A great deal of my training focuses on the demonstration of Professionalism. I believe that Professionalism Is Value and that the more professional we are in front of our clients, the higher the perceived value we have with our clients.
In this regard, the “Big Boys” have a huge challenge. Large organizations usually spread the span of supervision too far. This increased span of supervision results in less direct communication between the Manager and the TEAM members. Less direct communication usually results in less direction, development, and motivation. TEAM members are often left to fend for themselves and become beaten down by the demands of clients. All of this results in a deteriorated level of customer service.
We must reverse this concept by properly staffing our locations or teams to assure that managers have sufficient time to find, retain, direct, develop, and motivate key TEAM members. The result of this will be higher performance, more motivated TEAM members, less employee churn, and a higher level of service, which will result in greater client satisfaction.
For example:
"We typically have a TEAM of four or less people at our locations. Each Manager focuses on the results of their center. This results in a span of supervision that is about three to one. Because I have fewer TEAM members to manage, my Managers and I are able to spend more time with each TEAM member. My competitors across the street may have fifteen locations in our area, and that is quite impressive. Unfortunately, they often have one Manager responsible for managing multiple locations. I cannot imagine how I could hire, train, direct, develop, and motivate that many TEAM members and assure quality services to our clients. We have made a strategic decision to be smaller; more focused, and provide the highest level of customer service possible, rather than grow our business to a point where we cannot provide the level of direction and management necessary to assure service."
Do you know how the larger competitor operates so that you can use these ideas to differentiate your organization from theirs?
