Policies, Procedures and Processes

Top Ten Ways to Improve Your Business

Chris Anderson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:08:45 +0000

If you are in business long enough you will learn a few things about running a business. Over the years I have run a few businesses and have found 10 ways to improve any business. Some of it may sound like common sense but unless it happens to you, you may not be thinking about it much.

First on the list is…

Improve your accounting data. Cash is the lifeblood of any business. Start improving your business by understanding your cash flows. What products generate most of your profits and therefore your cash? Develop daily, monthly and yearly accounting forecasts. Ensure your data is timely and available in real time so you can respond to changes quickly. Charting your data is one of the seven quality tools. Consider charting your data to look for trends and then take action on those trends.
Price your products and services more appropriately. Pricing is not easy. Whole books are produced on pricing products. But there are some simple rules of thumb. Raise prices on your high quality items and lower prices on your low quality items. The idea is to focus on customer value not your cost of production. If your items are high quality then say it with your price. Don’t be afraid to raise your prices on those items that your customers really like and lower prices on the items they don’t like. If you are not sure what your customers value, then ask them and they will tell you.
Hire the “right” people. Focus your employee hiring process on hiring great attitudes not personalities. Great people are performers that demonstrate results. Look past skills on a resume and look for great accomplishments. Remember, good is the enemy of great so hire great people not people that are good enough.
Fire the “wrong” people. If you have made a mistake then don’t be afraid to fire someone that is not working out. If it’s not working out you will know it in the first 90 days, so end it now. Don’t wait for improvement in your finances or their attitude. Firing should be done sooner rather than later. Nobody likes to do fire others, but your business health is more important.
Develop standards. Products have requirements and so does your business. Define what “great” is for every job or process that is critical to your business. Start with a process map and then create policies and procedures for each job or process and use them. Benchmark your competition and set a higher standard for yourself.
Implement controls. Controls start with clearly defined objectives for every job or process that link back to your accounting system and the forecast. Take time to understand what can go wrong and work to prevent it from happening. Develop warning flags to indicate when things are going wrong.
Focus. A working management strategy requires focus. Focus on the one thing that will make you great. Budget your resources to grow your star opportunities and starve your problem poor performers. Basically, get everything out of the way of your star opportunities.
Improve your sales process. Sales is a contact sport so make sure you are getting out in front of your customers often. Build relationships with customers so they buy again, and again. If your revenues are not growing then you are not selling.
Understand your marketplace better. The marketplace is not static so expect it to change. Understand what’s changing in your marketplace and either change with it or be changed by it. Pay attention to what your marketplace needs and give it to them before your competition does.
Build a strong brand. Your brand leads the business. A filing brand leads to a failing business Marketing, vision and strategy are key elements of building a strong brand. Once your brand is built, maintain your brand and what it means by following the other nine points above. Don’t let your brand suffer or else your business will suffer too.

There you have it. 10 ways to improve your business for the new year. Don’t delay. Get started today by ordering policies and procedures in MS-Word templates.

Top Ten Ways to Improve Your Business

Improve your accounting data.
Pricing your products and services more appropriately.
Hiring the “right” people.
Fire the “wrong” people.
Develop standards.
Implement controls.
Focus.
Improve your sales process
Build a strong brand.
Understand your marketplace better.

Do You Have A Lean Competitive Advantage?

Chris Anderson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:49:08 +0000

Lean thinking has been popularized by companies like Toyota, Apple, Dell, and many others. But will practicing lean thinking produce a competitive advantage?

A lean competitive advantage comes from mastering lean. A few 5S Kaizen projects will not produce a competitive advantage. Lean mastery requires a dedication and discipline just like a professional sport, the Olympics, or a concert virtuoso. Most people do not want to put in the hard work that it takes to join the 1% club. Today the kids in America do not want to go into science and engineering because it is too hard. It is easier to move manufacturing to China than to implement lean mastery.

Lean is a path to world class status. It should be sold to your organization based on being the best and not based on saving some money on a project basis. People that are focused on being the best will do whatever it takes t and will receive the rewards that being the best delivers. People focused on money are involved in the politics of money, which is not what lean is about. Lean can save a few dollars, which is what the surveys show. But, saving a few dollars is not lean mastery. Dominating your industry is lean mastery and that is worth more than a few dollars.

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking class. If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you. ISO 9000 Quality Auditor classes are forming now for Internal Auditor. Call for information on having your own private in-house classes today.

