Flawless Execution has arrived at Monk Office. And I don’t mean we have a program and are working on doing a better job of executing, I mean we are there.
That’s right. We set standards, that is, what we will do, (and by when) every day, or week or month. We also made commitments in terms of communication, with customers and with other staff in response time and in ensuring that the issues are resolved, even if resolved by someone else (close the loop).
Are we Flawless throughout Monk Office? Not yet.
Where we are Flawless is in our accounting department. We are meeting the standards, consistently; AND, we are going beyond meeting the standards and providing an extraordinary experience based on accolades the accounting department has received. For 5 months in a row the Accounting tem has earned rewards for going above and beyond the standards.
It’s all about the people
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Politics and Business
“Get real and go deep, candidates. Enough time wasted in the shallow end.” That is a quote from Jody Paterson’s column in the TC April 22. Earlier in the column she says, “All parties seem capable of self-serving, delusional and sneaky behaviour. On the flip side, any party has the potential for great vision and accomplishment”
The article is referring to BC politics, but, could, I think just as easily apply to federal politics (remember to get out and vote on May 2) or even business.
We all have the potential to be great/extraordinary/flawless. These are relative terms and mean something different in different circumstances. They come from the values and morals of the party/company and of the individual.
We should all know what we need to do, and what is right, and then do it. Sometimes there may be grey areas or we may not know what to do, and then we find out, get advice. There is no excuse for knowing what to do and then not doing it.
It’s all about the people
The article is referring to BC politics, but, could, I think just as easily apply to federal politics (remember to get out and vote on May 2) or even business.
We all have the potential to be great/extraordinary/flawless. These are relative terms and mean something different in different circumstances. They come from the values and morals of the party/company and of the individual.
We should all know what we need to do, and what is right, and then do it. Sometimes there may be grey areas or we may not know what to do, and then we find out, get advice. There is no excuse for knowing what to do and then not doing it.
It’s all about the people
Thursday, April 21, 2011
We're Not Perfect
We’re not perfect (that is, not flawless). Monk has thousands of transactions each day through retail stores and two warehouses. Almost 100% of these are flawless.
If we break this down further, the 10 stores and the stationery warehouse account for most of these transactions and, again, almost 100% of these are flawless.
You may have noticed I excluded furniture above. Compared to office products and technology, we do relatively few furniture transactions (100’s, not 1000’s) and yet we have an inordinate number of problems.
Some recent examples are scratching a floor, shipping product to the wrong address (next door in the same building), shipping product to the wrong city, leaving an internal delivery site untidy, taking much longer to install than estimated. I don’t mean to be negative, but these things actually happened, and all in one week, right after the month of March when we were crazy busy and there were very few, if any, issues in the whole month. Is this really the “hangover” effect after March?
Monk Office has processes. Monk Office has standards for service delivery. Monk Office supports staff in the delivery of an extraordinary customer experience. How does this all go off the rails? We had a debriefing after the busy month of March and saw how well the month had gone. Now it’s slipped. Extra efforts for March? Old habits (lower expectations?) for April?
I read Richard Branson’s book, Business Stripped Bare, and as many of you are aware, the Virgin group is at least partly about giving their staff the power to do whatever it takes to wow the customer. He also says there needs to be systems and processes in place so that it is clear what needs to be done and how to do it.
We have all that at Monk Office. It is in the Execution.
If we break this down further, the 10 stores and the stationery warehouse account for most of these transactions and, again, almost 100% of these are flawless.
You may have noticed I excluded furniture above. Compared to office products and technology, we do relatively few furniture transactions (100’s, not 1000’s) and yet we have an inordinate number of problems.
Some recent examples are scratching a floor, shipping product to the wrong address (next door in the same building), shipping product to the wrong city, leaving an internal delivery site untidy, taking much longer to install than estimated. I don’t mean to be negative, but these things actually happened, and all in one week, right after the month of March when we were crazy busy and there were very few, if any, issues in the whole month. Is this really the “hangover” effect after March?
Monk Office has processes. Monk Office has standards for service delivery. Monk Office supports staff in the delivery of an extraordinary customer experience. How does this all go off the rails? We had a debriefing after the busy month of March and saw how well the month had gone. Now it’s slipped. Extra efforts for March? Old habits (lower expectations?) for April?
