Delivering Service That Truly "Differentiates" You From The Pack - Customer Service Training and Loyalty Programs
Organizations that dedicate themselves to working hard at giving their customers superior service produce better financial results, grow faster, are able to charge more for their basic products, and are more profitable than organizations that work hard to give their customers as little as possible.
Successful service organizations also have lower marketing costs, fewer upset and complaining customers and more repeat business - customers who 'vote with their feet'. On top of that, good service as internal rewards for these organizations, employee turnover and absenteeism are lower, morale and job satisfaction higher.
We work directly with your employees, and using a structured service-focused training program we'll help you create and sustain a service advantage.
We will demonstrate the importance of building customer and team member loyalty and the impact that will have on your bottom line profits, and work with you to put in place strategies to ensure your selected customers stick with you for the long haul.
In short, we'll help you build that not only understands how delivering "awesome" customer service will help grow your business, they'll be excited about the opportunity to do so! Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Customer Selection and Acquisition + Customer Profitability Analysis
Many business people make the mistake of accepting all comers when it comes to customer selection. Yet all customers were not created equal - some of your customers are profitable for you, and some may even be costing you money to service.
We will work with you to analyze your existing customer base and identify which of your customers are the most profitable so you are able to target more customers just like them. Importantly, we'll also help you identify which of your customers could actually be
costing you money to service, so you can let them go and free up both time and resources to focus on getting more of the
right customers. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Customer Advisory Boards - Focus Groups and Market Research
Successful businesses are in touch with their customers and understand what it really is that their customers are buying from them.
We can help you get close to your best customers and to determine what they value about doing business with you and what they'd really like to see you improve.
One way to do that is to offer customer surveys (for quantitative research) and another way is by facilitating a Customer Advisory Board (for qualitative research) and to learn what elements of your service or product offering they perceive to be of most value to them.
Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) offer a more in-depth understanding of your customers' perspectives or opinions than is otherwise obtainable through telephone interviews or mail surveys. The feedback gathered is personalized to your target customers and the results are immediate.
When we facilitate a 3-hour CAB with some of your best customers we help you discover why they chose to deal with you and what they like most (and least) about doing business with you.
Armed with that information, we can help you implement business processes that ensure you deliver more of the service they value most highly and in doing so, keep your very best customers coming back time and time again. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Finding and Keeping Good People – Your People Plan - HR, Team Building and Retention
One of the biggest challenges facing small business operators is how to recruit and keep good people. The people who work for you are your most valuable resource. They represent your business and their workmanship. Service and attitudes will affect your success in attracting and maintaining a strong customer base.
To build a loyal and effective team you must devote considerable time and effort to hiring, training and managing your employees. Before hiring anyone, it's important to clarify why you need to employ someone, and the type of person you are looking for.
This means identifying the jobs that you will employ people to do and clearly setting out the conditions in a job description. This is a concise outline of the tasks that you expect the employee to carry out, including any special conditions that they will have to work under.
We will then work with you to develop a checklist of the skills, education, training, attributes and personal qualities you think a person would need in order to carry out the particular job. This is called a job specification and is an essential tool for screening applicants. Having clarified the sort of person you require, the next question is how to find the best person for the job.
One of the disadvantages of a small business is that you can rarely offer the sort of career opportunities that a large organization can and small business generally has a reputation for failing to offer long-term job security. We can help you counteract this by working with you to build and develop a working environment that is highly appealing to employees, and highly productive.
We help you craft and implement a people plan that will dramatically improve your chances of long-term business success. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Improving Your Effectiveness - Organizational Design and Business Process Flow Mapping
Every business revolves around the purpose of transforming something into something else of greater value. Whether it is a cabinet making shop taking wood and laminate and transforming it into kitchen cabinets, or a restaurant taking food and ingredients, an ambient location and good service and transforming that into well fed, satisfied and relaxed customers.
The operation of your business is concerned with the production of goods and/or services that will create value. You are in the business of taking basic ingredients (inputs) and developing them into something else which is of greater value (outputs).
We'll help you save time and money by streamlining and assessing your business processes with the following questions in mind:
- What are your desired outputs?
- What technology is necessary to produce those outputs?
- What physical resources do you need to be able to produce those outputs?
- Premises
- Machinery
- Equipment
- Raw materials
- What human resources do you need?
- What financial resources do you need?
- How do you plan and control the production or operation of the business?
- Quality
- Availability
- Cost
- Results
We can work with you to identify the appropriate production or operational methods for your business and greatly improve your business process effectiveness (and save you money in the process). Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Keeping You On Track and On Target - Key Performance Indicator Monitoring
- · If you can't measure it, you can't manage it
- · What gets measured gets done
- · You need to know the score to win
Many management truisms have arisen out of the understanding that measuring the right things in your business is critical to its very survival. These "things" are known as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Critical Success Factors.
Key Performance Indicators represent a set of measures focusing on the aspects of your business performance that are most critical for the current and future success of your organization.
There are no "cookie-cutter" KPIs that can be used in every organization so we will work with you to ensure you are measuring the important indicators of your business performance. We'll then work with you as your business coach to monitor your business performance and to ensure your business stays on track for success. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Understanding the Numbers - Financial Management Strategy and Analysis
You are in business to make a profit and your financial plan will enable you to measure, control, evaluate and forecast your profitability, your financial needs and your financial viability.
