Operations

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5 Operational Challenges That Could Derail Your Business In 2024

In the dynamic world of business, real challenges demand decisive actions and a willingness to drive change. My experience in reviving a business serves as a vivid example of this.

When I took the helm of a company that was losing $20,000 a month, the situation was critical. The previous owner was on the verge of not making payroll, a crisis averted by my owners' timely intervention and investment. From there, I focused on transforming five key operational areas, turning a dire situation into a thriving success story. This effort catapulted our profits to nearly $100,000 a month, culminating in the successful sale of the business.

This article is a journey through that transformation. It's about sharing the strategies and insights that helped navigate and reshape a struggling business into a profitable venture. For business leaders facing challenges or looking to preempt them, these lessons are about fostering resilience and guiding your business toward a path of prosperity. Here, I combine practical advice with the wisdom gained from experience, aiming to empower others in their quest for business success.

Team Alignment: Ensuring The Right Fit For Success

The Team Evaluation: When I took over the struggling business, the first step was a critical evaluation of our existing team. Understanding each member's strengths and weaknesses was key to our turnaround strategy. In this process, I found that many talented team members were simply in roles that didn't suit them; and, regrettably, there were a few who didn't fit with the upcoming changes, leading us to make the tough decision to part ways.

Strategically Expanding the Team: Following our team evaluation, our hiring strategy centered on finding individuals who were not just right for the roles but would also elevate our team's overall dynamics. We sought people characterized by their passion, determination, and a consistent track record of excelling in almost everything they undertook.

Solution: Begin by thoroughly assessing your existing team. Identify not just the strengths and weaknesses of each member, but also consider if they are in the right roles where their talents can be best utilized. This evaluation can reveal hidden potential and opportunities for internal role adjustments. When expanding your team, look for candidates who not only have the necessary skills but also demonstrate desire, drive, and a history of excellence in their endeavors. This approach ensures that new hires not only fill the required roles but also contribute positively to the team's dynamics, driving collective success. The goal is to create a team environment where collaboration, passion, and high performance are the norms, fostering a dynamic and effective work culture.

Consistent Customer Experience: Streamlining Consistency Across Operations

The Comprehensive Overhaul: A major breakthrough in transforming the business came from addressing the inconsistencies in our customer experience. We looked at every aspect of our operations to ensure a uniform and positive experience for every customer. Addressing this required a holistic approach, streamlining processes not just in customer service, but across all operational facets of our business.

Solution: To improve customer experience, it's crucial to establish consistency in all operational processes. Review each interaction point within your business, from the initial contact to post-service or post-sale follow-up, and strive to make these experiences uniformly positive and engaging. By delivering consistently excellent service at every touchpoint, you build trust and encourage customer loyalty, which is essential for any business.

Goal Alignment: Harmonizing Team Performance With Business Vision

Business strategy, vision, team, development concept

Setting the Business Compass: The first step in addressing our team's inconsistent performance was to define clear, overarching goals for the business. These goals served as our compass, guiding the direction of every strategy and decision. It was crucial that these goals were not just ambitious but also resonated with the vision we had for the company's future.

Translating Vision into Action: With the business goals in place, we then developed specific team and individual goals that aligned with these broader objectives. This alignment was key to ensuring that every effort and achievement at the team level contributed directly to the business's overall success.

Solution: Start by setting clear and inspiring goals for your business as a whole. Then, break these down into specific, measurable goals for each team and individual. This approach ensures that everyone's efforts are not only aligned but also contributing to the bigger picture. Embrace a coaching mentality in driving accountability, focusing on guiding your team toward these goals and fostering their growth. This strategy transforms accountability into a powerful tool for development, aligning team members' efforts with the company's overarching objectives. By doing so, you create a culture where each person understands and plays a vital role in the collective success of the business, leading to a more consistent and effective team performance.

Sales Process Inefficiency: Creating A Blueprint For Sales Success

Professional on laptop works on business operations/technology

The Sales Process Overhaul: A key challenge in the business's revival was the lack of a defined sales process. Developing and documenting a clear sales strategy was essential for bringing consistency and growth to our sales efforts. Each salesperson had their own approachâor no approach at allâwhich made it difficult to identify areas needing improvement.

Implementing a Structured Approach: To address this, we developed and documented a clear sales process. This became our blueprint for sales success. By retraining our existing team and using this process for training new salespeople, we achieved a level of consistency in our sales approach. This not only improved our overall sales performance but also allowed us to pinpoint specific areas where additional training was needed.

