101 Ways to Double Your Profits: February 2007

Intro 101 ways to double your profits.

When I started thinking of ways to double your profits it easily broke down into

Reduce your overheads or costs
Raise your prices
Increase the sales turnover.

These three things panic people, as most of us can give 101 reasons why in our particular trade or business we cannot do those things.

We claim these are all things beyond our control!

The biggest claim that I hear is "I’m working as hard as I can already". This is a self justifying statement. If you claim they are not, you are impugning their integrity and somehow claiming they are lazy or incompetent.
I then came across a fourth area that can be addressed without touching any of the others. If people are working at their hardest doing whatever they are doing why are then not making outstanding profits.
I then designed the section System and Method.
None of us are using the best possible system of work or using the best possible methods. If we did our job as well as it was possible to do it then surely profits would flow from that.
My contention is that we do not have to work any harder if we really are working as hard as we can. We need to adopt the best possible system and method of doing the work. That I believe on its own could double our profits without any of the traditional things being done such as increasing price ext.
The main reason we have constant interruptions and are dealing with problems it that we have not done the job properly in the first place.
All this is easy to expound but what will enable us to get there. The answer is becoming less emotional about what we do. That does not mean we should not be passionate about getting it right but we expend too much energy on wasted emotion.
It is all a question of taking rejection. Like a salesman we must be able to take a lot of rejection. I have had some of my best years every but I still have some clients who are demanding and unreasonable and cannot believe how successful I am. They only see their case and have no idea what you are doing the rest of the time.
They are entirely selfish in their demands. They do not care whether you are the best salesman, the highest fee earner, and the most efficient practitioner in your area. They want their job done now.
So if you cannot face raising prices, reducing costs or increasing your sales turnover concentrate on the first section of this book. Those in itself will double your profits.
There are 101 suggestions if you use one a week you will have two years worth or ideas. If you do one a month you will have over eight years worth of ideas.
A handful of these ideas will enable you to achieve your goals and they can all be revisited.
None of them are original but a bit like the advice on losing weight i.e. eat less move around more, all you have to d o is carry it out.
I watched Village of the Damned and the alien children could read minds, once one learnt something all twelve knew it. One of them said to his father if you had no emotion like us you could be as powerful as us.
So do not accept rejection do not take it personally. This is the road map all you have to do is keep taking the steps.
Good luck
A recent report in The McKinsey quarterly (2006 No3) said mangers should focus on a few things to create actual improvements.
They need to do three things:
Develop accountability by providing clear roles within a structure that suits the organizations needs

Give direction by communicating an inspiring vision of the future:
Building a working environment that encourages openness, trust, and challenge
Each of these practices works best in relation to a specific outcome but applied in combination they achieve much more dramatic results.

It is just as interesting to see what does not work as these are popular management methods

Carrot and stick motivation as a means of encouraging staff retention
Using key performance indicators, performance contacts and similar mechanisms to improve accountability.
Directing employee’s efforts using command and control leadership
Relying on a detailed strategy or plan to set out the company’s direction
See www. Mckinseyqualrterly.com

1. Getting emotional/ don’t take rejection personally

We are brought up on a diet of criticism from childhood. This is usually given to us by adults who we think know better than us.
It can cripple us as it feeds into our main fear which is a fear of failure. I have failed and I am well aware of what the critics did for me in my hour of need, nothing. I had to use my own personal emotional resources to get out of the mire.
The most common criticism is when you come up with an idea is that they say "If it is such a good idea why is everyone not doing it".
I have analysed that question and have asked people who they personally know who is successful and what they are doing. The answer is very few of us know anyone who is successful. I am convinced that the reason the vast majority of us do not become successful is that we lack commitment and are averse to hard work or being persistent.
Try and study anyone you know close up and you will see how much down time they have from their lives or their commitment. It is not a criticism if their intention is to enjoy life that is fine. It is the hypocrisy of them giving the impression that they are constantly working and striving towards some goal. If they do not succeed they give reason of the economy bad luck, people have it in for them etc.
It is best not to try and change the world just concentrate on yourself that will be more than a life time’s work. Become strong emotionally to criticism and rejection.
At the time of writing I have beaten all my previous years’ financial targets and I could take the next three months off in the certain knowledge that none of my work partners have a hope of even matching me let alone beating me.
That knowledge bolsters my self esteem and should make me immune to criticism. It is a strong base on which to build.
We expend too much time thinking about or regretting minor set backs. It is a waste of effort and self destructive.
As my mother would say ‘Rise above it’.

2.Managing or Leading?

It is commented that I work in a different way than my colleagues. They do all the work they do not delegate they dictate every word of every letter, write out slips for cheques requisitions, write money transfer orders by hand. Work out on a piece of paper the financial statements. They have no standardised systems of letters.
Every piece of paper that emanates from their desk is hand built and hand crafted. This combined with insufficient hours at their desk and a poor working method results in low productivity.
Were you to visit them in their offices you would be convinced that they are the highest fees earners in the firm Their desks are covered in paper work, working when their clients piling up to see them, letters unanswered, phone calls unreturned.
You would admire their sheer work rate.
Unfortunately it is mainly wasted effort. They do not have the courage to manage their staff. By treating a secretary as a typist who will only do what you tell her to do you are slowing down your productivity considerably.
It stops them having to train anyone. They do not have to trust anyone. In short they do not have to manage.
You not only have to manage someone you have to lead them. By leading you have to show some sort of ability to-do the job efficiently. When they come to you, you need to know all the answers and take that answer forwards.
If any of my staff do not know the answer I will tell them in detail where to find it. If they run into difficulty with letters, talking to clients, I will take it over immediately to help them. They will not be left floundering with vague instructions.
Leading is also about being in the office on time and not leaving before everyone else. It is not about doing longer hours than anyone else. You can leave two minutes later but try not to knock every one over by getting into the car park first.
Leading is about people being proud of you representing the firm.
Leading is about being approachable and not grumpy or unhelpful is someone asks you a question.
Leading is making sure the job is done before you go home. Carrying on with the work to the bitter end and making sure that there are no loose ends.
If someone is on the phone, or arrives in person and is in a complaining mood, a leader will immediately take the call or have the person escorted into their office. That person will finish the conversation with either, an abject apology and an offer of recompense or the matter will be being dealt with.
Responsibility like that should not ever be place on the staff.
As Lt Chard at Rorkes Drift as depicted in Zulu ‘as it is a heavy responsibility and you are on your own when you become the leader. Don’t expect help from anyone else. After all that is why you are getting paid more than anyone else’.

Lieutenant John Chard: You didn't say a thing to help, Bromhead. Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead: Well, when you take command, old boy, you're on your own. One of the first things that the general - my grandfather - ever taught me.

In a nutshell they want to take the money but not the responsibility, if it all goes wrong they blame the staff. The staff are a reflection the leaders that have made them. They are interchangeable Look at any industry or business that is suffering difficulties then look at their leaders. Good leaders lead good staff and create good profits.
Just think what great leaders could do.

