Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Magazine Fall 2019 | Page 27

HOW TO FIX ANYTHING
I
n the first installment of “How to
Fix Anything,” we established that
few things, if any at all, are really
perfect. That goes for life in general
as well as business and industry. We
also revealed in Part One that in order to
fix anything, we must first identify, very
specifically, what our issues are from
the standpoint of the end-user or target
market. For this discussion, let’s assume
that we have taken a step back and really
looked at things from their point of
view, realizing that our problems aren’t
necessarily the same as theirs.
For Part Two, we will discuss actually
breaking down issues more literally. It’s
time to take things apart. You can’t fix
anything without taking it apart first.
After careful consideration, you have
determined that your product is top shelf,
pricing is competitive, and customer
service is on point. However, delivery of
services comes in too close to deadlines for
the comfort of your clientele. What can we
do to fix it? We dissect the process by which
we are conducting business.
THE DRAWING BOARD
The easy answer would be to adjust lead
times, thereby adjusting the customers’
expectations and prevent disappointment.
Draw it out: I bet someone else can get
the goods to them sooner and win that
business. No good.
How about we hire extra people to expedite
the orders or have more billable hours
available each billing cycle? That might
work, but can we sustain the costs incurred
with new hiring and training new staff
until we are back in the plus? Maybe.
What if we update our online presence
with hopes of streamlining the order
process? Good answer, but now we have to
play catch-up on the back side to cope with
the incoming rate of orders. Remember, the
end user really doesn’t care what our issues
are. They simply want to be serviced.
DISASSEMBLE JOHNNY 5
How do you “take apart” a problem,
metaphorically speaking? It’s really not
that different from taking apart a tangible
item, like a dishwasher or an engine. If you
have worked on it before, it comes apart
very easily, and you know exactly the order
to remove all of the pieces. If the problem
has just been identified, however, there will
be some trial and error. It’s a good practice
to try this out on paper first and take an
educated guess as to what happens.
A great way to start is to draw out the
process in question on a calendar, from
start to finish. Plot each part as it exists
today, from conception to completion,
from the view of the end user. Conception
would be when end users start thinking
that they need your product/service, and
completion would be after you have left
the picture entirely and that transaction is
final. You will probably find that there is a
lot of empty space on the calendar between
the functions of your process, and that’s
okay, for now.
WE ARE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER
BOAT
Rather than throwing all of our screws,
nuts, and bolts into a coffee can as we
disassemble, let’s organize them in such
a way that we can see where each one
belongs for reassembly. Carburetors have
many small bits and pieces, and a great
mechanic’s trick is to use an old muffin pan
to sort the parts as they come off. But how
do we put real-world problems in a muffin
pan? We are going to need a bigger muffin
pan.
Let’s take our calendar (coffee can) and
drill it down to a more organized, usable
format where we can easily make changes,
move things around, and experiment,
without losing any of our parts (nuts and
bolts). Where are we going to find a muffin
pan that will fit all of our conceptual pieces
of this process? Earlier, we determined that
our delivery of services comes in too close
to deadlines, making our clientele uneasy.
We need a simple, visual, specific summary
of our process, from start to finish, grouped
in order, which can easily be manipulated.
We need a timeline. That’s our muffin pan.
Almost sounds too easy.
BY: STEVE RODERICK, JGS
INSURANCE
Steve Roderick has recently entered the
Insurance Industry and brings with
him a completely new perspective. With
over 20 years in the Marine Industry, it
was evident that Steve was destined
to fix things, whether it be procedures,
operations, or anything else that crosses
his desk. He works closely alongside
business owners and property managers
to solve their issues through exceptional
customer service.
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