Solution: For any business struggling with sales consistency, the key is to develop a well-defined sales process. Document this process and use it as a foundation for training both new and existing sales staff. This ensures that everyone is on the same page, making it easier to deliver consistent results and identify areas for further training and improvement. A structured sales process is a powerful tool for driving sales growth and efficiency.

Managing Online Reputation: Turning Feedback Into Fortunes

The Proactive Review Strategy: During this transformational business journey, I learned that overcoming negative reviews isn't just about damage control; it's about taking a proactive stance. People are quick to share their bad experiences online, and these can spread like wildfire on social media and review sites. The first step in combating this is to ensure your customer experience is top-notch, as discussed earlier. A solid customer experience naturally reduces the likelihood of negative reviews.

Engaging with Reviews: It's also crucial to actively engage with all reviews, both positive and negative. Responding to reviews shows that your business cares and is committed to resolving any issues. This visibility in handling feedback can turn a negative review into a positive impression for potential customers reading these reviews.

Encouraging Positive Reviews: Furthermore, we started encouraging our customers to leave reviews. While it's important to steer clear of offering incentives for reviews, simply asking customers to share their experiences can lead to an increase in positive feedback. Incorporating this request into our follow-up processes ensured it became a natural part of our customer interaction, subtly boosting our online reputation.

Solution: To effectively manage online reviews, ensure your customer experience is consistently excellent. Engage with all reviews in a constructive manner, showing responsiveness and a commitment to improvement. Encourage customers to leave reviews as part of your regular follow-up process. This approach not only helps mitigate negative feedback but also builds a stronger, more positive online presence for your business.

Final Thoughts: Lessons From A Turnaround Journey

Business success, team, puzzle pieces, strategy, process concept

This journey of transforming a struggling business wasn't just a professional milestone; it profoundly impacted me personally. It was more than just reviving a company; it was about saving jobs, creating new opportunities, and expanding horizons. We didn't just turn the business around; we expanded it, reaching into multiple states and opening new locations. Each step of this journey didn't just contribute to our business's growth; it created countless opportunities for others, bringing jobs and prosperity to communities.

The experience taught me invaluable lessons about resilience, innovation, and the power of a well-executed strategy. It showed me firsthand how focusing on key operational areas can not only save a business but can set it on a path of expansive growth. These strategies became the cornerstone of our expansion, proving their worth time and again.

As I share these insights, I do so with the hope that they will inspire and guide you in your own business endeavors. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity in disguise. Embrace them, learn from them, and use them to fuel your journey to success. The road might be tough, but the rewards of perseverance and strategic thinking are immeasurable.

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5 Operational Challenges That Could Derail Your …

The Importance Of Training (And Reinforcement Learning) For Effective Operations

The organization invested in some expensive technology. Everyone was initially trained, but now it seems like certain groups arenât leveraging the system as well as they could be. Do you have a comprehensive training program?

Continual training is important because it provides employees with the knowledge needed to effectively use the systems. Proper training helps employees understand and stay current with the latest features, functionalities, and best practices of the system. This can lead to increased confidence and productivity to streamline their work. And when employees understand the system, they are more likely to use the system correctly, reducing the risk of mistakes and errors.

Different Training Options

E-learning, online class, education, training concept

Did you know that individuals typically only remember a fraction (as little as 10% after two weeks) of the information from a training session? Everyone is unique and learns differently so offering a variety of training options can make the training program more inclusive. Plus, having multiple options is great for reinforcement learning. Also, individuals may be working remotely, or the organization operates in multiple locations. Some training options you may want to consider are:

1. Instructor-led training â recurring scheduled training sessions in a classroom setting where there is an instructor allowing for direct interaction with the students. These sessions may be in person or virtual.

Have some type of handout for individuals to take notes on.
Itâs critical that the content is relevant (preferably with real-world examples) so that individuals know how to apply what theyâve learned!
Encourage individuals to participate in discussions. Engagement promotes retention!

2. Web-based training â training sessions such as videos that are recorded so that employees can access them at their convenience. This is great for employees who work âoff hoursâ or outside the main office. Some options are:

Purchase a learning management system (LMS) which not only offers the content, but also tracks progress, assessments, and reporting.
Create self-paced interactive courses (with minimal technical skills) using tools like Articulate leveraging PowerPoint slides.
Create custom training videos with tools like Camtasia.

3. Written materials â some employees may prefer to read training materials on their own. This includes user manuals, online help, quick reference cards, or cheat sheets.

4. Train the trainer or SMEs (subject matter experts) within departments who can provide more customized training, especially for new employees.