3. Tidying your office - keep it tidy

What I mean by this is the working part of your office. When I first started all of 34 years ago we did not have the technology that we have now. As a result certain members of my profession used to have a lot of paper in their office mainly unfiled and all over the floor.
It was a matter of macho honour that they would boast how they knew where everything was and they were happy working in this mess.
The opposite of this is having no papers on your desk at all. I have also been waiting for the paperless office. I am sure it is out there somewhere but I haven’t seen it.
Like the work itself you need to keep a tough attitude towards filing and paper. It has to be kept under control. ]
I regard it as a paper war and it is a war or attrition. The last person left standing wins.
Because of our numerous methods of communication the non filers now have the excuse and keep asking for extra copies. It is not a pr0oblem if you file the original because you an e mail them or fax them or post them again.
I have running battles with certain organisation who feel they can play for time or wear me down by asking for further copies. I take a totally unemotional approach and say that I will keep sending them copies until they give in.
You need to have a good system to start with. Do not delegate responsibility for filing if necessary do a lot of it yourself.
If may be regarded as a mundane task but it is worth it. Your letters and correspondence the crown jewels look after them.
I have two waste papers bins and I fill them most days. Every time I leave my office I take something with me. Every time I get up I move something from A to B and never go anywhere empty handed. It only scratched the surface but I keep on top of the vital matters.
I have never seen anyone who has been efficient survive an untidy office also I have never seen anyone who has a totally clear office be efficient either. As in all things moderation.
The answer is somewhere in the middle the vital signs have to be tidy and the rest is optional.
The Japanese of course have been there before us, and they have what is known as the 5 S’s. These translate to:

1. Sort
2.Straighten (orderliness)
3.Shine ( cleanliness)
4.Standardise (create rules)
5.Sustain ( Self discipline)

The first thing that foreigners notice when visiting Japanese factories is how clean they were. They use this as a process of eliminating waste, which contribute to error, defects and injuries in the work place.
If you sort, and keep only what is needed, straighten everything out, keep everything in the right place. By cleaning up and shining the place it acts as a form of inspection. Standardising by creating rules it develops a system to keep the first three sorted straightened and in shining order.
Sustain or self discipline keeping the place for continuous improvement

4. Doing your To do list- just three things

Even on my day off I have a to do list. I only put a maximum of five things on there, I then work my way through it. It is a very satisfying experience and you feel you have made progress.
I get all the usual excuses oh I have too many things to put on my to do list and even if I did put things on I get so many interruptions that I can’t get them done. As soon as the phones go I have people chasing me and demanding that I do things.
Again I have never seen any of these people succeed. Yes we have a certain amount of interruptions but if we have a framework of what we are supposed to be doing today it gives you a structure.
Also perhaps all these people interrupting you are forcing on you their agenda and not you’re won. If you take on any work that comes through the door you might be subject to constant interruptions.
I gave up doing small unremunerative matters because found that they gave me the largest number or phone calls for the least amount of money.
Do not go home until you have done you three most important things or al lest moved them on. Tomorrow put them back on your list and does the same again.
If they are still on your list a month later either you are incapable of doing the job or you need external help. If the job is beyond you are you wish you had never taken it on admit it and get rid of it even if you lose money on the deal.
If you need external help then get that help. I have had some insurmountable problems over the last year. All of them were resolvable and I took appropriate advice to move them on
Now all my problems are day to day problems and I know how to deal with them I just have not got round to doing them They are however on my to do list. They will not go of the list until they have been dealt with.

The three things on your list have to be the toughest things that must be dealt with today.
My current to-do list has one thing that has been bugging me for a couple of weeks. I have the excuse that Christmas came in the way. I can back out of the job entirely if I want to with a slight loss of face but no t to anyone that matters. It is purely a business decision.
The other is on behalf of a friend and is costing him money until I resolve it.
The other is one is something that I have to arrange for tomorrow so cannot be put off.
Two of them will be resolved in a few days and the other needs direct action by me. No amount of excuses is going to cut any ice with any of those, they need to be done
Nothing goes on my list until all three of those have at least been decided on. It is easy to keep stuffing the list with more things and dealing with all the easy ones. This then looks good as you can say but I have done 80 per cent of the items on my list,
The problem is the three that need to be done do not get done. We then become irritable and defensive. But I have been working as hard as possible. Yes you have doing the less important things and making yourself look very busy in deed.
So it is doing the right things in the right order.

5. Daily- to do list

Each day either last thing at night or first ting put down your three most important items, it has to be daily if you are taking matters seriously.
Every day is a gift and do not waste it. Even if you leave the routine matters every day they will al become urgent but not important.
I cannot take seriously a certain number of my clients who I send statements to at the end of transactions. Then during the month of January when the deadline of 31 January start asking me basic question such as how much they paid for their property, when did it complete, how much is there mortgage etc. These people are in business and this is their main residence. How are they running their business?
I am no saint but I collect all my financial paperwork in once file and forward to it to my account a few months before the deadline.
If there are too many things on your to do list that should have been done months ago then you are using the wrong method. As you daily to do list gets done these incidents will be less and less.
Also if your daily to do list becomes easier and easier you will then have time to deal with the crisis’s that come up. That is things that the most well organized have overlooked.

6. Weekly-to do list

Each Monday morning my secretary prints out my weekly work diary. This has the effect of reminding me what needs to be achieved by Friday.
It allows an overview of the whole week. Things that are happening on Friday need to be thoroughly checked on Wednesday not on Friday. Two days grace is plenty of time to resolve most cock ups.
You can then arrive at Friday safe in the knowledge that as far as possible thing are in hand.
Also all the surprise things that you had forgotten about can be reviewed such as appointments you need to prepare for lunches you had booked can be taken into account.
I am now using the Google Calendar which has the advantage that all my secretaries can look at the same calender and put in appointments and make changes and we are all looking at the same document. Previously we run separate calendars. That has the habit of breaking down. It becomes very difficult to run two systems side by side. Something is going to get missed.
We put so many brought forward that we try to eliminate the possibility of mistakes.
Nothing goes out of the brought forward system until it has been finally resolves.
We have two back up systems which is the accounts which will show if there is any money outstanding in the system, a physical check of the files.
The ultimate back up system which you do not want to rely on and is embarrassing when it happens is when other people contact you or the client themselves phone and ask what is going on.
The idea is to be one step ahead of the clients that is what they are paying you for your expertise in doing the job.

7. Monthly -to do list

It gets more difficult the longer the period. The daily to do list is those matters that have to be done today.
The monthly to do list obviously includes those things that are in the diary for that month. All your appointments need to be covered. You have time to prepare the paperwork.
I am as guilty as the next person but I now try to

1 Make sure I know where the venue is
2 How do I get to the venue?
3 What do I need when I get there?
4 Take everybody’s phone numbers in case of emergencies
5 Contact everyone the day before to double check it is in their diaries and that things are still going ahead.

You cannot prepare too much. It avoids a lot of embarrassment things go wrong. You will also save the embarrassment of the others going to the meeting if you have reminded them and they have forgotten.
If you can avoid the meeting and settle before hand try and do so. Right up to the last minute.
All deadlines should be in the diary and false deadlines. Better to review the file today to see if you should be doing things in the meantime. This is a job you can delegate to your secretary to read the last few letters to make sure noting has been missed. Once she has done it you must check she has it right. No point turning up at the venue with the wrong papers as the wrong place and blaming your secretary. Yours is the ultimate responsibility.

Monthly to do lists should also start to work on more fundamental matters such as

1. Clear a certain number of outstanding accounts
2. Move dead files out of the current system
3. Chase up a few recalcitrant clients who have not paid.
4. Bill matters that have gone temporality quiet. This usually either results in payment or more instructions to move the matter on.

I have no more than three overall aims for the month. They may be the same aims each month but they are background activities that must be achieved and not left indefinitely.
Try to treat the beginning of each month as a new beginning so as to re launch you for that month.
It is very easy to become complacent and think it is ok to work on years or quarters. Monthly reviews and relaunches will resolve most problems before they arrive.

8. Setting goals - six months goals

This is more strategic thinking. I have all my personal goals stuck to my fridge.

They are for public consumption and are about doing things around the house.

Each item in itself may be quite small but by putting it in the programme it gets thought about and looked at.
If it is decorating type jobs a copy goes to my handyman and he puts that into his programme so that he is aware of what we are thinking.

He is allowed to bring them forward or let them slip by a month or so.

If they are not done they go into the next programme.

By publishing and making them public they will be done.

For your work goals they can be such things as buy a new computer, redecorate office, send someone on a training course, improve account gathering etc.

Noting is too small or too big to go on the list. Just six spread over six months.

I don’t tend to refer back to it until I need to write another one. I am always amazed how many we have achieved. Some become redundant as things move on or become impossible to do because the task was too big. Best to keep it to smaller achievable tasks.

I have been doing this for about the last two and half years and using this method alone I have made amazing strides. I know now what I am doing roughly for the next six months. Again it is not a strait jacket but a plan. It can be changed but gives you peace of mind that things are getting done when you review your year.

I get everyone in on the process; everyone can have some in input. In fact insist that they give you art least three ideas of what they would like to see happen. That includes all the staff and your partners.

