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The Aggressive Sale Doesn’t Sell

August 8, 2019 By Leave a Comment

Cold calling, and the younger, less effectual brother to it – cold emailing, are undoubtedly a part of selling and building a customer portfolio. They can’t all stop. But what needs to, and needs to maybe twelve emails ago, are the many, many, many phone calls (and subsequent voicemails) and the dozens of “follow-up” emails sent every 24 hours to merely gauge interest in Product X.

It doesn’t work, not for me. It must work sometimes, on someone, but after 3 neglected voicemails, no returned calls, no read-receipts, no replies, I daresay it’s time to consider me lost.

People have different means of finding the products and services they need. I make my team members identify 3 different options from research for every project we have, and we make a choice based on the visible reputation of the brand, quality, price, and user experience. Good recommendations and good previous experiences will 100% get my repeat business.

Where I don’t source new products and services? My inbox.

Email communication is one of those gifts of modern technology that is amazingly convenient, especially for those of us young enough to have bypassed the phone call era (read: calling me doesn’t work), but it comes at a bit of a cost:

  • Overcrowding: my inbox is full. I don’t do folders (my preference), and at any given moment, there are emails coming in, being flagged, being deleted, being sadly forgotten, and your sales email is just one among oh-so-many. Does it stand out? Better hope!
  • Reply All: To put it simply, there are more important emails than yours in my inbox than yours, and I have really got to get back to Megan who emailed me on MONDAY and did I ever reply to that one about that other thing? Hm…
  • Ain’t Nobody Got Time For This: It has been determined that the attention span that can be expected of a person while scrolling is about 6 seconds… for a video. Take the same physical process of scrolling in my all-white, text-based Outlook screen, and you’ve got me for maybe 0.005 seconds. If it’s just another form email with my name pasted in it (and not the first time from you), I’m just going to delete it. I’m sorry.

Emailing or calling more than three times is aggressive. I’m going to call it there. It becomes annoying, desperate, more meaningless with every communication, and just, yeah, aggressive. I’m not interested. Can’t you tell by my complete lack of communication? If I was really in the market for X, wouldn’t I bite?

Turns out I’m not the best candidate to give you advice on what to do instead – I call on one of my peers to take on that challenge, but if you are going to cold call or email me, here are some tips:

  • Be a real human being. Mail campaigns are great marketing materials, I would know, but make your copy convey your company voice accurately as a human – I don’t do business with robots.
  • Be funny or different. It really can’t hurt. A lot of people are playing from the same playbook. That just adds to my likelihood to delete.
  • Send good, relevant samples (not gifts). Samples are harder to throw away than an email, a voicemail, or a paper flyer. If they’re good, I’m likely to keep them to use somehow or even inquire about how to get more. Gifts I’ll keep or share with my team, but if it doesn’t actually represent your product, well, we’re just going to eat the Kringle and go on with our day.
  • Don’t go down the food chain. I’ve been privy to three instances in the last week of someone on one of our teams getting a sales email or call and needing to pass it up the food chain. Now, you’ve not only wasted my time, but that of my teams, too, and my time Aggressive.
  • If your prospective customer gives no signs of life, let them be. Please. Find more fertile waters. Best of luck to you.

Selling is a part of business, it’s a part of my business, but on the receiving end and as a marketing professional, I beg for this inbox harassment to cease!

I’m not buying the aggressive strategy.

Filed Under: Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Bungle in the Bundle

June 7, 2019 By Leave a Comment

It’s not all right with me.  

Every now and then I’ll indulge myself and dip into the McDonald’s across from our office for a breakfast snack.  I can’t be the only one out there jonesing for a hash brown patty!  A funny thing happens each time I order: the sausage biscuit with egg is my jam and, of course, I like it with hash browns.  I have amazing coffee from home in a super insulated Yeti mug, so I don’t need a drink.  

The individual price of the sandwich plus hash brown exceeds the meal price which includes a drink.  The drink options are coffee, soda, orange juice, or milk, and the non-soda options add small increments to the price, none of which add up to more than the combination of a sandwich and browns a la carte.  Sometimes I’ll get coffee and spill it into my travel mug, which results in undermining the last few sips I take while finishing my snack.  Other times I’ll get chocolate milk, and slam that down, mainly as a nod to my youthful self who would have never let an opportunity for choco milk pass by.  Twice I’ve forgotten that I don’t really like their orange juice, or don’t like it trying to overpower the savory notes of the biscuit.  Yes, I have tried to substitute an additional ‘brown for the drink, to no avail.  

