Toss Out Your Bandaids and Go Buy Magnifying Glasses

Your time is valuable, your money is valuable, your employees are valuable, your customers are valuable…

In fact, every resource your business has is valuable!

So why would you waste those resources?

All too often in business, management feels that if something is not working, simply throwing more resources at the problem is the solution.  

If the problem is low sales… Well just buy more advertising, send out more mailers, make more cold calls, and hire more sales people.

If the problem is slow operations… Well just buy more equipment, hire more fabricators, and create evening and weekend shifts.

While throwing more resources at a problem may work in the short term, the added expenses and continued masking of an underlying problem, is not sustainable.

WATCH THE VIDEO, OR CONTINUE READING BELOW…

One of my bigger clients in Europe recently told me that in order to combat their drop in sales due to the current economy, they were planning a massive sales push. Everyone in the organization was going to be involved in this sales push, including the owners and senior managers.  

When I probed further I realized they didn’t mean that everyone was going to increase their intensity and focus within their own scope, they meant that EVERYONE was going to be selling.  Telemarketing, face to face visits, you name it.

Today I am going to share with you what I discussed with them.

Today we are going to talk about why “More isn’t always Better”

Today we are going to talk about why “Better is Better”.

If you think “More is Better” you are building a house of cards that will inevitably come tumbling down.

So instead of thinking that “More is Better” I am going to teach you why “Better is Better”.  

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SYMPTOM VS. CAUSE

It doesn’t matter if it’s marketing, sales, or operations.  If something isn’t working – there’s a reason for it.  

The problem staring you in the face, is not really a problem, but in fact a symptom. A symptom which has an underlying cause.

When you have a fever, that is a symptom.  If you view the symptom as the problem – the solution is to put ice on your head.  If you look for the underlying cause and find it’s an infection – the solution is antibiotics.

ICEBERGS AND ONIONS

The problem with identifying the underlying cause is that it is not readily visible.

Problems are like icebergs.  We can see the tip of the iceberg, we see it as a problem and the solution to the problem is to steer clear of it.

But what we fail to realize is the underlying problem, which is vastly greater than the tip we can see.

As such we set a course to steer clear of what we can see, but it’s what we can’t see that rips apart our hull and causes our ship to sink.

Identifying the underlying cause of the problem can be a bit like peeling an onion.  You must go through layers and layers of possible causes to determine the actual root cause.

It is only once we have found the actual root cause, that we can begin figuring out how to solve our problem.

MORE ISN’T BETTER, BETTER IS BETTER

So now that you understand how to find and identify the actual root cause of your problem and the difference between a symptom and a cause – how do you solve your problem.

I’ll show you how by using the same examples from the beginning.

When you think “More is Better” and your symptom is low sales… You just buy more advertising, send out more mailers, make more cold calls, and hire more sales people.

When you think “Better is Better” and your symptom is low sales… You peel back the layers on your advertising, your mailers, your cold calling system, and your sales process.

Let’s say you determine that your mailer messaging is not clear, not consistent, and not targeted.  So rather than just send out more mailers, doesn’t it make sense to send out better mailers that will have a higher conversion rate?

When you think “More is Better” and your symptom is slow operations… You just buy more equipment, hire more fabricators, and create evening and weekend shifts.

When you think “Better is Better” and your symptom is slow operations… You peel back the layers on your equipment usage and functionality, your fabricators training and work processes, and the efficiencies of your current shift work.

Let’s say you determine that the work flow of your fabricators has redundancies and inefficiencies. So rather than just hire more fabricators, doesn’t it make sense to create better work flows to maximize the productivity of your existing fabricators?

BANDAIDS AND MAGNIFYING GLASSES

My challenge to you this week is to throw out all of your bandaids and go and buy a bunch of magnifying glasses.

Then the next time you have a problem in your business, instead of just putting a bandaid on it, I challenge you to get out your magnifying glass to identify and then fix the actual root cause of your problem.

Yes this will be much more time consuming and difficult than simply putting a bandaid on the problem, but I promise you the long term rewards and benefits for your company will far outweigh the short term work for you.

SPEAK UP!

I love to interact with my readers in the comments section below, so don’t be shy. Speak up! Let me know what you think, or share an experience of your own. I want to know if you agree, or even if you disagree with me – It helps me learn and grow