"Don’t Advertise What You Can’t Deliver” should be common practice. Honesty is still the best policy! To be fair, most small business owners, when first starting out, really believe they can deliver what they advertise. For the simple reason, the owner usually oversees ALL work; so they maintain the belief that they can deliver what they promise.
The problem with that thinking is, as the business begins to grow, the owner starts losing control over the work AND the promises they made.
It’s a well-known fact in business that errors and employee miscommunications increase exponentially as the sales increase. Moreover, when a business grows to around 10 to 15 employees, the owner loses so much control over quality and service, the business begins losing customers. Not to mention, its reputation for good service!
In short, as new customers are coming in the front door, existing customers are walking out the back door. Unfortunately, it’s all due to poor quality and service. Even knowing this, many just keep advertising great quality and service.
Truth is, without control systems, NO company can promise consistent quality and on-time service!
How do I know?
We have over 25 years in developing Total Quality Management systems, so business owners can GUARANTEE their advertisement of great quality and service. It’s a proven fact.
Control Systems for Quality and Service—Not Rocket Science
To be sure, any business owner can become an EXPERT in quality and service systems, with a little determination and resolve. In fact, there are many books on the market to help get an owner started. One book we recommend is “The E-myth” by Michael Gerber.
Gerber’s book has been in print for years, hoping to motivate a business owner to systematize their business. It provides owners insight on how to operate their business without them having to constantly be there.
However, some folks are looking for a quick fix and are not willing to spend the time it takes to bring order to their business via systematization.
Truth is, as in sports, the fundamentals of building business systems that support quality and service remain the same.
In that regard, adding common sense PROMPTS to the company’s systems is the fundamental FIX. The fact is, control systems will fix every error, employee miscommunication, and business frustration permanently!
Proving Quality Versus Good Intentions
To be sure, business owners should NEVER make a promise they can’t keep. For this reason, if you can’t prove quality and service, don’t advertise what you can’t deliver!
Remember, measuring quality and service performance with a tracking system is KEY to proving quality.
Systems for Proving Quality
The System Buster Locator, also known as CAPA (Corrective Action / Preventive Action), are systems that provide reports for any given time on the number of jobs delivered on time, and how many jobs processed without error.
With that in mind, imagine a business with on-time delivery of 99.99%, and their number of errors at less than 1%.
More importantly, with consistent numbers like that, PROVING the best quality and service in town is not up for debate. It’s a fact!
Did I forget to mention? Great systems WORK
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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.