Kent Business Solutions
Elevate Your Profitability
...Beyond Your Imagination!
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By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions
Photo by Tim Douglas from Pexels
Are you looking for highly effective ways to retain customers in our post-pandemic world?
Then keep reading! I interviewed one of my alliance partners, Roberta O’Keith. She has a +20-year track record of creating successful customer experience programs. Here are four tips she suggests on how to increase customer loyalty so your customers will keep coming back for more! 1. Ensure Employee Safety and Communicate This to Your Customers Make sure you train your employees on how to keep your work environment and customer areas safe. That builds trust with your employees, and hopefully, it will reduce employee turnover. Then, it's a good idea to talk with your customers about the precautions you're taking to ensure the safety of your employees, so they feel trust with your brand. Build this into your marketing strategy, specifically to build more awareness and brand messaging around making safety #1 within your company. 2. Listen to Your Customers You can do this through traditional channels such as surveys and phone calls. Also, be present by walking your customer journey to experience what your customers experience. Then implement that feedback. Don't just listen to your customers—collect and use that feedback to drive change in your organization. There are two other ways you can do this: Social Media Listen to what people post on social media about your company and then act on the feedback. Be Proactive Go out and talk to your customers. Be present during their experience with your brand so you can build stronger relationships. 3. Be Flexible Build-in flexibility within your company so you'll be able to pivot products and services more quickly because COVID isn't the only disruptive thing that will happen. Try to understand the holistic customer experience. In today’s uncertain environment, customers will be expecting more from companies. And if companies aren’t delivering on customers’ needs and expectations, they’re going to miss out and lose that customer base. 4. Personalize Your Approach Become more aware of how you treat your customers. Messaging needs to be more compassionate or empathetic. You also want to ensure that you're providing content relevant to your customers. It's essential that you train your employees on how to go about this. If they can go above and beyond just your average experience, customers will remember that, especially during these challenging times. In the end, when you can make their experience more personal, you'll build more loyalty. Bottom Line First, it’s critical that you understand your customers' experience and identify where to improve throughout that experience Second, COVID has brought to light issues with businesses processes or systems, and now's the time to address those issues. If you haven't already, you won't survive the next pandemic or global crisis. ​ # # # Speaking of addressing issues, how would you like a leg-up on preventing customer issues before they happen? One great area to start is customer care. Sound interesting? Then download my FREE Customer Satisfaction Checklist. It can point out areas where you could potentially use improvement.
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By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery from Pexels Integrity is certainly a hot topic of discussion in leadership circles these days. I think we could all agree how important it is for business leaders to operate out of a deep well of integrity. For that very reason, I'd like to share with you 15 quotes about integrity to help you on your leadership journey! # # # Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey In the end you should always do the right thing even if it’s hard. Nicholas Sparks People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses. Zig Ziglar Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea. Ayn Rand Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. W. Clemente Stone Admitting one’s own faults is the first step to changing them, and it is a demonstration of true bravery and integrity. Philip Johnson As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility. Nelson Mandela Leading with integrity and empathy requires vision and a connection to your deepest self. Karla McLaren One of your most prized possessions is integrity; if this is you, then you should never compromise it. Byron Pulsifer Make living your life with absolute integrity and kindness your first priority. Richard Carlson Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you. H. Jackson Brown, Jr. The wind might cause a kite to rise, but what keeps it up there is the fact that somebody on the ground has a steady hand. You have to hold steady to your values – your integrity. It’s your anchor. You let go of that. . . well, it isn’t long before your kite comes crashing down. Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen Integrity is the ingredient that will enable you to forge rapidly ahead on the highway that leads to success. It advertises you as being an individual who will always come through. Whatever you say you will do, do it even if you have to move heaven and earth. Mary Kay Walk with honor, character, and integrity in all that you do. Do these things and you will find that you can appreciate the adventure of life and live with greater ease. Shawn L. Anderson I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it. Cesar Milan # # # Unfortunately, this last quote too often rings true. But if we, as business leaders, more consistently embrace integrity as an essential personal value, we could transform our business communities for the better. Speaking of transformation, do you want to improve your business but don’t know where to start? Then, check out my free business assessment! Your results will pinpoint areas that could use the most improvement in your business. You’ll receive a customized report that includes a prioritized list of these areas from Yours Truly to help develop a roadmap to strengthen your business and make it more profitable! By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay There has been much talk these days about Digital Transformation (DX), yet there is still much perplexity around this topic. Therefore, I’d love to clear up some of the confusion by describing four simple truths or benefits of DX that business leaders need to know—to make more informed decisions for their companies. Let’s dive in! 1. Increased Efficiency Across Manual Processes Many organizations have standalone digital or paper documents and forms they're filling out for different items. And many more are sending a multitude of emails back and forth between teams of people. After increasing the digital efficiency, they’re experiencing more of an integrated approach, bringing awareness to what needs to happen next and accomplishing those things with less human intervention. Work documents requiring review or signatures can also show up in an employee’s work queue within the system, doing away with the need to email documents back and forth to employees. 2. Reduction in Manual Labor Automated systems bring together correct documentation and tasks so people can do what they're supposed to be doing when they're supposed to be doing it. Doing so replaces multiple people manually making decisions and conveying information, which has more potential failure points. The benefit is a reduction in human failure, which can decrease failure points in the process. 3. Increase in Quality This benefit doesn't just involve quality products or services. It increases quality in your relationships and customer satisfaction as well. As we know, people are very good at introducing risk into manual processes because they forget to double or triple-check something. The mistakes that are missed and reach the customer are going to impact that relationship and brand negatively. On the other hand, digital workflows have controls in place that reduce risk and human failure. By tasks taking the same routes, digitally speaking, this removes the risk from your overall process. Doing so can help improve relationships with customers and allow you to save on inventory and reduce wasted effort. Ultimately, this all combines to ensure that the customer has what they want when they want it. 4. Increased Transparency A good DX platform allows you to see everything when you need to see it. Unfortunately, not all DX workflows allow for this to occur. Some service providers will only build you a digital form, which, by definition, is DX. However, these limited types of projects still require team members to raise their hand throughout the process to say something's incorrect. Manually flagging issues is not the best-case scenario. You don’t have an optimum workflow if you have too many emails going back and forth. When that happens, there's always the potential to miss something. The ultimate experience involves this: when a system digitally places tasks right in front of your face and alerts you to that fact, including elevating potential issues and escalations to the proper level. Doing so leads to a better employee and customer experience. Who wouldn’t want that? # # # Are you interested in learning how digitally fit your organization is? Then download my FREE Digital Transformation Checklist. It will help gauge your organization’s fitness and point out areas you can improve. Click the button below to get started! By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  AP Photo/Matt York With the start of the Kansas City Chiefs’ season, anticipation is building in my city. To help fuel the excitement, I’d like to share a back story of a key individual that the Chiefs would have never won the 2020 Super Bowl without him. And it’s not Patrick Mahomes! That man is Brett Veach, the General Manager for the Chiefs. He is an excellent case study of effective leadership. So, here are four leadership principles we can all live by that Andy Reid, Chiefs Head Coach, used to describe Veach: 1. Let’s Explore Brett has a fantastic track record for putting in the work to find good players. He knows what he wants, searches to find the players that meet his criteria, and he goes after them. Lessons learned: Dig deep to understand everything you need to know about your situation or problem. By doing in-depth research before you make important decisions, you’ll lay a good foundation for your next steps. 