Feeling stressed in Your Business?

As a Business owner I am sure you can relate to the idea of Stress.  Stress can come from many places, working long hours, poor cash flow, staff issues, too much work, feeling like you are doing everything yourself, tension in your personal life, feeling like there is not enough of you to go around.

Unfortunately, stress is one of those things that you simply cannot afford to ignore.  Stress simply does not go away through ignoring it; in fact it grows!

We have spoken many times about the cost of poor communication.  It has been shown in research to cost up to 32% of profit.  For a business making $500K pa, this is $160K, that's not small change.

So you have a business and there are issues, perhaps management is not perceived as approachable, perhaps there is relational tension as different staff clash with each other, perhaps staff don't feel valued or understood.

Gallup found that 95% of staff will leave a job due to problems with either their boss or co workers.  This is that relational stuff they feel just can’t be solved.

The sad thing is that many times they either haven’t tried, because they believe it won’t change anything, or they don't have the skills to have these hard conversations.  We have all been there, it just feels too hard and we believe that the grass is greener on the other side.

Now it may be, but what happens when you come up against the same issues in a new workplace?  Isn’t it better to have the skills to deal with it when it happens again? It is not that difficult, I promise.

So, Poor communication costs the Business owner in many ways;

• Low productivity
• Poor engagement
• Bad Customer service
• Low Morale
• Wasted time
• Stress
• A Leadership gap
• Poor retention
• The costs of new hire

I am surprised that the cost to business is not higher than 32%.  When you look at the list above it may surprise you too.  However, every business is different and will face a combination of the issues listed above. 

Over coming posts we will tease out these issues and go deeper into how they may be affecting your business and what you can do about it. 

The real cost of poor communication is hard to measure as many businesses don't have measures in place to capture this.  From my perspective the most important thing is to understand the foundation cause of the issue.  For example if it is productivity, is it because staff don't feel motivated, are not supported, are confused, are working without the resources they need, do not know what to do.  There are many layers and it is critical to understand what is going on so you can address it and fix the problem.

You go into business to kick goals, have some freedom, create a legacy, do what you love and make a difference so let's make it happen!

We are here to resource you so that you can create the business of your dreams, kick those goals, create a highly productive team and future-proof your business. 

If you have questions you can get in contact via our website or our Facebook page.   Don’t keep struggling alone, there are answers, there is support.  You can create a team that is productive and engaged and create a business that is profitable.  If you would like support to grow your business with a Communication Strategy unique to your needs you can get in touch or check out our online courses.

Until next time Care, Connect and be a Courageous Communicator.

Let’s grow your business one conversation at a time.

What is Poor Customer Service costing your Business?

Congratulations you are in Business, well done, it takes courage and determination to step up and take on a Business.  If you are familiar with my work you will know that I am passionate about helping Business owners use their Communication strengths to succeed in business.

We have spoken many times about the cost of poor communication.  It has been shown in research to cost up to 32% of profit.  For a business making $500K pa, this is $160K, that's not small change.  One of the biggest ways it can show up is poor customer service.  Luckily, this can be easily turned around once you know what you’re dealing with.

So you have a business and there are issues, perhaps management is not perceived as approachable, perhaps there is relational tension as different staff clash with each other, perhaps staff don't feel valued or understood.  In this article we will focus on poor customer service.

I want you to stop and think about what would happen if your best customer stopped buying form you tomorrow? It may be a very sobering thought. 

Customers are the lifeblood of your business without them you do not have a business.  Customers can make or break your business, in and ideal world we all want ideal customers who love our service, rave about us and spread the word for us.  Wouldn't that be nice!

To get to this stage we need to know what our customers want from us and meet their needs.  You can do this many ways but I find the old fashioned way the best, ask them…..

Now this may freak you out but really, what is the alternative, guessing?  Imagine all of the work you put into providing a service only to find it is not what people want…. Absolutely soul destroying.

Some people do this as customers come into store, others will call and have a conversation, some will do a survey.  Surveys are helpful but the return rate can be low and a challenge. 

The next factor is your team and how they provide service to your customers.  You probably have a preferred way that you want your team to interact with customers, but do your team know this?  You may also have some stars in your team that do an awesome job, and you may have some who are ok and others that you are concerned about. 

