A Great Business Differentiator

Be Different!

A a business advisor, whenever I deal with contractors, I dream of a contractor who has a reputation based on one idea:

We start and finish what we said we would do, when we said we would do it.

That’s it. How hard could it be?

Really hard! – I know this because we try and live by the same rules at our business and we can’t pull it off every time.

If a contractor is on a job that is dependent on other contractors, the first contractor to have a delay, will start the problems for the other contractors.

• Outside contracting work is affected by the weather which is out of their control.
• Suppliers can hold up work with delayed production or shipments.

However, there are some things that could be implemented that move the business world closer to this dream:

Honesty – When a contractor knows up front they are over promising, just say so. What is the benefit of promising a certain date when you know you can’t deliver?

Communication – Better communication of changes in the dynamic world of business will allow others to adjust their schedules accordingly.

And most of all:

A penalty for tardiness and a reward for timeliness.

Why are most contractors missing deadlines? Because they can and it doesn’t cost them anything. Where is the motivation to fulfill a promise?

A 5% penalty for missing a deadline is a good start. How about a 5% bonus for making a deadline!

What if a contractor shows up on time, they get paid on time? For every day they are late, we add a month to the payment of their invoice?

I am aware of a small percentage of contractors who are quite reliable. We need to make sure to recognize, appreciate and reward a contractor who actually delivers on schedule.

I hope this type of positive reinforcement will spread to the majority of the other contractors until soon the dream will become a reality.

The Importance of Repetition for Business Growth

The value of repetition is often neglected. Let me say that again, the value of repetition is often neglected.

As an example, the popular children’s show Blues Clues repeats the same episode from Monday to Friday each week. Children watch the same episode five times in five days.  The developers of the show realized that for the child to really learn the concepts they are teaching that week, that the level of comprehension increases due to the repetition.

As an advisor to business owners, often my clients ask me, “Why do I have to tell my employees the same thing over and over again?” Because sometimes it takes 51 times!  The correct answer to this question is that employees need repetition also to thoroughly develop a new skill or habit.

The sales team is the same way. Although it seems more complicated, sales is simply following a system. The best salespeople have repeated their sales system so many times they have become unconsciously competent in the skill. Unconscious competence is the 4^th stage in the four stages of learning a skill. There is a lot of repetition involved in learning a skill.

I think the secret is to make repetition our friend and accept it as an important part of business growth. If we stop assuming we only have to explain a change for the better once, we won’t be as frustrated when it take 51 times.

We are trying to be better at this at our firm too. We have the made the mistake of sharing knowledge with our clients once and assuming they remembered everything we said. If we shared it verbally, they may not have been listening that one time! We are working to develop different ways of capturing the knowledge so our clients have access to review it again and again. We are exploring video and written formats to provide the knowledge base.

It reminds me of my old piano teacher – practice , practice , practice. That would be the other time I didn’t appreciate the value of repetition!

The Importance of Repetition for Business Growth

The value of repetition is often neglected. Let me say that again, the value of repetition is often neglected.

As an example, the popular children’s show Blues Clues repeats the same episode from Monday to Friday each week. Children watch the same episode five times in five days.  The developers of the show realized that for the child to really learn the concepts they are teaching that week, that the level of comprehension increases due to the repetition.

As an advisor to business owners, often my clients ask me, “Why do I have to tell my employees the same thing over and over again?” Because sometimes it takes 51 times!  The correct answer to this question is that employees need repetition also to thoroughly develop a new skill or habit.

The sales team is the same way. Although it seems more complicated, sales is simply following a system. The best salespeople have repeated their sales system so many times they have become unconsciously competent in the skill. Unconscious competence is the 4^th stage in the four stages of learning a skill. There is a lot of repetition involved in learning a skill.

I think the secret is to make repetition our friend and accept it as an important part of business growth. If we stop assuming we only have to explain a change for the better once, we won’t be as frustrated when it take 51 times.

We are trying to be better at this at our firm too. We have the made the mistake of sharing knowledge with our clients once and assuming they remembered everything we said. If we shared it verbally, they may not have been listening that one time! We are working to develop different ways of capturing the knowledge so our clients have access to review it again and again. We are exploring video and written formats to provide the knowledge base.

It reminds me of my old piano teacher – practice , practice , practice. That would be the other time I didn’t appreciate the value of repetition!