Who are the most important people in a company that is focused on providing an exceptional client experience?
The owner provides a clear sense of purpose and mission. The salespeople make promises to the clients based on the purpose and mission of the company. The designers work to help clients who are a fit for the company’s purpose and mission figure out exactly what their project is to be.
The positions all are important in making promises to clients. But promises can turn out to be empty words depending on who is to uphold them. That is why I believe the most important people in the company are those in the production department, particularly those managing projects.
These people are the promise keepers. If they don’t deliver what the company has promised, the marketplace becomes filled with negative feedback from the upset clients.
How to make the production department more likely to able to keep those promises?
The Purpose and Mission
The foundation of everything a company does is the purpose and mission. Keeping these front and center at every step of the process makes it easier to make provide the production team with clients who are a good fit and with the supporting information needed to deliver on the promises.
Be Realistic
Sales and design can become seduced by the interactions with a client. When that happens, unrealistic expectations are set. Often, production is expected to make a miracle happen. No one wins when this happens, as the promise keepers have been set up to fail.
Produce Exceptional Support Documents
A good foundation makes success more likely for many things. A remodel, be it simple or complicated, can only be done as well as the information given to the production department. Get the foundation (i.e., the plans and job book) right and the actual remodel will have a better chance of coming out well and the client becoming a raving fan.
Stay Involved
In a disciplined and structured way, the owner, the salesperson and the designer need to stay involved in the project. The owner might be doing this through reviewing job costing reports and meeting with department managers. The salesperson could be checking with the client by phone every few weeks and taking their pulse. The designer might come to the site at critical points, like when all electrical boxes have been tacked in place, to review their placement with the client and the lead carpenter. This planned trailing involvement provides the lead carpenter a greater chance of success.
Learn from Mistakes
Mistakes are part of the cost of business. The company must learn from them. I like to call mistakes “opportunities.” The entire company is responsible for developing systems and processes that make repeating an opportunity unlikely. A mistake made followed by a solution created by the team is the path to success. Both the promise makers and the promise keepers need to be involved in this process
Celebrate Successes
Because the promise keepers are not in the office as much as the rest of the company, it is important to systemize celebrating success. At the regularly scheduled company meetings, have different employees be asked to bring to the table examples of other employees delivering on the promises the company has made to clients. Focus on the positive in public, leaving conversations about what could have gone better to closed door meetings involving only those employees who are responsible for developing a good solution.
The promise keepers are the very important to the success of the company. Keeping that in mind when making decisions in the office is essential. Expect miracles from the promise keepers and be ready for continuous stress throughout the company. Set the promise keepers up to succeed and watch the company grow and prosper.