Losing Future Business
This question’s answer may seem to be very obvious, especially when it’s focused on addressing a customer complaint about quality or inferior service. Well I agree with you, that certainly now is the proper time to retrain your workforce on the specifics of product quality and outstanding service. Unfortunately, you may have already lost the opportunity on the next sale for the dissatisfied customer. It normally works that way with bad service or quality driving the customer away for good. Bad service or mediocre product quality sets itself in the storage center of my brain filing that information in the “Never Again” drawer.
Preventing The Downward Spiral
You cannot afford to wait for the customer to complain. The old saying, “No news is good news,” makes perfect sense. Now once you resign yourself to this business strategy, you have reached the point of complacency which means quality and service just need to be good enough to avoid blistering comments on Yelp from your customers. Business plans must address your mission and your vision for the company and when it wanders away from your company’s foundational principles, the downward spiral begins.
Categories of Training
Back to the original question, when is it the right time for training? Training entails everything about the business. Just a list of a few things that define training needs are:
- – HR Policies
- – Product Quality
- – Customer Service
- – Safety
- – Health
- – Manufacturing Standards
- – Administrative Standards
- – Company Vision & Mission Statement
- – Federal, State & International Compliance Laws
- – Performance Metrics
- – Work Instructions
- – Workplace Organizational Standards
- – Equipment Maintenance and Wellness
- – EVERY TIME A FAILURE OR PROBLEM OCCURS IS A TRAINING MOMENT
Timing is Everything
The bottom-line response to “when is the right time for training” is TODAY and TOMORROW. Never stop training. It needs to be a continuous process to constantly maintain a workforce that is up-to-speed with the latest trends and information moving the company sales. It is most important today due to the many businesses being tossed upside down due to COVID, government mandates, inflation, employment, supply chain shortages or delays, etc. Problems constantly need to be addressed and new/revised processes must be established to ensure the highest quality, best delivery, zero defects, and exceptional customer satisfaction are achieved, no matter what business you are in. New technologies are being introduced at the speed of light and your organization’s survival depends upon keeping up with all aspects of continuous improvement and training is the key to all your deliveries. Do it today.
pverschaeve@surefoundationsllc.com