Cut Costs with this Simple System!
Little things in your business are robbing you of profit and sending customers to your competition. With one simple idea, you can create happier customers and rid yourself of unnecessary waste.
When I am wearing my "customer hat," I often get frustrated with the many business systems that are seriously under performing. Way too many things are done wrong and have to be redone. Deliveries are often late. Parts are missing. Products are flawed. Merchandise is not properly labeled or priced. Counts are inaccurate. Stores and restrooms are dirty. Clerks are uninformed or untrained, etc., etc. I told my wife a few years ago that it seemed like 50% of the things we bought had one problem or another. Mistakes cost business owners dearly in lost profit and lost customers, but they are daily occurrences we have all come to expect.
Recently I threw up my hands in exasperation because Comcast aborted their second attempt to install my home service—a simple problem they could have avoided with a little better preparation. They will have made three trips to my house to get the job done—no profit and an unhappy customer. How's that for a lose-lose proposition!
Every week this summer, my lawn service company cut off sprinkler heads, left the gate open, and didn't clean the grass clippings from the driveway. I told them of the problems but they are inclined to forget. Every year or two I hire someone new, but with similar results. The business owners must wonder why customers come and go.
If you are a Systems Thinker, you can put more money in your pocket every year by doing one simple thing, one system improvement. Review and complete a checklist for each customer—the routine items and the special instructions. For example, close the gates-√check. Sweep the driveway grass clippings-√check. Mow around the sprinkler head in west corner of the backyard-√check. Checklists can be of great value in every type of business.
You would be amazed how many problems are solved, how many things are done right, and how many customers stick around when your workers use a system checklist. And the power of a checklist doubles when workers sign their name to it and turn it in for review by their supervisor. System Thinkers leverage little things like checklists to produce big results.
A few well-placed checklists can save you a lot of grief and lost profit. Go add a system checklist today to your operating procedures and just watch the improvement!
Wishing You Prosperous Times,
Ron