When talking with top producing telecom agents over the years, I hear the same story over and over. “Growing my telecom business is MUCH harder than I thought it would be.”
If you’ve ever read The e-Myth by Michael Gerber (which I HIGHLY recommend any small business owner read), you’ll learn that every small business owner runs into the same problems. Telecom business ownership is not all fun and games. As you grow, small problems become HUGE. Huge problems then become gargantuan problems, and so on.
So how do you grow a company sustainably? The best companies that grow effectively over time utilize a 5 step approach in everything they do. EVERYTHING. Those companies experiencing constant growing pains (and thus profitability pains), are almost always systematically missing out on one of these 5 steps.
The Five Essential Steps for Growing Your Telecom Business
- Goals: Everyone knows about goals. The Gurus teach goal-setting ad nauseum. Everyone likes to set goals because all it really takes is some imagination and some ambition. Most companies do goal-setting reasonably well, especially those run by experienced sales persons.
- Strategy: Make a plan, and go after it. Simple. Most companies do this well too.
- Accountability: This is where most companies begin to break down. At your company, is more than one person accountable for the same task? Does your company utilize job descriptions? Do employees know what they are accountable for? Do you have regularly scheduled evaluations with employees? If not, your telecom company may be a bit chaotic.
- Measuring and Monitoring: If it can’t be measured, it can’t be improved. Sales targets are easy to measure. What about customer service levels? What about operational efficiencies? What about employee morale? Turnover? etc. If you are not measuring every level of your telecom business, you are probably operating extremely inefficiently…and are losing money as a result.
- Consequences: This is the big one that most telecom business owners drop the ball on. If the goals are not achieved,…
- …because the strategies are not implemented…
- …and the right person(s) is/are held accountable…
- …because his/their activity has been measured…
- …are there any negative consequences as a result?
Be it verbal reprimand, pay cuts, lost bonuses, demotions, public embarrassment, or any number of other negative consequences., without this final step, the entire system falls apart. Of course positive consequences for positive results should also be implemented (i.e. promotions, bonuses, pats on the back, public recognition, etc.). Positive consequences are just as important as negative consequences.
Your telecom company growth doesn’t have to be painful. In fact, it can be quite an exhilarating ride. The quicker you learn, and incorporate the five step model in your company business, the quicker you will alleviate your headaches, and dramatically increase your profit margins.
