Follow Up: It Makes A Difference

A while back the headlight switch on our minivan quit working, so early one Saturday morning we took it to the neighborhood repair shop that has been mailing postcards to us the past three years. They said it would take 90 minutes to check things out.

Three hours later we call: still haven't gotten to it, but it's up next. Two hours after that we call again: he's looking at it right now. Three more hours, another call: yep, it's broken, but we can't get the part until Monday. We decide to pick it up for the remainder of the weekend, arriving there as instructed 10 hours after this ordeal began: Sorry, we haven't had a chance to put it back together. Another trip two hours later completes a very frustrating day.

Following up is one of the biggest challenges many businesses face. You see it when dealing with some vendors, working with some clients/customers or just trying to get an update on a car repair. When it comes to your marketing efforts, it's essential to have a follow-up system in place, so you convert prospects into buyers.

Success Handler Action: With your team, develop a checklist of the steps you will take once you grab a prospect's attention. For example, assume that as a result of reading your monthly E-newsletter a prospect sends you an e-mail asking for more information. The follow-up system you create for your small business might look like this:

Name: John Reed
Company: Reed Mortgage
Marketing responded to: E-Newsletter
Initial contact date: February 5, 2004

X Respond by e-mail immediately with thank you for contacting us

X Visit website to learn more about their company

_ Send PDF of "Services" brochure

_ Mail personal letter explaining how we work with others in their industry

_ Make follow-up phone call three days later to ask if they have any questions

_ Schedule meeting appointment and mark on calendar

_ Send hand-written thank you note letting them know we look forward to working together

Have you ever considered what prospects do when they receive a marketing message from you that makes them realize you might be able to help them? Whether it's a direct mail piece, conversation at a networking event, or receiving a recommendation from a mutual friend, what do prospects do once you grab their attention?

Success Handler Action: With your team, create some "in-motion" scenarios that depict how prospects respond to you. Think about when they call, respond by e-mail, send in a reply card, or walk into your small business. Visualization, role-playing and writing down different scenarios will help you see things from their perspective. Walking through the steps prospects are likely to take will prepare everyone for handling contacts.

Here are some things to consider when analyzing how prospects respond:

? Which message did they receive? Why did it catch their attention?

? What are they thinking about your company?

? What do they need from you? Why do they need it? What other options do they have?

? What is the first step they will take? What are subsequent steps?

Tracking and follow-up activities may appear to be time-consuming, but the more they become habit the easier they are to fulfill. It's essential to have a follow-up program in place, lest your marketing efforts and dollars go to waste. The worst thing that can happen is to drive a prospect to make contact with you, then fail to follow up with her. That breaks the trust expectations of your relationship, making it extremely difficult to convince them to believe any further marketing messages they receive from you, or to make the leap to doing business with you.

By the way, it took two more trips back to the auto repair shop and eight more hours of our time to get the correct switch installed. Needless to say, they can take us off their mailing list.

The Coach, David Handler, is the founder of Success Handler, (http://www.successhandler.com), and specializes in helping small business leaders, franchisees and franchisors find clarity and take action. He understands the challenges of running a business, because he's been there ? as a small business owner, franchisee, franchisor, corporate leader and trainer. Much like sports coaches, his coaching will show you how to compete on a level playing field in your industry.

RELATED ARTICLES

Coaching Employees in the Workplace
After a full week of training, you are still a little nervous about your new job. All of the information you need to digest, the new environment you are adjusting to, and the new faces you will be getting acquainted with is just a bit overwhelming.

25 Great Ways to Find the Right People and Not Break the Bank
Are you trying to hire dozens of hourly workers or a senior executive? Where do you look and how do you get the word out? There are many ways to find the right people besides placing want ads.

Safety Policy Sample Outline
Writing a safety manual is a tough job and most larger corporations outsource such jobs or they have someone on staff with the proper credentials in risk management. Imagine writing the safety manuals for NASA? I had the opportunity to be in the unique position of being able to imagine just such a thing when writing our company safety manuals. It takes lots of studying and review of case law to do it properly. Each industry is somewhat different and hopefully you know your industry and company well enough to give it a shot.

