Lost and… The good and…

Lost and … Found time

We’ve all been there. We’re in the middle of a routine service call and find a problem that’ll be pretty simple to fix. And while it’s an easy correction, if it’s not handled soon, it’ll almost certainly result in an emergency it’ll back. No problem, right?

But when we look in our tool kit for the fix it’s no go. Then we look in the van and to our angst we can’t find that simple item that’d save the day there either!

Now we have one of two crummy choices to make. First, we move on and can take the risk of that emergency call back. Option two: Upend our day and drive to the shop to retrieve the item we should have had in the first place, or we go buy a replacement for what we forgot to replace when we used the last one.

Either way, it’s an unforced error. It’s why we all need to keep a handy inventory sheet to jot down the last one used. Sure, we know we’ll need more rinse jets, wash arm end caps, zip ties, fuses, wire nuts or any manner of minor items. But we also know we’re prone to forget to do it. Keeping that list is pretty cheap insurance to prevent our understandably forgetting to replenish it.

Next up: Time to replace stuff.

The good and… Then bad too

The idea that we must have a plan to grow may be more about the survival of a business than increasing sales and earnings. Here’s another fact that underpins that truth: Pretty much no customer will stay with us forever.

No matter what the cause, unless we target the addition of new business, when the inevitable loss happens, we’ll find ourselves a day late and a dollar short!

Sometimes that loss is unavoidable, like finding ourselves simply being undercut by an aggressive competitor who offers a deal so sweet they can’t (or wont) refuse

Of course in the best of times we add that new account and don’t suffer the loss of one. That happy situation is or course want we hope for.

But as a wise fellow once said, “hoping isn’t a plan”. And that’s why we need to have that list of actively pursued opportunities on hand and a solid plan on how we’re going to add them to the fold.