I remember working with a Transport company years ago and they had a long sanding team member that had so many strengths, she literally ran the place, except she was very abrupt on the phone.  A large part of her role was dealing with customers via phone answering questions, solving problems.  Yet her manner and tone was somewhat disrespectful, brash and dismissive.  The Manager was frightened of her as she was a very “big” personality.  They needed help and they needed it fast.

What we found was that she was a Powerful Communicator and had no idea how others were perceiving her.  With some coaching and support, she was able to improve her customer service and things improved.  We also worked with the leader so he knew how to speak up and deal with this big direct communicator. 

One of the things I encourage the businesses I work with, is to learn their strengths as Communicators, and to learn the strengths of their team.  Every person you have hired brings different things to the table.  Once you are aware of the strengths you have to work with you can ensure that your team provide the customer service required, using their strengths. 

For example a Patient Communicator will never work the same way as a Powerful Communicator and that is ok.  Why?  Your customers are different too and some will relate more to one DNA style than another.  Your team and your customers have different Communication DNA.

Your team needs a process to follow, a best practice and then to be able to use their strengths to fulfill that process.  For years I have been helping business understand their Communication DNA so they can see what makes each member of the team tick, what strengths they have, how they work best and how to bring out their strengths.

If you would like to know more you can learn more about Communication DNA here.

If you would like to learn what your Communication DNA is you can do so here

If you know you need more support to unravel what is happening in your business we offer Coaching and Training services as well as our very popular online Master Communication in Your Business. 

We are here to resource you so that you can create the business of your dreams, kick those goals, create a highly productive team and future-proof your business. 

Until next time Care, Connect and be a Courageous Communicator.

Lets grow your business one conversation at a time.

The real cost of losing staff due to poor communication

What is the real cost of losing staff due to poor communication? 

So we have spoken many times about the cost of poor communication.  It has been shown in research to cost up to 32% of profit.  For a business making $500K pa, this is $160K, that's not small change.

So you have a business and there are issues, perhaps management is not perceived as approachable, perhaps there is relational tension as different staff clash with each other, perhaps staff don't feel valued or understood.

Gallup found that 95% of staff leave jobs due to problems with either their boss or co workers.  This is that relational stuff they feel just can’t be solved.

The sad thing is that many times they either haven’t tired, because they believe it wont change anything, or they don't have the skills to have these hard conversations.  We have all been there, it just feels too hard and we believe that the grass is greener on the other side.

Now it may be, but what happens when you come up against the same issues in a new workplace?  Isn’t it better to have the skills to deal with it when it happens again? It is not that difficult, I promise.

One of the many costs is the costs of new hire.  Let’s look at this a little closer.  Perhaps you have the staff member who had all of that procedural knowledge that is not necessarily written down, all of that experience that cannot be quantified.  What happens if they leave?  All of that knowledge will be lost.  What price can you place on that?

Research estimates that on paper, the costs of losing a staff member can be between 16 and 20% of the salary of the person being replaced for low to medium positions.  For senior executive roles it can be as high as 213% (Zane Benefits, Small Business and HR)

Deloitte, found in some recent research that the true cost is much more when you consider;

• The cost of hiring a new employee including the advertising, interviewing, screening, and hiring.  Not only this but the time it takes to find the right person. 
• Cost of on-boarding a new person including training and management time.
• Lost productivity... it may take a new employee as much as 1-2 years to reach the productivity of an existing person.
• Lost engagement... other employees who see high turnover tend to disengage and lose productivity.  As well as the rick you take when hiring, will the new person fit in.  Is the culture you have healthy?  It may not be.
• Customer service and errors, for example new employees take longer and are often less able to solve problems. 
• If the new team member is entering a toxic workplace then stress levels will surely add to mistakes and communication issues
• Training cost. For example, over 2-3 years a business likely invests 10-20% of an employee's salary or more in training.  You don't want to be in that position of just training them and then they leave…..
• Cultural impact... Whenever someone leaves others take time to ask "why?"

The real cost of losing staff is hard to measure as many workplaces don't have measures in place to capture this.  From my perspective the most important thing is to understand why the staff member left and to address any communication, staff or systemic issues that contributed to them leaving. 

Until next time Care, Connect and be a Courageous Communicator.

Let’s grow your business one conversation at a time.