9.Telling people your Goals

Goal setting is a controversial subject. The knowledgeable will tell you that they have a goal or a set of goals but they have not written it down. It is all in their head. They can then keep it secret. This is because of fear of failure or being shown up in front of other people.

When I started I was subject to a certain amount of ridicule.

This has died down as they now know that I am achieving the goals that I have set. Also if they get too clever I ask to see their goals or for them to tell me what they achieved last year. They soon change the subject. The answer is of course nothing.

10. Planning your work ,work your plan

In the past we worked in agriculture and how we worked was controlled by the seasons and the farmer. There was very little area of choice. You did exactly what you were told in the ways that you were trained.

We then moved into factories. Again the work was organised to fit the machinery and the way the bosses wanted the work done.

We now work in offices and on computers. Our work load is dictated by the various communication methods. Some say as a result we have little choice in the way we do the work.
When I started everyone seemed to pretty well do what they wanted. In all the offices I worked in for the first few years there was no recognisable method of doing the work. We received letters and we answered them. There were no real guidelines as to what we were supposed to be covering.

I remember there was an investigation and one of our files was looked at. The recommendation was that we should take file notes of conversation that we had.

This is norm in the legal world for two reasons being to have a note of what has gone on filing purposes.

One of the senior officers expressed the view that we could not do things like that as otherwise our files would get too full. They relied on formal communications with the public by way of letter. Everything was ignored. This was convenient they took the view that the public would not be great letter writers. No complaint would be dealt with unless in writing so they had few complaints.
Also by not taking file notes they could say 'Oh we told them that when they appeared at our offices'.

When quizzed they would say 'oh it is our invariable practice to do that'.

Lawyers cannot rely on that argument as the governing bodies say that if there is any are of doubt then the client wins. This makes us a lot more cautious
In recent years there has been growth in the Best Practice industry. This has been a god send to the jobsworths as they will regale you with long letters or complicated procedures and say well that is our company policy.

We are also supposed to be user friendly. Things get launched such as money laundering regulations and everyone panics but we settle down to workable solutions

Most organisations can’t keep it up for long as they move on to some other scheme to annoy us.
We therefore have to have a workable working method. I have radically changed my method over the years.

I was rewarded by time at my desk. Therefore I would receive my post and studiously work through it in a chronologically order until it was all done. If anyone complained I would point to the mountains of dictating I had generated and shrugged.

The thoroughness that you did the job was reward in itself. You were not paid a bonus for completing the task, the only thing you could not do was not make mistakes.

You could then spend as much time as you liked dong the job. You could give reasons saying more needed to be done or it was the other sides fault. Productivity was the number of hours you did in the office and how busy you looked.
The rest of the time you make it very clear to people that you were very busy therefore very important.
Unless it was deemed you had made a mistake nobody commented on the quality of your work they were just happy that you were producing a lot of it and justifying the department’s budget.
If someone left and was not replaced then mysteriously that person’s work just disappeared. Some of it remained but very little... That person had generated all their own work
IN once of my first posts I did actually had to produce something and I fell behind for reason not within my control. It was deemed to be important work so I asked for a clerical assistant. This wish was granted.
I was then able to hand over all the donkey work to my clerical assistant who was very well qualified but had no ambition. I was then left to do more interesting work and take up activities that I enjoyed more.
I was the only nonentity in the building that had clerical assistant. It was a very powerful combination.
The only problem is a dead end job otherwise I would be there today. Even bigger nonentities than my self were getting promoted over my head so it could not last.
I as there four years but during that time I had not really learnt more than I had in the previously year of doing the same sort of job. I then had five years experience but that did not really give me enough experience for my next job.
My next job was a revelation and a trauma. I was asked to leave after the first six months as it was deemed that I was not up to the job, what had really happened was that I was in the deep end that no one was telling me what I was supposed to be doing.
I asked for a few months grace to prove myself and I turned it round to such as extent that I doubled my money in about a year.
It was a forced learning curve. I then planned everything I had to do and how I had to do it. I borrowed files and copied what other properly had done. I used as the best practice ideas I could muster.
I literally worked the plan every day until I got it right with the minimum number of mistakes.
Since then I make it a rule to try and buddy up with the best exponent of whatever is going on a and finding out how they are so successful you then adapt their method to yours. There is no point budding up to the also rans.
That period of learning set up and I have found everywhere I have been since a doddle by comparison. They were tough but fair. They paid very good money but they expected it to be done professionally. It was a very good training ground but too wearing to work there for ever.

11. Getting it First time right/ Deming’s 14 Points

12. If you take the calls you will get the business.

I never cease to be amazed how many people who advertise in the Yellow Pages and elsewhere are difficult to get hold of. I take all new business calls immediately. It is a great source of new work.
Taking the calls is one of the most effective methods of getting and retaining business. People are very impatient theses days; if you take the call as quickly as possible you have the opportunity of discussing their problem with them
Very likely you are the only person they have ever got through to.
It is your opportunity to impress them with your knowledge.
Listen to what they have to say, give them the benefit of your knowledge,
The next question is when you want to see me,
You then say either today if it is possible or some time tomorrow, it doesn’t matter how busy you are even if the backlog of work is almost preventing you form coming into your office, You will be offering them either today or tomorrow,
This reassures the client that you are on the ball and that they can unload the problem on to you as soon as possible, most people have put the problem off too long therefore if they can take the opportunity o of unloading as early was possible they are very relieved.
I get most of my business form taking the calls and arranging a very early appointment. It is fresh in the client’s minds and they will do something about it.
If you just resolved to dealing with all your incoming phone calls properly then you will pick up a lot of work. If they have taken the trouble to ring you then they are up for it and ready tot go.
They will even inmost cases forfeit the opportunity of phoning for alternative quotes because you have come across as professional.
If you don’t believe me trying phoning a handful of organisations and see if you can any sort of meaningful response let alone and appointment. The answer is a resounding no.
Most organisations I ring with a problem end up with me becoming frustrated and if I get through they ask me so many questions that the matter is not progressed
It is a case of oh well if you can’t answer those problems we cannot help you
With me bring the prom to me I know the answer and I will work toward resolving it. That’s my job. And by the way I will be billing you for it.

13. Making the calls – today

If you make the calls you get the business
An early business colleague of mine taught me all about marketing. I knew nothing about it apart from taking estate agents out to lunch. He had a simple process whereby we could talk to as many people as possible on a regular basis.
He gave me the phrase if you make the calls you get the business, it is keeping your name in front of people. It is the phone and face to face equivalent of sending everyone your CV. If you send enough of them someone will bite.
I am not a great call maker. It is one of the jobs I tend to delegate. It is because of sense of frustration. I get annoyed that if I phone people they are not available
E mails now suit me as I can tell them what it going on without wasting a letter and they seem more likely to read an email. It panders to their sense of being modern and cutting edge.
It is an invariable rule that those who boast they have an e mail, fax, landline and mobile phone are the most difficult to contact. They do not have what I have and that is up to seven people to answer the phone on at least four lines. ..
These are usually people who have been chasing me for information or movement on a transaction. They swear that this is the most important thing in their lives and when I phone they are not available.
Worse still they are available and I ask them to make a decision usually a minor decision and they can’t make it there and then
I lose faith in them and become demotivated. I then feel like putting their file to the bottom of the pile as they have misled me. I then have to return to my first point do not become emotional. Just move on mechanically.
Also If I phone them and tell them things aren’t working out as quickly as we had thought they then want a long conversation about the ins and outs of the case
I tell them as politely as possible that there is no point discussing it with me as I am trying to get the job done not hold a debate about the rights and wrongs. I wonder what types of jobs they have they have time to mull over constantly what is going on.
I feel people are not strong enough to deal with minor problems and set backs.
The good clients take my call immediately say yes and move on. The less organised dilly and dally and you can see why they are in the position they are in.
When it comes to hard decision making they cannot do it and start to delegate it to me. I then push a certain decision and then they back down under pressure.
I used to not chase people as I took the view I was doing my job and it was my job to chase estate agents or the clients or anyone else.
If they were keen to get the job done surely they would reply to my letters immediately.
I changed my philosophy entirely about a couple of years ago.
I now take the view everyone needs to be chased. Everyone is on my chase list and the list and chasing is relentless. They will be chased until the job is done.
I delegate that to one of my secretaries who chases all day long. It is very effective as people will ring back and we can move things on. It is one of the prime ways that we have doubled our profits. Relentlessly chasing of all concerned. We don’t do it in an unreasonable way we just keep giving them reminders.
It then conveys to all concerned that we are pushing the job on. IN fact ht clients should not have to chase us as we are constantly chasing everyone else.
The clients do not seem to have taken on board the fact that we do not get paid until the transaction is over so why we would delay one minute more than is necessary. The phone us as though somehow we are deliberately holding thing sup.