I read Richard Branson’s book, Business Stripped Bare, and as many of you are aware, the Virgin group is at least partly about giving their staff the power to do whatever it takes to wow the customer. He also says there needs to be systems and processes in place so that it is clear what needs to be done and how to do it.
We have all that at Monk Office. It is in the Execution.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Part II
One of my many followers suggested that my last blog seemed incomplete or perhaps part one of two. I can see that. It is certainly quite short, hardly more than a tweet.
Customers appreciate a job well done. Actually, I think customers expect a job to be well done. That is why there aren’t too many comments from customers about the job we do and we still get 90-95% customer satisfaction ratings.
When we do extra, that is when we hear from customers. Like when one man does a furniture installation by himself that usually takes two, or when an installer spends a half hour fitting a customer to a new chair. A furniture sales rep dons jeans and steel toed boots to help set up offices in time for hospital moves. Purchasers and delivery staff expedite and source products to meet the same last minute deadlines.
There are always extras we can provide and they differ depending on the circumstances. It might be helping an elderly customer shovel some snow or dig out a car; it might be advice on a product that Monk doesn’t even sell. Helpful people, whether they are in sales or operations, do these sorts of things.
It’s all about the people.
Customers appreciate a job well done. Actually, I think customers expect a job to be well done. That is why there aren’t too many comments from customers about the job we do and we still get 90-95% customer satisfaction ratings.
When we do extra, that is when we hear from customers. Like when one man does a furniture installation by himself that usually takes two, or when an installer spends a half hour fitting a customer to a new chair. A furniture sales rep dons jeans and steel toed boots to help set up offices in time for hospital moves. Purchasers and delivery staff expedite and source products to meet the same last minute deadlines.
There are always extras we can provide and they differ depending on the circumstances. It might be helping an elderly customer shovel some snow or dig out a car; it might be advice on a product that Monk doesn’t even sell. Helpful people, whether they are in sales or operations, do these sorts of things.
It’s all about the people.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Complaints
Customers tell us when we underperform. And they tell us if we really screw up, or maybe they don’t?
If a customer has a bad Monk Office experience and doesn't tell us, then they may never do business with us again, and we may not know why, or even that they have left. And they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on.
If the customer does not complain, the staff may let us know that it did not go well, so that we can do something about it. Mostly, if we all do what we say we will do, and when, then the customer will be happy. That is, if we execute our jobs flawlessly.
It’s all about the people
If a customer has a bad Monk Office experience and doesn't tell us, then they may never do business with us again, and we may not know why, or even that they have left. And they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on.
If the customer does not complain, the staff may let us know that it did not go well, so that we can do something about it. Mostly, if we all do what we say we will do, and when, then the customer will be happy. That is, if we execute our jobs flawlessly.
It’s all about the people
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
People Provide Purchasing - The 3 P's?
This is a simple business. We buy stuff, store it and sell it. No rockets or scientists. No manufacturing or extreme heat or chemicals or huge machines. A building, some racking, forklifts and pallet jacks and trucks.
And, oh yes, there’s the people.
“We buy stuff”.
What should we buy? What is in our catalogue?
How much? As much as customers want to buy from us.
How do we know how much customers want to buy? Base it on what they bought last year or last month.
There are some factors which affect the buying. How much space do we have? How much money do we have? How long does it take the product to come in? And, of course, what if the customers buy more, or less, than we expect?
All of the above factors can be put into a formula and a buying program can tell you what to buy. If anything does not go the way you expect, that is when people need to get involved. What if the vendor does not get the order? What if the vendor is out of product? What if the delivery takes longer than expected or is destroyed in a train derailment? What if the vendor ships the wrong product? What if we receive it incorrectly? What if customers buy more than we expect, say they are opening a new office and need a whole new set of files?
Often a buying system will send out automatic emails which warn you that you may run out of stock, for whatever reason, and sometimes even suggest an immediate buy from a (more expensive) wholesaler. And the wholesaler buying can be almost automatic too.
The system does much of the buying but what about the people? We need the people to deal with the exceptions and the unusual; an inquiry from a customer or a possible deal from a vendor. And these people have relationships with customers and staff and reps and vendors which allow them to solve problems and create opportunities.
The buying system keeps us in the game. Our people score the winning touchdowns.
And, oh yes, there’s the people.
“We buy stuff”.
What should we buy? What is in our catalogue?
How much? As much as customers want to buy from us.
