the types of questions and the types of answers you can use (i.e. multiple choice, essay, etc.). This will give you the ability to customize the type of feedback you receive. The best way to form a good survey is to start with your ultimate goal in mind. Think about what types of information you will need to build your ultimate report. Ask them the same questions a few different ways to account for errors, and lay out your format in the simplest, easiest way possible. The easier the survey is to fill out, the more likely people will fill it out with accurate information. Accurate information is the key to good data. With a well thought out survey and lots of information, we can now start running reports on the data. If you got enough information, you should be able to figure out several things with the data you have. If you only want the answer to one question, a few additional questions can give you more answers as well, even if they are unrelated to your most important questions. Any good survey system worth it's own weight will have a great reporting system. Different ways of aggregating the data can show different trends and information, so it should be easy to manage every aspect of your survey campaign. Your flexibility for reports should match the flexibility of the survey itself. Surveys can be sent out via your email list (just make sure people know when they sign up that they might be getting these types of emails), filled out online as an opt-in during the checkout process, or sent out to rented lists. Whatever way you decide to go, just be sure that your survey is targeting the demographics you are most interested in. With a good survey, you can increase your knowledge many-fold. Decisions will become clear. For small outfits to enterprise level operations, collecting data and feedback is the ultimate way to make educated decisions. Contact us to learn about how our D.I.AL.O.G. tool can help you get anonymous feedback from your employees. |
A Customer Driven Organization
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In a quest to maintain market position, business leaders are realizing that one of the areas where they can improve profits, as well as market position is by creating a customer-driven organization. A customer-driven business is one that has recognized that an autocratic, top-down structure must be inverted to put the focus on the customer who is now the driving force. All of the plans and people in your organization need to be focused on the most important person-the customer. Focus is no longer on customer satisfaction. Today's focus is on exceeding customer expectations as customer service is expected. 
Becoming a customer driven business requires the efforts of everyone pulling together with a clear focus on the vision of the organization and the mission at hand, all of which must focus on exceeding customer expectations. Your leadership must ensure that this value is articulated, which helps you create a culture that is solidly entrenched in achievement, continuous improvement, and customer focus. An organization can only survive if customers are satisfied and will thrive only if their customers are delighted which creates customer loyalty. Create customer loyalty by going the extra mile for your clients. Look not to satisfy them, but to exceed their expectations. Do more than they expect and you will delight them. Word of mouth advertising is still the most powerful advertising available. Delighted customers tell others who, when delighted, will tell others and so on and so on. Consistency is also important. Many businesses are very accommodating with a new customer, but tend to get lazy as times goes on. They focus on getting new business (which costs five times as much as keeping a customer) instead of revitalizing and improving existing business. As a result, they fail to maintain their service standards with existing customers. Research also shows that 70% of the customers that take their business elsewhere do so because of poor or rude service. Nothing is more important to an on-going business relationship that honesty and integrity. Live up to and exceed promises made to customers!
Article written by Tammy A.S. Kohl, President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
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