What is OnPolicy?

Chris Anderson — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:00:28 +0000

OnPolicy FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions about OnPolicy

1. Is OnPolicy strictly a document manager or does OnPolicy come with Bizmanualz’s policies and procedures?
OnPolicy is document management software that can be purchased stand alone or with Bizmanualz policies and procedures Word templates.

a. Is Bizmanualz’s policy and procedure library available as a bulk document purchase? Can one buy all the forms at one time?
When you buy the OnPolicy Library you will receive all Bizmanualz documents preloaded into OnPolicy or you can purchase any of Bizmanualz products and we can load your purchase into OnPolicy.

b. Can one buy individual policies and procedures as the company develops them?
Individual procedures are available at PoliciesandProcedures.com for purchase anytime.

2. Can the blank policy and procedures documentation be posted to OnPolicy at one time (bulk document purchase) and then downloaded for revision and branding?
OnPolicy manages a document revisions, approvals, and releases.

3. Will OnPolicy notify the administrator when a document has been approved or being edited?
Users may be assigned to editing workflow, which will send you an email when the document is ready for review, approval or release.

4. How much customization is allowed for the company branding?
Your company name will appear on the screen at the top left so your employees know that they are logged into the right place. This name can be changed by your administrator.

5. Does OnPolicy have a transaction log?
All unreleased documents maintain a detailed transaction log of every edit session, including a copy of each document edited. Released documents contain released transaction data.

6. Does OnPolicy meet minimum record keeping requirements for compliance purposes?
OnPolicy was designed to conform to ISO document control quality standards, which are the basis for most compliance purposes.

7. Does the required reading function provide a notification that the employee has read the content and signed off on the document?
A transaction log is maintained listing every employee and their read date.

8. What is the cost of OnPolicy?
Monthly OnPolicy Pricing is about $3 to $4 per person and varies depending on the number of total users. Quantity discounts apply for large installations. A 25-uesr system starts at $990 per year.

9. Is OnPolicy Web-based?
OnPolicy is a Software as a Service (Saas) product, which means that it is fully web based and executes on Bizmanualz servers. You are paying for usage like a utility.

a. If yes, how is information kept secure?
Security measures are built in to ensure that your data is seen only by you.

b. Would anyone lose information if the company no longer exists?
If the application became unavailable, for whatever reason, then all of the data could be fully exported so that you would not lose any data.

10. Please confirm that Microsoft word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Adobe pdf’s are all acceptable documents to add to OnPolicy.
Many file types are supported including native integration of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and most other file types (extensions) like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Lotus123, QuatroPro, PDF, graphic formats, text formats, and html.

For more information about OnPolicy check out these links:

Do You Make These Ten Management Mistakes?

Chris Anderson — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:29:29 +0000

As a business executive, you face many difficult daily challenges like creating and dominating new markets or finding and keeping the best people. But then, like many executives, do you find yourself spending too much time solving everyday problems (that only you can solve, right?), which prevent you from growing your business and becoming a better manager? You may be making some of these management mistakes:

Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of your employees have heard of it or could explain it if asked?
Do you have a company mission that addresses your customer needs, yet your operations fail to measure your progress towards your mission?
Do your business objectives focus on increasing revenue and profitability, yet your assets are performing poorly, generating negative cash flows, or encumbered by debt?
Do you talk a lot about your employees (positive or negative) without noting what your employee turnover or performance metrics are for your industry?
Do you spend a lot of time working IN your business on tactics, yet fail to spend a greater amount of time working ON your business to define your strategy, performance metrics, and your standard operating procedures (SOP)?
Do you have regular interactions with employees, yet fail to communicate the status of objectives, financials, or metrics?
Do you make money available for employee training, yet fail to measure how that training helps your company achieve its goals?
Do you constantly strive to improve your company’s performance, yet fail to compare your performance against external benchmarks for success?
Do you believe that your customers, employees, and vendors all love your company, yet you have no objective process for measuring their satisfaction on a frequent basis?
Do you produce forecasts and budgets, yet fail to achieve the agreed upon goals or learn from the experience to improve in the future.

Daily operational issues consume a lot of your time as a manager — too much for most managers. Are you any different? But, wouldn’t you like to build a superior organization that has easier access to new markets, keeps your best people, increase revenue and increase your profit margins?

