Systems and Procedures

Many businesses fall into the trap of failing to deliver effectively because they are inconsistent in some element of their business. When any process involves more than a couple of steps, most people “train” the person to perform the task and then monitor performance (although some do not even monitor performance).

They could improve performance substantially, for a very small change, by documenting the steps in a work instruction or procedure.

• These are not enormous sterile documents created in a language that only the author understands.
• They are simple check lists or step by step instructions that the person performing the task, once trained properly, can use to make sure that nothing gets missed and nothing is inconsistent.

Better still, display them so that everybody can easily refer to them and follow the steps.

Authority

At a local Chamber of Commerce meeting recently, a solicitor was making an excellent point. The thing that really struck me was the measured and carefully paced presentation. He made sure that we all regarded him as The Authority on that topic. It made me think about my own presentation style and the way my confidence and authority affect the people I am dealing with.

Who would you rather deal with if you were choosing an "expert":

• The person who mumbles and fails to make eye-contact whilst they are speaking?
• The confident individual who answers your questions succinctly and without ambiguity?

Do you make sure that your style of speaking to prospects fills them with confidence?

A warning: Do not ever over-sell or misrepresent yourself - that is the path to poor reputation and unhappiness.

Management Discipline

Many business owners have had successful careers in Corporate life. They are attracted to the freedom which comes from being in control of their own destiny. Sadly, too many take this to the extreme of ignoring all the good practice that they learnt in their Corporate past. They start to regard some of these disciplines as "only necessary for the Corporate Slaves".

The bad news:
Most Corporate review processes are part of the sensible disciplines of running a business.

The good news:
It is easy to create your own review process. All you need is a schedule of times when you review (and ACT upon) the information you should be gathering already in your business. The following list will get you started:

• Cash flow: Creditors; Debtors; Forecast;
• Sales: Forecast; Review plans;
• Marketing: Leads; Campaign effectiveness
• Price
• Operations: Delivery quality; On time; Customer feedback