Get Organised
One of the main
secrets of productivity is being organised.
Trouble is, this is easier than it sounds. From observing a number of entrepreneurs
(particularly in small businesses), it appears that many of them simply spend
all their time fighting fires. In some
cases this is true…
Have you ever noticed how your car is laid out in the same
way as most others (the only difference being on which side the steering wheel
is, depending on where you live)? The
steering wheel is usually positioned directly in front of the driver, with
accelerator, brake (and clutch, in manual cars) being placed where the feet
end. Whether the car is left-hand or
right-hand drive makes no difference: the clutch is on the left, the brake in
the middle, the accelerator on the right.
In front of the driver, behind the steering wheel is usually the
“dashboard” with speedometer and tachometer in the centre, and a fuel gauge to
the left or right of them.
People have worked out that the most sensible way to drive a
car is to make sure that the various parts are arranged in a certain way. You don't see cars with the steering wheel on
the left, but the clutch, brake and accelerator on the right. However, this can be the approach that
entrepreneurs take.
A disorganised boss will quickly lose the trust and respect
of their people. They don't have to be
paragons of efficiency (in fact, that would make for a bad entrepreneur in most
cases), but at least try the following:
Have a regular
“admin” day or time.
This is where you set aside time for making lists, sorting
out the desk, following stuff up. It
helps you to pause, take stock and re-focus.
Have a place for
everything:
… and everything in its place. You just waste less time looking for
things. Imagine if you had to look in a
different part of the car every time you wanted to check your speedometer.
Keep a clean desk:
Some say that a cluttered desk is a sign of a genius. However, it can also stress you out as you
don’t know where to focus, or get distracted by the mess. Have plenty of drawer and filing space. I’ve just ordered two desk drawer organisers
to help me in this. Remember, if you
have a place for everything, it doesn't have to be on top of your desk.
Don't run your
business from your smartphone:
You WILL miss things, or not read them properly if you read
email only on your smartphone. That could cost you… Smartphone batteries also have a nasty habit
of dying just when you really need them.
The excuse “Sorry, my battery died” just shows you're not organised
enough to make sure it’s always charged.
Use your diary:
Whether you use a smartphone or paper diary, make sure that
you have your meetings in it. There’s no
excuse for not knowing what you're doing/whom you’re meeting and when.
Carry a notebook:
It’s amazing how quickly you can jot down ideas, things to
do, etc. Typing them into a smartphone
takes more time and you may lose the idea as you struggle with those fiddly
little keys (I know).
Prioritise:
Some things are urgent, some are important, some are urgent and important, some are neither urgent
nor important. To really confuse things,
some may not be urgent but are still important.
Get to know which is which. What
you enjoy doing may be neither urgent nor important…
Learn to delegate:
Don't try to do it all yourself. Trust others.
Just remember, if the person isn't experienced enough, you’ll end up
wasting time, demoralising people and maybe losing a deal. Make sure people know what they’re
doing. Invest time in training them.
Know when to take a
break:
Far too many entrepreneurs suffer from “burnout”. Take time off to recharge. No one can work 24/76 forever. It affects your mind and decision making
abilities.
A disorganised boss is a major morale problem. If you can't manage yourself, can you be
trusted to manage a business?
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running different
operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer
solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
9 Words That Scare People
“It’s my company and
I’ll do what I like!” These words used
to scare me as a lending banker because they showed that the speaker didn’t
really understand what running a business was about.
A lot of business owners are extremely successful; good for
them. They’ve clearly found a “winning
formula” that results in people being willing to buy that business’ product or
service at the price charged. Of course,
they may be the only player in the area, resulting in a monopoly. However, that won't last forever…
The problem with people who take the “It’s my company…” view
is that, whilst I acknowledge and respect that they’ve built that business up,
it’s not simply theirs to do with as they please. They have the option of running it, handing
it over to their children or selling it and retiring on the proceeds - all very
noble acts.
What the business is not
there for, however, is to act as their personal playground or lifestyle
financing mechanism. You may be able to
pay for a lavish lifestyle off the money you make from your business, but that
is the result, not the purpose of running a successful
business. It makes one wonder about the
priorities of the owner. It also
suggests why it is that so few small businesses survive the “second
generation”.
