It makes my day when I get a call from an on-fire customer! This past week, I heard from a special client—I’ll call him Charlie—who told me he had an idea for one of my blogs.
You see, Charlie owns one of three companies we have been working with—all from the same (non-print) industry, whose owners know each other very well. Charlie told me that recently he was speaking to Ted, one of the other owners, and encouraging him to keep up with his training in order to reap the benefits for his company in short order.
Charlie has a heart to see his friend Ted achieve results like he has seen in his business over the past couple of years. At the risk of insulting Ted, he asked him, “Do you know you have a THIEF at work in your business?” I think I can imagine Ted’s thoughts, as he knew Charlie was very familiar with him, his company and even many of his employees—“Oh my, I have a thieving employee in my business and Charlie knows who it is and he’s trying to give we fair warning.”
Our client, Charlie, has been systemizing his company for over two years and has seen MANY benefits and rewards, so he’s become pretty vocal about helping others overcome what seems criminal to him now in too many businesses.
Charlie often calls now me to share some encouraging news, something we can all use in these times, and a few days ago he forwarded an email to me he had received from his corporate headquarters, commending him on his rating of ZERO “Exceptions,” a report Corporate sends out on all jobs, when necessary. Corporate was especially impressed with Charlie’s work on a really large job. An Exception Report in that industry details errors or mistakes on a particular job.
Before Charlie systemized his business, he had become discouraged by, and almost resigned to, receiving multiple Exceptions. His line of work has many more processes to deal with, as the company’s assignments are all OFFSITE.
You can imagine how frustrating his work had become—sending out large crews to do jobs that entail hundreds of processes, and which must be completed without fail, and then hearing from Corporate and his clients that his company got failing marks for all the staff’s hard work. His reviews often included so many “Exceptions,” that payment for a job would be delayed for months. In Charlie’s industry, TOO many Exceptions lead to the loss of a lot of work, and can lose a franchise owner his/her license.
The good news is, over the past two years, Corporate has been delighted to witness Charlie’s achievements and management is quick to give him commendations for saving the organization TIME and MONEY. HIs “No Exception” reports have also allowed him to get paid quickly for his company’s efforts; customers are now more than happy!
So who’s the THIEF?
“Time and money,” Charlie had told his friend Ted. “Those are the THIEVES that rob a company that doesn’t have good systems. Poor performance and the subsequent rework lead to Exception Reports from headquarters and not getting paid in a timely manner; not to mention, loss of personal peace and time with family.”
Do you deal with these thieves in YOUR business? If so, what are you going to do about losing time and money? You COULD continue to tell yourself, “It’s just part of doing business in our industry.” Or, “We tried systems and they just don’t work for us.”
You can continue to put up with these thieves—or, as my client did, you can record their system-busting actions, arrest them, lock them up permanently, and throw away the key.
My friend Charlie now warns all his friends who show signs of having these “thieves” in their own businesses, that he knows how to help them lock the thieves away for good.
Well-planned business systems really are CRIME STOPPERS!
Did I mention? Great systems work!
Philip Beyer, founder/president of Ebiz Products LLC and founder of Beyer Printing Inc. in Nashville Tenn., is a chronic entrepreneur, business systems analyst and consultant. Author of "System Busters: How to Stop Them in Your Business" and recipient of an InterTech Technology Award for the design and development of System100 business process management software. Beyer speaks to business owners across the country on how to bring lean, sustainable order to their businesses. Contact him at (615) 425-2652.