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Peak Your Profits: Successful round of questions and answers
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Readers wonder:
Q: Are there certain business principles that always stand the test of time?
A: Intriguing question. It prompted me to reach for and dust off an old workbook from a shelf in my business library. It was from a course I attended in 1990. As part of my on-going work with a manufacturing client, they requested I participate in a program taught at Motorola University. It was called: “Understanding Six Sigma.” A sigma, is collections of similar items, people or objects. And, it shows variation among the members of the collection.
A six sigma process would produce .0000002 percent defects or 99.9999998 percent defect-free work. For example, six sigma, would produce 3.4 defects per million parts or moments of customer opportunity.
Motorola was using six sigma, to achieve their commitment to total customer satisfaction. To them, six sigma meant:
(a) A measure of goodness, the capability to produce perfect work, (b) a defect is any mistake that causes customer dissatisfaction, (c) sigma indicates how often defects are likely to happen, (d) the higher the sigma, the lower the defect rate, (e) the lower the defect rate, the higher the quality.
Six sigma (in the 20th century and now in the 21st) can still help drive total customer satisfaction with:
1. Constant respect for your fellow human-being, 2. Uncompromising integrity, 3. Best-in-class practices; with people, sales, marketing, manufacturing, technology, products and services, 4. Increased market share, 5. Outstanding financial performance, 6. The realization, that business is about: customer acquisition, customer satisfaction, customer retention and that’s a powerful six-pack!
Q: Are there new rules for the New Economy?
A: Great question! E-commerce represents a creative and powerful distribution channel. Yet, old and basic business tenets must still prevail.
Once a customer gets past the, “Wow, this e-stuff is cool!” you must still provide prompt follow-up, on time delivery, responsive service, easy ordering, knowledgeable guidance and business solutions.
When these basic business principles were forgotten, the high flying dot coms quickly became the tragic dot bombs!
This was reinforced in an e-mail I once received from a good friend, Ron Springer, President of Esprit Productions in Libertyville, Illi.
Dear Jeff:
We created our Web pages and waited for leads to roll in. There were a few hits and leads, but nothing to sink your teeth into. Then one glorious day, an e-mail asked if we do high quality productions and staging. I wrote a nice cover letter, put in our brochure, some reference letters and even premiums with our logo and sent it next day. I called two days later to follow-up. They appreciated my quick response and said they would get back to me.
Sure, a new economy lead, but an old economy brush-off.
A few weeks later we chatted and they requested a proposal. It was prepared and it too was shipped next day. I followed up two days later. They were impressed.
Especially with my responsiveness. They said, “keep in touch.” I did. They then asked to see one of our shows. They arrived in Orlando. We had dinner. The next morning, they saw the first hour with moving lights, a three screen video and beautiful staging. At the coffee break, we shook hands on a multi-meeting project. Estimated revenue: Over $1 million!
They said they chose us, because of what we sent, how fast we sent it and most important how well we listened to their needs. They also mentioned, that they sent the same e-mail six weeks earlier to six other companies. And not one of them responded within two weeks.
Jeff, while the new economy may change the way we do business, it need not change how we do business especially when those are the factors that drive a customer’s decision and satisfaction.
Thanks Ron, for your keen insights!
Q: Jeff, are there any short cuts to success?
A: Nope. None that I know of. However, you can be on the fast-track to results, if you first, embrace some powerful principles or core values.
This is the kind of stuff I often think about. For I’m a firm believer that the right beliefs and values, are the greatest influencers of success and achievement.
While what you do is crucial, that’s merely a reflection of who you are.
And perhaps, the best summation of these principles, I found unexpectedly.
Several years ago, my wife and I attended Amanda’s (our youngest child), first-grade curriculum night.
On Amanda’s desk, was a simple sheet, titled: “Lifeskills” by Susan Kovalik and Associates. It said:
Integrity: To act according to what is right and wrong.
Initiative: To do something because it needs to be done.
Flexibility: The ability to alter plans when necessary.
Perseverance: To keep at it.
Organization: To work in an orderly way.
Sense of humor: To laugh and be playful without hurting others.
Effort: To do your best.
Common sense: To think it through.
Problem-solving: To seek solutions.
Responsibility: To do what is right.
Patience: To wait calmly.
Friendship: To make and keep a friend through mutual trust and caring.
Curiosity: To investigate and seek understanding.
Cooperation: To work together toward a common goal or purpose.
Caring: To show / feel concern.
Courage: To act according to one’s beliefs.
Kind of funny, isn’t it? The lessons you can learn when you sit at the desk of a six-year-old.
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Jeff Blackman is a speaker, author, success coach, broadcaster and lawyer who lives part-time on Marco Island. His clients call him a “business-growth specialist.” Send an e-mail to jeff@jeffblackman.com or go to www.jeffblackman.com to subscribe to his free e-letter.
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