A business exists to solve a problem and to make money. If the owner is constantly taking out cash to
pay for that Porsche, or Mediterranean cruise holiday, that’s less cash left in
the company to pay for more profit-producing essentials or to provide cashflow
when times are bad. As a result, either
the owner then has to go to the banks to ask for more money, or put any spare
cash they have back in to keep it afloat.
Of course, they could just close the business...
As a lending banker, I was taught to observe what was going
on when I visited a business. Did the
owner have the latest Mercedes parked outside the entrance whilst the exterior
of the premises was in disrepair? Was
the lobby paved with marble, with a fountain in the middle, whilst the work
areas were shabby and dark? Whilst this
last might be an exaggeration, it illustrates how company cash may be diverted
to “trimmings” rather than the essentials.
Modern office equipment and computers are essentials; marble fountains
aren’t.
If money was being spent on trimmings and I was lending, was
that what was happening with my depositors’ money? I don't know how they would have felt about
their money (which they trusted me to lend sensibly) being spent on
non-essentials, but I doubt they’d have been happy (unless the loan repayments
were on schedule).
A business owner has both moral and civic responsibilities;
moral to be seen to be doing the “right/honest” thing; civic to ensure that
that what they do supports the local community or environment. At times, these come into conflict with the
need to pursue profit, but as awareness grows and it becomes easier to speak
out and publicise wrongdoing, business owners will find hiding is more
difficult and that it is not just “their business”.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running different
operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer
solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses,
charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An
international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of
services. For strategic questions that
you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Financial, Selling, Social, Strategy
Two Words To Maintain Customer Loyalty
In an earlier article, I talked about the power of two words that could mean the world to
your team. The same two can massively
improve customer loyalty and, by extension, your business’ profitability.
The same two words (“I’m sorry” and “Thank you”) when used
with customers can only do you good. OK,
that’s four words, but saying “sorry” when you’ve made a mistake with a customer
is hard for some - after all, you’re admitting you’re fallible and capable of
error - surely not a good thing?
Wrong. We’re all
human. No one comes into work intending to make mistakes (at least I
hope they don't) but it happens. Even
machines can go out of alignment, inject the wrong amount of
colouring/ingredient or break down. In
one case, an investigation of a clearing house showed that if one of the
“trays” was out of place by even a few millimetres, customer paperwork could go
down the space in between and get temporarily lost.
If a customer complains, first thank them. Yes, say “thank you”. Why?
Because they’re taking the time to point out that something isn’t right. It’s free feedback from someone who
values your product or service and wants to help you to fix it before it really
embarrasses you. Sometimes that’s hard
to appreciate.
Next, the most important thing is to say “I’m sorry” (after
all, this is your business), explain
what happened and why, then show what steps you’ve taken to correct it. You may even have to compensate them.
Studies show that businesses that admit their mistakes and fix them are trusted more, and are
more likely to be forgiven their mistakes, by their customers. Don't get defensive; don’t try to show it was
the customer’s fault that things went wrong (you can, of course, point out what
they should have done politely) but avoid making them out to be
the “bad guy” unless you're happy to lose their business forever and you know that it won’t hurt your reputation
and/or your bottom line.
If a customer writes in to compliment your business, write
back as soon as possible to thank them.
Not only is it polite, but again, it shows you care. A happy customer will always tell their
friends about the great service they received from your business (as well as
the bad), so imagine how they’ll react if you write back… Again, they’ll keep coming back for more - and
paying your business more for its products and services. They may even come to your defence one day.
We often get so caught up in the business of making money
that we forget who it is that pays us that money in the first place - the
customer. Happy customers mean happy
businesses. Happy businesses mean happy
staff. Happy staff mean happy customers
who come back for more and keep your business going. It’s a “virtuous circle”.
I have spent more than half my life
delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to
“emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial
services around the world running
different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to
offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk
management. I work with individuals,
small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across
the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be
contacted by email
. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be
asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.Labels: Customer Care, Strategy
