You will encounter gatekeepers. Even people with top-notch marketing and business development strategies designed to target their ideal clients occasionally find themselves stuck in a gatekeeper cycle. It happens to the best of us… and it’s not always your fault.

Every good owner and manager knows that top performance comes from more than simply achieving goals — it’s about setting the right goals. Otherwise, we sacrifice effectiveness for efficiency. This is one thing that sets Operations apart from other departments. For example, the goal of Sales is to sell, regardless of the industry (which is one reason salespeople have such highly transferable skill sets). But in Operations, the goals you set (and which goals should be a top priority) are completely determined by the industry and specific type of business you’re in.

You’re already a functioning business. You have a good understanding of strategy, you’ve hired your essential staff, and know how to meet your customers’ needs. You’re getting orders out the door and operating with a system, but... Maybe you could do it better. Hiring an operations manager who focuses on the right tasks might be the key to moving your organization to the next level.

Something went wrong and you’re not sure what to do about it. This isn’t the first time this has happened. You’ve had problems you couldn’t fix before. You’ve had other problems that seem to occur repeatedly. What’s going wrong? Are you solving anything? Are you fixing it the wrong way?

You’ve been asked dumb questions. The answers are so obvious, you’re annoyed you have to waste your breath answering. You’ve also been asked questions that don’t fit the context of your conversation. You wonder, “Where did that come from?” And yet, you’ve also been asked some great questions. You stop and think, “Wow! Thanks for asking that!” You know the person is really listening and they value your response. We’ve all been in each of these situations — both on the asking and answering side of the conversation. As you meet with buyers, you want your conversation to set you apart. That means you need to ask really great questions — not the ones that leave them confused or annoyed. Where do these kinds of questions come from?

What goals do you have for your company? Want to grow your business and increase your profitability? Of course you do! But I’ll let you in on a little secret: Company growth is not a goal — it’s a means to an end. When we envision the future of our companies, we often jump ahead to the idea that our business should be bigger and make more money… but we miss the details of what it takes to get us there.