What to Do Before You Hire A Consultant

Business owners often contact me when they are on the verge of doing something drastic. They are usually frustrated with themselves or their team and have tried everything they know how to do.

In most cases, they need to try again. Only this time, the team needs to go back to the fundamentals. You can hire me, but here’s what I am going to do first:

Map Your Operational Processes

See how work flows through your system. You will uncover many inconsistencies and tasks that are left up to fate. Fix those things first. This one step will clear up half of your issues.

Finish Your Software Implementation

I can count on one hand the number of my clients that have completed their rental management software implementation and training. Stop fighting with your tools. Require the software to be used to its fullest. No work-arounds allowed.

Establish Anchor Job Roles

Even if your processes are logical and complete, operations personnel are often “stolen”from their jobs to work on projects for clients. You cannot maintain a consistent result if the people that do the work are somewhere else.

Define Process Owners

Too many owners and employees are focused on organization charts. They want to know who is in charge (and why it isn’t them). If operations is defined by its processes, we don’t need to manage people. We need to monitor compliance with the process.

Measure the Right Results

The measure of a good operation isn’t buried in job costs. The profitability of any given project is largely pre-determined by how it was sold and the timing of the deliverable. The job of Operations is to maximize the potential gross profit of ALL projects. Therefore, success is measured at the company gross profit line, not project by project.

If you focus on these five no-cost investments in your operation, I guarantee you will either see fantastic results or uncover the source of your problems.

Then, when all else fails. Call me. The root of many operational challenges is internal disagreement on priorities and approach. Best practices and careful consideration of your unique situation are needed to overcome the impasse.