An inventory of your business life
Every week I talk to several drycleaners
who are questioning where they are and what they have
accomplished with their businesses.
When they first entered this business,
they had so much confidence and so many great ideas that it was
hard to keep from jumping out of their skin with enthusiasm. It
doesn’t matter if they started a new business, bought an
existing business or took over the family business. They had
new ideas that were going to revolutionize the world of
drycleaning.
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So, what’s happened since then and
now? Have your employees let you down so many times that now
you wish you didn’t need any? Or have you decided that
you will sit it out till it comes time to sell the business and
retire?
If you have ever felt this way, it is
time for you to take an inventory of your business life. Taking
this inventory doesn’t mean wasting a lot of time
worrying about what you should have or could have done. It
means looking at the foundation that you’ve built and
seeing the fantastic opportunities that will grow on that
foundation.
The first thing that you must remember is
that you are in an industry where 80 percent of your
competitors are doing a less than stellar job in cleaning,
pressing and customer service. What a marvelous opportunity you
have to shine!
The second thing that you must accept is
the fact that these drycleaners — your competitors
— will never be in a position to compete with your
quality of work and service.
Why? Because their prices are too low and
they are afraid to do anything about it. Instead of trying to
compete with these businesses by lowering your prices, bury
them with your quality. The next drycleaner that goes out of
business because he or she raised prices will be the first.
You must make the decision to improve the
quality of your work and the service you deliver to your
customers. You must do this while improving productivity. As
things improve you must get over your fear of price increases.
Now think back to when you really knew
how to manage people. Your philosophy back then was
“I’ll treat them exactly the way I want to be
treated.”
This was the gateway to your prosperity.
I know… I’ve been there and done that. Our
assumption was that if we treated people the way we wanted to
be treated, they would act the way we would act. That means
that they would always take the initiative to do the job right
the first time, would know what needed to be done next and
wouldn’t slack off and leave things undone.
What we didn’t realize was that
most people are not like us. People need direction and
guidance. They require outside discipline. They need to know
what is expected of them and they need to know that someone
cares when their performance falls below the standard.
In other words, their underperformance
must be more unpleasant to them than it is to you. If you think
they don’t care, you are wrong. Ten percent of your
people may not care but the other 90 percent do.
Before you start cracking the whip, you
must get back to your vision of the future. What do you want
your company to be in one year, three years, five years and ten
years? Now, what do the employees look like in your vision?
You must commit to upgrading all your
employees so that they fit into your vision. The majority of
people will come along. Unfortunately, some won’t and
they will have to be replaced. That is not your fault,
it’s theirs.
This takes mental toughness on your part.
Being mentally tough does not mean being abusive or
disrespectful to your people. It does mean setting realistic
performance standards and making sure that everyone lives by
them.
In order to upgrade the quality of your
work and service, you must start with your employees. Evaluate
each employee according to the following criteria:
• Attendance.
• Skill level.
• Ability to learn.
• Attitude.
• Productivity.
• Quality of work.
• Gets along with others (team
work).
• Appearance.
Rating should be as follows: excellent,
good or needs improvement.
Now, can you support these ratings with
documentation, such as: attendance records for every employee;
production records; verbal/written warnings, etc.?
Identify your lowest rated (overall)
employee. Write down the steps and the time it will take to
improve this individual’s performance.
As a manager, your performance rating is
equal to that of the lowest rated person reporting to you. Like
a chain, your company is no stronger than the weakest link.
People have a tendency to let their
performance gravitate downward without constant encouragement
from the boss. Work with your lowest rated people to improve
their performance and you will find the attitudes of your
better employees will also improve.
Imagine for a moment that I’m your
boss. Also, imagine that I know all about your company and how
it is operating today.
Now imagine that I will be in to see you
three months from today to ask you what you have done to make
the business better. Imagine that your performance over these
three months is going to dictate how much money you will make
this year.
Guess what… your performance will
dictate how much money you make whether I come to your door or
not. But maybe the thought of me appearing on the scene will
inspire a little more effort.
John D. Rockefeller said, “Good
management consists in showing average people how to do the
work of superior people.”
In the game of business, the more you
know the better you can play the game.
