Moss Growin' on You, Part II

As a prelude to my post, let me tell you first that my Peach of an Offer is Still Available. I am offering incentives for free sessions for referrals as well. Ask me!

You have a business and things are kind of okay but employees are nervous and so are you. You wonder how you can streamline and get your "back burner" marketing plan back up to the front.

1. You're not sure if your systems are working anymore

Yesterday I took one case study and today I'm going to take another, dramatic example:

This particular company brought me in during the Mother of all Crisis: Embezzlement. Yes, the CFO ran off will a million dollars by cooking the books for two years. I was brought in to find out what the "real" books were by re-creating 2 years of activity for a multi-million $ company. Yeah, fun right?

The owner then 'fessed up to allowing himself to not know parts of his business because he'd rather be selling, and hey, that's why there's a CFO. This was a sort of family run business and that there were all kinds of exciting high jinks and drama, like having my office broken into and the computer stolen, etc. But after the dust settled a little, I decided to take this once in a business lifetime opportunity to create a manual for them that described the way everything in the office was done.

This manual was created by interviewing the employees, compiling all the information and finding the blanks and filling them in with something that pulled the components together. When I had the first draft, I had those same people go through the processes and edit the manual to make it more accurate. Can you see where I'm going with this? Cross-training. Yep, now there was no Big Magic behind each job. It all made sense and the owner and everyone else could use this manual whenever they were not quite sure what should happen next. And, of course, before I left, I reminded them that this needed to be updated every time they made a new decision on how to operate. (We can only hope for these small miracles...)

Change often comes as a result of a crisis.

There are always things that are working and not working for you. What gets pushed to the front burner is the thing that's making the most noise. Just like the squeaky wheel, it may not be the most crucial thing to be dealt with.

When placed in a business crisis that lasts more than a couple of days, our thoughts can start driving us through that rut over and over until we are only responding to the crisis at hand. This is how many businesses lose their way. The 'trance of fear and crisis'.

It's takes more than a "snap out of it!" I think we can work on that one together, though.

We awake, be well and dream!

You've Got Some Moss Growin' on You?

You have a business and things are kind of okay but employees are nervous and so are you. You wonder how you can streamline and get your "back burner" marketing plan back up to the front.

1. You're not sure if your systems are working anymore.

I can guarantee there's at least ONE system that you have running that's not working for you:
Are sending your office manager out to the post office?

With that example, some of you will shudder, some of you will say "what office manager?" and some of you will say, "please, that's stupid." I have a feeling that most of you are going to be relating to the first two comments. There's always something. Some weird little process that only one person knows how to do, doesn't want to teach to someone else and it's inefficient and costing you time and money.

You quite possibly may not know what "systems" you have. Let me give you an example of what you can do to identify and update what you have going on. I'll use an example of a recent client:

Small office (5) but used to just be the owner and perhaps an assistant. As soon as two more people where brought on to help with the revenue stream and create more space for the owner to work on other things, it became clear there were issues.

What we did:
1.5 days together in an on-site retreat. We turned on the voicemail, notified the clients and every 2 hours took 15 minute call-back breaks so that things didn't crumble on the front side. We went through everything that happens for each person from the minute they walk in the door. What is their process?What is the process for dealing with a new client? What is the existing paper-trail?, etc.

In that amount of time we:

• Realized that new and better way of doing things were going to make money and save time.
• We needed to move to a different space to grow the business properly.
• The business owner needed a schedule too.
• There needed to be a "hub" person for all client information until there is a database created.
• There needed to be a "lunch break" for the entire staff with the phones off.
• A hundred more things, but most importantly, the world will not fall apart if we take some time to figure things out!
  

So, on that Friday everyone quit that 'old' business and on Monday when they came to work, it was for the 'new' business (not my idea but a great one).

This is such a great topic and my favorite one that I think I'll go into another case study tomorrow. Till then...

Where Are You Now #2 Rocky?

You have a business and things are kind of okay but employees are nervous and so are you. You wonder how you can streamline and get your "back burner" marketing plan back up to the front.

1. You're not sure if your systems are working anymore.
   
2. You finally admit to 'yourself and another person' that you may not be reading your P&L correctly.(!)
3. You've stopped having regular Company/Employee meetings.
   
4. You wonder how your physical space is working or not working for you
   
5. Since when did your marketing plan end up on the back burner???

Let me know if I left something out!
Seriously, I think there are very few small businesses, even the ones who are "flush" right now who are NOT asking themselves some of these questions. Each one is indicative of yet other issues. They may all play out differently, but one thing is certain, the road continues to move beneath us and how ready we are for the speed bumps has to do with how we have the everyday under control.

What I hear a lot of is: I spend the day doing all this stuff and yet there are piles on my desk and I don't really have any new business coming in. Where is my time going and how can I stop the bleed?

If out of your 40-50+ hour week you were to spend 2-3 hours on re-evaluating you could make some huge changes. Having that two hours being focused is what I'm all about. That's where I can draw you to the crucial issues and away from the mosquito buzzing in your ear. The buzz you're hearing and swatting at is probably not your core issue. Let's identify it, get it dealt with and move on.