Images_December_2019_Digital Edition

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 46 images DECEMBER 2019 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. atkinsontshirt.com Self promotion Always carry business cards and a sample promotional kit that shows off your shop. Business cards are in your wallet or purse, sample kits are in the boot of your car. You never know who you are going to meet or when. Be prepared. Double-check everything Double-check things, especially your processes to see if they are working. One good example is how you quote. Give everyone that quotes two or three example jobs to price out. Does everyone’s maths line up with the right answer? Talk to your customers on an ongoing basis Ask them questions about their business and industry. You want to understand where they are going and what problems they have. Help them solve those problems. Don’t be an order taker Be a problem solver. Order takers are commodity-based. This is a price-sensitive way of looking at something. Problem solving has more value and you can charge more. Follow up with people Even if you don’t know the answer fully. Let them know what’s going on and your progress. Radio silence gives customers the wrong impression. Marketing to staff You have to market your shop to employees, just like you do customers. Why would anyone want to work for you? With your hiring process, what are you signalling to them? Always use a pay range and a well-written job description. Use video more It’s estimated that over 80% of internet traffic is going to be video by 2021. Are you comfortable with video yet? Learn this medium and start using it to your advantage. Draw the line Remember, “It’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate”. You can source back to any problem you are having and I’ll bet that somewhere in there you’re not drawing the line and holding people accountable as you should. Quit talking about it and insist on excellence. Engineer for success Engineer your shop so it is really hard to screw something up. Remove friction points. Make things simple to understand. Use pictures, colours or numbers to identify things. When things are built so a three-year-old or a German Shepherd can comprehend what to do, you’ve got it. Manage your reputation Your reputation is everything. It’s hard to build, but easy to lose. Focus on the shipping date The most important part of the information on a work order is the ship date. This signals to everyone in the building when that job has to leave the building. It should be ready the day before. Each department works backward from that. There is no excuse for being late on your schedule. Fix it. Elevate performance Your leadership and management teams’ number one priority is to elevate the performance of the staff working under them. Their goal is to make things easier for their crew, so they can execute their jobs with perfection. With this in mind, look at how you are leading your staff. Are you doing everything you can, on an ongoing basis, to help your workers perform? Know your numbers You have to know your numbers. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. This is true for every aspect of your business. For example, if you don’t absolutely know what it costs you to decorate a shirt, how can you calculate your profit margin? Find your niche There are riches in the niches – don’t try to be all things to all customers. Narrow your focus and excel in a few areas. Go where others have not travelled yet. Know what your time is worth As an owner, if you can find someone to do a task that you don’t want to do, don’t know how to do, or don’t have time to do… then that is money well spent. Work on your business, not in your business. As a salesperson, don’t be an oyster, waiting for orders to drop by – be a hunter Use a calendar and plan work six to eight weeks ahead