ImagesMagUK_August_2021

www.images-magazine.com AUGUST 2021 images 75 KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT For the definition of professional, then, think about the following ideas instead. Professional posture What matters most in any business relationship is how someone carries themselves. Their work ethic and attitude. How they handle situations – every day or problematic. Performance is what really matters. To me, there are ten basic tenets for being a professional, irrespective of the type of business or vocation. 1 Professionals are curiously interested This means that they invest in themselves to get better constantly. They are interested in learning. Often, they will be trying out something to see if it will work. They talk about ideas constantly with other professionals. A true professional will never say: “This is the way we’ve always done it.” Instead, it is always about “How we can...” and not “Why we can’t...”. 2 Professionals are reliable You can count on them. They get the job completed. On time. With quality. And a smile. When a professional is on the job, you don’t have to wonder if it will be handled correctly or on time. It will be. Because a professional has systems, procedures and rules in place to ensure the expected result. Professionals begin with the end in mind. Always. 3 Professionals follow up A true professional will follow up with a customer to ensure that they are happy and meet their needs. “Did you get that art approval?” “I’m sorry, but we are going to be a tad late in shipping your order out, we just received the goods yesterday.” “How did we do on that last order? “ “I’d like to talk to you about this new idea we’ve had…” 4 Professionals are respectful... They respect your time and theirs. They don’t require several follow-ups from the customer to see if the job will be completed on time or even started. They tell the truth, even if it is painful. They are interested in the best possible outcome for their customers, even if it means not making the sale. They think long-term, and are not transactional. Respect is earned, not given. They want to be the first person you call. 5 Professionals ask good questions They know that to truly understand the situation or challenge they have to comprehend the big picture. They realise that their preparation will Being busy to be busy is dumb determine the successful outcome. Professionals are big-picture people. They want to know. Ideas are always celebrated, even if they don’t always work out, because they are stepping stones to something greater. Want to see a happy professional? Get them in a room with other professionals and talk shop. To outsiders, it will be the most one-sided, boring affair ever. It will be a landmark event for the professionals and will be posted on social media with a “You had to be there” comment. 6 Professionals collaborate Getting better is a team sport. Professionals appreciate this and will bring in outside help and other people’s opinions, and will get more people involved. What is the unknown known? We don’t know, but we are going to do our best to find out. “Let’s try this first…” 7 Professionals are honest They will admit when they are wrong or a mistake has been made. A professional will not shy away from communicating something a customer doesn’t want to hear… because they need to hear it. There can only be one source of truth: reality. 8 Professionals are self-aware They know their limits. What they can accept and what they cannot. They don’t mind saying “No”, especially for something that is out of the scope of what they can or want to do. They know the value of the work that they offer, and will not take less for it. Unprofessional people take anything that comes along, and drown in unprofitable work. Being busy to be busy is dumb. 9 Professionals know their numbers They crunch the numbers. All. The. Time. The phrase, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is first and foremost in their thinking. This is why they rely on maths to help them make decisions. Is it going to get Marshall Atkinson is a production and efficiency expert for the decorated apparel industry, and the owner of Atkinson Consulting and co-founder of Shirt Lab, a sales and marketing education company, with Tom Rauen. He focuses on operational efficiency, continuous improvement, workflow strategy, business planning, employee motivation, management and sustainability. www.atkinsontshirt.com better? Stay the same? Get worse? Who knows? But the data will give you the capability to make the proper determination. Then, you can react. 10 Professionals love their customers Lastly, professionals know that customers are the heartbeat of their garment decoration business. They always come first. That being said, there are good customers and there are bad customers. A professional knows the difference, and will happily send the bad customers to the competition with a smile. They want more good customers, and actually know who they are and where to find them. What would a professional do? Take a look at your social media feeds. Look in the groups at some of the posts. There are countless people sharing the many different tales about how one company didn’t meet expectations or handle a job a certain way. They completely failed and didn’t take any responsibility. Orders don’t ship on time. Instructions aren’t followed. The rep on the phone was a jerk. Companies are constantly being over-charged and under-delivered. Currently, we are struggling with many different issues in this industry. There is a worker shortage. Inventory levels can be flaky. Consumables might be out of stock. Shipping is screwed up and often late. The world has opened up finally, and now there is an endless row of speedbumps on the on-ramp to getting back to normal. It is very frustrating. But you can still be professional. Sometimes I think we need to simply remind ourselves of the basics. First and foremost we are in business to please and serve the customer. Whatever chaos exists in your building, the customers you have absolutely don’t care about that. Ever. They get to vote with their money. Want to scale your business? Be more professional. Your first and foremost job is to help your customer to succeed.