How do we know how much customers want to buy? Base it on what they bought last year or last month.
There are some factors which affect the buying. How much space do we have? How much money do we have? How long does it take the product to come in? And, of course, what if the customers buy more, or less, than we expect?
All of the above factors can be put into a formula and a buying program can tell you what to buy. If anything does not go the way you expect, that is when people need to get involved. What if the vendor does not get the order? What if the vendor is out of product? What if the delivery takes longer than expected or is destroyed in a train derailment? What if the vendor ships the wrong product? What if we receive it incorrectly? What if customers buy more than we expect, say they are opening a new office and need a whole new set of files?
Often a buying system will send out automatic emails which warn you that you may run out of stock, for whatever reason, and sometimes even suggest an immediate buy from a (more expensive) wholesaler. And the wholesaler buying can be almost automatic too.
The system does much of the buying but what about the people? We need the people to deal with the exceptions and the unusual; an inquiry from a customer or a possible deal from a vendor. And these people have relationships with customers and staff and reps and vendors which allow them to solve problems and create opportunities.
The buying system keeps us in the game. Our people score the winning touchdowns.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Baby It's Cold Out There
It was cold today. I know, because I was in our lower warehouse most of the morning counting inventory. I was dressed warmly and prepared to get dirty and still, my hands were cold.
We stock a couple of hundred furniture items, so the count is much less time consuming (we count 6500 items in office products and IT) than in the big warehouse. The items are bigger and heavier to move if we need to and the sku #’s themselves are very very long and confusing. In a 20 digit item number there may be only 2 or 4 digits (right in the middle) that differentiate two items!
As in any inventory count, we found items we did not know we had and could not locate items we thought we had. Our perpetual inventory system is supposed to tell us what we have in stock at any time. When you cannot count on that, you need to do a full inventory count.
The number of transactions in a day is small in furniture compared to office products and each stick of furniture should have a place where it lives in the warehouse. Some places are temporary, like “dock” and “floor” and are only used when an item comes in or just before it goes out. This is not a “home” for the item, more like a cheap motel, a place to rest for the afternoon.
All the transactions affect inventory in some way. A filing cabinet that comes in is put on the floor and then it is received and put away in a bin. When it is sold, it comes out of the bin. If we get a damaged one back, we need to give it a different item number (or it will be sold as new) and assign it to a different bin. Damaged filing cabinets cannot have the same home as new ones, it‘s too confusing.
If an item outgrows its home (say we buy more because we expect an increase in demand) then we need to either find a bigger bin or have two homes for that item. We move them physically and we must also be sure that the perpetual inventory record is updated, that is, we know in the system what the new bin (i.e. the new address of the home) is.
There are processes in place and paper work and systems so that inventory is accurate. With training (including holiday and sick coverage) and the proper staff skills, inventory will be accurate.
Again, it’s all about the people.
We stock a couple of hundred furniture items, so the count is much less time consuming (we count 6500 items in office products and IT) than in the big warehouse. The items are bigger and heavier to move if we need to and the sku #’s themselves are very very long and confusing. In a 20 digit item number there may be only 2 or 4 digits (right in the middle) that differentiate two items!
As in any inventory count, we found items we did not know we had and could not locate items we thought we had. Our perpetual inventory system is supposed to tell us what we have in stock at any time. When you cannot count on that, you need to do a full inventory count.
The number of transactions in a day is small in furniture compared to office products and each stick of furniture should have a place where it lives in the warehouse. Some places are temporary, like “dock” and “floor” and are only used when an item comes in or just before it goes out. This is not a “home” for the item, more like a cheap motel, a place to rest for the afternoon.
All the transactions affect inventory in some way. A filing cabinet that comes in is put on the floor and then it is received and put away in a bin. When it is sold, it comes out of the bin. If we get a damaged one back, we need to give it a different item number (or it will be sold as new) and assign it to a different bin. Damaged filing cabinets cannot have the same home as new ones, it‘s too confusing.
If an item outgrows its home (say we buy more because we expect an increase in demand) then we need to either find a bigger bin or have two homes for that item. We move them physically and we must also be sure that the perpetual inventory record is updated, that is, we know in the system what the new bin (i.e. the new address of the home) is.
There are processes in place and paper work and systems so that inventory is accurate. With training (including holiday and sick coverage) and the proper staff skills, inventory will be accurate.
Again, it’s all about the people.
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