Customers were frustrated by ‘it’, employees were embarrassed by ‘it’, the owners were uncomfortable by ‘it’. What, you ask, is ‘it’?
‘It’ was an archaic (think: 19th century) tracking system for repairs of customers’ mission-critical equipment. This value-added service has been provided by a well-respected Walnut Creek, CA based company for years. Trouble is, few people now were seeing the repair service as ‘value added’. The company did a great job fixing the equipment; it was the process that was the problem. It certainly was a good thing that the repair service wasn’t ‘core’ to the business.
Consider these ‘equipment repair’ experiences:
***A customer calls in to ask for an estimate (time and money) of getting their equipment repaired.
***A customer asks their representative for a status report on their equipment repair order.
***Employees (of all stripes) would ask the foreman of the repair facility for workload reports and backlog estimates.
In each and every case (regardless of who was asking) people consistently got untimely and inaccurate information from well-intended, but less-than-confident, employees. “Amateur hour” was how one person described it. It was no wonder that representatives from the company cringed when having to give their customers updates on their repairs.
I first met the owner about six months ago after an address I had given on professional values to business leaders. My core message that evening: make professional values your north arrow. After the address the owner reached out to thank me, indicating that the message had really resonated with him. My address had reinforced something in him that he had always believed….but he had never been taught before that evening.
Little did I know how much the message had resonated with him until I reconnected with him weeks later. Since our first encounter, he had committed to making every aspect of his business as professional as possible. He had made a laundry list of things he wanted to change: first and foremost was that antiquated tracking system for equipment repairs.
He smiled as he recounted with me how much fun it had been for him creating the new tracking system. As a professional, he noted, the new tracking system was something that he always knew he should do. Having made the commitment to himself to center his company around professional values proved to be impetus he needed to get started right away.
Almost from the onset of implementing the new tracking system the company gained 30% additional business in equipment repairs. And that 30% increase has held steady over these many months. In other words, it wasn’t a fluke. Interestingly, the owner says that handling 30% more volume with the new system ‘feels like’ their previous volume with the old system. In other words, the greater work load hasn’t been a problem at all—even though it’s 30% higher than before. For the benefit of those who desire quantification, that’s a 30% increase in productivity!
His employees love the new system as it really helps their ability to satisfy customers. And it avoids them looking stupid and feeling embarrassed as they had before with the old system. It’s proven to be a winner in every way. The owner can’t wait to make even more changes! Said another way, he can’t wait to make his operation that much more professional.
Professional upgrades can take a lot of forms—this one happened to involve a system. All this owner needed was to be reminded that he was a professional and how important that was for his company. The experience has reignited his commitment to the high standards (e.g. mind-set # 4) he’s always believed in. His business, his employees and his customers have all benefited. I can’t wait to see what he’ll undertake next.
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