14. Replying to letters- today

In my trade answering letters is sacrosanct I am therefore appalled how most of the population treat their post.
I even deal with all my personal post in the same way.
We take possession of it sometime in the morning. We get the letter to the files and then start answering them Important and urgent letters will be answered immediately All letters will be answered within a few days.
I have changed how and when I answered letters. I used to not acknowledge those from other solicitors when I was telling with them and I needed to take instructions.
I found this caused too much correspondence so I now I immediately answer the letter to say we are taking instructions and dealing with it. This then goes into the chase up system so it is not overlooked.
A few years ago when various quality management systems came in organisation used to boast that they answered their post within seven days. They covered this target by sending out a card saying. We are dealing with your enquiry.
It did not progress the matter but dealt with the target so they could put it o their graph that they had dealt with it during the time limit.

It stops further letters and phone calls. The rule is letters from clients are answered as soon as possible and a t least a holding letter today. Again this reassures the client that things are being dealt with... When I hear people tell me they cannot do their work because the clients are constantly ring .This is because they have no taken enough time to communicate with the client constantly. If the client hears nothing then he naturally assumes that you are doing nothing.
If you answer the letters when they claim they have not received them from you are in a position to send them again. It is a common excuse that pole say oh never received that. It must be like the EU Butter Mountain or wine lake. There must a mountain of post that has never arrived at its destination.
I don’t believe a word of it but we have to be able to answer that question by always being able to produce a copy.
With the many new ways of sending messages there are now many more ways of them to complain they have not heard from you.
15. Sending them an email today

I was slow to take on e mail. I felt that it was just another piece of work we have to do for which we do not get any more money.
It depends entirely on the profile of the client. There are a growing number of clients who love the email it makes them seem important and cutting edge.
The idea is to improve communication with as many people as possible. I now have built it into the system a ways of sending as many e mails as possible. From being a non user of e mails I am now the biggest user of the e mail of anyone in my whole firm. I send and receive more e mails then the rest of the firm combined.
As every stage where we can tell the client and the estate agent and the financial adviser we send an e mail. This has the effect of keeping them all informed and more importantly keeping them off the phone.
If they know what is going on they will not ring and as k us whet we are doing or what we are waiting for.
We might then send a reminder to a firm of solicitors and send a copy of the same email to the client, the estate, the financial adviser and maybe the other side’s collectors this same letter email can be adapted to all of them.
If has the effect of being instantaneous and up to date on a daily basis. They do to have to wait for the post or you having the hassle of getting through on the phone.
Emails in themselves may not be a world beater but if you educate people to expect them and know that you will be doing them they are less likely to chase you. It keeps the problems at bay. It allows you to get on with the real work.
It is not foolproof as there are plenty of organisations and individuals who do not look at them regularly. Like the letters that never seem to arrive there is a vast mountain of unreceived e mails.
It is a war of attrition. You need to wear them down with constant communications in the hope that some of them will get through.
E commerce is hailed as the latest world beater so we will need to embrace it. We are ready, we have the technology but I feel like all other previous breakthroughs it will be one way of doing business not the only way.
The land registry is supposedly leading the way in the e conveyancing revolution and we do use it a lot more than we used to.
It is still run by people for people so it will have that drawback.
Once you change your attitude on emails it works. It is a valuable tool of communication and improved productivity. After it has worked for e bay and Amazon and in Britain it is working for Tesco. If you emulate those three you can’t go too far wrong.

16. Taking and Handling messages

This is one of the most difficult things in a business, the minimum you need from a message is 1 their name 2 their telephone number,
Everything else is optional.
I was never taught to take messages so the first time I did it was a disaster. I took a message for a particularly difficult colleague, I took their name and said they seem to know you, please ring them back
I was reported to my next boss for taking poor messages which was entirely correct, I never made that mistake again,
I tried never to take messages for her and if I did I took a lot of information and passed it on accurately.
I might be dealing with 100 matters at any one time that could be two clients, one purchaser’s solicitor, one purchaser’s agent, one seller solicitor, one agent, one lender on the purchase, one lender on the sale, a financial advisor on the purchase. Maybe other people in the chain who want to speak to me potentially I have 1000 people who might phone me on any one day.
That is even before I get to relatives of the clients, people who I do not represent who thin it is a good idea to phone me. That is a lot of people.
All I want is a phone number and a name and I will be OK everything else I can work out.
Good message taking is an art. The should be dealt with like email and letters. If they get left the messages multiple and the work becomes very difficult in deed.
I have one on my secretaries who is my permanent phone back and my permanent phone of other people. She spends a fair amount of her day just phoning people.
I try not to waste any incoming phone call. I extract as much as I can from it for information. I try and pick up anything the client might be saying. They allude to agreements and dates without telling me outright.
I am searching for hidden instructions. I also take the opportunity of quizzing them on what they are doing what they are expecting with things such as dates for completion etc.
It is a very valuable tool and should not be squandered. I always make a basic of note of what they have said and it goes on the file as quickly as possible.
If I have made a promise I follow it up as quickly as possible. It is much more difficult to get hold of people so use every opportunity of when they phone you to get information and move matters along.
Most people are hesitant and ill informed, it is your job to enthuse them with confidence and tell them what is going to happen next. Repeat your message as many times as you have to. Make no assumptions that they know what they are talking about or doing. They give us instructions but we tell them what is going on.

17. Dealing with the work

I never cease to be amazed when I watch people work or undertake any task that they do not seem to have a recognisable method. The best however work to a strictly organised system
The disorganised when quizzed mumble about being creative artists and not being tied down to a mind numbing system. They never know where anything is and have to work at least twice as hard to keep on top of things.
Needless to say that they take a lot longer to complete a task. All of life’s necessary but basically boring tasks I undertake I am in a semi meditative state and do it routinely but in the same way whether it be shaving or finding files. It gets the job done whilst only using a portion of my brain.
In my office the first thing I will tune into music or a play and think of that as I find files and bits of paper. The job gets done whilst I am enjoying myself.
I then create a large pile of all the work. Noting is put elsewhere. There are no secondary piles to be looked at later.
Once all the files are on my desk and sometimes after I have been on holiday this can mean the desk is entirely covered.
I then sit down and take each file individually. On every file is do something even if it is only file a letter of read the last letter on the files.
They are then divided up as I go along.

1 Into the brought forward system
2 To be dealt with by someone else. A standard letter or function to be carried out.
3 A letter or note dictated.

The latter is kept to a minimum.
My old working method was to dictate on every file as this was what I was regarded for a large pile of dictation. I now ration the dictating and concentrate on outcome rather than process.
Next time I stand up the files are either

A Put back into the filing cabinet
B given to someone else to work on
C on the pile of dictation

Every piece of paper is dealt with like this so that by the end of the day every file currently being worked on has been looked at and dealt with.
The rest of my day is dealing with the delegated work and seeing that it is moving along. If anyone has a problem it comes back to me and is dealt with again as above. It is an invariable system and keeps going on until the work is all dealt with.
The secretaries never have a situation where they do not have work to do. They are never waiting for work they have no down time.
Also their time is not wasted on excessive typing or redoing standard letters.
This working method has doubled my profits in two years. Also it helps by constantly checking files that go past me we try not to overlook dead lines.
The only files that I am not dealing with on a daily basis are those that are with my secretaries. I then some time during the day ask about the progress of every file that is not on my desk.
They are forbidden from putting files behind them unless they are so routine that people will not phone us about them even they must be dealt with.
It is easy to delegate then nothing gets done through lack of supervision. If the file becomes a problem then is should come back to me for more work. Nothing should drop of the edge.
Back up systems will be the brought forward system and the accounts system every month we get a print out on the accounts and we check it against work that should be complete or money outstanding and not dealt with.
I used to run a system of dictating enough to keep well ahead of the secratarires.This would then justify me taking the view that we could not possibly do any more work.
This was a cop out because it did not reflect the fact that the fault was mine. BY reorganised the working method I now do not have a large backlog as I have cut down on dictating.
I feel sorry for certain secretaries as I receive long rambling letters from solicitors as the obviously have not gathered their thoughts and have misused their secretaries time just to have a tirade.
I am amazed that they have the time and the capacity to do such work. They are misusing their power over their underlings to make them do too much work.

