Some time ago I talked about simplifying pathways for your customers and removing the split tracks.
If you read that thought (found here in the thoughts archive) then you would see how confusion is losing sales from your customers. On the flip side of that coin is complication in your own business.
When you add layer upon layer of hoops that your customers have to jump through, they walk away. When you add layers of hoops on your business, you add frustration that you and your team have to jump through.
I have recently been pondering this in my own business. Over the years that we have been in business, we have created processes. And naturally through watching others and being involved in a community of fellow business owners, I have sucked up some processes from other businesses.
The problem I feel like I have run into is this: not all the processes I have sucked up are built for what I desire in my business. Which makes total sense, because I might not have the same business goals as the other owners.
So now instead of a simple process, at one point I felt I needed this step or that step added to the mix. Some of these where attempt to streamline a process but instead makes it feel complex due to the work on the customers’ side. Others have grown while trying to streamline the time I spend on a task, which ironically takes me longer to manage all the extra steps.
The point is this: As businesses grow, so does complexity. And if we allow it to, the complexity will stress us right out of business. Find ways to keep the process simple and complexity low wherever you can.
So many years ago, before Google and the computer revolution, paper was the answer. Things moved slower, but business had a personal touch. Technology has removed that. And in our efforts to take things off our figurative plate, we take the human out of everything.
Then you add rigid processes to “keep the business running smooth” and all the sudden you are frustrated by the extra processes, and your customer hates you. Time to work on a factory line, instead of running your small business.
The other day I was on the phone trying to schedule an appointment. The company I was on the phone with had compartmentalized its departments and processes so well that no one could actually help me. Instead, emails had to be sent between departments where no one calls each other. What could take 5 minutes turns into weeks. I was soon frustrated, the supervisor was helpless and mildly apologetic, and the company is a huge failure in my eyes.
Don’t process yourself into a corner that leaves you feeling helpless and your customers frustrated.
Rather keep the processes simple, and the human touch alive and kicking. Are your business “processes” truly helping or hindering your workflow?