I had an interesting conversation with a friend over dinner last night. He is working for a professional services company and has been overloaded with work recently. So much so, that he hasn’t been able to properly service his clients, leading to a loss of service and ultimately unhappy clients. Not only that, but it’s also led to him feeling a good deal of dissatisfaction with his position and a lack of faith in the skills of the management team.
So what’s been going wrong?
A common problem for many small businesses is simply the inability to turn away new business. I’ve been there myself a few times when I’ve won business, but as a result I’ve had to sacrifice service delivery to other, often higher value clients. It’s a very difficult decision for owners / managers, a balance between bringing on new clients and keeping existing.
What can you do then to ensure this problem is well managed? Well, think about the following steps:
1. prioritise your clients – ensure the highest value clients always receive an excellent service,
2. manage client expectations and push timescales out as far a possible – give yourself a chance to deliver a good product,
3. price appropriately so that new clients pay a premium – if you’re already at capacity you can then afford to take on contractors,
4. ensure you plan for the capacity to cater for new business as far in advance as possible – especially if your sales team is generating lots of leads,
5. keep some time aside as a manager to oversee any work going out for quality assurance purposes – remember people overworked and stressed may make mistakes,
6. direct the relationship with the client at a senior level – be proactive and to take ownership for any errors from the top, don’t let your team take the rap,
7. invest in your staff, give them the skills to provide an excellent service and to keep them satisfied.
Unfortunately this is a case of being too successful. Ultimately you need to provide a quality service if you want to get repeat business, develop a good reputation but also to simply get paid and avoid costly disputes.
Sometimes it may actually be better to turn the business away.
