This time of year, many of us resolve to make changes in our lives, to do something different in the coming year. The inclination to do this is coupled with the coming New Year, where all things seem possible.
Living with this spirit throughout the year is one way to have a much richer and active life. What often keeps us from that is the brute slog getting through the day-to-day.
How to be pulled forward and not get buried in the muck of what could have gone better? Think big!
One of my clients wants, two or so years from now, to able to be away from his business 50 days in a row. His children are getting older and his dream is to take a trip around the U.S. to visit national parks with them (and his wife) before they are teenagers.
What does that mean starting now? How do you prepare for being away that long when you are the owner and the salesperson for your company? Here is some of what I suggested.
Starting Now, Fix What You Can
My client’s company is not meeting its target gross profit percentage on the jobs it does. The slippage is preventing the company from meeting its net profit goals, creating the need to sell more projects and do more work. This is not ideal, particularly if my client wants to reduce the company’s dependence on him.
Identifying the causes of the slippage and fixing them, with the entire company focused on this issue, will increase profits while selling and performing the same amount of work.
Instituting a culture of continuous improvement will teach the employees that they are the solution to the problems the company faces.
Hire People to do What Will Not Get Done While You are Gone
Currently my client is both the salesperson and the estimator. Estimating is not his favorite task. He enjoys developing relationships with people and helping them turn their house into the home they want.
Hire an estimator now so that the company can transfer that responsibility in a deliberate way over time. One reason to hire someone sooner than later is that the first person a company hires for a new position usually does not work out. The lessons learned help the company find a more appropriate candidate.
Another reason is that, with an estimator on board, my client can focus on rainmaking and selling even more work, ideally larger projects, so that a backlog can be built up before he leaves on the big trip.
Avoid Relying on a Whale
Very large projects take a long time to bake. Sometimes after months of estimating and planning, the project goes away.
To create stability for the company and the clients while my client is away, it is best to not have all the company’s eggs in one basket. A mix of the projects the company does best is preferable to depending on one large job.
Teach the Company’s Decision-Making Process
Often the culture in a company is to bring problem after problem to the owner. The owner provides the solutions. This prevents the employees from learning to think for themselves.
Starting now, my client needs to teach his employees how to generate solutions on their own. Preach the company’s mission statement and core values as points of reference for decision making. An employee faced with a problem needs to generate a solution that “fits” with these guiding principles.
Then the employee would run the problem and its solution by his manager. The resulting dialogue creates clarity and ownership of the solution. If the manager is not available, go to someone higher in the organization chart. If that is not possible, go to the designated employee with the best overall perspective of what the company is about.
Doing this while the owner is there will allow the owner to refine the employees’ understanding of the mission statement and core values.
The owner should praise publicly the solutions that fit with the guiding documents. He needs to be specific about what he thinks made each solution a good one. If the solution was not ideal, the owner needs to meet with the appropriate employees privately to coach them. Again, he must be specific and help the employees understand what a better solution might look like.
Doing all the above is a powerful way to reduce the company’s dependence on the owner.
Go Away Sooner than Later, and Go Often
My client needs to go away for a couple of weeks at a time, starting now. Doing so will allow him to learn how the company operates without him being present. That knowledge will help him tune the company’s approach to doing business while he is not there.
Teaching his employees how to anticipate my client’s absence is done by the following:
- Two weeks before my client will be leaving, he asks his employees to think about what they will want to ask him while he is away.
- One week before leaving, my client meets with the appropriate employees to listen to their questions and help the employees generate good solutions.
- Two to three days before leaving, my client does the same thing.
With these practices followed my client has done all he could to help ensure things will likely go well while he is gone.
When Selling, Tell Your Clients About the Trip
By going public with his big trip goal, my client will help potential clients accept his impending absence.
If potential clients are not told they will inevitably feel disrespected. That feeling with manifest itself with a constant stream of petty complaints delivered by the clients to the employees while the owner is gone. Worst case someone with go nuclear.
Agree on One or Two Times When You Will be Available for Questions
My client should set up a couple of points during the trip where he will be able to answer questions from his employees.
If the pre-trip setup work has been done well there should be few questions. Make sure to set the expectation that any problem to be discussed must have a solution attached to it.
Start Planning the Trip Now
My client should get a map of the U.S. With his family, he should start thinking about where they want to go and what route they will follow. The anticipation is priceless. Sometimes the anticipation is better than the trip!
There it is, a plan to prepare my client’s company to function without him for 50 days.
What do you want to do; what are your dreams for the New Year and beyond? How can you make them happen? Start doing those things today!