By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon Newspaper
Take a look at any reality show business turnaround and the story is always the same: Quality, customer service, management.
It’s the magic triangle of small business, much less the formulaic basis of most business turnaround reality shows.
What’s a bit stunning is that people actually wait around for the reality show hero and their crew to show up before they take action to clean up the mess they’ve made – and even then, it’s orchestrated by the show. Sure, there’s some money and some not-so-good publicity involved, but most of the time, they’d be ahead financially and publicity-wise if they simply took care of business without waiting for the show people to arrive.
Think about what these people would do if they showed up at your business tomorrow.
They’d taste your food or try your product or service. They’d see how clean the place is. They’d monitor your service. They’d look at your books. They’d ride around with your delivery rigs.
Yes, these are the same things you should be doing in one way or another.
Management
Sometimes other things creep into the equation, but they’re almost always rooted in the magic triangle.
Cleanliness… is management.
Hiring…. is management.
Knowing your numbers…is management.
Knowing who your clientele is, and isn’t…is both management and marketing.
Focusing your marketing and client care on exactly the right people…is management.
Being focused on the quality of what you produce and sell is management, as is how you deliver it.
Quality
Think about the things you’ve seen in other businesses. The service you’ve complained about.
Is any of that happening at your business? How do you know? Have you called the last several customers you lost? Are you even aware who they are?
What about the last few new customers? Do you know who they are?
If you don’t know the last few you lost or the last few you got, it’s tough to check in with them and ask how things went. If you can’t do that, you’re probably guessing or assuming how things are going.
Is there a TV truck out front yet?
The phone
Think about the last time you were served well over the phone. Or about the last time you had a terrible phone experience with a business. Remember how you felt? Remember the “I’ll never use this business again” thought process – or something like it.
Now, with that thought cemented in your mind – are you sure that your business isn’t having those same kinds of issues with customer calls? Are you positive?
Have you called your business lately as a customer? Have you talked to anyone who has? If the answer to both questions is no, how do you know that your clients are being properly cared for by phone?
Try calling your accounting department and asking a question about an old invoice. Once the conversation is done, ask them to send you a copy of the invoice. Do they refuse? Does the copy ever show up? These are the kinds of things that set customers off on a daily basis.
Call your sales and service departments as well. How does that go? Try being a “good customer” as well as a “bad” one. How does the experience change? Are they following your training? Speaking of, are they being trained?
Onboarding
What’s your new customer “onboarding” process like? Is it consistent? Does it set expectations for how things will go after that? Do you train them how to do business with you?
What’s your process like? Think about the process that other businesses have put you through, or used to welcome you into their “family”.
Which do you prefer? Yours, or theirs? If you prefer the ones you’ve experienced elsewhere, is there a reason why you haven’t adopted parts of their process and made them your own?
Pay attention to the magic triangle and everything that it touches. Don’t wait for the TV truck to pull up – it may not arrive soon enough.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him at mriffey@flatheadbeacon.com.
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Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him atmriffey@flatheadbeacon.com. Check out the Flathead Beacon archive of all of Mark’s blogs.