You now have an opportunity to provide your organization with the methods, tools, and training to achieve superior results. Bizmanualz has helped companies from all over the world build superior organizations with increased compliance, control, and customer satisfaction using standard operating procedures (SOP).

SOP Assistance is only a web click away to focus your company on meeting customer needs, measuring and managing the processes that fulfill those needs, and delivering the results that stakeholders, customers, and all involved demand from you.

Act now to prevent These Ten Management Mistakes from happening at your company. Start by taking advantage of Bizmanualz comprehensive collection of policies, procedures, and forms designed to drive your organization to the next level of performance. Check out the many fine free samples to find the best practices you can use to grow your business into the business you have always wanted.

Do You Make These Ten Management Mistakes?

As a business executive, you face many difficult challenges like creating and dominating new markets or finding and keeping the best people. But then, like many executives, do you find yourself spending too much time solving everyday problems (that only you can solve, right?), which prevent you from growing your business and becoming a better manager? You may be making some of these management mistakes:

1. Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of your employees have heard of it or could explain it if asked?

2. Do you have a company mission that addresses your customer needs, yet your operations fail to measure your progress towards your mission?

3. Do your business objectives focus on increasing revenue and profitability, yet your assets are performing poorly, generating negative cash flows, or encumbered by debt?

4. Do you talk a lot about your employees (positive or negative) without noting what your employee turnover or performance metrics are for your industry?

5. Do you spend a lot of time working IN your business on tactics, yet fail to spend a greater amount of time working ON your business to define your strategy, performance metrics, and your standard operating procedures (SOP)?

6. Do you have regular interactions with employees, yet fail to communicate the status of objectives, financials, or metrics?

7. Do you make money available for employee training, yet fail to measure how that training helps your company achieve its goals?

8. Do you constantly strive to improve your company’s performance, yet fail to compare your performance against external benchmarks for success?

9. Do you believe that your customers, employees, and vendors all love your company, yet you have no objective process for measuring their satisfaction on a frequent basis?

10. Do you produce forecasts and budgets, yet fail to achieve the agreed upon goals or learn from the experience to improve in the future.

Daily operational issues can consume a lot of your time as a manager — too much for most managers. Are you any different? But, wouldn’t you like to build a superior organization that has easier access to new markets, keeps your best people, increase revenue and increase your profit margins?

Do You Make These Ten Management Mistakes?

Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of your employees have heard of it or could explain it if asked?
Do you have a company mission that addresses your customer needs, yet your operations fail to measure your progress towards your mission?
Do your business objectives focus on increasing revenue and profitability, yet your assets are performing poorly, generating negative cash flows, or encumbered by debt?
Do you talk a lot about your employees (positive or negative) without noting what your employee turnover or performance metrics are for your industry?
Do you spend a lot of time working IN your business on tactics, yet fail to spend a greater amount of time working ON your business to define your strategy, performance metrics, and your standard operating procedures (SOP)?
Do you have regular interactions with employees, yet fail to communicate the status of objectives, financials, or metrics?
Do you make money available for employee training, yet fail to measure how that training helps your company achieve its goals?
Do you constantly strive to improve your company’s performance, yet fail to compare your performance against external benchmarks for success?
Do you believe that your customers, employees, and vendors all love your company, yet you have no objective process for measuring their satisfaction on a frequent basis?
Do you produce forecasts and budgets, yet fail to achieve the agreed upon goals or learn from the experience to improve in the future.

They Laughed When I Took Over, But When Profits Rose!

Chris Anderson — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:34:01 +0000

Up until two months ago, I had never managed anyone else. Now I was in charge.

I was afraid I would worsen the mess the company was already in. Employees scrambled to respond to executives commands. Nobody knew what was expected of them, they complained of not having the materials to do their jobs and they couldn’t get their bosses attention.

I could sense the danger our company was in. Some talked of quitting. To the amazement of all my friends, I was now in charge.

“Can she really manage the company?” I heard an employees whisper. “No way!” John exclaimed. “She’s never managed anyone before in her life.”

Getting Organized

There were no plans or management expectations for any job. The company had been growing too quickly and there never seamed to be enough time to document anything. Managers wanted to hire 20 more employees but I didn’t want to throw people at the problem. We needed to get organized first.

We needed Standard Operating Procedures and an Employee Handbook explaining the company’s rules and programs. All positions needed job descriptions with clearly defined tasks, reports, and procedures. I spent the next few days searching for some kind of prewritten procedures. That’s when I found an interesting ad in AICPA’s Journal of Accountancy for a Policies and Procedures Manual. The ad discussed how to raise employee productivity while reducing common worker complaints.