18. Asking questions
There are two types of questions. There are ones to which you know the answer and there are those that you don’t. Unfortunately too many people specialise in the former in that they use question asking as an exercise in one upmanship. As in 'Surely you don’t mean that', or 'are you sure that is going to work'.?
To me asking questions is a simple request for information. Try and cut down on the first type.
The method of questioning is
1 Ask question ……pause
2 Wait for reply.
3 Ask supplementary question …..Pause
4 Wait for reply.
It involves listening which is an underused skill.

You can teach a lot from it try not to use question asking as a disguised method of telling people how much you know .It is best to appear entirely ignorant as then you will learn a lot more. Do it sincerely and you will learn a lot. Then by knowing a lot you can indulge in one upmanship.
Knowledge is like wealth is not to be paraded in front of the public it is for personal consumption.

19. Asking for advice

Most advice is unasked for so it is difficult to actually ask people for advice. You have to make it clear why you are asking them the question. It is interesting as it unnerves most people. They are used to giving it out freely but when asked specifically they are likely to clam up. They then know there is a certain amount of reasonability involved.
It is an art to ask the right people. You should ask for it free from a lot of people. Just say I am thinking about whatever the problem is then state the facts, What do you think I should do.
I give a lot of advice as it is the nature of my job. I am amazed the number of people who pay me for it but do not take it.
They are much happier in accepting from friends relatives etc. They all have plenty of uniformed advice on a subject about which they know nothing.
It is then difficult to get them to listen as they are already overburdened with a plethora for advice and information that is mainly misleading and sometimes just plain wrong.
I take it liberally from all my specialised contacts such as plumber, carpet fitter, electrician and painter and decorator.
I tell them wrongly what I want then give them free rein after having gone through all the choices with them. Once I have taken that advice and we have a plan of action I leave them to it.
I then do not presume to tell them how when and where to do the job. They know the time limits and the price constraints. Apart from a chase up and update they are in charge of that job and it is their responsibility to get it done correctly.
If I am entirely ignorant of a subject I will ask up to three different people telling them I am ignorant and trying to building up a picture as to what it is all about. BY the time I have spoken three different experts I should have an idea at least that the situation is and the possible outcomes.
If I have some knowledge I will tell them what I have hated and then listen to their answers intently.
I make it clear after I have taken advice then it is entirely my responsibility ad the outcome is not down to them. Some people constantly change their advisors and contractors because they are not getting the outcomes they want. The fault lies with the clients by no knowing what they want at the outset.
Advice can only be based on what the person has been told. I have made mistakes after consulting the experts but I have to swallow them and take them on the chin.
I never ask for free advice and I never ask any of my contracts to give me a special price. I never ask them to do favours for my friends and contacts. In fact I specifically do not pass on recommendations of my plumber as his services are like gold dust. I do not want every Tom Dick and Harry using him and then finding that he is not available to me.
The same people who Hoover up all you contacts then come back moaning if something goes wrong and never give me a decent contact in return. They have burnt up all their contacts by their poor behaviour.
Contacts have to be nurtured and treated well not squandered.

20. Giving feedback

This should be to your staff and contacts. I had a difficult task when I started a relationship with a financial advisor. Obviously the idea was I would give him work and exchange he would recommend me.
This was going on for some months and I was getting nothing in return.
I wrote him as exploratory letter. It could have been tricky as it might have backfired and the relationship fallen apart.
He was concerned and told me that he had been recommending me but the clients were not taking up the offer. They were first time buyers and they do a lot of help and need to be lead to the answer.
I suggested that he do the assumed close. We are subject to it quite a lot.
An example of the assumed close is would you like it in the blue or red or shall I deliver it Thursday or Friday. You have assumed that you have the sale
IN our case what I wanted him to do was say unless he had a comment to he contrary then my name was going go in on the application form

Once he did this business took off and we had no problems.

Feedback has to be given sympathetically so that it is not disguised complaining. Another example is one of my best contacts works on his own his computer.
He has no staff and he does not post letters as he uses the internet. I would send him forms and letters for him to return to me.
He suggested it would be a lot easier for him if I always gave him a stamped addressed envelope all the then had to do when one of his family was out was put in the post box. As a result of that simple suggestion communicate between us has flowed very well.
I use that one a lot know. If I want the clients to respond and I know they are either busy of to give them a stamped addressed envelope the expense is minimal and the results very valuable indeed.
Inviting feedback is another art. Liaise constantly with clients and ask them wheat they want. People will not volunteer feedback so you must ask for it. It is invaluable as you have no clue what people want and what they find annoying or difficult.
I have an office and all the facilities so most things are easy for me. I cannot assume it is for everyone else.

21. Planning

The minimum amount of planning you should do each day is what is to go on your today’s to do list.
The adage if you fail to plan you plan to fail applies. Everyone has time to plan as there is going to be some down time whilst you are in your car or waiting of something to happen. Always have a pen and a piece of paper on you. Make a few notes. Again a minimum of three points.
On my journey to work I generally have to stop at a train level crossing. I use that time to think and make a few notes for the day. I spend no time thinking about how quick the trains might go through. In the daylight hours I usually have a book with me so I will read that whilst waiting for the train. If I have a very good book to read I can get through it very quickly the down time forced upon me by the train on my journey backwards and forwards to work.
I could go another way but I enjoy the train time to read think or at the least listen to the radio or CDs.
The think about time should be turned on its head and though of as a positive time not time to suffer form stress whilst waiting for the barriers to come up.

By writing it down you have solidified your thoughts. BY using your Google calendar you can access your calendar from any PC so you can put the notes I when they are convenient to do so.

20. Applying the 90/ 10 rule

If you standardised 90 per cent of your work and do that quickly as efficiently you will have time to concentrate on you 10 per cent of your work that requires a lot of extra effort or is giving you problems.
If 20 per cent of your clients give you eighty per cent of your profits then conversely ten per cent of your work gives you unnecessary grief.
It might be good well paid work but just takes that bit more effort. Again treat that as a learning experience. You concentrate on those ten per centers and you can smooth them out so that when they turn up again you are better at them.
I don’t resent them as that is what I spend my day dealing with. They become my daily work shifting those ten per cent problems. I have time for them and I do not rush them I try and make them better and better.
Because I do not get emotional I treat the ten per centers as the reason why I am getting paid. Anyone can do the easy stuff. The ten per centers is sent along as a test.
Also it increases your confidence once you have dealt with a variety of difficult situations. This adds to your fund of knowledge and experience and you can go about and market yourself was someone who has faced all those challenges and won.

