KNOWING WHERE AND WHEN TO LOOK

Often, when a business transitions their approach, it is challenging to know – did it or does it work? Normally, I encourage people to focus on those things they can control – service, employee development, culture, financials, etc. But there are times when looking outside and beyond your situation and circumstances broadens your perspective, giving greater context. 

For instance:  

Our service and employee engagement focus, is it working? A question perhaps more easily answered if you look beyond your situation. Besides your own situation, where could you look to answer that question? The most obvious answer is to look at stores that had an operator transition 6 to 12 months ago where the new Operator is better at executing the service and engagement standards – where are their sales compared to before the new Op? In some situations, the newer Operator has less overall Sonic skills than the old Operator but is better bought into and at executing the service and engagement standards. If the only thing that has changed at a store was a more intentional approach and better execution to the standards and sales increased … what does that tell you. Tells me, the plan works when someone works the plan. 

When is all about you? 

Once you are bought into and execute the service and engagement plan, and have been for a while, continued success and growth is more about consistency – being at your best when at your busiest. How do you evaluate, are you at your best while at your busiest? Well, what do your shops say? What do your av times say when you are busy compared to not? When do complaints come in, or not come in? What happens to the service (and numbers) when you/the Operator are off?  Consistency and being at your best when at your busiest are measurables. In fact, they are easily measured. 

My perspective. How do I distinguish between good and excellent performance? 

Do you buck the trends (the market or system averages)? Do you constantly and consistently outperform with service measured by shops? If so, I know there is someone (or someone’s) bought in with the standards and execution since it is nearly impossible to half a$$ operations/training and consistently score well. Is your growth above the market? If they are AND your service is on point, growth probably has more to do with management. If they are, and service is poor, regardless of sales growth, we are leaving some sales on the table. Are you stacking growth and service is on point? That tells me stacking growth is more about management and operations if market sales are flat. If you stack sales at a greater rate than the market is stacking sales, that tells me your operations are probably very consistent and that usually means good layers of management. 

Are the points I made full proof? Of course not. There are exceptions, sure. I can think of one or two within our group. But the exceptions are very, very rare. What is full proof, focusing on service and employee engagement (creating a service culture) is NEVER a bad idea for any business. Be honest, you know that to be true, right?  Businesses that understand this hold their own during tougher economic times and stack success at a greater rate when economic times are good. 

The plan is on point, that is not even a real question. It is never a bad idea to be more service oriented & more about employee engagement. The ONLY question that matters and needs asked every shift of every day, are we on point with the plan creating a culture of service through employee engagement?