Benefits Of A Comprehensive Training Program

Ransomware, malware, virus, cybersecurity threat concept

When new employees join the organization, there are many concepts including systems, processes, and policies that they need to become familiar with. A lot of new information is coming at them and they will probably benefit from some ârefresherâ training for reinforced learning. Having training options that accommodate how they learn best can help them ramp up and become more productive faster.

Besides reinforcement learning, other times when employees benefit from training are when there are changes. When employees get promoted or transferred to a new department, theyâll need training to acquire the new knowledge needed to be successful in their new role. Also, most software vendors will produce a major release annually. You want to ensure employees can leverage the new updates which could be compliance or regulatory related.

Cybersecurity threats are still on the rise so make sure you have a rigorous security training program. It may include phishing awareness, social engineering awareness, and the importance of using strong unique passwords.

Create a specific training site on your intranet so the training resources are in one central location and are easily accessible to all employees. Itâs an easy way to make sure everyone has access to the most current versions of the training materials.

When the organization offers a comprehensive training curriculum, it shows that investing in the employeesâ personal development is important. They provide employees with the tools and resources needed to excel in their roles. Employees will appreciate these efforts, which can lead to increased employee morale and motivation.

For more information on investing in a comprehensive training program to maximize the use of your technology, follow me on LinkedIn!

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The Importance Of Training (And Reinforcement Learning) …

Organizations must manage their IT operations or they could risk catastrophic outages and failures. What are the signs a company's IT operations are not working properly?

We recently asked our leading executives for their expert advice on the signs a company's IT operations are failing.

Here are their responses...

Michael Willis, Sports Business Operations Executive

The IT department is the backbone of off-the-field and on-field operations at the NFL. With failing IT operations, it would prove nearly impossible to maintain the necessary communications and infrastructure needed to operate in a professional sports arena.

Signs of IT failures would include:

1. Off-the-Field Operations

Home network and connectivity problems
Youâve suffered an IT security breach more than once
In-person meetings are taking longer due to Wi-Fi issues
Backup and recovery plans are a mystery
Employee productivity is down
IT issues between league office and teams during game day

2. On-Field Operations

Coach to quarterback communications problems
Sideline tablets are not working for game day
Instant replay will not be available for game officials
Media operations â cutting-edge graphics and stories
Security smart navigation to monitor dangerous weapons
Referee contact with league office for critical calls

Failing IT operations would damage the NFLâs main product â the GAME!

Michael Willis has 18+ years of experience working with accounting & sports organizations and has managed P&Ls of $10M - $125M+ with budgets of $3M-$50M+. He worked for the NFL for 22 1/2 years, mainly with the game officials working on the financial/accounting side of the business.

Lynn Holland, VP Sales & Business Development

IT operations, information technology concept

In my work of evangelizing various SaaS technology solutions on behalf of emerging startup and growth founders, largely with enterprise companies, I have the privilege of helping ops leaders to recognize and solve operational challenges that are:

Exposing them to risk
Generating excess operating costs
Diminishing the profitability of their operations

From an objective, outside-in vantage point I help escort them through the practical considerations for identifying where their operations are underperforming because of technology or the lack thereof and justify addressing it by:

Mapping the end-to-end transaction or process as it flows through siloed workgroups, their existing systems, and data requirements
Recognize when tolerated low-value activities can be automated into new processes with a measurable near-term return, taking out the risk of errors, giving time back to the staff for income-producing activities, and creating greater capacity to increase output without adding more infrastructure
Informed by auditing end-to-end operation, preventing shelfware, and building a tech-buying solution spec for needs vs. nice-to-haves to source, evaluate, and select objectively best-suited tech solutions and partners
Building a whole-organization business case for selecting and adopting the new solution to the benefit of key stakeholders and those in their charge

Like the proverbial frog in the pot, however, it can be difficult for enterprise leaders to detect when itâs time to look under the hood because their operational technology is no longer serving them well. Here are five signs itâs time for a checkup:

Lacking an owner of the end-to-end organization-wide technology and operations flow to know the process journey with associated data that flows through the organization, through departments, in and out of every system, then into a platform of record
Lacking a periodic end-to-end audit of the organization-wide technology and operations process flow
Existing operations require a manual process or data entry to transfer, share, or archive data between departments
Excel spreadsheets are still a central tool in the operational process
In the absence of an end-to-end technology and process audit, redundancies in apps, shelfware, and tolerated manual processes haven't been identified

Lynn Holland is a business development executive with 18+ years of experience taking operational, IoT & retail technologies, products, & consumer engagement to market with a focus in petroleum & convenience retail.