21. Clearing your files

Only in recent years has best practice hit the world of administration. And the keeping of files.
The results of good filing should be visible. Unfortunately it has had bad press. People refer to filing clerks as though it is a low level unimportant occupation.
It is in fact very important in fact too important to be delegated to anyone without the knowledge.
I insist that my files are kept in a certain way. The most important criteria is that they should be understandable by anyone.
I invoke the intelligent five year old test. If a five year old can read then they can understand my files. If the five year old cannot understand it then something is wrong.
It is an oversimplification but there is nothing more important than having your information easily to hand and easily readable by anyone.
The files have to have a system that is correspondence, original documents and copy documents.
I get asked what correspondence is and what an original document is and what a copy document is.
The worse thing that happens is that everything gets filed and has a hole in it but at least you can find it.
I see files where everything has a separate category and is not filed and in the end you have a collection of loose papers in no particular order.
I watch films and particularly police films and the detectives comes out with a folded piece of cardboard and in it they claim are the case papers which consists of a handful of documents which they shuffle.
If it laughable that they think that represents how business is done. Out files are kept for up to 15 years and they are as read today as they were fifteen years ago.
Anyone can read them and know what went on. If you can’t then you are not doing it properly.
The public think filing is such a low level activity but I see very few people who get it right. My files have to be available for public scrutiny and they have to within stand the test.
Do yours?
In some recent high level scandals the first thing they do is burn all the incriminating paper so they must think filing is very important
.
25. Filing in chronological order

26. Working smarter

27. Prioritizing

28. Being pleasant to people

People do business with people. We also do business with people we like as your mother no doubt told you manners cost nothing.
Even in this customer care conscious days there are a lot of people out there who you would cross the road not to do business with. It does not matter how much you try there are a lot of people who for a variety of reason are not going to like you. Personally I find that hard to believe but there are all sorts of subconscious facts let alone conscious ones.
Try to keep these to a minimum by being pleasant al all times. This should extend to every one you do business with not just the client show of course are paying your wages but everyone you come in contact with. I am always shocked if I come across someone who are openly rude to me. I am never expecting it.
For some that is how they do business and their shock tactics might be to put you on the wrong foot to prove how clever they are or just to pass the buck
All these are a waste of time in your challenge to double your profits. Keep emotion out of the equations and do your work in a level headed fashion.
You are not there to score points but get the job done efficiently for your client.
There are a considerable number of practitioners who use being unpleasant as a business tool. My view is it is to hide their incompetence. They harangue you and brow beat you to bend to their will because they are hiding their own inadequacies. It is like the school bully.
If you challenge them they will back down.
The best habit on your part is to ignore their bad behaviour and carry on as though nothing has happened. If you acknowledge it you are then giving them the cue that it is acceptable and that it is getting to you
They might be angry for any number of reasons that is noting to do with and there is nothing you can do about it.
I tend to boycott people who have been rude to me. If I accept invitations our of a duty even though someone who has been rude to me is there I let the person to whom I own the obligation know that I am accepting the e invitation to back them up and I would be obliged if they kept the rude person away from me at all times.
Life is about being diplomatic so we do not have the opportunity of giving their comeuppance to everyone who has wronged us. We need to carry on. And do our work properly.

28. Proving how clever you are- don’t!

We all want to appear clever and prove that we are not entirely thick. Most of us aren’t clever and are entirely clever so we have to prove it other ways by parading our possessions and saying even thing I am not clever look as my shiny car.
Life is not black and white so we are constantly being told that neither are views or work is to up to scratch. There is always someone out there who for a variety of reasons wants to prove how much better they are then you.
We get a secretary and a dictating machine a nice office and some headed notepaper. It can be a powerful aphrodisiac for the inadequate.
I don’t not care who is better than me at work or cleverer than me. All I want to do is out produce them and have more satisfied clients. The clients are not interested in the law and how long you studied it they want their transactions completed. They want to move into their house, have the estate distributed, their will completed their divorce over.
I think of is as the mechanic or plumber effect. Mechanics and plumbers sometimes have the habit of telling you all the details of what they are doing and how they are doing it.
I suppose they do it to make us feel that they are not being ripped off. In reality we are not interested we just want the thing to work.
When we put the key in the car we want the engine to burst into life, the rakes to work and for us to get to our destination nothing of that is helped by knowing how it works or how it was fixed.
Similar without plumbing. When I turn on the taps I want hot or cold water and I do not want to freeze in the winter.
There is a growing tendency in the professional to let people know precisely what is going on. Yes they need to know the risks and the consequences of their actions but the details are not important. It is a result of a more litigious society and education.
Most people have a much better education than they used to so a lot feel that they must therefore e ale to understand everything that is going.
I haven idea how a flat screen television works or why it should be plasma. I am not interested I just want to watch it.
Explanations should be kept to a minimum and the nuts and bolts should kept away form the public.
Doctors who used to tell us nothing now give us bewildering opinions. Just make us better.
Do not run feuds with other organisation in writing to prove that you are right. Just get the job done.
If you want to be thought of us clever task up trivial pursuit do not do it at work. Let your figures speak for themselves. When you have proved how clever you are by making decent profits you can play trivial pursuit on the veranda of some foreign shore smug in the knowledge that you have one and they are at home still writing clever letters.

29 Concentrating on the outcome not the processes

Under the old system all I had to do was shift the work off my desk. I could do this by asking the other side a question then claim to everyone that I was waiting for answers and until I had all the correct answers I could not do any more work.
N one would have criticised me for that as I was doing the work. The clients might complain but you could flannel them by saying you were looking after their best interests and it was vital that you had this piece of information. A lot of people would swallow this guff but a certain number would not be happy and would keep asking questions.
This would take up a lot of time explaining why we needed this information even if it was not really justified.
Therefore you only put as many steps in the transaction that are necessary to bring the matter to a conclusion. Any extra are a waste of time and eating into your profits.
Delegating as much as possible
You can only delegate if you have trained your staff. In the past it was a dirty word as in the past you would delegate what they did not want to do.
Conversely they would not delegate as they did not trust their staff to get it right The old school said, "It is quicker to do it myself " Neither of those approaches is right.
I analysed those mangers that did not delegate and found that they either did not trust their staff so could not agree on what to delegate or did not have the skills to train staff up to a certain standard. Also they did to work in a consistent way so they could never agree from one day to another what the staff were supposed to be doing They were so busy fire fighting problems that had been created my poor management of the work that they had to do it all themselves as the staff were at a loss as to what they were supposed to be doing.
1 Do not delegate any job that you would not happily do yourself. Because as various stages of my career I have been a one man band I have done all the jobs in an office from running the vacuum round to taking the post to the post office.
I have typed letters I have fixed photocopiers, moved furniture dealt with difficult clients. There is nothing I an office that fills me with fear. As a result what I do is try to train the staff to do competently what they are being delegated to do.
This is a process whereby you dictate all the letters that they need t o know. Explain the system to them; give them the checklists that they have to follow.
You then have to revisit the work that you have given them and ask them if they are having problems.
If they are take the work back and redictate it or set up into an understandable format.
There are a couple of thing sin my office that they never like to do even though it is a simple process.
They get a mental block about it so I accept that as it is a fairly straightforward job and I dictate it every time. I point it out Every time it needs doing.
Once my main secretary has learn something and I think that it is something that can be moved on to the next secretary we set up the system and teach her how to do it,
We get her to do it under supervision for as many times as she wants us to do it. Then the next time it comes up she does it entirely on her own...
At any stage she can have more training and she should never feel stupid by asking a question are that we are not going to reteach her..
We would prefer that she voices her concerns than makes a mistake.
Once she has got it we then pass that on to the next secretary who is at the next stage of development.
The three secretaries are at various stages of development but for the main points of their work they are interchangeable.
If any once were to be off with a bit of training another can step into her shoes.
There would ever be a situation that any one secretary would be off for say her annual holiday and she would come back to all her standard work.
The system would not allow it as the leicn4t could not wait that long and we could not afford to create a backlog or bottleneck of work to be done.
I treat it as a matter of honour that staff o not come back to a large pile of work.
I try and teach them that I am of that they should do all the jobs that they are capable of doing and feel comfortable doing so that I do not come back to a large backlog of work.

30 Dynamic communication- communicate communicate, communicate
Up to a year of so I was always too busy doing the job. I had not rearranged the work to be as effective as possible.
I was just ploughing through it in the way I had always done.
The work comes in and I worked my way through it until I had done it all which was never.
The priorities were all wrong and we were always behind.
Once if was redistributed to those who knew how to do the various jobs I rethought what the biggest complaint from the clients was.
The constantly complain about communication. We are the professionals and we were getting on with the job but we were not telling anyone what we were doing.
This gave the impression to the clients that we were doing nothing because they didn’t t hear from us.
By reorganising the work we had time to communicate and this eased the problem of propel ringing us up or wiring to us an asking us what was going on.
We became resentful because we were busy working and did not have time to keep telling people what we were doing. After all we were the experts we could not keep taking time to answering idiot questions.
The idea of dynamic communication came to me. Why not concentrate on communicating with people and fit the work into that.