How I Increased Profits

I then hit upon a plan. I would use a prewritten manual as a template and have each worker enter the procedures for their position. To get everyone on board, I would spend one morning each day training every department, explaining my expectations and the incredible value of having a Policy and Procedure Manual.

Imagine something in writing to refer to when someone is ill and you need to temporarily fill their position. A tool that enables everyone to do more than just their job. A tool that frees people to take stress free vacations.

Now you can rest assured that every task at every position is covered. Sixty days later, each department had their own Policy and Procedure Manual drafted. This rough draft alone was worth its weight in gold.

We’re Organized now. Profits are rising. Employees are focused. We didn’t need 20 more employees right away. Instead I see executives smiling in the hallways – laughing with their employees. I see the stress lifted and it feels good knowing I made a difference.

Transform Any Business

Business Policies and Procedures

This story is all too familiar for most companies. Yet you too can transform your business with more productive, happier employees — in half the usual time. The Business Policies and Procedures Sampler has shown thousands of CEOs, CFOs and other executives how to create more profits from their business operations.

You don’t need special “talent” either. Just read the list of departments in the panel, decide which one needs to be more productive and let the Business Policies and Procedures Sampler do the rest. And bear in mind no matter which one you choose the cost is less than a cup of coffee. Even if you are already an excellent manager, you’ll be interested in this system for quickly developing policies, procedures, and forms.

Now On Sale for 50% Off

If you are sincere about wanting to increase the profits of your business — and you really want happier, more productive employees — order at once The Business Policies and Procedures Sampler. You will save $300 and receive 110 procedures, 124 supporting forms, and other supporting Word files that explain how to write procedures and use the manual. You will receive this extensive set of policies, procedures and forms noted in the box on the right.

No-Risk 30-day Money-Back Guarantee

Act now before it’s too late to gain the benefits of this special offer. If you’re not completely satisfied then return it within 30-days for a full refund. How can you lose? Start practicing how to Manage by Procedures by ordering the Office Procedures Bundle that is now on sale for 50% off during the month of December.

10 Considerations to Communicating with your Boss

Chris Anderson — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:02:10 +0000

Communicating with authority figures make many people nervous. Your boss holds the power over your performance reviews, salary reviews, and future work assignments. Don’t be intimidated by all that authority. Your business communications can be improved. You just need to understand your boss and what they expect from you when you do communicate. You don’t have to be nervous if you keep these ten simple ideas in mind.

10 Considerations to Communicating with your Boss

Keep your boss informed. Your boss doesn’t like surprises. If something bad has happened, its better they find out from you now then from someone else later. If you want a better boss then keep them informed.
Meet with your boss frequently. It’s important to keep your boss updated on your progress, good and bad news, and what you might need help with in the future. If you are struggling with an assignment or have finished early, let the boss know (see point 1).
Get your facts straight. Opinions are not what the boss needs. Management has a lot of their own opinions and if they want yours they will ask for them. What management needs is unarguable objective evidence. Subjective information will only weaken your argument.
Be prepared. Think about what questions your boss may ask you and make sure you have researched the answers. Not having the answers available when you are talking to your boss is wasting their time (see point 5).
Don’t waste the boss’s time. Keep updates short and to the point. Explain the “bottom line”. If you need something, be specific. Saying “I need help” is undefined. Instead say “I need [specific person’s name] help for 4 hours on this project. The boss likes to make informed decisions and quick calculations of the impact. To increase your productivity, try to increase your boss’s productivity too.
Don’t oversell. Once the boss has said yes, stop talking and say thank you. If you keep explaining the reasons why, your boss may discover that your reasoning is faulty and take back the resource they just gave you. After all, you got what you wanted so leave happy.
Focus on solutions. We all have problems. Your boss has big problems. So you do not want to add to their problems do you? Instead, offer your solution. Support your solution with the facts and how the problem is solved with your resource request.
Don’t get mad at the boss! You may not understand it but your boss has a lot of different pressures to work under. Your proposal may be the best solution given the information you have but the boss has additional information or political battles to fight that do not have to be explained to you right now.
Feedback from the boss is not criticism. You may not like it but there is some truth somewhere in the feedback you call criticism. Use the feedback to devise solutions and not to offer excuses. Even if you think you are in the right, your message is not getting communicated to the boss clearly. Fix the communication and turn the criticism into corrective action. All feedback is good feedback so use it to improve your performance.
Observe the chain of command. Going over your boss’s head to their boss can be dangerous. Learn to pick your battles, observe the other nine communications points listed above, and be prepared for unintended consequences. If you feel you must go over their head, then make sure you inform your boss of what you are doing (see point 1 above).

