As business flows from day to day, we often get so focused on the problem of the day, we forget what is most important. This is why we need to go back to the basics and remember the ABCs of business. Over the next few months I will be focusing this column on the basics, so let’s take a look at the first few letters.
Attitude
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life,” writes Charles Swindoll. “Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you.we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Charles Swindoll is my favorite author of all time, and he summed up attitude better than I have ever heard. While it is easy to understand how our attitude affects our lives, we may fail to make the connection of how our attitude affects our business and how our business develops an attitude that may mirror ours, good or bad. I work with hundreds of repair shops each year, and it is seldom that I find a positive attitude among the employees, when the owner’s attitude is bad. On the other hand, when the owner’s attitude is good, it is much more common for the morale of the employees to be good. As Charles Swindoll said, “We are in charge of our Attitudes.” We often overlook our own stuff, because we live with it, so you might want someone from outside your business to give you and your employees an attitude checkup. You may be surprised what the customer perception for your business looks like.
Balance
Each and every one of us probably struggles with balancing work, family and our personal lives. The question I would like for you to consider is: Have you examined balance in your business and the lives of your employees? Often, in an effort to make the numbers, we allow, require or encourage a few employees (the ones who are the backbone and workhorses) to work longer hours or extra days and miss time that should be spent with their families. More often than not, being taken for granted or having too much being expected is the reason given for good employees moving on to a new employer. There are many other balance issues as well, such as how much you allow one insurance company to dominate your business or how many DRP programs you are on, if any. Every decision you make each day is an issue of balance. It is easy to be focused on the benefits of a situation and not look at the other areas of our business that the decision affects negatively. I heard one man speak on leaving some margin in our lives, and I agree it is often the unexpected stuff that adds that little bit of extra stress that throws everything out of balance.
Consistency
There is the old saying, “Practice makes perfect,” that has been changed to “Perfect practice makes perfect.” While I agree with the latter, I am a firm believer that you must practice and measure the results if you hope to ever get to the point of perfect practice. There are so many areas of your business in which you can measure performance to bring about the consistency that will help insure success. It is often very tempting to try to make the next change in our business before we have reached a level of consistency or stability in the last thing we initiated. There are many numbers you may measure for consistency, but here are a few that I believe are crucial.
• How many sales you close
• How close your daily sales are to your breakeven point
• What your gross profit is for each job
• Cycle and touch time
• Employee efficiency
• Paint and material usage
While these three things may not solve all your problems, Attitude, Balance, and Consistency will go a long way in making your business successful.
Bottom line: Don’t forget your ABCs!
