Team Communication

Team Communication
The Cause:
Tim knew that the level of communication in business needed serious attention but he always seemed to have more urgent matters to attend to. He never made time to sit down and think about how he could improve how his team related to each other. Eventually (as with anything that’s gets ignored for long enough) the problem reached a point where Tim had no choice but to fix the problem.

Inefficiencies, delays and bottlenecks on jobs were too numerous to mention. Project management became a
nightmare as changes in deliveries dates of supplies and contractors was not communicated or done so too late.

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Finding, Keeping & Growing the Right Team

Recruitment, Positional Contracts & Induction Checklists
The Cause:
Since starting his business starting his business four years a go, Mark’s electrical business had continues to grow exponentially. However the bigger his business got the disorganised things became. Where as before it was him that did everything in the business, there were now five people in his team and they had very little focus and direction in terms of individual roles and responsibilities.

The lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities caused an array of problems and complications for Mark and his team. There was often overlap in jobs or specific tasks being carried out. This meant that Mark was not making best use of his resources and was eating into company profits due to inefficiencies and wastage. Mark’s team often focused their time and energy in the wrong areas and then complained to him that they were doing their job when he re-directed or questioned them.

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Vision, Mission & Culture

Vision, Mission and Culture
The Cause:
Brad had never thought of putting a Vision, Mission and Culture in place in his business. When he first heard about it Brad thought it was something for big corporate companies. He was also convinced that Vision and Mission statements were just for show and were if anything a waste of time and effort. He hadn’t used one up until now and was certain he’d never need one.

Brad’s business lacked direction. Each day was a carbon copy of the next. There was also no clear purpose for the business and this was reflected in his team’s moral. Some of his guys had been with him a long time and although they performed ok they often arrived late and were more concerned about themselves than the interests of the team as a whole. Inconsistencies and inefficiencies do to personality clashes were costing the business money in lost profits.

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Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)

The Challenge – Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s)
Tim’s building company has been through a lot of ups and downs over the past 15 years. Being the proactive guy that he was Tim constantly looked for ways to improve his business, particularly regarding the performance of his team on-site. 12 months previously Tim decided to change the direction of the business and chose renovations as his niche. He set his sights on becoming the Number 1 renovations company in the State and made it the company goal to exceed customer expectations on every job. This was a lofty ideal, which Tim wanted every member of his team subscribe to, to collectively raise the performance standards of the company. Following the launch of the new Vision for Tim’s business there was a significant change in the behaviour and attitude of his team on-site. The efficiency was up, absenteeism was down and everyone worked together like a well-knit team. The outcome resulted in improved profits for individual jobs and the company as a whole. However the success was short lived.

In the space of a few months the newly acquired performance standards started to drop, and his team fell back into their old habits.

This caused Tim untold stress and frustration. He couldn’t for the life of him understand why his team couldn’t apply themselves consistently and maintain the level of performance they’d held for the previous eight weeks. The question running through Tim’s mind was “how can I measure the performance of my team so that I can hold them accountable to the newly assigned performance standard and keep it there?”

The Cause:
Tim lacked a measurement system in place to track the performance of his team or the ‘critical distinctions’ in his business. This gave Tim no way to ‘back stop’ the new performance standards his team achieved. Although Tim directed a lot of his frustration at his team, in fairness to them, they we’re only human and like all people they need accountability, focus, guidance and direction.

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Operational Systems

A lack of Operational Systems
The Cause:
No time working ‘ON’ his business left Mark with a business that was totally dependant on him. Mark was always too busy doing the work to find time to develop the structure and organisation of his business.

Having a business that ran with no organisation, structure or predictability meant that Mark was the business. If he took himself out of his business there was nothing left. Because of this the business often experienced bottlenecks or hold ups which inconvenienced clients and damaged Marks reputation as an electrician.

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Sales Process

Sales Process
The Cause:
A lack of formal sales training and a generally negative attitude towards sales people resulted in Brad having no desire to spend any of his valuable time on developing a sales process.

Brad was running around doing a lot of quotes but he was converting very few of them. This caused him a lot of pain and frustration because it was costing him time and money and left him feeling like he was chasing his tail.

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Testing & Measuring

Testing and Measuring
The Cause:
A lack of ‘time’ and know how left Tim with a total lack of systems for testing and measuring the marketing results in his business.

Tim had no system for testing and measuring where his sales were coming from and what the return on his
investment was for existing Ads. This left Tim at a loss as to where his advertising money would be best spent.

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Marketing Plan

No Marketing Plan or Strategy
The Cause:
Not having a marketing plan was not something new to Shane. Although he had a compelling reason for his
prospects and clients to use him Shane wasn’t putting the word out. He had often thought about doing one and in fact he actually put pen to paper during a half day marketing seminar he attended a few years back but due to a lack of time very little of his plan materialised.

Shane often got great feedback from customers and there were a few who regularly gave him referrals. Shane was very aware of his need for a marketing plan, to improve his yellow pages Ad, actively collect testimonials and ask for referrals, he just didn’t know where to start.
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Unique Marketing Strategy

Creating uniqueness or a compelling reason for your marketplace to choose you over your competitors
The Cause:
Stuart always believed the only reason his clients chose a competitor’s quote over his, was price. As a result Stuart spent a lot of his time ensuring his prices were competitive and wouldn’t come in too high. This ensured Stuart’s profits were kept to a minimum.

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Time Management

Poor Time Management
The Cause:
Steve was an experienced builder and took pride in his work. After 18 years in the building game he had a solid reputation a received a consistent flow of referrals. Although his business was doing ok financially, Steve never seemed to have enough time in his day. Steve planned his jobs down to the finest detail but the same couldn’t be said for how he managed his time. Steve had no short, medium or long term plans in place for managing himself and his time more efficiently.

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