One of the major causes of business failure is under capitalization - not having enough money invested in the business to enable it to run effectively.
In order to make sure you do not fall into this trap, we work with you to first establish how much capital you need, and then determine how to go about financing the venture.
We'll help you to set realistic financial goals for your business and more importantly, we'll help you define a business strategy that will enable you to meet them. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Cash Flow Forecasting
A profit budget will predict your sales, your direct costs and overhead expenses and therefore your net profit. However, it will not predict when any cash payments will be paid, nor when your sales and other income will be received in the form of cash.
The tool that will enable you to estimate whether you will have sufficient cash to operate your business over a period of time is your Cash Flow Forecast. This is simply another budget that estimates what cash you will receive and outlay in short time spans. The cash flow forecast will project your cash position at certain time intervals and allow you to manage your business transactions more effectively.
We will work with you to determine how much working capital you need to enable the cash to flow freely enough for you to operate your business effectively.
Many business owners make the mistake of discounting or running sales in order to increase cash flow during critical 'cash crunch' periods. We will work with you to help you understand why this is not a viable option for the long-term profitability of your business, and help you to develop a working cash flow forecast to ensure your business is adequately funded year round. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Your Unique Differentiator - Business Value Proposition Definition
The difference between your business and every other business is YOU. While many businesses perform the same function, the more successful ones distinguish themselves by delivering better service, producing a higher quality product or improving their clients' quality of life. Equally important, successful businesses clearly and quickly communicate their Business Value Proposition – that is, they can easily articulate why their business is the best choice. And they never stop promoting the benefits that their business offers.
When assessing your business, always consider this question: What can you tell your customers about your business or product that will differentiate you from all the rest, and make your business the obvious choice for them?
Creating a Business Value Proposition requires ingenuity and a very strong customer benefit focus. Using our structured approach we can help you craft and communicate your Business Value Proposition and help your customers understand just what it is that sets you apart from your competition. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.
Gaining Freedom or "Business Independence" - Business Systems Development + Exit Strategy Development
Many entrepreneurs fail to create an organization that has real value beyond their individual participation. Have you created a business that works without you or have you simply created a job?
One way to answer this is to consider what would happen to your business tomorrow if you had been diagnosed with a serious illness yesterday? Would you have an experienced, qualified management team who could take over while you concentrated on getting well again, or would the business crumble and fail in your absence?
By working with us to develop fully integrated business systems, we'll help you set up your business so that you can sell it whenever you want to (or have to).
We'll help you work ON your business, not IN it. Build your business so it can run without you on a day-to-day basis. Break your responsibilities into different functions that other people could perform. Don't be the only one who can handle certain tasks. Cross-train your employees so that each can handle several different duties when necessary. Hire people with management potential. Then develop them.
We'll work with you to make sure your business looks good. A clean, well-maintained, attractive company is much easier to sell, and commands a higher price than a tired, dirty, run down operation. We'll also help you get an objective, outside opinion on your company's value on a regular basis.
Importantly, we'll help you build a profitable company. This point may seem obvious, but many entrepreneurs believe that simple longevity or sales volume is what drives business value, when plain old profitability is the thing that matters most.
We'll help you to set financial goals and meet them. If your business isn't making significant amounts of money right now, it's highly unlikely you will be able to walk away with anything to show for your hard work.
Finally, we'll help you develop an exit strategy for how you plan to leave your business. You can't afford to leave anything to chance where the future of your business is concerned and we'll help you develop a viable plan with contingencies.
Everyone leaves his or her business sometime, but the thing we can't predict is when that will be. Contact us to learn how we can help you be prepared for anything life throws your way.
Starting With the End in Mind - Creating and Communicating a Shared Vision
Successful leaders today know that nothing drives an organization like an attractive, worthwhile, achievable vision of the future. We can work with you to perform a "vision audit" to determine your organization's current direction. We'll work together to:
- Analyze the opportunities and threats to your vision presented by employees, customers, investors and managers.
- Anticipate changes in the economy, society, and technology that suggest possible new directions
- Formulate alternative visions and choose the one that is best for you, your organization, and all its stakeholders
- Turn vision into action by overcoming resistance to change and winning employee support
- Monitor and track the vision and know when it requires revision
From Startup to Success Story - Business Startup Success Programs
Starting and running your own business requires you to wear many different hats. There is so much to know and it can take years of experience to learn it all. Unfortunately, a few poor decisions can cost you a lot - maybe even your entire savings. But good well-informed decisions and advice can anchor your business, fuel your company's growth and position you for long term success.
With more than 75% of all business startups failing in the first 3-5 years you can't afford to gamble on your new business. Research shows that without proper advice and guidance you'll have better odds of success in Vegas than in your own business.
We can help you dramatically increase those odds of success.
If you're an entrepreneur developing a new venture we'll help you develop a winning business strategy, establish a solid position against your competition and build a business that works for you, whether you're working in it or not.
Contact us to learn more about our Business Success Program for startup entrepreneurs.