31 Having a strict follow up procedure

It would be comforting to think that everyone in business was as serious as you are. You take on a transaction write to people and nothing comes back If you are very busy then you can give the excuse that you are too busy to chase people up.
This is an unimpressive excuse to the clients. They see no reasons why if you write to someone such as a local authority that you have not had a reply within a week. When they take on a transaction such as move house they expect it all to be concluded in a week. They leave their brains at home in their expectations.
Again I rethought all my procedures and I put everything into the brought forward system
I naively used to exclude the clients as I took the erroneous view that those who chased me would reciprocate by returning things speedily if their own transaction depended on it. This sadly is not the case. If you want to slow a transaction down write to clients and ask for instructions.
I report to them and give them choices rather than leave them to make up their minds unaided. It is like a multiply choice. If you give them entirely free choice they will ether not reply at all because they are too confused or come back with impractical answers.
Clients are my biggest area of chase ups as they think things and proceed even though you are waiting for replies from them I have to make it clear I can do nothing until have their cheques or their instructions.
If I did not chase them they would be amazed that the transaction had ground to a halt.
Because of the habit of letters never getting to their destination I now use e mails, faxes, letters and phone calls along with letters.
The system should be able to work independently of anyone person.
The system is in fact better than any one person but it needs people to run it. That is properly trained a motivate people who have ride in making the system work and improve it all the time.
Those who complain that they have no time to do the work between 9-5 are suffering form the problem because they have not communicated with the client.
If you make communicating with the client as the first priority then they will have no excuse to keep ringing you.
The goal is to be chasing other people not have people chasing you. Once you go on to the offensive it is very easy to both keep on top of the work and communicate with everyone.
We have a permanent chase up list of about ten items. They get chased on an almost daily basis.
They will not move off the list until the matter has been resolved. It is a very effective tool.
If we ring and we get no response then the next is an e mail then a letter and the procuress repeat itself tomorrow. It gets people out of the rood work and we are on the right foot by being g active rather then reactive.
No one is excused the list. It is relentless.
We are able to push thing son that would be left by the wayside and as a result it improves our billing and profitability.
At every stage of a transaction I think who might want to know about this and who might ring us. Whoever it might be gets an email or a phone call or a letter if appropriate.
It is great system; it saves times and cuts down on a lot of wasted phone calls to me directly
It also fools the fibbers of those would who says things like. . I wrote to you and you did not reply. Our answer we have an invariable policy of answering every letter and we have a chase up system.
It means thereof we did not get the letter. If they remind us about a letter that we have missed because we never received it or we missed it we then put it in the chase up system

32 Managing time

Oh I haven’t got time to go on a time management course. I hear this smug " joke" quite regularly. They then clutch their sides at their own erudition and sense of humour.
It is simple enough it is all about doing the right things in the right order. We all have the same amount but it is how we chose to use it is the most important.

33 Grabbing the problem and solving it.

The problem is your not anyone else is. If the client instructs us it is because of superior skills. They expect you to grab the problem and move it on
It is very easy just to deal with what comes in then leave it. The file then resides in your filing cabinet and you send out the routine reminders when reminded to do so by the client.
You will not get paid until it finished so take the problem by the scruff of the neck and move it along. Write out to all those who can help you and ask them to do their bit.
Then put them in the reminder system so that they do not get away.
The problem has to be revisited constantly and has to be thought through. Every conceivable method of pushing matters on has to be thought about and tried.
Most of the participants usually have insufficient experience and offer incorrect or misleading advice. It is your job to rein all this in and have a plan of action that is workable and achievable.
The job is not to be delegate dot the client who is looking for you for the answer or the estate agent who has no knowledge of the practicalities.
Create and action plan take the clients instructions then put it into action. Do not give up until the job is done.
34 Thinking time

If you are behind with your work you will have no thinking time. All major problems I mull over and have at least three things are can do to move things along.
This is allied to grabbing the problem I have found when I am too busy I have just kept pushing the paper along relying on what I have been told. This has wasted valuable time as no one has thought about how to resolve the problem
They just deal with the matters as they come up rather than look as the problem as a whole.
The matter has to be reviewed and checked to make sure that if the go that we are actually ready to proceed. There is not point pushing everyone if we have not done everything that we should have.
Also quiz those who are causing the hold up. Ask them if once this has been resolved that they are really ready to go. Many occasions I asked if the problem was resolved then they report to their clients then they get cheque then they wait for them to be cleared. It is a fiasco as they claim they are ready and they are not.
Clients do not understand the fine distinction between somebody waiting for them thing and the concept of them be ready.
I do not chase people until I am ready in all other respects. I am not waiting for you if in fact I am note ready to proceed once I have that piece of information.
Clients naively believe what they are told. I have to set out in clear detail what these requests mean. I have encountered problems so many times form insufficient checking of information.
Every day come up with an improvement- what did I learn today.
This is real self improvement every day reflects as to what you have learnt and how you can improve your performance.
My post produced three letters that would not have been necessary had we been checking things properly. I changed the way we do business to take it into account in the future.
Ai simple change in the procedure would have made us spot the problem earlier. It had been out fault as it was not in about procedure and we left it until later.
We then send the documents left undated or unchecked which created two more pieces of correspondence. This is when letters and communications generally are like gold dust.
Every one should count. The only way your learn is by combing your incoming correspondence or communications and ask yourself would it have been necessary if we had done one thing differently.
Every letter and phone call can be saved and the profit improved as less work needs to be done. The problem is properly managed and the job done first time right.
Sacking difficult customers
I used to take on most types of work that roughly came within my area of competence. Some of them were not worth taking on because there was no money in it.
Also some clients seem to take the view that you are desperate for their work and as a result can treat you how they like.
I had a clear out. If clients start to give me excessive difficulties and there is no money in it I consider sending them on their way.
I had an older lady who would come in for long periods of advice then doing nothing I suggested. She would then come in again and go over the same ground.
I had to tell her that I\cold not act for her any more. I gave her suggestions of other firms.
She was surprised but the relief to me was immense and I felt a lot better about it.
I took on a boundary question which never seemed to want to resolve itself. Similar I called the clients and said I would not charge them but they must take the file elsewhere. Similarly the relive was immeasurable.
I had a relative of a friend who for some reasons was very aggressive as he thought was show you do business again I told him in not uncertain terms to take his work elsewhere. I haven’t had to tell those three where to go in over six years.
I now am much tougher with myself. If feel the case is going to be problematic in that the client is unreasonable I turn it away.
I also turn away all boundary disputes, small claims and anything where people phone me and say "This is straightforward matter"
Because I had the power to sack difficulty clients I do not have to use it. It is like the ultimate nuclear deterrent you do not want to use it but you feel better that it is there’re.
Difficult client scan cost you more than just your fees. Your professional indemnity insurance can take a bashing if they complain or sure you for negligence. Some people are just too difficult to deal with. Just say no and walk away.
The rest of the world is waiting to hear from you and you can do business with them instead.