Last week I ordered the number 4 with “the least expensive drink option”.  I received a small Dr. Pepper and tossed it out six feet later in the next waste receptacle.  The immediate disposal, though equal waste to if I’d consumed it, felt ridiculous.  I’m resigned to order “Number 4 meal, no drink” from now on.  It’s the closest I can get to the ideal terms of the deal as presented by this merchant.  Am I thrilled about it?  No, it’s silly and a wee bit frustrating.  This is a painless junk food indulgence example.  What about on your cable bill though, still painless?  Really, so if I add home phone, a service I have no interest in, I qualify for a superfecta bundle promo and pay less?!  What if you want a volume price break on some pop tarts but really only want the brown sugar cinnamon and get stuck with the three other berry flavors that are just ok?  

Nobody wants a bad bundle.  The examples I’ve laid out are the result of macro-analytics dictating pricing and strategy logic that breaks down under my transactional experience.  Why didn’t they consider the guy without the drink?  Don’t I save the cost of beverage, container, and handling? Shouldn’t this cost less?  

I understand that I may be a market exception in these cases, and there is not sufficient awareness or incentive for the merchant to make any changes in my favor.  Regardless, if my buying needs fit outside their business logic, I still have an awkward experience.  

I’ve been on the other end of the bad bundle, too.  At my first estimating/sales position, I was with a large painting company in San Francisco, and I’d make the mistake of including a small item on a large job, such as the small shed on an entire house repaint.  Customers that didn’t see value in the shed painting may ask, please remove the shed from the quote, and then I’m in the awkward position of either taking a hit to my potential gross profit should I get the job, or pushing the bundle on the customer to keep my price point.  

Bad bundling, confusing terms, unbalanced component pricing, and more are all enemies of value exchange.  The best transaction are those where the maximum of value created is consumed.  Waste on either end erodes the potential value for both the merchant and customer.  

Time to pretend you are your customer:

  • What value do they seek that you don’t provide?  
  • What are you doing that your customer does not find valuable?  
  • What are you doing that is valuable that your customer doesn’t know about and therefore does not value?  
  • Where is the waste in your sale and service?  
  • If you can’t immediately think of a couple of potential pitfalls, ask your customers and ask your staff.

Find out what your customer values and deliver that to the best of your ability.  Keep asking and keep adding to the value you create and exchange. Again, no one wants a bad bundle; they want value. 

Filed Under: Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , ,

Building a Positive Attitude, Building Your Bank Account

May 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment

My mother hung a magnet on our refrigerator when I was ten years old that read, “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” I hated that magnet as a kid. I later learned that it was a Charles Swindoll quote. I also learned to love the quote – because I learned to love the impact it has had on my life.

Charles Swindoll Quote

Most people have a crappy attitude. There’s negativity everywhere and there’s a reason to be bummed out pretty much all of the time. To make matters worse, attitude is contagious. Negative attitude, for that matter, is perhaps more contagious that positive attitude. It’s why one negative coworker can ruin the mood of the entire team the minute they walk in the door. Positive attitude has to be on purpose.  It’s a state of mind and it’s a commitment to staying positive despite and in spite of all the crap (and the crappy people) that happens to you.

You may think that your attitude is a result of things that happen to you. You may think that your attitude is a result of the people that you associate with or the way they treat you. You’d be thinking wrong.

Attitude is what you do with what happens to you. It’s how you react. It’s how you respond. Having the right attitude allows you to win in the face of great adversity. After all, “success is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down” – and it’s you attitude that determines whether you’ve got the strength to get back up.

Now, keep in mind – your thoughts are just the beginning. It’s your actions that define your performance. But it’s your thoughts and your attitude that lead to your actions. Get your attitude right and then get to work!

Without a positive attitude, ability guarantees nothing. It’s the classic chicken and egg problem. Which comes first? Ability or attitude? What’s more important? The answer is that they are both important and both necessary. Attitude plus ability results in achievement. And the stronger your positive attitude becomes, the stronger your desire to hone your abilities. The better you become, the better your attitude. And so it continues until one day, your beliefs and your ability to succeed are impenetrable.  Attitude is the secret ingredient in the formula for success.

Attitude is NOT everything. It is your ability to stay committed to a positive attitude through everything that makes the difference between winning and losing.

OK, so how do you get a positive attitude? You decide to commit to having one. Positive attitude is a choice. It’s a commitment. And, it’s a gift that you give to yourself. You have to wake up in the morning and decide to make the day your best ever. You have to tell yourself that no matter what happens, you’re going to keep on trucking.