Integrity... Should It Matter?
In our fast paced work culture, manned by technology savvy generation in a globally competitive environment, quality and productivity became the battle cry of corporations to stay in business. Though this is not necessarily bad, an equally important ingredient to succeed is seemingly taking the back seat.

Quick Tips On Bringing Out The Best In People
Want to bring out the best in people?

Success in Business Means Managing Negative Emotions
You may have the MBA but if an internal critic constantly berates you, or you have feelings of self-doubt, low self-confidence, fears of rejection or other negative emotions your chances of success may be quite limited.

Creativity Management and Time Pressure
There is a pervasive belief that time pressure stimulates creativity. This is both true and false.

The Crisis of Modernity
Since the beginning of the industrial era our world has been facing what some historians call an ongoing "crisis of modernity". As fast as we adjust to new circumstances, the circumstances change again, and, the rate of change seems to be multiplying exponentially. Of all the demands imposed by twenty first century leadership, perhaps the toughest is the ability to not only manage change but to instigate it, control it and to be it's master. Dealing with the ever increasing rate of change may be the leader's most potentially overwhelming task. Today's Change Agent is an agressive forward thinker.

Knowledge Management - Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System
How can I "know who knows" None of us can personally know more than around 250 people, yet we want our companies to be smart, learning organisations where it's easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why many organisations create "yellow pages" applications, which enable employees to find and contact other staff with particular expertise and skills. However, these systems can be fraught with difficulty in their implementation, and often end up as out-of-date, glorified intranet telephone directories. This article, drawn from a best-selling knowledge management fieldbook by its author, identifies ten key steps involved in creating and sustaining a successful, employee-owned yellow pages system.

Agendas Make Meetings Productive
Having an agenda template that works well for you, week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people bought into the process. Delivering an efficiency and effectiveness which makes the most of the valuable time you have together. Key points to note are:-

Close the Performance Gap
One of the most difficult and emotionally draining situations you face as business owners or executives is employees not meeting your expectations. How can you handle it if they are not keeping up their end of the employee contract?

Protect Your Organizations Proprietary Information
The other day one of our overseas clients called in a state of near panic, to ask a question. At issue was whether they had unwittingly violated U.S. law by transferring technical information to a joint venture partner in a European country. After hearing a two minute description, I was able to answer a resounding "Yes"! Such are the dangers of operating in a global environment. The worst part is that my client had been lead into their misdeed by following the well intentioned advice of a Fortune 100 U.S. corporation. One that certainly should have known better, but obviously does not. The potential penalties for such errors are daunting and ignorance of the law is not a defense. For a mere administrative ("civil") infraction, the penalty is up to $100,000 per occurrence. For intentional misdeeds, which are accorded criminal penalties, well, let's not even go there.

The Measurement of Manager Training
THE MEASUREMENT OF TRAINING: Evaluation is one of the most valuable - and challenging - aspects of a training manager's job. A well-planned and on-target evaluation process can be the tool which separates a superlative training department from a merely satisfactory one.

Policy & Procedure Manuals - Tools For Greater Productivity and Efficiency
In today's tough retail environment the retailer needs all the tools he can get to help improve efficiency, productivity, and the bottom line. Two of these tools are the company's Policy Manual and Procedure Manual.

Group Meeting Disrupters
MEETING DISRUPTERS: If two participants are carrying on a personal discussion that interferes with a meeting, direct a clear and simple question to one of them. In order to avoid embarrassing them, address them by name before asking the question. An alternative is to restate a previously expressed suggestion and then ask them for an opinion.

A Leadership Screw Driver: The 90 Day Improvement Plan
I was talking with first-line supervisors in a utility company about how to deal with poor performing employees.

Managing Rebellious Employees
Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of their profit objectives due to "people problems." Research for my Absolutely Fabulous Organizational Change book found these "people problems" fall into two "r" categories: rebellion and resistance.

