Streamlining Your Business Processes
Having all of your business processes streamlined is the first step in making sure your business runs smoothly, and is organized. From how to deal with employees or angry customers, to how you store your customer data. Ensuring that you have all situations under control by streamlining your processes will greatly increase your productivity, while reducing your stress.
Dealing with Angry Customers
While not all customers, or situations, will be the same, the way you handle an angry customer or complaint can follow the same process. You should never start by offering free services or parts in return for a complaint. Your process should always follow the same guidelines (that you determine). Each of your employees should be aware of the process, so that one customer isn’t receiving free services, while one feels they are being ignored. However you choose to handle these situations, make sure everyone is on the same page!
Handling Employee Issues and Raise Requests
Your employees will, and do, talk to each other. Make sure you have the same processes in place for dealing with their complaints, concerns or requests for a raise. It’s best if you can have something regarding raises already set up. For example, if all of your employees know that each year they will be evaluated for a raise, you won’t have feelings of anger or resentment between employees. If certain employees believe they are being treated unfairly, that can reflect negatively on your business. If employees are having concerns with one another, address all of them with the same procedures. Make sure all of your employees feel that they have a voice and they are being listened to. Show each employee the same amount of respect that the others receive.
Invoices, Transactions and Customer Data
In order to keep yourself sane, your business organized, and everything running smoothly, you want to make sure all of your invoices, transaction data and customer information can be stored in one place. Having some paper invoices, customer data in emails and some online, and other places where you store this information will cause stress, loss of important data and little accessibility to this information. Be sure you store all of it in one place, preferably online, in order to save time and resources.
Service Processes
When completing a job or service for your customers, it’s important that this is all done in the same way. Of course, each job is different, but ensuring all of your technicians have the same understanding and expectations of how to do each job will really help make sure work is done well and completely. Streamlining these processes could be a great training experience as well. Understanding each of their different levels and skillsets will increase your business’ work quality and in turn its growth.
Remember, while not all people, jobs and complaints are the same, your processes can be. Don’t let things slip through the cracks, and don’t let customers or employees feel that they are being treated unfairly. If your processes run the same, your overall work life will be much less stressful, and a happier place to be.
For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. And last of all, if any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!