Success in business doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Everything must come together and work in a connected way to make the business successful. And in our first several parts of this series on the keys to business success, we demonstrated how Its People Who Drive Business Success — because it falls to the people within the organization to actually execute on the strategies, plans, and processes to make a business successful – how Communications Can Fuel Business Success because communicating well with our team translates into engagement, and engagement translates into improved productivity – and how Treating the Customer Right is Imperative for Business Success.

This discussion focuses on processes within the business that enable the people working in the organization to effectively execute on treating the customer right. The ability to deliver, in a repeatable fashion, on a good product or service is essential to customers feeling like the offerings a company provides are high-quality in nature.

It is important to note that most people, and thus most organizations, are averse to change. This is particularly true when it comes to operations and support environments. However, it is vital that change occur so that things can be continually improved. From the customer perspective, if the business doesn’t care enough to change, then it doesn’t care enough. Some of the leading minds in history recognized the importance of ongoing change. Winston Churchill said that “to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” Nearly 200 years earlier, Benjamin Franklin said “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”

As companies grow and evolve, change is required to meet the dynamic needs of the business. This includes the development of structured processes. Think of them like a script that an orchestra follows so that everything happens in the right time and in the proper way. Having well-formed processes and procedures enables the business to:

• Establish standards for quality
• Set expectations for all team members involved in a process
• Measure performance
• Analyze trends
• Drive efficiencies
• Compare performance with other key outcomes like sales, cost, and customer retention

Employees should feel empowered to fix processes. When they have ownership of process improvement, great things can result. Steve Jobs is noted for saying that “Authority should be vested in the people doing the work to improve their own processes…”

Process improvement should always focus on the customer. Consider how the process impacts their perception of the quality of your product or service and their willingness to do business with you again.

Ines LeBow is the CEO, Transformation Executive for ETS. She is a known catalyst for business operations, bringing 30+ years of hands-on experience. Ines has a long history of being recruited into senior executive roles to improve the execution of business operations and to drive revenue growth. You can see her LinkedIn Profile at www.linkedin.com/in/ineslebow, view the ETS website at www.transformationsolutions.pro, or email her directly at ilebow@transformationsolutions.pro.