The Cheapest, Forget It !
Wouldn't it be great if we got get the cheapest price on everything. I know I wouldn't want it. Would you? Do you strive to get the cheapest automoblie? The cheapest mobile home to live in? The cheapest place to eat? Rather than look for the cheapest we tend to look for value for our money. We know we all work hard for our money and would like to be compensated if we are to give it up.

CEOs Are Great, Top CEOs Are Greater
People in leading positions are often in a dilemma: on one hand they are supposed to give great performances, make the right decisions and so forth; on the other hand, they have to fill the role of a very confident and self-assured manager. This may be considered a dilemma because CEOs are expected to be almost supernatural, and asking for assistance in what is supposed to be their core competence (leadership!) simply does not fit the picture, no matter how necessary it may be.

Dont Let Your Measurements Mislead You
Don't Let Your Measurements Mislead YouThere aren't too many words that can strike as much fear and loathing into the hearts of your internal customers, and sometimes your own employees as the words "Operational Measurements". Operational Measurements often get a bad rap because of their misuse by well intended, but misinformed management. And it's easy for your employees to view Operational Measurements as some kind of cheap trick to force more work out of them as you constantly try and force more and more production from your team. Meanwhile, your sales team thinks that you will use Operational Measurements to cloud the issue of customer satisfaction by pointing to your "great numbers" while leaving the customer very unhappy. The truth is that you cannot succeed in managing an operational organization without the proper measurements in place. Any attempt to run an organization without them is doomed to failure because you will lack the fundamental information required to manage your business. Coach Dave is a strong believer in Operational Measurements because he knows that the right measurements, taken in a consistent fashion will allow you to continuously improve the performance of the organization and the company. Yep, Operational Measurements are good. . . . except of course, when they are bad. In simple terms, Operational Measurements are progress meters that can tell you how well, or how poorly your group is performing. The key to successful Operational Measurements is to make sure that you are managing and measuring your key processes. It all starts with your departmental or company objectives. You should have 2 to 3 major objectives, depending upon the size and scope of your organization. The key is to focus on whatever it is that you are really being asked to deliver on, and then set up your objectives, and Operational Measurements in a way that can tell you if you are succeeding or not. If your objective is production based (i.e. produce 50 widgets per month) then make sure that your measurements track the number of widgets produced. If your measurement is time based (i.e. complete widgets within 10 days of receipt) then once again, make sure that your measurement tracks to the objective. You would be surprised how easy it is to create measurements that sound important, but have nothing to do with your stated objectives. For example, if you goal is to paint 10 houses each month a metric that tracks how many brushes you use may sound important for cost control purposes, but it really has nothing to do with the objective. By focusing on the number of brushes you use, you may actually impede your ability to complete the goal of 10 houses. Ensuring that your objectives and measurements are in synch will keep you and your department focused on the prize. Once you have your key measurements in place, you can start to look for a pattern in the results. If you are not able to meet your objectives, the question has to become "why". It could be a variety of factors from bad inputs, to bad processes, to bad people. To determine where the problem is, break out your measurements in that area to each key step in the process. As you examine those results it will become more apparent that "step 5" takes up 80% of the processing time. Then you can focus on reducing the time spent on that step. One other key factor to account for as you measure your process steps is "wait time". "Wait time" doesn't always manifest itself clearly in reporting, so spend the time to analyze how many handoffs exist in your process and ask yourself and your staff if some of those handoffs can be eliminated through combing functions, training, etc. It is simply amazing the amount of time lost in a process due to the "wait time" while an order is sent from one person to the next. Reducing the "wait time" can dramatically improve your results. In a nutshell, that's why you need to have good, clean Operational Measurements in place. Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count. - Albert EinsteinAny time your organization receives some kind of a work order from a customer (internal or external) adds value to it, and then either completes it or passes it along to another organization, you qualify as an Operational Organization. As an Operational Organization you need to have solid measurements in place to measure, validate, and eventually improve your own internal processes. But there is a downside to Operational Measurements as well. The downsides can take many forms, but the most common are when you start to measure everything that you do, simply because you can. Also, when your measurements rather than your customers, begin to drive how you do business. Are you counting the right things? The right way? Are you counting so many things that counting them has turned into your primary business? Are you helping your customers, or hurting them? That's the difference between good Operational Measurements, and bad ones. When Operational Measurements Go Bad: When you first implement your Operational Measurements, you will spend a lot of time analyzing, improving, and tweaking them. The painstaking process of developing and implementing the right measurements requires a lot of time up front. But that time is time well invested to make sure your measurements are complete, accurate, and in synch with your organizational objectives. You must spend the necessary hours making sure that your Operational Measurements track to your objectives, that they provide a consistent measurements, and that they are at the appropriate level of detail to allow you to identify weaknesses in your operation, and implement improvements. But, when you find yourself counting things because you can, or you begin adding measurements that do not relate to your objectives that's the first sign of trouble. Also, when your Operational Measurements become the sole driver in your organization, that's a pretty good sign that you've turned the corner and are headed down the wrong path. Remember, not everything that counts, can be counted. And just because you can count it, doesn't mean you should count it. Let's use the example we previously discussed of a house painter. For our purposes here, this is a big house painting company with multiple crews who do different types of painting. At the start of the year the decision is made to set a new objective for your crew. You are now being asked to paint 13 houses per month with the same size crew, up from just 10 last year. You sit down with your crew and begin to look for ways to improve productivity. You make the necessary changes to your team or process and then set out to accomplish your new goal. Your changes are effective and productivity improves and you start reaching your new goal. Then, a funny thing happens. You get a memo from your boss that goes something like this. "The bean counters tell me that your paint brush usage is up 15% above last year. Every dollar counts, so I'm putting together a special task force to cut the number of paintbrushes being used. We need to reduce our paint brush usage to 10% below last years level within 30 days." And . . . . we're off . . . . this is what I sometimes refer to as "The Operational Measurement Shuffle". What is the Operational Measurements Shuffle? It's a dance that management sometimes does where we lose focus on our objectives and instead start dancing with a lot of extraneous information that may LOOK important, but really isn't. Sometimes it's not entirely clear when the Operational Measurements Shuffle actually begins. But if you pay attention, you'll see the dance by the end of the first chorus. We're now going to start counting things (paintbrush usage) that has nothing to do with our objectives, but that looks important to someone else far away. Notice that the boss didn't ask you to explain why paintbrush usage was up, nor did he look at the cost/benefit of paintbrush usage versus revenue, he just told you to reduce the usage. You can expect this new measurement to be followed by new measurements of the painters' hats being used, the amount of thinner being used, and questions about the number of rungs required on the ladders. And lastly he blamed the "bean counters". The uninformed always blame the bean counters. At first glance you might think that it's ok to wonder about the paintbrush usage. And it is. But there is a difference between asking a question, and putting in new measurements to track them. For example, a smart boss would have called and asked about the increase in the number of paintbrushes being used. Your response might have been something like this. "That's right. Our paintbrush usage is up. In order to meet our goals for the year (13 houses per month) we made a change from regular paintbrushes to disposable paintbrushes. The new brushes cost 30% less than the old ones, plus we save on turpentine, and clean up time at the end of each day. So our paintbrush usage is up, but our costs are flat or down." With a good boss, that will end the discussion. You've answered the questions, explained the variance, and shown that there is just cause for the increase. But a bad boss will not listen at all, or will just pretend to listen and then suggest new measurements on paintbrush usage. With a bad boss the fact that there is a valid reason for the increase in paintbrush usage is not really relevant. Paintbrush usage is up, and it must be reduced. For a bad boss, it's as simple as that. If you have learned how to manage your boss, then maybe you can convince them that the measurements are not relevant by showing how they don't relate to and can even detract from your objectives. But some bosses are so enamored with measurements that they can't tell a good measurement from a bad one. The long and short of this discussion is simple. If your measurements are clearly in support of your objectives, you are most likely on the right track. If your measurements have wandered from the objectives, no longer support your customers, or even put you at odds with your objectives, it's time to take a step back and rethink your measurements. After all, who are we to argue with Einstein

home | site map | www.1001topwords.com