Communicating with authority figures can be a lot easier if you plan ahead and consider it from your boss’s point of view. Your boss is not all that bad. Do you know anyone that has a boss? Then pass this article along to them so they can benefit too. Use the “like”, Tweet, +1 or share buttons to pass it on.

10 Considerations to Communicating with your Boss

Keep your boss informed.
Meet with your boss frequently.
Get your facts straight.
Be prepared.
Don’t waste the boss’s time.
Don’t oversell.
Focus on solutions.
Don’t get mad at the boss!
Feedback from the boss is not criticism.
Observe the chain of command.

Management by Procedures

Chris Anderson — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:35:43 +0000

Have you heard of Management by Objectives? It was first popularized by Peter Drucker in the 1950’s. This is basic goal setting, where you pick (or agree on with your employees) your objectives and then drive everyone to the result. Results are important, but so is keeping control of your organization. The problem with Management by Objectives is that we don’t want to become overly focused on the goals to the point where we begin to ignore the environment around us. What’s better than Management by Objectives?

How about Management by Walking Around? Management is a contact sport not an objective setting exercise. You have to get out into the field in order to see or “Check” what’s going on in your company (check is part of the Plan Do Check Act cycle of learning). Lean thinking managers naturally walk around to get ideas for new kaizen improvement events, to see the work being performed, and to understand if the right work is being performed. We call these Gemba Walks (Gemba is Japanese for the place where work happens). In a Gemba Walk you want to observe your processes in action and look for signs of lean waste that need to be removed.

Management by Procedures is how McDonalds or other successful franchises manage their business. You start by defining your process using a process map to build visual communication and understanding. Next, write down what needs to get done, by whom, and when. Then deploy and practice the procedure. Perfect the procedure until you have a consistent process just like a franchise would need to roll this out to hundreds of others.

Managing by procedures is not a paper exercise. It requires basic goal setting from the Management by Objectives crowd and also process checking from the Management by Walking Around group. What’s different is that you will have process documentation that includes a process map, policies, procedures, and objectives that are clearly posted. Systems are put in place to ensure your employees do not make mistakes. And as a manager, you are actively involved in making sure your systems are working.

A franchise is built with consistent procedures. Franchise owners are trained in the process and systems are put in place, by the franchise organization, to ensure that the franchise delivers the same consistent quality that the brand has built.

You too can start practicing how to Manage by Procedures by ordering the Office Procedures Bundle that is now on sale for 50% off during the month of December. You will save $300 and receive 110 procedures, 124 supporting forms, and other supporting Word files that explain how to write procedures and use the manual. You will receive this extensive set of policies, procedures and forms.

Easily editable policies and procedures for multiple departments:

Download a sample procedure template right now and see for yourself how this amazing bundle can help your business build greater consistency for success.

What Are The Top Ten Preventive Actions

Chris Anderson — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:24:37 +0000

There are two types of actions in an ISO 9001 Quality Management System: Corrective action and preventive action. Many people struggle with just what a preventive action looks like and how it differs from a corrective action. What’s funny about this discussion is how everyone tries to explain the difference as merely an interpretation of the words “occurrence” and “potential”.

For example, the ISO 9000:2005 definition states:

Corrective Action (Clause 3.6.5):
action to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity and its recurrence.

Preventive Action (Clause 3.6.4):
action to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity and its occurrence.

But does this really clear it up for anyone?

What’s the Difference between Corrective Action and Preventive Action?

Corrective action is performed on detected nonconformities. In other words, there are real defects that exist right now and action must be taken to stop them from ever happening again in the future. Most people get this and seem to understand the concept of real defects needing to be fixed—permanently, so they do not cause further aggravation. But what about preventive actions?

People seem to get hung up on what a potential nonconformity is and how do you prevent it from ever occurring in the first place? Potential defects are defects that could happen. I think a better description would be to call these risks. Everyone understands the concept of risk at some level. If we keep using a dull blade on a saw, then we are taking a risk because at some point that blade is going to break.

