In business, building a strategy that produces results is the goal. If you are looking, you can find all types of stories about entrepreneurs changing the tried-and-true methods and finding abrupt (and sometimes sustainable) success. These stories may even have you questioning the way that you do business, especially if things aren’t going terribly well. Rest assured, that the best thing that can happen is to build processes that promote consistency.
Being consistent in the way your business functions means that you do the same things when presented with the same situations. You have a set of procedures and a dedicated workflow and you stick to them. This lends the question: Why consistency matters when so much is made of people who succeed with outside-the-box action? Simple. Their success is only noteworthy because they are operating on the margins of sensible business thought. Nobody reports on the massive amount of businesses that fail because their owners or decision makers decided to roam off the beaten path. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways that building consistency can help your business:
Measuring Your Business’ Progress
The easiest way to get a good idea of how your processes are faring is to have reliable data by which to critique it. The only way this happens is to have a consistent approach. Think about it this way: If you have a flashlight that doesn’t work, you aren’t going to replace the housing, the bulb, and the terminals before you test to see if you just need new batteries. You will replace the battery and if it still doesn’t work, you only then investigate further. The same goes for your business processes. Convoluting the way you look at your business can be detrimental and costly.
Managing Your Resources
A consistent approach to all facets of your business allows for a better understanding of how all of your resources are managed, especially if yours—like many other businesses—needs to do this efficiently. You only have a finite amount of capital to invest in every part of your business, and if you just frivolously spend money, there will be parts of your business that won’t get the resources they need. Having a consistent process of how to budget and how to allocate resources is the only way forward for many small businesses.
Be An Employer Workers Want to Work For
Nobody likes it when the rules constantly change. Sure, there needs to be a reassessment of the rules every so often, but if processes and procedures are constantly in flux, it doesn’t give your staff the ability to settle in. While one could make an argument that this wards against complacency, the only thing that it really accomplishes is to frustrate your staff.
Customers Appreciate Consistency
Finally, the most important part of the process relies on a consistent approach: your interactions with your client base. Every customer expects that any product or service they purchase will be consistent. This goes from software to sandwiches. A lack of consistency is often viewed by potential customers as confusion. To keep your customers from jumping ship to your competitors or inundating your support staff with complaints, delivering a consistent product or service is the best strategy you have.
At Bevlin, we can help your business build consistency through the use of technology. We can deploy tools that can allow your team to have the steadiness they need to deliver on your company’s promises. For more information, or to talk about an assessment, call our IT experts today at 781-679-0172.