2. Let’s Not Be Afraid to Go There Veach is "fearless," according to Andy Reid. He's not afraid to make wrong decisions. For example, Brett was instrumental in discovering and insisting that Chiefs select Patrick Mahomes in the draft. So, if it weren't for Brett, Patrick most likely wouldn't be a Chief! Many other teams thought he was too much of a gamble to pursue. Lessons Learned: Once you’ve done your homework and your pathway forward is more straightforward, be bold in your decision-making. Go after your goals with a single-mindedness to achieve success. 3. Let’s Not Say It Can’t Be Done “Impossible” is not a word in Veach’s vocabulary. Many industry experts said it would never be possible to keep the Super Bowl winning team together. But Veach set his mind on the goal and has worked relentlessly towards keeping the 2019 team together. Lessons Learned: Refuse to believe something can’t happen. Just make up your mind to get ‘er done and tenaciously work towards that. And this leads to the last point: 4. Let’s Find a Way To Get It Done Veach proved all the naysayers wrong by bringing back all but two of the team’s starters before the start of the season. He accomplished this through a foundation of trust built with his players, which paid off during contract negotiations with star players Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. Lessons Learned: Work towards building trusted relationships with your team. When they see your willingness to go the extra mile for them, they’ll be more willing to do the same for you. This base of trust will help you more quickly iron out conflicting objectives with them so that the whole organization will be more empowered to reach its goals. Likewise, business leaders can build strong business teams. Still, many of their organizations may not have the capacity to even think about implementing new ideas or initiatives to address their challenges. If that’s you, I’d love to hop on a quick call to find out your challenges to see if I could help, either through connections or otherwise. By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  Photo by Olga Guryanova on Unsplash In our post-pandemic business environment, how do manufacturers not just survive but thrive? With tight budgets, how do they also develop innovative products and get them to market more quickly? All manufacturing product managers need to know the one thing that's the answer to both questions! In a nutshell, it's Scrum. And I’m not talking about a rugby move. It's a whole different animal, so let's define it concerning product development: It's a process framework for developing products, all the way from envisioning the product to its completion. To put it simply, cross-functional team members come together to create products in an iterative flow that solves problems in real-time. Benefits of Scrum There are lots of reasons why manufacturers can reap benefits from Scrum. Here are a few worth mentioning:
Scrum for Hardware Scrum has historically been used for software development. To a lesser degree, it's been used on manufactured goods, such as cars, computer hardware, and aerospace products. However, it's not common for Scrum usage on manufactured goods, aka Scrum for Hardware. A genuine need exists (how many manufacturers don't want to accelerate the speed-to-market for their products?)! Case Study With the lack of established precedent, how does one go about implementing Scrum for manufactured goods? I had the same question and therefore began work on an answer. Background Schier Products in Edwardsville, KS, wanted to do what we're talking about: implement a Scrum strategy for product development purposes. Their existing stage-gate process was inefficient and ineffective; their last new product development effort required two to three years to complete! Schier’s goal was to speed up their development timelines. I partnered with them to do just that. Adapting Scrum to Hardware Although my knowledge of Scrum is extensive, I had never before applied Scrum principles to manufactured goods, so there was a short period of trial and error. Hardware is different from software in many ways, so it took some adaptation and ingenuity to make Scrum work for them. Results The result has been fantastic! It required two months to develop and implement the process, and it took only ten months to launch their newest product. Not only that, the flexible nature of Scrum allowed them to develop five additional modular subsystems that fit across their whole product line. If you include that accomplishment into the mix, that’s a +100% increase in speed-to-market! That is a whole lot better than two-to-three years! As evidenced by Schier's success, Scrum is a robust solution for increasing speed-to-market timelines for manufactured goods. They are so thrilled with Scrum; they plan to implement it enterprise-wide! # # # How is your product development process working for you? If it could use some sprucing up, then download my free Product Development Checklist. It will provide you some structure and potential improvements to your existing process. Click the button below to download this freebie! By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  How many working remotely don't consistently have what you need at your fingertips and become repeatedly frustrated? How many of you are wishing for something like a day at the beach instead? Well then, keep reading! Well then, keep reading! I interviewed Michael Cantu of Accelerate about