Using a dull blade is a bad business practice, right? So what other bad business practices are you using in your business that you should fix to prevent a bad outcome (nonconformity) from occurring? Potential nonconformities are all around us in every business. The question is, how do you find potential nonconformities? The best way to find them is to look for them using common quality tools.

Top Ten Preventive Actions

Analyze process or product characteristics for negative trends that, if left alone, could drift into a nonconformity. Such analysis can be documented into a control plan.
Install alarms to warn you when your process is drifting into a nonconformity. Statistical process control charts provide excellent alarms.
Review nonconformances found in similar processes, products, or companies for ideas that could be applied to your business. Benchmarking similar companies is great for brainstorming preventive actions.
Perform risk analysis to uncover latent hazards. Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a great tool for process risk analysis.
Implement lean thinking to eliminate wastes, which are obvious signals of latent causes of future defects.
Establish more rigorous training programs to continuously improve your employee’s skills. Regular training introduces new ideas into your organization that can be sources of innovation that prevent nonconformities.
Introduce disaster recovery, security, and contingency plans for unpredictable situations, hazards, or safety conditions.
Set up preventive maintenance & calibration control programs to ensure your equipment is always safe, available, and performing optimally.
Begin supplier surveillance audits to assist your supply chain in delivering quality product to you consistently.
Analyze your process capabilities to create a foundation for improvement. Use Capability Maturity Model (CMM) or Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) for inspiration.

What preventive actions do you take in your business to eliminate defects BEFORE they occur?

Top Ten Customer Expectations That Drive Service Nonconformances

Chris Anderson — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:01:48 +0000

If your background is in manufacturing, it can be difficult understanding what a “service” nonconformance can look like. If you are not sure what it is, then it is even harder understanding how to document a “service” nonconformance. If you’re having trouble documenting any kind of nonconforming condition, it most likely means that your customer requirements aren’t clear. After all, manufacturing defects are pretty obvious right?

In manufacturing we know what a defect is. Good products are made to specifications and therefore meet customer requirements. A good product meets the intended purpose, has the right dimensions, and is what was ordered. The product does not break when used. It is free from dents, scratches, or material blemishes. The product should be clean, safe, and doesn’t make the customer think. It should just work…

We see product defects. They are pretty obvious. So why can’t we see service defects?

Manufacturers also have service requirements. The product must be delivered on time. If it does fail in the field, then timely support should be available to fix the problem. Many products are sold on credit (a service). Some even install, train and maintain the product, an obvious service requirement.

But what about customer service?

That’s right, it is a service too. The customer expects a manufacturer to take the order correctly, to understand the customers business enough to know what the product is being ordered to do in the field. Customers also expect to interact with friendly and polite personnel that understand that the client’s time is valuable.

Yet, many manufacturing organizations only seem to think in terms of product or material defects even though there are apparent service requirements in every business. Nonconformances are not only about product failures. In today’s world, many companies are assembling and integrating components (a service) more that manufacturing them from scratch. We are realizing that we are actually more of a service economy than a manufacturing economy. So we need to start understanding our service failures to start tracking our service nonconformances.

Services contain many implied requirements based on your industry, which defines your customer’s expectations. Failing to deliver upon the clients expectations might produce customer complaints and would constitute a Service Nonconformance. Perhaps you receive feedback from your customers when an expectation is not met. Customer feedback for corrective action is more than complaints. So what are the top ten customer expectations that lead to a service nonconformance?

Top Ten Customer Expectations That Drive Service Nonconformances

Friendly, polite interactions with an understanding that the client’s time is valuable.
Work hours convenient to the customer.
Timely delivery, interactions and repairs to prevent delays which affect the customer’s schedule.
Competent staff that don’t make errors, omissions or just plain poor assumptions.
No Rework, resubmission, repeating, or repairs.
No Unauthorized changes to projects, schedules, plans, prices, specifications, materials, etc.
Compliance with established policies, procedures, specifications or Quality Assurance Plans.
No hidden costs, cost overruns (which result from all other failures), or cost surprises.
Knowledge of the market, who the customer is, what they want, and how much they will pay.
You say what you do and you do what you say.

What is a Service Nonconformance?

In general, any problem related to interactions, delivery, quality, schedule, or budget. Failing to meet customer expectations is a service nonconformance. Does the customer really have to tell you that they want you to answer the phone, deliver a product that works, and fits within the budget of the target customer? This is basic service and any manufacturing company should be practicing basic service more and more to survive in today’s service based economy.