I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
Prep for Success
Hi Reader,
A few weekends ago, I had a truly awful and thoroughly frustrating experience with Verizon Fios through their live chat customer support.
I spent over an hour typing messages back and forth with their rep only to wind up back where I started our conversation.
I'll be honest, I'd love to blame the rep, but I really can't.
This is a failure of the organization that employs him. He only has the resources and tools they make available to him, and clearly, these were inadequate for the task.
I've talked about customer experience before, so I don't want to retread that territory.
What I do want to talk about is the need to set yourself and your team up for success.
And, by 'your team,' I'm also including the people you pay to support you and your business, like lawyers, accountants, virtual assistants, business coaches, and so on.
When you hire someone to do a job for you, you not only have to hire the right person for the job, but you also need to provide them with the right tools, information, and/or guidance to do the job the way you want it to be done.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's not as straightforward as it sounds.
For one thing, people's brains work differently.
I like to learn by watching other people do what I'm supposed to do, so videos are my preferred tool.
Pictures are the next best resource.
When someone sends me written directions, which the Verizon Fios rep did at one point, that's trouble for me because language is imprecise. And, as a language expert, my brain works overtime when it comes to words.
Depending upon the syntax, instructions can be misinterpreted.
Having created many instruction manuals, employee handbooks, and training programs in my career, I know firsthand how vital it is to support different learning styles, especially now when people's attention spans are almost non-existent.
So, before you hire someone to help take those tasks off your plate, make sure you've documented in some fashion exactly what you want them to do and, if it's vital to your business, how they need to do it.
Your team will absolutely thank you...and you'll be thanking yourself, too, for taking the time to adequately prepare for the support you need.
Until next week, keep in mind: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
PS - Work with me 1-on-1 to unlock the power of your origin story. Check out this limited-time offer.
PPS - Check out last week's Everything That's Not an Elephant.
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Easily Said & Done
I help entrepreneurs leapfrog over the typical potholes that derail most small businesses with inspiration, motivation, education, and support across a wide range of business topics drawn from over a decade of running my own business, teaching entrepreneurship for the City of New York, and coaching and consulting privately with dozens of women and minority small business owners. Honestly, why go it alone when help is an email away?
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