Before you go to work, you have to work on yourself. Start by doing something that makes you happy or that makes you think or that makes you feel fulfilled. Wake up in the morning and exercise. Wake up in the morning and turn on your favorite music. Wake up in the morning and read. Yes, read. I have found more inspiration, more direction, and more attitude help in books than anywhere else.

These are the books that influenced my thinking, my actions, and my success. Get to a bookstore (or Amazon) and buy a copy for yourself:

Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude – Jeffrey Gitomer

Life is Tremendous – Charlie Tremendous Jones

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude – Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone

The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Peale

Acres of Diamonds – Russell Conwell

You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish when you’re in positive mode. Try reading a few pages out of one of the books each morning before you go to work and watch your attitude – and your business – improve before you know it.

Filed Under: Attitude Tune-Up, Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , ,

The Best Nacho Salesman

April 17, 2019 By Leave a Comment

When I was in college, I worked at a movie theatre. Whenever I worked behind the vending stand, I used to challenge my co-workers to sell more nachos than me. The job, obviously, wasn’t commission-based. There were no prizes or rewards for being the best nacho salesman. I just did it to make my shift more interesting.

My sales pitch was this:

 

“Would you like to add an order of nachos for only $4.75 more?”

 

This wasn’t promotional pricing or a sale. This was literally the regular price of an order of nachos.

All I did was offer them. I didn’t explain how warm and creamy the cheese was. I didn’t tell them about how well it would complement the Pepsi that they had ordered. I didn’t try and convince them it was the perfect movie snack. I literally just offered them an order of nachos at regular price.

To be fair, I probably offered it with a great deal of enthusiasm – but that was it. And you know what? People bought nachos from me.

I still remember one time where a customer had already ordered nachos (for $4.75) and I explained to them that for only $4.75 more, they could get a 2nd order. And they did.

Usually during these self-imposed contests, I would sell about 2-6 more orders of nachos in a shift than usual. Others participating put up similar numbers, using the same pitch. The theatre sold more nachos, all because we offered them to every customer.

The lesson here? Asking is half the battle. If you don’t ask for the sale, you probably won’t get it. Although delicious, this doesn’t only apply to nachos. Whatever the product, offer it every time. If I had skipped one person, it may have been the person who wanted nachos the most – and just didn’t know it yet.

There’s more to sales than just offering, as you no doubt know. However, if you can ask for the sale, you are already halfway there.

Filed Under: Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , ,

You Don’t Have To Be a Salesperson to Make a Sale

February 27, 2019 By Leave a Comment

You don’t have to be a salesperson to make a sale.

You’re an artist – who paints the picture of what life will be like for the customer after you fix their car.

You’re a helper – who helps make a good decision about whether to repair the car, which part is best, which warranty is appropriate, and the right financing option.

You’re a compassionate listener – who listens with the intent to understand rather than to respond.

You’re a greeter – who creates a buying atmosphere from the moment the prospect walks in the door.

You’re a resource – who provides valuable information, creative ideas, and unique options.

You’re an assistant buyer – who helps the customer buy.

You’re a friend – who would never offer a deal you wouldn’t take yourself.

You’re a value-provider – who focuses on delivering more value than expected, and earns the sale with extraordinary service.

You’re a teacher – who explains with patience.

You’re a coach – who guides the customer and encourages them to make a good choice.

You’re a relater – who helps the customer discover what they want and then helps them get it.

You’re a liaison – who represents your company with a personal touch.

You’re an advocate – who always fights for what’s best for the customer.

The most important part of your business is making the sale. Your title, however, means little to anyone but yourself.

Pick a title.

Pick a role.

Pick one.

Or, pick them all.

Choose the one that makes you feel best.

Choose the one that helps you frame your mission.

Now, go sell something.

 

Originally posted by Captain Reman on December 11, 2011.

Filed Under: Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , , ,

Not All Customers Are Good Customers

February 7, 2019 By Leave a Comment

If you are selling paperclips or pizza, this article may not be very relevant, but an increasing majority of US workers sell a service or a product plus the service to support it.  When service is a significant part of the customer or company relationship, not all customers are created equally.  Not all customers are good customers.

Customers shop, review, vet, and evaluate their options as a regular practice and use this information to influence their buying decisions.  Should companies make similar decisions about who they do business with?  Aren’t all sales and all customers good for the bottom line?  In my experience, spanning two decades, five states, and four industries I say absolutely not.

