Starting a business is like giving birth. Well, maybe not so much. What I mean to say is that when you have a business, you sometimes consider it your baby. You want to grow it; you want to nurture it; you want to help it improve; you want to help it stand on it’s own two feet; you want to see it be a success. The list goes on.
Just like raising a child, building a business can be challenging. I read an article that listed 5 major challenges faced by business owners. The article honed in on businesses in Sydney, but, I believe these challenges extend far beyond the home of the Opera House.
The challenges listed were:
- Proper Marketing
- Finding Customers
- Cash Flow
- Hiring Right People
- Business Growth
When I originally posted this information on my LinkedIn profile, I had a couple of connections mention a few other issues they believe are facing businesses today:
- Wearing too many hats and learning to prioritise – leading to knowing when and what to outsource
- Having the right mindset
- Setting up systems and processes
- Retaining good people
- Retaining good channel partners
- Engaging employees and customers on a regular basis
- Maintaining competitiveness with the overflow of Asian investors and new businesses
I can also think of a few others, however, for this article, I’m going to talk about staff.
Now, let me first begin by saying that if you want to hire the right people and keep the right people; you need to stop referring to them as “my staff”, “my employees”, my people”. You need to change your thinking and starting considering them more in terms of “my team”, “my leaders”, “my business innovators”, “my customer experience team” and so on. You also need to take out of your vocabulary the words “boss” and “manager” and replace them with “leader”.
The world is a very different place compared to last century; especially the business world. People no longer come to work because they have to; they come because they want to. Because they are inspired, they are encouraged, they are valued, they are recognised, they are rewarded and they are given an opportunity to learn and grow and become more…contribute more…and mean more! Does your team feel like that?
The way I see it, your team is the single most important asset to your business. Not you. Not your product. Not your customers. Not your bank account. Everything in your business relies on your teams ability to deliver 100% in their role; whether it be customer service, product development, leadership, administration, sales, accounting, etc. If your team is not firing on all cylinders, then neither is your business.
Not sold? Let’s take the experience side of things; that is, what kind of experience will your customers and potential customers encounter when they deal with your team. In an article about Customer Experience Officers (CXO), they listed the following:
- The Product Experience
- The Purchase Experience
- The Brand Experience
- The Support Experience
- The Exit Experience (yes, it is even important how a customer views leaving the company)
- The Employee Experience (let’s call that one the “Team” Experience)
And I’m going to add one more: The Supplier Experience.
Looking at the list, multiple team members could be responsible for each one.
The Product Experience for example could be the responsibility of your:
- Product development team – engineers, manufacturing, assembly, quality control
- Receptionist – sufficient product knowledge will assist in directing the customer to the right person
- Sales team – asking the right questions, offering the right product, educating on the product, explaining the features and benefits
- Service team – fixing issues, maintenance, improvements, customisation
- After-sales team – maintaining the client relationship, answering questions, delivering tips and useful information, rectifying problems
Think for a minute if any one of these teams failed. What could potentially happen? Lose a customer which would lead to not selling the product which would lead to loss of revenue? Maybe even a loss in brand confidence?
Still think your team is not the most important asset to your business?
In Part 2 of this article I will advise on ways you can get it right when it comes to hiring, engaging, inspiring and keeping the right staff…whoops, I mean, the right team.
