OK, if you are reading this and you are not the boss, you might want to print it out and slide it (anonymously) under your boss’s door. If you are the boss, get that helmet out and be prepared to get dirty.
As any business grows, the boss tends to get busier and busier, in my view this leads to a few problems. Firstly, the boss starts to spend more time looking at spreadsheets and less time talking to customers. At the same time the boss gets locked in the back office, instead of walking around the business and looking for ways to do things better. Last but not least, the boss becomes so distracted with “important stuff” that they fail to see their business slowly fading around them.
Some of the things you as the boss need to do on a regular basis (and of course it depends on what kind of business you have) –
Answer the phone for a few hours. See what your customers are asking for, what they need and what their expectations are. This is also a nice way to check in and see how your own expectations and beliefs are matching up with what your customers are asking for. Some people feel a little too important to answer the phone – I would love to see the Chairs of most large companies on the receiving end of a few customer calls to see how they change the business.
Get behind the cash register for a while – this follows the same principles as answering the phone, but now you get to look your customers in the eye. What are people asking for? What are they buying? Are they enjoying the experience? Do they look happy? Is the buying process as good as it can be?
Buy something from your own business online – this is a great one. If you own a business that sells things online, whip out your credit card and try to buy something. I can guarantee that very few business owners do this because if they did, there is no way their sites would be so complicated.
Walk around your business like a customer and use all of the facilities – how easy is it to park, how does the signage look, how faded is the carpet, how does it smell, how well lit is it, how old is the reading material, how boring is your waiting room, how clean are your toilets, how, how, how………….All of these aspects of our business fade with time and most bosses spend too much “out back” and not enough time “out front” to realise that the business is actually falling apart.
Check out the extensions of your business – this covers things like company vehicles and outdoor billboards. How do they look? Are they clean, in good condition and truly representative of your business?
If you create or sell a product – use it. The best way to find ways to make anything better is to use it often enough to figure out what works and what doesn’t. How often do you go into a business and ask yourself whose job was it to make this process so complicated?
I have yet to meet a business that couldn’t be made better in some way. These improvements tend to be driven by the boss. But most of us get too busy (yes too busy) to focus our attention on things like this and unfortunately, at some stage it catches up and we pay the price. The reality is that it is all about the customer, which is one aspect of business that never changes.
Most of your will have already have heard me talking about the fact that as the business owner we are the “business barometer”, well we also need to be the “business crash test dummy,” which means we need to be the one who test everything, use everything, talk to our customers, take the odd complaint, step back and analyse the business and anything else that makes it the best business it can possibly be.
Until next time.
Andrew
PS I’m sorry I have been a bit quiet on the Business Bullet front, but I have been working on some great projects, most of which I will share in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are a few updates that might just tickle your fancy.
21st CENTURY FINANCIAL EDUCATION SUMMIT – Melbourne, October 21/22. I have been invited to be part of the line up for this event which is expected to attract over 8,000 people. I will be talking about what it takes to make your business a ONE PERCENTER. That means a business that is better (in every way) than 99% of the competition.
The BIG BOOK of Small Business – My latest book, The Big Book of Small Business is featured in this months QANTAS inflight magazine. Response to the book has been fantastic to say the least and I am very happy that thousands of business owners are embracing the concept of having one big book that covers everything from working with family, friends and lovers to online marketing to attitude.
The KEY PERSON OF INFLUENCE PROGRAMME – Last weekend we kicked off the KPI Programme in Melbourne and it was an absolute blast. I am teaching participants about publishing and there are some great ideas for books in amongst this group of very talented folk. The entire concept has been developed by two friends of mine – Daniel Priestly and Glen Carlson – and it is all about how to become a Key Person of Influence through pitching, publishing, products, publicity and partnerships. Check out the website – KPI PROGRAMME . Our next KPI programme will be starting in January – if you would like more information, drop me a line and I will put you in touch with Glen Carlson.
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