Some questions to help guide your thoughts are:

  • Do you know who your good customers or bad customers are?
  • What makes a good customer good?
  • What makes a bad customer?
  • What and how do you measure a customer?

What can or should you do with this info?  Can or should you fire a customer?  What about avoiding bad customers in the first place?

In defining a good (or bad) customer, you need to determine the factors that matter to your company. It is important to consider and evaluate the specific factors that impact your business, and how it should view its customers.  Here is a list of some factors that might apply:

  • Do they pay in a timely fashion?  What are the terms?
  • Are they loyal?
  • Do they share in both the profitable deals and the ones that turn south?
  • Can your business reasonably meet their expectations?
  • Does your brand or reputation benefit from the association?
  • Is servicing the account efficient or inefficient in relation to their volume?
  • Do your customer service and business ethics align?
  • Are they a good customer for today? Tomorrow?
  • What is your opportunity cost of working with them?  Who could you spend your resources on if they weren’t on your books?

Some industries have this down to a science; insurance companies, for instance, have complex algorithms that evaluate customers purchasing potential, loyalty, claim history, credit and other factors to determine how to treat and charge you.  You may be shocked to learn that when buying insurance or paying TV or cell phone coverage, that loyalty is actually penalized.  If you are loyal, you are less likely to leave and thus they can raise your prices.  The disloyal customer (who switches carriers/agencies/providers) gets the red carpet pricing treatment because their behavior shows the companies offering these services that they will leave for a better price.  These companies understand good and bad customers and have devised pricing and promotional strategies that align with this knowledge.

What’s critical here is that you consider the not all customers are created equal principle and determine the value of each type with respect to your businesses needs and make decisions and form strategy that supports your business’ health.

You do not need to put energy and resource into a losing proposition.  Reserve the right (and actually use it) to politely decline your services.  Make choices to your benefit.  Don’t keep shoveling the pile because a sale is a sale.  A sale is a sale, but not all of them are a good sale.

 

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Kickin’ It Old School

December 6, 2018 By Leave a Comment

This week has been a homecoming of sorts.  Sadly, tragedy struck the family of a childhood best friend and a funeral brought some old friends together for the first time in several years.

We’ve attended each other’s weddings, texted birthday greetings, celebrated milestones at a distance, but the three of us have not spent any real time together since we parted ways in Jr. high.  A move took me away from our hometown, high school happened and somewhat separated the other two.  There was never an ill word spoken, just the distance that grows as you mature and come into your own.

However, the sadness was overtaken by great memories and some awkward ones too, hello mid-90’s, braces, and bad hair. If you saw us together that night, you would think that we were back in grade school comparing snap bracelets and plotting how we could convince our parents to let us have a sleepover on a school night.  Back to work the next day and all of it still heavy on my mind.

Naturally, I now relate to work.  As I worked through my morning projects, I had a few long pauses of thought and pondered how this used to be.  If these projects or processes had to revisit their childhood – would they recognize themselves?

Lately, my focus has been on quality.  I’m a small part of a much larger picture and work with some amazing people who do impressive things to improve our product.  It’s all rooted in the desire to do and be better and deliver the best remanufactured transmission to our customers.

New School: Service Cloud

We’ve moved on from stagnant reports to an interactive system that allows us to see gaps in our quality in real time.  Truly, enough praise can’t be expressed to our developer and the team who has worked so hard to put that together for us.

New School:  Quality Task Force

A proactive team in place to offer their expertise to our builders, perform whole unit random inspections, and test skills to keep everyone fresh and on the same page.

New School:  Warranty Review

At the end of each day, our Quality Task Force meets with product support and parts to discuss the day’s findings, solutions, and create action plans.

 

I would like to think that where you came from is always at least a little recognizable in your present and future.  I’m excited to be working towards something better and looking back helps me appreciate where I’ve come from and how much more I, and my colleagues, can do.

Looking back on my childhood, I’m sure glad those braces are off, but I’m even more thrilled to still have an appreciation for my core and the people I came from; both family and friends.  I think little Girl Wonder would recognize me today.

 

AVA_RU-Blog-ADaughertyGirl Wonder likes to kick it old school – except when new school strategies can help remind you of that young, invincible time… None of us – nor our businesses are invincible – so when a little nostalgia can inspire a new school approach, lean into it. Comment below or email Angie.

 

 

Filed Under: Reman U articles, remanufactured transmission, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , ,

Guiding Your Customer Experience

October 31, 2018 By Leave a Comment

As the air develops a cool crispness and the trees begin turning yellow and red, it means it is time for more than just football and pumpkin spice lattes.  It’s college-campus-visit season.

