NO, REALLY,
IT'S NOT COMPLICATED
Business
is tough, but it ain’t complicated. The aim is simply to keep profitable
customers for a long, long time. There-fore, the Number 1 priority has
to be customer retention, and the first step to keeping customers is
to provide them with a good experience. In other words, success in business
comes down to getting the basics right.
The basics in business are very simple, too. You have to do the right things,
first time, every time. The right things are those things that your customers
want and need you to do. These are not necessarily the things that you
usually do, like to do, or are good at doing. They may even be things you
have never done before. But they are things you must do because they are
what your customers are prepared to pay for. This is what they value and
where you will be allowed to make a profit. In this crowded and competitive
market, you have to build a business that works for your customers, not
one that works for you.
Next, these things must be done right the first time. If you do not get
them right the first time, you will have two problems. First, you will
have unhappy customers because your customers will have been count-ing
on you to do what you said you would do. I know that is unreasonable but
customers are like that, probably because they have customers who are counting
on them and they cannot deliver to their customers unless you deliver to
them. The second problem is that you will have created re-work, which is
a major source of waste. Be clear about it, this waste will be costing
you a lot of money. Depending on the industry you are in, 25-50% of the
cost of producing a product or service comes from waste. Between these
two problems, the cost of not getting it right first time is very high.
The secret to getting it right first time lies in operating efficient processes.
Understanding your processes, improving them to make them efficient and
getting staff to follow them is hard to do, but it is worth it because
having unhappy customers who are costing you a lot to supply is not a recipe
for profitability.
Finally, you have to do this every time. There
can be no exceptions because once you drop the
ball, your customers are likely to go elsewhere.
I don’t
think we take this need for consistency seriously enough. I have had suppliers
stuff up and then say to me with a shrug, “Well, mate, accidents do happen.” I
wonder how these same people would feel hearing a pilot say that just
before the plane took off?
To get it right consistently requires reliable
processes and an attitude from everyone that
says, “Our customers are counting on us and we cannot
afford to let them down.” If you do not do the right things, right first
time, every time, your customers will not come back. Then where will
you be? Remember, customers are not important to your business, they
are your
business. Without them you have nothing.
Admittedly, doing the right things, right first time, every time, is not
easy to do, but the task is made a lot easier if everyone understands how
important it is to get the basics right. Do your people?
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