Have you ever been served by someone who was obviously having a bad day?  We all dislike receiving poor or indifferent service – when I go shopping I want to feel special and valued by the stores I frequent, not ignored.

If I’m buying a tangible product, I can overlook a degree of poor service because I’m buying a tangible thing, not a person’s services.

But when I’m buying a service, I’m buying people.  I’m buying the idea that these people have the knowledge or experience that can help me with a need that I have.

And that’s where the performance aspect comes in.  I’ve had days in my financial planning business where I’m not giving the best performance.  I may be tired, rushed, preoccupied with other thoughts, and as a result I don’t give me best in an appointment with a client.

I’ve experience times where the support staff of businesses are clearly having a bad day and sadly create a poor impression of the business.

I’m a guitarist.  And I find interesting similarities with my music and my business.

If I’m planning for a concert (performance), there are a few things I need to do.

Firstly, I need to know the songs.  To do this I need to practice them by myself to make sure I learn my parts.  I’m relying on my other band members to do the same thing.

Step two is to rehearse with the band.  We’ve all learnt the parts individually, now we come together and hear how it sounds as a group.  We each contribute ideas and thoughts, and playing with others has the ability to inspire you to play at a different level.

Finally, we’re ready for the performance.  We go to the show ready – we know our parts and we have the confidence that the service we’re delivering (our show) is going to be valuable to our audience.

The point is, we don’t play a concert without preparation, but in our business life, we perform frequently without preparing properly, and we wonder why we don’t get the results we desire.

In your service business, how can you better control the performance?

Things we’re looking at in our business include:

·         Scripting how our staff interacts with clients, including how the phones are answered and the language they use.

·         Creating articles and brochures that reinforce the value proposition of the business.  We send these to clients before they see us so they can have a better idea of our business before they come in.  We’re very happy with the content of the brochure, and feel the words it contains can sell our business more effectively than we could if we had to rush to explain it at the start of an appointment.

·         Creating these articles has helped us develop the language and phrases of our business.

·         We make our staff aware of the power of first impressions.  In many cases the lowest paid staff member has the first contact with clients – you’d better make sure they’re having a good day.

·         Creating some defined systems and processes, to ensure the service is delivered in a consistent manner.  This includes having a set fee structure.

·         Through our podcasts, audio programs and (in the future) videos, we aim to create a series of tools that explain our financial planning process clearly to clients, no matter who their financial planner is within the business.  This enables us to grow our staff numbers, knowing that a large part of the interview process is controlled by us through these tools, not left to the individual planner’s discretion.

·         Finally, and most importantly, we remind the staff about the importance of the performance.  Like a band playing a concert, you only get one opportunity to deliver the service.  If you mess it up, you’ve still got an opportunity to recover, but some damage has been done.

How do you deliver a good performance?  Even the best bands get it wrong on stage sometime, and I’m not suggesting you control the service delivery so tightly that the individual personalities of people get stifled.  But what things can you do in your business to improve the performance factor?  Share them with us so we can all perform better.