workflow automation software and how it can make remote working much more productive. I also learned that it can revolutionize an organization by laying a foundation for a more prosperous future. Using it may not be as wonderful as a day at the beach, but hopefully a lot more enjoyable than your status quo! Intrigued? Then, let’s dive in! [For the complete interview, click here] So, what is workflow automation software? Here’s a definition: It connects disparate systems, people, data, content, and workloads to accelerate your workforce. It streamlines your work, enabling you to have at your fingertips what you need to do your job more effectively and efficiently. There are too many benefits to list, so here are some highlights: 1. Increased Productivity Some platforms, including Accelerate, connect siloed IT systems. With Accelerate, these systems can be integrated into the platform, so you only need to use one interface, negating the need for employees to log into multiple systems to do their work. 2. Improved Customer Experience It allows businesses to quickly communicate with customers and provide immediate answers to their concerns and queries. Automated data entry saves time as well and offers consistent services while minimizing errors. 3. More Effective & Efficient Remote Working Remote workers often spend too much effort going back and forth with email, and work can be disjointed. Everything you need with a tool like Accelerate can be at your fingertips in one system for better working-from-home scenarios. 4. Quicker Implementations & Increased Ability to Innovate Lower costs and quicker implementations leave more time and money to launch more innovation projects with lessened lead times. Because Accelerate has a drag-and-drop user interface, simple processes can be automated in less than two hours! Workflow automation platforms truly deliver outstanding results. Here are some real-life examples that Accelerate clients have achieved:
In the first two examples, layoffs weren’t necessary, despite the productivity increases. They are now able to take on more sales and grow their companies. As you can see, workflow automation tools can improve remote working experiences, increase productivity, and reduce overhead and development costs. And who wouldn’t want that for their organization? # # # Speaking about workflow automation, Michael Cantu and I are excited about our upcoming book launch, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation. We talk extensively about workflow automation platforms and provide a step-by-step roadmap of how to successfully plan for and implement them in companies. Are you interested in learning more? Then click the button below to get started! By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash Are you challenged with knowing the best ways to keep your employees safe? Are you scratching your head, trying to figure out where to start? Then check out what I learned during an interview with Andrew Brought, an attorney with Spencer Fane in Kansas City, Missouri. He has dedicated his career to understanding Environmental, Health and Safety regulations in the US, and counsels manufacturers, industrial clients, and businesses with complex environmental and workplace safety matters. I compiled the highlights of the interview that's centered around helping to ensure general workplace safety. Even if you live outside of the US, he has valuable information to share on improving the safety in your organization! For the full-length interview, click here. Let’s dive in! 1. Understand Your Obligations This aspect involves understanding the rules you need to be following. Different industries have different standards. If your organization is in the US, the OSHA website* has industry-specific standards and resources you can check out. There’s also a lot of great information to help with COVID-19 on OSHA’s website, including how to build a compliance program that satisfies the agency’s expectations. If you're outside the US, refer to your local and national guidance and standards to see what they are for your industry. Takeaway: The most important thing at the outset is to understand the requirements. 2. Determine the Risks Start at a high level to determine what the different elements are. Then dive down into the specific analysis of tasks at the individual job and task level. You’ll want to ask yourself:
You want to look at the workplace as a whole and an individual level. Once you've done this, you may not necessarily need to repeat your analysis. For instance, in the manufacturing sector, tasks in many areas are repeatable, like an assembly line on a manufacturing floor with employees doing the same thing day-in and day-out, 24-hours a day. You know what the risks are and how to mitigate them. Takeaway: If it's a new, required process with unknown risks involved, a job hazard analysis or task hazard analysis is an excellent thing to do. 3. Develop Policies and Procedures This aspect combines working from the engineering standpoint, the process standpoint, and the HR standpoint—bringing them together to develop a set of operational procedures and controls that mitigate the risks. It's so important that employees understand these procedures and controls and are easily implementable. You don't want to give someone a 500-page operating procedure and say, "Here you