Julia's blog

I often think that the most interesting story of a business is the one that tells the tale of why and how it got started in the first place. I've read many business biographies and have always felt quite attached to the businesses I've learned about, even long after the book itself is a hazy memory.

I remember reading the Cadbury story years ago. It's the tale of English Quakers searching to find an alternative to coffee and alcohol, stumbling across the cocoa bean, struggling to turn it into something tasty, initiating the concept of social welfare, making pots of money, being conflicted by wealth, giving wealth away and turning into a modern day business. Phew.

By the time I had finished reading I was not only devouring the chocolate but I was beating the drum for Cadbury. 

We all love a story but we rarely tell our own. And in that we are missing a trick.

Once your business gets to a decent size and employs people that don't remember the start up days, you have a team who don't know your story. 

They don't know why you got started, what you believed in, and why you persisted in business when the outlook was dour. They don't know how you felt and what you sacrificed. And they don't know why your business is so damn important!

So they seem a little indifferent to the business. Not as motivated or as excited as you would like. Certainly not as driven. All very frustrating. You've built this business, you do good stuff, yet no-one seems to care like you do. 

You can fix it by telling you employees your story.

Using your own words and style of talking tell them:

• why you started in the business
• what motivated you
• what 'wrong' you were trying to right
• what you believed in
• the struggle you had to make your first sale
• the near-death experience when you almost ran out of money
• the delight at taking on your first employees

Hearing your story will be like watching a movie. Your employees will be absorbed in your tale of the underdog who makes good and they will be willing you to succeed.

And when your story finishes at now -  the present day - your employees will be excited to pick up the baton and continue the race. 

Try it!

Years ago when coffee beans started getting expensive some of the instant coffee manufacturers replaced a little of the good coffee with a cheap substitute. At first they replaced just a few granules. Customers didn't seem to notice a change in the coffee taste, but the manufactures got to make it a little cheaper. Bingo!

Over a number of years the coffee manufacturers gradually replaced more and more of the good coffee beans with the cheap substitute until the point when a significant proportion of the coffee wasn't really coffee at all.

It wasn't a decrease in the number of existing customers that got the issue noticed. Existing customers were still buying plenty of coffee. The change in taste had been so gradual that they barely noticed.

But there was a chronic shortage of new customers. Young adults weren't buying coffee. It didn't taste good so they didn't get into the coffee habit.

It took a new coffee experience - Starbucks - to reverse the move away from coffee. And they brought coffee back by getting it to taste good again.

A similar thing happens in many businesses - although more by accident than design.

When a business starts out it does everything to the highest standard. Delivery dates are met, phone calls returned, customer issues investigated etc

Sooner or later, unintentionally, something doesn't get done quite right. A delivery, let's say, is a day late. 

The business waits for the fall out. But nothing happens. The customer doesn't scream. The world doesn't fall apart. It's business as usual. Phew!

But because the missed delivery wasn't such a big deal the business starts to relax a bit. A few more late deliveries, no dramas and slowly the business changes. Instead of doing everything possible to get deliveries made on time, the business (or rather, the person in charge of that area) decides on-time deliveries are a 'nice to have' rather than a 'must'.

Eventually customers do feel a bit cranky but they accept that that's the way you do business. 'Always-a day- late' may become your nickname but it's not a big enough deal to make a fuss about. They don't tell you.

So does it matter? 

Well existing customers are still buying so all good there. But they don't sing your praises any more, they don't refer you to potential customers and if a better option to you presents itself they are likely to go.

It's a silent problem and by the time it's noisy and you do hear about it, it's too late.Sloppiness destroys by stealth.

So what can you do?

A great way to identify sloppiness is to get a group of your oldest employees together and ask them the question "What don't we do as well as we used to?"

Employees love to talk about 'the good old days' and you will almost certainly uncover some gems. Recently businesses that I have worked with have identified areas such as customer calls being returned late, phones unanswered, late deliveries, short deliveries etc. All small things that go largely unnoticed by the management team but are large enough to make an impact with customers. 

The good thing is they are easily fixed.