Don't Just Talk About the Weather, Use It to Advantage

Author: Larry Galler

Source: articleage.com



A well known, national chain of restaurants discovered that certain weather patterns substantially impacts their business. They have studied it and found that more people go out to eat dinner when there is a series of beautiful days. So they measure the weather quality at their stores across the country. Managers report the weather, quality control, quality daily. A weather predicting system is then employed to determine the quality of subsequent days. When the model predicts a higher customer count they reduce or eliminate sale items and include, quality control, higher priced or higher margin specials on the changing daily menu. While they can't, quality control, control the weather, they know that their customers respond to it. Knowing, quality control, that, they work to take advantage of factors that can predict changes in business activity.
Many businesses have sales fluctuations based on the weather but few companies include weather-predicting, quality control, metrics into their staffing and inventory planning. They just take weather fluctuations and volume fluctuations, quality control, as "acts of, quality control, God." But imagine if your business sold car batteries and you could increase inventory just before it turned ten degrees below zero. You would be able to lower or eliminate the number of lost sales because of being sold out of the most popular models. You would be able to schedule more people to work those busy days so customers would be serviced quickly and efficiently. You would do more business because your competitors would be sold out or have long waiting times. You would also be able to turn your inventory more efficiently for a greater ROI, quality control, (Return On Investment).
Your business might not fluctuate by the whims or patterns of the weather, but I'm sure it does fluctuate by some factors that you do not have control over. Study various patterns and factors. Become aware of them, measure them, chart them, and understand the dynamics. Use those factors to predict busier or slower sales periods and adjust inventory, staff size, prices, and margins accordingly.
Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com

Don't Hire A Grump To Deliver Great Customer Service

Author: Larry Galler

Source: articleage.com



How often have you had to endure the ordeal of being served by a grump? It's the wrong person in the wrong job. It makes one wonder how that person got hired for that job, who trained them, and whether the company really cares about having happy customers. We've all heard people exclaim clich้s about "exceeding customer expectations" and being, quality control, "customer-centric" but in reality, those statements are often just disappointing window dressing for "business as usual," especially when they employ a grump to be of service to their customers, quality control, .
In order for a company to deliver on its customer service promises, it has to invest in the systemization of the delivery of its products and services, establish policies that reflect the ethos of serving the customer, properly train the people who work with the customers,, quality control, and maintain the culture of being customer-centric for the long term. Exemplary customer service is not just the "project of the month." It is a long term commitment and it starts having policies and culture in place that reflect the mantra, quality control, of delivering outstanding customer service and by not hiring grumps to work with customers.
Please realize that I am not discriminating against grumps. There are many places where grumps are very valued employees, they are usually, quality control, great at quality control and highly technical positions, just not in positions where they have to deal with demanding customers.
While there are sophisticated assessment tools that can be used in the hiring process, the person(s) who interview prospective candidates should also be using some common sense when assessing the qualities of the person interviewing for the job. I call it a "grump elimination test."
Is the, quality control, candidate positive or negative about their life, their previous work experience, and their education? Does the candidate smile easily or is it a fake attempt to appear friendly and helpful? Is this a person you would like to help your customers? If they don't pass the "grump elimination test" don't hire them for sales or customer service positions as the consequences are that you will take happy customers and turn them into grumpy customers, finally into ex-customers… and that will certainly make a grump out of you.
Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller, quality control, .com Questions???, quality control, Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com