As a father of both a college sophomore and high school senior, I have been on my fair share of college campus tours.  We chose schools to visit because of their proximity to home (or lack of proximity), the school’s reputation, the school’s promotional materials, or a college fair.

If you have not gone through this process before (or yet!), it typically begins with an advance online registration for the tour, check-in for your scheduled tour, viewing a brief presentation, and then a walking tour with a guide.  This guide is either an upper-class student or an admissions counselor.  And this guide can be the difference between a potential applicant choosing to apply or dismissing the college altogether.

For two of my daughter’s campus tours, we had 2 vastly different experiences because of the tour guides.  We considered both of these schools, in advance of the visits as simply “maybe” schools.  In the first instance, our tour guide was great – she was well-spoken, knew her material, and communicated in a way that reached the potential applicant.  In the second instance, our tour guide was not great – she seemed uninterested, read from a sheet of paper, and spoke more to the parents than the applicant – we even left the tour early.  My daughter did apply to the school with the great tour guide and not to the other.

When college tuition, room and board can cost between $40,000 and $280,000 for 4 years, I believe the tour guide is the most important sales tool of a college. Similarly, when a customer is deciding if they want to do business with us, I must too be well-spoken, informed, and communicative about our business and the benefit this customer will experience by working with us; our relationship will likely last 4 years… and beyond.

Whether a physical or digital tour, it’s the job of the tour guide to tell a story and sell an experience with the business.

What is your most important sales tool? And is it telling the story you want told?

  • Store Front: Is the storefront eye-catching, and does it speak to your clientele?
  • Signage: Is your signage neat and clear, and does it clearly state the services or products offered?
  • Lobby: Is the lobby clean, inviting, and comfortable?
  • First Impression Employee: Is this person friendly, welcoming, professional, and informative?
  • Tour Guide: Is the tour guide the most knowledgeable and most representative of the company?

In my sales role, the most valuable tools I have are the specialized departments in our production facility (highlighted at their best by the resident tour guides) and the team members who act as company advocates, no matter their role.

The ultimate goal is to sell the service or product, but make sure to always do everything to attract – and keep – the customer. Make sure your tour guide sells the school and make the sale.

Before making the 4+ year investment in a college, the Market MacGyver puts the tour guide to the test. Do they tell a story to sell the school? And do you set up shop to you tell a story to sell your business? Comment below or email Matt directly.

Filed Under: Customer Service Tune-Up, Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , , ,

Set it Right

October 4, 2018 By Leave a Comment

My family recently hired a company, let’s call them ABC Siding, to put new vinyl siding on our house. In addition to that, the company we chose provided an excellent lesson in an extraordinary customer experience. During our initial meeting, the company was certainly “salesy”, they had a product to sell, and we had a need. They used value-building tactics in showing us their product and describing the service they would provide to attract us: a new potential customer.

After our first meeting during which we determined we did in fact want them to re-side our house, they begin the expectations setting process during which they embodied a number of strategies to create a positive customer experience.

What did I take away?

Timing: For a project, purchase, or interaction, timing must be established prior to the start of any service or delivery of a product.

Once I have started to deliver on my promise, it is too late to set or reset expectations because any discrepancy between the buyer and seller can result in a change in cost. ABC Siding was transparent about their needs: if we had not trimmed the lilac bush on the north side of the house, that would result in additional labor costs to the siding company.

It is best to separate this conversation from the sale, however, because when trying to sell, I am essentially raising the bar for your product or service.  I am making a promise.

Under Promise / Over Deliver: When I’m in the mindset of making a sale, promises will come off big and bold. During this expectation setting process, it is important to dull down those bold promises and bring the customer back to reality. Using phrases like “earlier than expected”, “less than expected”, or “quicker than expected” are always pleasant surprises I use to help create a positive experience.

Clarify the Details: All variables should be set in stone. I make sure me and my customer are on the same page on color, size, brand, timing, and warranty terms. Make sure to have all these things in writing and make sure that both the buyer and seller have a copy of their own.

ABC Siding checked in with my family multiple times to confirm color, discuss an unexpected obstacle, and to provide updates about the install.

Anticipate the Customer’s Concerns: Be it color, size, brand, timing, or warranty terms, ask the customer if they have any questions. This one takes a bit of practice to master because all customers have unique concerns, and it is my job to realize the customer’s priorities and be sure to provide extra clarity and reassurance about those details. The key? Being transparent. Make sure all documents are available early in the process, provide updates as they become available, and set—and meet—expectations.

