Are your ducks lined up?

It always amazes me how people attempt to do something before they have their ducks lined up – it’s like putting the cart before the horse. “I need business NOW!” OK, what happened in the past? What has prevented you from getting business before now? Are your products/services good? How is your customer service? Do customers come back to you for more? Are you open for business, i.e., can they reach you by telephone? 

Yes, you took over a failed company, and/or you hired new sales people and they are going to blast the market and bring in new business. Guess what? Ain’t gonna happen! They may bring in business right away, but will it be sustainable business? Or will you get a bunch of new customers that come to you once. And, worse yet, they give you bad reviews for the same issues that have plagued the business before the new sales force – bad customer service, terrible products/services, poor telephone service, etc., etc., etc.

You may as well close your doors for good. The second time around with the same issues will do nothing more than sink you deeper. It would be like going outdoors in the winter with a pair of shoes that had no bottoms. It may look good on top, but it will hurt later.

It’s time to analyze your issues and what needs to be done to resolve those issues. Surprisingly, this analysis does not take forever and can be days, weeks or a couple of months to resolve, depending on how bad your situation. The good news is, if you do get your ducks lined up, you can turn that cart around and bring in good, sustainable and happy customers who want to come back and who also want to tell the world through Social Media.

So how do we get our ducks lined up? It’s simple:

1.   Review your Policies & Procedures and marketing material and see if they agree with your business philosophy. Are they up-to-date? Do they reflect the current business environment?

2.   Address the issues in each department where there may be weaknesses.

3.   Evaluate the customer base over the past 3-5 years. Who comes to you and why? Do they come back? For what products/services?

4.   Reach out to the communities and LISTEN. Conduct or attend some local meetings or seminars and LISTEN to what they are saying – not to what you want to hear. If I’m answering a question and I note that the person asking has his mind thinking about the next question, I quickly shift gears and give another answer.  If his/her next question is based on what (s)he was expecting to hear, I know this conversation is a waste of time.

5.   Customer Satisfaction Survey. Conduct a survey of your existing or potential customers. What are their needs? Surveys are easy now-a-days with Google Docs, Survey Monkey and other such tools. I did a survey in our local community of 2,500 families to see what they wanted in a supermarket geared specifically to our needs. The results were given to the supermarkets in the community and those coming in, which benefited everybody. 

6.   Staff Buy-in. Whatever goals and plans you have to bring in new customers, be sure you get a buy-in from all departments and all staff. Communicate!

7.   Are We Open for Business? When a customer or anybody calls are your phones being answered timely? If not, fix the problem. Decades ago ADP had one of the best production processes, which probably made them the success they are today. As customer information came to the production people (before online abilities), the data was dropped on a conveyor belt between teams of processing staff. At the end of the belt was a trash can. If that material was not removed from the conveyor before it hit the trash, all members of the team on that line were held responsible. This encouraged team-work and timely attention to customer work.

8.   What departments or services? Now that you have a better understanding of who you are and what you offer analyze your departments, products or services. Determine what is cost-effective and can bring in the best results in the shortest period of time. That should be your focus. Eliminate those that will not give you a good ROI (Return on Investment)

9.   Cultivate Referral Sources. Are you working your referral sources? Have you identified them? Accountants, Lawyers, Doctors can be good referral sources, depending on your business. Find them, become friendly and provide their customers with great service. It’s a win-win situation for all.

10. Public Relations and Marketing. Now, you may be ready to promote your company. I am a proponent of public relations where press releases are sent to the media. When published they also serve as an “endorsement” of your organization as an independent media source did a piece on you. Today Social Media is big and can both help (get the word out to MANY people fast) and hurt (when a disgruntled customer complains) your business.  And most of this marketing is free or at least reasonable!

11. Constant Monitoring and Correcting – Customers, Referral Sources, Staff. Your business needs constant monitoring to ascertain that your goals are being met and that speedy corrections are made when you find issues.

12. Ongoing Tracking of Results of These Efforts. Track everything: How many referrals from your sources? How many complaints and how quickly were they and the processes fixed? From where are your customers coming? What time of the day is busiest?

If you follow this advice, you will be getting this business back on track and off to a good start – you will have your ducks lined up and the horse ahead of the cart!

Please contact me if you need and help with a program like this.

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About the author. George Matyjewicz, PhD is a principal and Global Strategist of GAP Enterprises, LLC. His dissertation “Just in Time Payments and The New Global Currency for Conducting Business in A Global Economy” was compiled from 3+ decades experience in the business world. He was formerly President/General Manager of a global digital currency company and built a customer base in 120 countries and Chief E-Commerce Officer for a global giftware company trying to expand in the U.S. He was a Principal/Partner at a top 50 U.S. CPA/Consulting firm. He is regularly published as an expert on global business, finance, technology and implementation. He may be reached at [email protected]  or visit https://gapent.com/