JOBMATCHBOX

A few days ago I was involved in a panel discussion that covered many of the challenges faced by companies that are just getting started. We covered quite a few topics, but one that sticks out in my mind more than many others is the importance of the pursuit of perfection. I’m far from perfect myself, but I try my hardest to make sure that I do my best at everything I get mixed up in. As a business owner this usually starts with hiring people who are willing to work toward perfection. Believe me, there are plenty of people out there who are content to just show up and get their hours in so that they will get paid.

Consider the following examples of this that I encountered today:

The first time was during a conversation that I was having with a technician from our current DSL Internet provider who managed to get us back up and running after a three week interruption in service. Three previous technicians and more than 14 individuals in the Internet service provider’s call centers were involved in resolving the problem. I ultimately had to get my problem escalated to the Operations Manager and threaten to sue before they finally sent this guy, who knew what he was doing. No matter what the outcome of this situation was, nobody wins. The Internet is now back up and running, but for the last three weeks our employees have had to work on an emergency basis. Outcome #1 is that we will cancel our service. Outcome #2 is that this will cost the provider more than the entire amount of money that they billed us for the short period (3 months) that we used them. Outcome #3 is that we will not use them when we sign up for corporate wireless services in a few weeks. This entire situation could have been avoided had they hired someone who had handled the job right the first time. Perhaps the problem isn’t the person who performed the initial installation (sounds like it was), maybe it was the person who trained them. It is hard to say, but in a customer centric world it is absolutely crucial that companies make sure they hire the best people the first time.

The second situation that made me think about this today came during a phone call with a friend who owns a technology solutions company. Without going into too much detail, their company provides technology consultants and solutions to the government. Sometimes that means that they have to go through others that do too. They ended up involved with another company that they had to go through for a government contract recently, and that company really put the screws to them at the end of the negotiations. For example, the company disclosed their bids to several other bidders in the process (they were not supposed to do this). The other firm also had a lot of what people in the staffing industry like to call “sub-vendors” or “3rd-Parties”. I could talk endlessly about why third-party vendors are disliked or about why they are used (especially by large staffing companies doing work for large companies), but that isn’t the point here. The point I’m trying to make here is that my friend’s company hired a sales representative who arranged this business relationship in the first place based on some really loose associations. Had my friend’s company found someone who was a little more motivated by the quality of their sales dealings then my friend would not have been in this situation. Outcome #1: a lot of time was wasted. Outcome #2: time is money, so a lot of money was wasted - something small business owners don’t have a lot of. Outcome #3: My friend and his team are in a bad mood today which will impact the rest of their activities for the next day or two unless…

At the end of the day, I’m thinking about how perfection in what we do isn’t always achievable, but that the pursuit of it sure helps.