Seeing the Forest for the Trees – Managing Your Business With the Big Picture in Mind
by Carrie Hinkel on January 31st, 2008
Do you find that in your business you are overly concerned with the everyday details? Perhaps you spend your day trying to please every customer’s request or trying to solve each individual problem that arises. If that’s the case, then like many small business owners, you’re having trouble seeing the big picture. If you focus too much on each individual circumstance, you’ll have trouble stepping back and assessing the entire situation and seeing what can be improved or solved.
Take the example of Anna and her party supplies rental company. She had a customer come in and ask if she rented the “Super Soaker Water Playground”. She didn’t, but she wanted to help that customer so she decided to purchase one – even though it was very expensive. By the time the playground arrived, the interested customer had already found another one for rent at a different store. Anna advertised that she had this new party rental, but she only had one rental in six months. Eventually, Anna ended up selling it for only 65% of what she paid. What Anna didn’t realize is that there was a growing need for inflatable pool rentals. If she had taken the time to step back, assess the situation and do the research, she would have found that her money would have been much better spent buying an inflatable pool instead.
How to make sure you’re focusing on the right needs of your customers
Take notes – Starting today, keep a detailed log about every business-related question a customer or potential customer asks you (or your employees) – whether in person, a phone call or an email. Make sure that everyone in the company uses the same spreadsheet to add information too. You might be surprised to see how many people are looking for the same exact thing. For new purchases or any major change, focus your attention as your customers as a whole, rather than each as an individual.
Pay Attention – Many of your customers may have unmet needs with your business, but don’t take the effort to let you know. However, they may leave clues. Let’s say you own a small sandwich shop, and once you started paying attention you realized that 45% of your lunch crowd ordered a sandwich, chips and a drink and 30% ordered a sandwich, salad and a drink. So, you decided to add both as combo lunch specials and, guess what? The lines moved quicker and sales per day rose 15%. Your customers loved the ordering convenience and the fast-moving lines and you enjoyed the extra profits!
Ask questions – If you have been considering changing something drastic about your business (adding or removing a product line, changing store hours, etc.), you may want to ask your customers for their opinions first. If you find that the majority of your customers think heated seats in the lounge area is unnecessary, then you just saved yourself several thousand dollars!
Once you start to open your eyes to the big picture of your business, you’ll be amazed at how unimportant all those little details are. For when you work to meet the needs of your customers as a whole, 90% of those small details vanish!