Carla Biasi, Personal Stylist

IT expert, information technology concept

There are a few signs I would look for if you think your company's IT operations are failing.

First, do you consistently have the same issues? We understand there are hiccups with technology, but they should be resolved or in the process of it. If your IT problems do not get fixed, there could be bigger issues at hand.

Secondly, is your company outsourcing its IT operations? If there is no in-house department to work on IT issues, it makes sense a company would outsource this function. If there's an in-house IT department, they should be handling many of the issues.

And lastly, is there a lot of turnover or employee unrest in the IT department? If so, that could be a sign of interdepartmental issues that are resulting in poor performance from the team.

Carla Biasi is a personal stylist living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She currently has her own business and works part-time at an upscale women's boutique and as a virtual and kit stylist for a womenâs specialty brand.

Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist

IT operations, system error, information technology concept

IT operations is a lot like your car: if something's not right, you'll know!

If your car isn't making the right noises when you start it, or if it's taking longer than usual to get going, that's a sign that something is wrong. There are other signals too: check the oil; look for leaks; check the tires and make sure they're properly inflated.

The same is true for IT systems. If your network isn't performing up to par or you're experiencing performance issues with applications and services, there could be something wrong with your infrastructure.

IT operations failure is often caused by poorly managed assets, so it's important to regularly monitor utilization levels and ensure that assets are appropriately sized for their workloads. Failure to do so can lead to increased costs due to underutilization or overprovisioning, which in turn leads to poor user experiences that negatively impact productivity and customer satisfaction levels within an organization.

My bottom-line comment would be to get a get-go alignment of metrics and expectations across different stakeholders and then measure and adjust as needed!

Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the "red thread."

What are some other signs your company's IT operations are failing? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.

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Executive Spotlight: Signs Your Companyâs IT Operations …

10 Questions Successful Enterprise Tech Buyers Ask

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I didn’t hear any accounts of C-level or enterprise operations executives jumping out of windows, but I did hear their stories about real frustrations and sudden challenges with execution. Many openly admitted a new risk to operations and ultimately financial performance as they battled through low-value manual processes, disparate platforms, and the absence of a remote ecosystem or “hub” where department, division, or enterprise teams could come together to communicate, execute, and manage end-to-end workflows and data to transcend unforeseen events, factors, or constraints for employees.

Enterprise Companies’ Love-Hate Relationship With New Technology (Even When Needed), Their Vendors, & Making Decisions

Faced with acute business risk and operational difficulty, why didn’t more enterprise companies move to outsource an infrastructure-less SaaS operations or logistics software solution along with its support?

For companies in verticals that were still in growth mode or mostly business as usual after the onset of COVID-19, three obstacles may have impeded a tech/SaaS path to continuity, efficiency, and reduced business risk—two having to do with buyer psyche and the other about the options (or lack thereof) for tech/SaaS and its providers.

Obstacle #1

We all HATE discomfort. Human nature clings to the familiarity of the status quo and skillfully tricks the subconscious into downplaying, avoiding, or outright denying the existence of unpleasant or ineffective circumstances. This saves us the discomfort of reasoning the cause of a problem, its scope, or the inconvenience of having to do something about it.

Obstacle #2

We all LOVE control. Modern enterprise buying happens when a majority of 10-14 cross-functional stakeholders, that may or may not also engage the board of directors, decide to say “YES!” to change as they are helped past their individual risk aversion that is influenced by their performance metrics, professional goals, challenges, underlying biases and motivations to either support or block the decision.

As such, even when presented with a clear, distinct solution that demands change from the status quo, if stakeholders are left to themselves without an objective, insightful, empathetic guide with a strong understanding of their current processes, data requirements, and the technology—teamed up with an internal champion as a collaborative partner to help instill new insights, influence, clear obstacles, and gain consensus—one of two things is most likely to happen for these folks:

Stakeholders will lose sight of the fundamentals of real value achieved with the solution and instead commoditize options and the decision down to the smallest, least cost, and least exposure option. Whereby producing a lowest risk decision for the stakeholders, but not necessarily the best overall decision for the organization.

Subconsciously, underlying biases and fear of losing autonomy causes stakeholders to defend a personal status quo which culminates in creative efforts to block a decision. This presents itself in a variety of excuses or objections to the change, efforts to frustrate the investigation and decision progress wherever possible, or a gleeful vote to “do nothing.” Again, this may stave off change, but may not be in the best interest of the organization.

