Seems basic enough, and yet – what frequently makes me chuckle is when a new business (or an existing business pursuing a “new” direction) creates a TOS that doesn’t work.
What’s a TOS?
A TOS is a Total Operational System – the very detailed evaluation system that checks and then double-checks the realistic viability and sustainability of your system. Put another way, it’s a method by which you are eliminating the possibility of problems.
What is often seen in a new business (or even an established business), is a model built on a concept or an idea, rather than on a foundation of reality.
The excitement of a new venture often overrides the tedious work required to make sure that everything that could go wrong…hardly ever goes wrong.
Example:
A chain of high-end salons in Southern California discovered a major issue with flow (the efficiency of the flow of their clientele within the salons) and the potential to both upsell and cross-sell secondary/additional services and products. More often than not, when an upsell was presented to a client (i.e. “Would you be interested in a hair coloring? There will only be a short wait…”), the result was a wait time that ended up costing the salon a great deal of money in lost revenue and frustration.
The SOLUTION involved looking for hairline fractures in the processes and procedures. In business (and often in one’s personal life), hairline fractures typically progress into severe cracks if left untreated. No different in having faith in people, faith in processes and procedures that have not undergone extreme scrutinization -is a critical mistake.
A sentence that begins with “WHAT IF….?” is often seen as negativity. In reality, it’s the phrase that should be repeated specific to every step of every process and procedure in your business. It’s not a pleasant process to have to think about what could go wrong (vs. what you hope will go smoothly), but the rewards for putting every facet of your business under an electron microscope are huge.
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Have A GREAT Day!
…Dr. Marc