December 2006

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article was first published in the Eastern Daily Press' 'The Business'  on 13 December 2006</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>A time for reflection</B></div> <bR> <div> I was invited to speak to the friendly gentlemen of a Norwich chapter of Rotary International recently about life as a business coach and mentor, and, in preparing for the talk, I took the chance to reflect on some of the most common issues I see facing businesses.  Of course no two businesses are the same, because the people within the business are not the same, but I do witness some things so frequently that they're effectively commonplace.</div> <bR> <div> First of all, I'm surprised regularly at the number of people who have joined the world of the self-employed but who seem not to understand (or care about) the simple essential principles of business.  By this I mean the need to balance the activities of sales and marketing with those operational tasks which deliver their product or service, whilst also keeping on top of the administrative and financial chores and, in some cases, managing other people as well.  Michael Gerber (of E-Myth fame) might say that too many business owners want to remain technicians, instead of being also entrepreneurs and managers.</div> <bR> <div> In businesses large and small, there seems to be an obsession with attracting new customers at virtually any cost, rather than caring for and striving to retain loyal, existing customers.  I described this as `corporate myopia' in this column nearly two years ago and have had cause to raise the issue again on a couple of occasions since.  The most worrying thing about this is that people who focus only on the customer acquisition side of the equation are unlikely to reap the rewards that long customer lifetime values can bring.</div> <bR> <div> This leads inevitably to one of the most regular themes I raise here - customer service.  Poor (or even mediocre) service not only loses a business' profitable customers, but can also be the visible symptom of a deeper malaise such as disengaged employees suffering from poor morale.  </div> <bR> <div> I find many business leaders unaware of the `virtuous cycle' of business where the leader looks after his team who, in turn, looks after the customers.  They look after the business in terms of profitable trading over time and the business, therefore, looks after the leader (or owner).  Following this cycle - in the right direction - can be enormously rewarding but it clearly demands, above all, one crucial skill - the ability to delegate successfully.  </div> <bR> <div> Finally, every day I see businesspeople who don't learn from mistakes made in their organisations.  They too often try to apportion blame, rather than seek the cause of the problem.  My simple advice here is to use every mistake as an opportunity to improve.  First, do whatever is necessary to fix the problem for the customer, then identify what happened to cause the mistake (not who did it) and, third, decide what can be done to remove or reduce the chance of that same mistake happening again.</div> <bR> <div> No solutions offered this time, but perhaps some food for thought.  I'm sure we'll revisit many of these issues in the New Year and look for ways in which to address them.  In the meantime, may I wish you a very Merry Christmas. </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#CC3333" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>