<p>Most companies are totally reactive, rather than proactive. Moreover, they have to constantly recreate the wheel because they never stopped to create a formal process or standardized training program in the first place.</p> <p>I recently worked with a company that invested a small fortune in an automated system that no one was using to even 10% of its capacity. This is common and I'll bet it's even happening in your company. There are programs you have that no one has ever bothered to maximize.</p> <p><strong>Team Meetings to Determine What to Fix</strong></p> <p>I was doing weekly team meetings with a client, and started off by asking them to tell me "what are the things standing in the way of this being a much better company." There were about 20 people in the room when I asked this question. We let them all think about for awhile and write down their thoughts before I went around the room and asked them what they had written down.</p> <p>By the way, this is a great exercise. Most companies have never done this, yet doing this, gives you six months of things to fix in your company.</p> <p>One of the items that came up was this vague notion: "too many exceptions to the rule." So I asked what that meant and the person said: "We have too many circumstances where the rules are flexible or no one knows what to do, so we (the customer service people) have to go to the boss all the time to find out what to do."</p> <p>The next week, we put that on the whiteboard ("Too many exceptions") and asked everyone for examples or situations. There were 19 of them that came up. Nineteen different situations where this company had never bothered to create procedures, policies or standards by which people could operate.</p> <p>We fixed all 19 within two weeks. Some of the solutions involved simple form letters. Some involved putting up a section on their website where many of these questions were answered (the customer service people would then send an email with the link). Some solutions required setting boundaries by which the customer service people could operate; Even creating a tiered approach to what they could do.</p> <p>Meaning, try this, if that doesn't work, do this, if that doesn't work do this, etc. Virtually every area where they once had to go to a boss was fixed, creating some standard operating procedure for them to follow. The results were astonishing. The entire company runs better now.</p> <p>In two weeks, we solved problems this company had had for a decade. Many of the problems went all the way up to the president of the company. So when we solved all these problems, it lightened his load significantly.</p> <p>We've all heard the saying: "work ON the business not just IN the business." Here's how you work ON it. You have to ask people what needs to be fixed. Try it. It will be profound for you. Most companies have never asked their staff what's broken. Believe me, they'll tell you. But you have to do it with immunity. No one can get hurt by what they say and no one will be made to feel stupid or intimidated. Give them time to think and write some notes before they share their ideas. You'll get a way better quality of answer if you do it that way.</p> <p>Then ask them how to fix it. I tell my clients all the time: If you have a good staff, the only thing the CEO needs to bring to a meeting is his judgment. Most CEO's think they have to think of everything. That's not correct. A good staff will fill you with ideas on how to fix the problems you haven't even looked at. So just keep digging. First ask what the problems are, then ask for suggestions on the solutions.</p> <p><strong>An Important Rule</strong></p> <p>Don't try to solve all the problems in a single meeting. That's where you'll get sloppy solutions that aren't properly acted upon or internalized.</p> <p>Rather, you take ONE problem, put it on the whiteboard and ask your staff to think of at least two solutions to the problem. But give everyone time to think about their answers. And you think about it too. In fact, when I force my clients to do this, often it's the first time the CEO ever sat down to think about how to fix a problem they were ignoring. Go around the room and ask everyone for their ideas. Write down all the solutions suggested.</p> <p>Now you're ready to create some standards, some form letters, some approaches, etc. Here's the real secret to success for any CEO: make a commitment to working ON your business every single week, always at the same time and always for a fixed amount of time that everyone knows you'll stick to. If you say an hour, it's an hour. And make the commitment that in that hour, you're going to require that at least one thing be improved as a result. One tiny thing, but every weekly team meeting, one thing gets better as a result of that meeting.</p> <p>Do this every week and in a year you'll be an entirely different organization with dramatic improvements in every area of your business. Just stop everything once per week for an hour, to fix all the things in your business that aren't the way you like them.</p> <p><strong>Increasing Sales 500%</strong></p> <p>I have another client where we worked over their lead generation process for five solid months. In their weekly team meetings, we started digging through all the ways they drive leads. I added four new ways and tuned up all their communication pieces.</p> <p>Then we looked at the first point of contact - when the prospect touched down on the company via the web, email, phone call, whatever. We took each area and asked the simple question, "what would make this more potent?"</p> <p>In successive team meetings, we looked at the complete sales process and worked the heck out of that for several months. How they establish quick rapport. How they build even more rapport. How much do they learn about the prospect? How do they create desire, every aspect of the sales process was examined and systematically improved.</p> <p>Then we looked at how we close the sale. What could we offer to sweeten the deal? How many different ways could we cost justify? How could we make it so it was painful NOT to buy? Could we offer risk-reversal at the point of sale? Where they were once getting 100 internet leads to make one sale, I got them getting six sales out of 50 leads. But we weren't done there--</p> <p>Then we started looking at what happens after the sale is made. What is the follow up? What else can we offer? How can we get something going that creates an annuity?</p> <p>Are you getting the picture? Pretend your company is like a science project and you are the scientist and your job is to perfect it. Make it a labor of love.</p> 2009-02-16T21:11:06Z -11.4722 186 3193 true 5 25755 a-simple-formula-for-efficient-team-meetings 1 2009-02-18T07:33:20Z 2009-02-18T07:33:20Z

Be an addict about improving your company. Work ON every aspect of it with loving care and meticulous thought. Be devoted to getting one small improvement every week without fail. 52 weeks from now, you'll be a profoundly improved company.

0 2009-02-24T09:49:24Z