 

The second meeting with ABC Siding was the key to ensuring we would be happy customers.  This meeting was specifically focused on setting expectations for the job they had sold us on. They showed us an actual large strip of the siding on the house so we could have a real idea of what the color would look like. Additionally, we did a walk around the house, and they pointed out the obstacles that would be in the way: flower pots, planters, overgrown bushes; they explained that we would need to remove or trim back all the obstacles so the job could go smoothly. Lastly, they gave us a time window when they could reasonably expect to have our project completed.

The expectation setting meeting was the key to success in this case and is what prompted my writing. Many times sales are quick, dirty, and as easy as the customers think they want it to be, but taking the time to set expectations with customers prevents miscommunications, misunderstandings, and complaints.

Remember: if a customer is unhappy, chances are it’s because a sale or service didn’t meet their expectations and the best way to prevent that? Set those expectations right.

 

The COREderback got new siding on his house – and a reminder about just what a good customer experience feels like. How do you set the right expectations? Join the conversation below or email Chad directly. 

Filed Under: Customer Service Tune-Up, Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , , ,

Being a Tool Builder

August 16, 2018 By Leave a Comment

 

We work in a world of tools. Humans are distinctive from most other creatures on this planet by our ability to make and use them. The earliest advances in society are measured by the tools we built and used (fire, hand axes, spear throwers, the wheel, pottery and so on). The automotive industry is particularly defined by the tools we use. How many jobs can you do without some highly specialized tool?

Tools have an especially strong personal association for me. My father is a tool-builder. For as long as I can remember, he’s been the Toolroom Foreman for a metal stamping/fineblanking plant in Wisconsin. Even before I understood the technicalities of what he did, I was fascinated by the idea of a whole department focused on creating the tools necessary to run a business.

Tools make people’s lives easier and make the impossible possible, from lifting a 2-ton truck overhead to flushing all the crud from every nook and cranny of a radiator. My dad takes a lot of pride in how the tools he builds impact his business and the people who work for him. His example inspired me, and I am honored to call myself a Tool Builder as well.

Instead of working with metal and stamping process, I work with software and business processes. But, the process is largely the same (and surprisingly simple):

  1. Identify a point of need.
  2. Isolate the ways it could be done easier/faster/more effectively.
  3. Build the tool/process to address those points.
  4. Refine and revise by starting again at Step 1.

Here’s the thing: we are ALL tool builders. When you think of a tool, it’s easiest to think of the wrenches, sockets, and other items in your toolbox. But, at its most basic level, a tool is anything that extends, amplifies and/or simplifies your efforts to accomplish a specific task. So, what about the people who work for you or the processes your business employs? Those absolutely count as tools*.

And, just as you invest in the traditional hardware tools in your shop to make individual jobs easier, investing in the human and process tools in your operation will make your entire business run more easily and reach higher levels. Investing in those tools doesn’t need to be an overly special process:

  • Find the things you are doing over and over again – those are the processes most likely to benefit from a new approach. If you’re doing the same thing repeatedly, chances are good that someone else can do it, too (and then your time is freed to find the next area for improvement).
  • Identify a leader on your team and let them shadow you as you work on the process/procedure. You don’t need a fancy procedure document or documented process – let that be part of the training. Show them how to do it and ask them to document it for you. Then, you can review the documentation to be sure they understood and can work from their own document. (Bonus: You’ll have the start of a library you can use to train the next team member.)
  • Shadow your new approach a few times to be certain it’s being done to your standard. This step is crucial because if you’re not confident in the tool/process you’ve built, you won’t really be able to move on to the next thing. Put the time in here, and you’ll be much more effective at finding the next problem you can solve.
  • Use the time saved to move on to your next point of need, confident knowing that you’re building a collection of tools that won’t just impact specific jobs, but your entire business.

Your business is likely full of tools – and arguably, the most important ones don’t live in your toolbox. Take a close look at the way your business runs and see if you can’t find some areas where a newly placed resource can extend, amplify, and simplify your own activities. Being a Tool Builder is rewarding – and I don’t mean just to your bottom line.

*No Bob, I did not just call you a tool. I said that you extend, amplify, and simplify business processes. 

Your business is likely full of tools, especially if you’re in the automotive industry. But what are your most important ones? As ET-D2 shares this week, they could live outside of your toolbox. Join the conversation below or connect with Jim directly.  

Filed Under: Management Tune-Up, Reman U articles, Sales Tune-Up Tagged With: , , ,
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