And the third obstacle that may have prevented enterprise companies from creating a needed communication and operations execution superhighway for their teams:

Obstacle #3

We need confidence in our partners. Lots of it. When the vulnerability of continuity became obvious in 2020, enterprise technology options were still pretty clunky. Choices included older platforms still on-prem, partial, or rigid workflows that required daisy-chaining disparate platforms together or retraining, they offered limited reporting, low data mining and analytics, no advanced predictive capabilities, few simple integrations with other major business systems, and long backlogs when custom dev was necessary. This meant vendors and their platforms were of limited use, painful to deal with, and the ratio of bad reviews to good reviews was high when measuring the rate of adoption, realized value, and the overall customer experience during implementation, when using the platform, and when support was needed.

Ditch Old School, Rigid, And Unresponsive Tech Options For The Modern Virtual Work “Place"

Woman uses virtual reality technology at work

What’s different today? There is good news for enterprise SaaS buying holdouts! A new generation of “Service as a Solution” (SaaS) enterprise software designers have emerged with intuitive, adaptive, integrated, perpetually evolving solutions. This has jettisoned adoption with stakeholders and users alike as solutions are now blending into the business with flexibility to resemble comfortable, native workflows, simply integrate with most business systems, and deliver sizeable benefits relative to op-ex fees.

This new virtual work “place” brings employees, external partners, and various business systems together via simple integrations into a community to accomplish major workflows with simplicity and agility. Some of the benefits:

Naturally compile & archive internal and external correspondence, quotes, documents, invoices, BOLs, validations, authorizations, and receivings by project, customer, or vendor
Collaborate
Plan and assemble projects
Mirror and execute existing daily operation workflows
Operate with 360-degree visibility

With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) now in production, in development, and in dev roadmaps, SaaS developers are also infusing deep insights, visibility, and predictive decision making into their functionality with advanced:

Data mining
Trend and predictive intelligence
Highly trained observation, inference, and conclusion capabilities

As such, enterprise SaaS software spend is up 14% in 2021 per Gartner’s reporting, with an estimated $700 billion on the way for 2022. Another 11% increase.

10 Questions To Set Your Buying Team Up For A Successful Tech Buying Journey

Buying technology is complicated! For enterprise executives who are ready to appoint a buying committee to select your next tech solution, this article will help you:

Quickly strip options down to a short list of solutions and vendors for deeper evaluation
Clear obstacles that can prevent your buying committee from reaching a value-rich buying decision
Reduce the chances of your buying committee spending valuable hours, only to get stuck in the evaluation process or cling to the status quo and do nothing (believe it or not, this happens in at least 5/10 complex buying decisions)
Avoid solutions that exclude new observatory, predictive, conclusionary analytics that exponentially elevate business decisions and bottom-line outcomes

To set the stage for your buying journey, make sure you have a qualified guide to lead your buying team through organizational requirements, vetting and qualifying, and the complex behavioral science maze of the numerous stakeholders chosen for your buying committee.

Next, here are (10) initial questions to strip down your vendor list and clear away common obstacles for stakeholder personas throughout the organization:

1. Does the software provide a full end-to-end solution to execute and manage the entire workflow process for the departmental / division / organizational application?

2. Will the software have long-term application for your operations, despite workplace and technology advancements, and what is the partner’s roadmap for ongoing development and investment?

3. Does the software enable users the flexibility to mirror familiar workflows already intuitive to your operations without forcing a new workflow and retraining?

4. Does the potential SaaS partner provide a simulation of the platform’s operation with your workflow or application or environment to validate its efficacy for your company’s specific needs?

5. Do they have case studies that demonstrate a great buyer and user experience with the product, implementation, training for each level of user, and support?

6. Is the platform available in a SaaS model without a cap-ex spend or on-prem hardware?

7. Are ready integrations available for your major systems and apps to offer a low-coding, low development & engineering implementation, especially if you don’t have unlimited internal technology resources?

8. Is data import and configuration relatively simple?

9. Does the simplicity of the solution and the tech partner’s support mitigate the need for IT to acquire additional skillsets to implement or support?

10. Do they publish ample ungated content about their solution to research and evaluate before contacting their sales rep?

For additional insights and help with navigating the enterprise technology buying journey, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

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10 Questions Successful Enterprise Tech Buyers Ask

Looking for a remote job this year? You’ve probably noticed that certain career categories have more remote job opportunities than others. Obviously, depending on your career and industry, the number of remote job opportunities available to you will differ. So, what are the career categories with the most work-from-home jobs? According to a recent Flexjobs article, these are the five […]

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