go…good luck with it". It may be outstanding from an engineering and safety standpoint, but they won't follow it. Takeaway: If it's not easily digestible, you have to organize it so that employees can easily understand it. 4. Implement Workplace Controls Employees should understand the risks, be initially trained on them, and then be tested on their understanding. Then double-check with them over time to ensure they still understand these risks. That’s where “refresher training” comes in. A continual effort to mitigate risks is all-important. Here's an example: an employee may have received training three years before, and now if they are in a more dangerous role, it's crucial to maintain this oversight and follow-up regularly. Plan regular refresher training and audit their work environment to ensure they are doing what they need to be doing. Takeaway: Have proper workplace controls in place that involve initial training/testing on risks. It's imperative to ensure employees understand these controls over time through refresher training. Two Crucial Things In closing, there are two vital things an employer should emphasize to ensure employee safety:
If you don’t have an organization committed to health and safety, that’s a problem. And if you don't have accountability and individuals who are doing this, that's also a problem. Bottom line: you need to have top-level management supporting workplace safety; otherwise, employees won't follow the guidelines, compromising workplace safety. And that could very well hurt an organization in the end. # # # Speaking of employee safety, Michael Cantu of Accelerate and I are excited about a new app, Ratify AI, which is meeting an important need in the market--how to holistically manage COVID vaccine protocols in the workplace. It’s been created in consultation with medical experts and lawyers who are in-the-know on this topic. It does away with manual daily health checks and tracking with spreadsheets, to name just a few benefits. If you’d like to learn more about that, click the button below to download our FREE COVID Management Checklist. It will help you gauge the fitness of your current protocols and point out areas where you can improve. *For more information on workplace safety, you can also check out the EPA and CDC websites. By: Kathy Kent Toney, President of Kent Business Solutions  Photo by: Dylan Hanna That’s me in the picture, up front in an unflattering pose, clowning around. Oh well, it just shows how much fun I have playing guitar and singing on my church's worship team. Every so often, I get to lead the band!
I have learned so much about leadership through being the Leader of the Band. In my first blog on this topic, I shared some initial lessons learned as a new bandleader. Since I have a little more experience under my belt, I want to share some other things I've learned about being an exceptional leader. If you missed the first blog, you can click here to read it. So, let’s dive in! FYI – each step builds on the next: 1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate A couple of weeks out from the weekend of leading the team, I started communicating with Megan, the co-leader (vocalist), on possible songs. I shared the theme, ideas around setlist construction and got her feedback. I also sent an email out to the rest of the team, giving them that overall vision. Finally, I reached out to a new team member and let him know I was looking forward to having him on the team. Lessons learned: cast a vision of where you want to take your team to help create a sense of anticipation and make sure they have all the information they need to fulfill the vision. 2. Trust Your Team Members One thing Megan and I decided to do was to create a mash-up of two songs. I gave her some ideas but gave her free rein to construct it the way she wanted to. After we finished our set, I let the team know how much I genuinely appreciated having them on the team. Lessons learned: Build upon that strong foundation of communication—empower your team members by communicating your trust in their abilities. Also let them know you enjoy having them on your team. 3. Inspire Confidence in Your Leadership I was thoroughly prepared for our set that morning, so I was confident in my ability to lead the team. When we ran into some technical issues during set-up, I was poised to handle them. However, we had only 35 minutes to rehearse before the service started, and it was our only rehearsal! I kept my cool and came up with workaround plans, and we quickly ran through all the songs. I even received a compliment from one of the team members for being such a good leader! Lessons learned: Keeping open communication channels, emotionally investing in your team, and letting them know you trust them to do their jobs inspires confidence in your leadership. And having faith in your ability to lead is just icing on the cake. These are all hallmarks of a great leader. ### Speaking about being a great leader, Michael Cantu and I are excited about our upcoming book launch, No-Nonsense Digital Transformation. We talk extensively about building exceptional teams and creating great cultures in this book, so it isn't just for digital transformation fans. Are you interested in learning more? Then click the button below to get started! |
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