35 Taking on unprofitable work
There are reasons to take on unprofitable work but none of them are sustainable. One of the main ones that I hear is I have to do it to undercut the competition.
I presume then you are aiming to be a low cost producer. If this ploy works and is part of your overall strategy then you should be inundated with work.
I have not seen that work.
What I mean is taking on work because you feel as though you owe favours or that you are doing with a view to attracting more profitable work again that rarely happens. You are just seen as a low cost outfit which has unfortunately implications of being cheap and not every good.
The Japanese after the Second World War wanted to move away form their perceived position of being low costs but cheap and cheerful.
They took on Deeming and his idea of building in quality. If worked for them and it still working for them.
The United States had to taken on much later once they realised what the Japanese were doing. This was however after a lot of their industry had been devastated.
You have to have a pricing strategy and stick to it. Only occasionally make an exception if it is done for the proper motives.
I am accused by some of my colleagues of charging too much for things but I still have more work than them and I have larger turn over and much greater profitability.
They appear to do work for friends of friends of friends for low fees. They get themselves a reputation of not being very good and as a result their profits suffer.
They do not have the courage of their convictions. They are not positioning themselves at all in the market and are just bending each day to whatever comes up.
It is an easy thing to do and it takes courage to take a stand and have a viable policy that you stick to. Be prepared do to have some knock backs as some clients will not take on board you reasonable pricing policies.
They will want thing done cheaply.
You must then steel yourself and let that work pass. If they baulk at the first hurdle which is the price then maybe they were not worth dealing with.
It is going to happen and you must not get emotionally involved. I could give you a list of the many knick backs I have received recently but I soldier on. It is all about accepting rejection,

36 Concentrating on what you are good at /Only do what you can do easily and quickly and profitably
I cut down my areas or expertise to about five. I had been dabbling in at least two more areas which were giving me more problems than all the rest put together. I then decide that I would not take on any more of that type of work. Also nay of that type of work I had I would bring to a conclusion either bill it or sent it on its way. It was one of my best decisions.
It meant that those that I was dealing with me could get on with. I then streamlined all my core areas of competence and can now do them in a standardised way and do them immediately

37Thinking ahead being ahead of the customers

38 Living the Mission statement
39 Appraising
40 Brainstorming
The idea behind Brainstorming is that anyone and everyone can come up with ideas. No ideas wrong or stupid.
Brainstorming is to create lots of different ideas in a short period of time and the team has the chance to discover what is the same problem and how it can be resolved in different ways.
People should listen to other peoples ideas and suspend judgement while listening to those ideas.
Normally when somebody comes up with a idea, we feel obliged to counter it with our own idea or critisise it. You should not find fault with them and any ideas generated can them we be written down. So after the brainstorming session a series of ideas has been generated.
It is possible to generate a considerable number of ideas in a short period of time. A typical brainstorming session would have a chair person, who states the problem and the group would them restate the problem saying how to do this, that or the other. The rules of brainstorming are to suspend judgement and to go for a quantity of ideas and to think of off the wall ideas.

41 Coaching
Very popular in recent years with Life Coaches etc. It is really only a situation where a discussion takes place to improve someone’s performance. It is a method of helping, guiding, encouraging and allowing space for someone to discuss their ideas.
Coaching like training is one of these areas that manager’s claim that they haven’t got any time to do. Also some people regard their co-workers as a threat and somehow they will learn to do their job and they will be ousted.
There may also be an unwillingness to share information. Also their might be a culture on ‘I have tried that before and it didn’t work’.
Coaching can arise in numerous occasions, such as when you are delegating a task, discuss it with your colleague.
How you go about tackling and resolving your problems, how you instigate improvements.
Also when there is change to the procedures or the job. When you are away, such as when you are on holiday, giving people instructions as to how they are to cover for your and giving people information after you have been on a training course etc.
The various skills that are covered in coaching are:
Listening, asking questions, and giving feedback, and testing understanding.
An apprasial is just a coaching session.

42 Training – Continuing professional development
REDUCING COSTS
43 Reducing Work in progress-bill it
Clients would like to pay you after you have finished the work. That is you have to give them time to pay. Unfortunately you have been finishing the work form the moment they gave you instructions. You work in progress is therefore your fees that have not yet been billed and collected.
If foes not matter how much of that you have and how potentially profitable the work is until it has been billed and paid for it is not real. It is in fact a liability not an asset.
The trouble is the Inland Revenue think of it as an asset and can charge you income on it as they say that the clients are contractually bound to pay for work that you can properly bill so far.
The only way you can resolve this problem is billing as much of you work in progress as you can. Also keep your work-in progress to a minimum. People are envious of my hourly rate but this is only worth while if I can turn that in to money. They have no concept of how much work I am carrying at nay one time
I could be carrying as much as six month’s turnover for the whole year in work in progress. This is of course very expense particularly if I am paying interest on an n overdraft.
It has to be constantly monitored and a much billing should take place as possible.

44 Delivering bills- keep them coming
Once the transaction has finished deliver the bill. In a lot of work the money is available on the day of completion of the transaction so I can transfer the money immediately. This is the norm but constant trawling of the accounts should produce any that you have overlooked.
Any one day I can arrange to deliver a bill to someone and transfer money. It should be a daily event

45 Wasting Staff time do not do it
Unless it is making money for you don’t get the staff to do it. I have seen firms that have used their staff like old time servants. Getting them to go out and gets cigarettes and sandwiches at lunchtime. Our staff do not leave the building unless they have to. We might do banking, taking stuff to the post office but that is it.
We have no office junior so we do all the basic tasks ourselves.
The only thing we have done for us is tea twice a day but that is for all the staff.
If it is a task that staff do then they can do it if it is within their normal job description. We do not have them delivering things, going to the shops, taking suits to the cleaners, buying cards or flowers for wives or girlfriends.
The staffs are not just an extensions of people who are working on our behalves.
Staff will soon lose morale if the bosses are using them as lackeys whether they are getting paid or not. I do not expect them to attend our of work activities unless it was part of their job. We have one event a year they are expected attend and that is the Christmas lunch but that is during their working hours. All they have to do is socialise for a couple of hours and eat a meal then they leave earlier than they would normally to go on holiday for a couple of weeks.
A more basic waste of staff time is how you use them form day to day. If you spend you r time dictating very long and rambling letters which you use to score points of other firms or clients then they will lose respect for you.
They will not then feel that you mean it if you are being profligate with their time. Similarly you need to give them clear instructions and good back up for all their tasks. If they suspect you do not know what you are doing and are flailing around they will not react to a call to arms when things go wrong.
46 Making it work- technology
I remember when computers first came in to offices. Certain firms used to boast that they had computers. They meant the early Amstrad that was used by inserting floppy discs in the drive. And printed out on a dot matrix printer was all very basic but it did create the standardised letter.
This unfortunately had the effect of making letters longer as they did not have to be typed out individually.
About the same time the fax machine arrived. This was going to save us. It encouraged those who could not get round to doing the job on time to makeup for this fact by sending you letters through the fax machine
It even happens today. Someone chases up a transaction. The recalcitrant party then faxes you are letter then smugly declare to the world at large that they are waiting for an answer from you.
This puts the unwary off the scent.
It is a misuse of technology.
The first automatic typewriters with a memory were a god send. They could remember a certain number of letters and we could then reproduce these standard paragraphs and phrases much easier. Even then I had a large collection of standardised letters but a lot of them had to be typed out or dictated by me.
Unfortunately the fax machine has had a lot of misuse. People would insist on sending long letters or forms that would appear in the next days post.
Even now I have to discourage people from sending me mortgage offers as without the original I can do nothing as the original papers are required for us to trigger such important things such as money.
In other cases it is very good as a lot of organisations will insist that you need only to send a fax and not the original. A lot of copy document scan be sent by this method at the last minute and matters can complete as a result.
It is also a very frustrating machine as like letters a lot of faxes never reach their destination. There must be a very large mountain of unread faxes. We do not tend to trust that particular technology.
We send request for money for a certain day and we then always check up again two days before we need it as otherwise we can never be certain that it has been acted on. We developed this system as a result of hard knocks.
General use of computers has assisted our work but unfortunately created a lot of work that is unnecessary. Because words can be produced easily they are. Great screeds of pages on the simplest matters. It is very difficult and time consuming to write in a concise easy style so most popular do not have the time. They produce emails very easily and bombard you with them expecting an answer within an hour.

47 Purchasing stores
48 Choosing the work
49 Having an Office manual Creating procedures
Having an Office manual Creating procedures
There is now no excuse as we all have computers. There are plenty of books on the market that can become the basis of your procedure. I standardised all the letters so that 90 per cent of my letters are now standardised All my secretaries are using the same template I should look at it regularly to see that they are up to date.
I spot if any of the clients make a comment or if they want more detail or raise questions. If that happens I change the letter to make it clearer.
We then have invariable formats, which work for us. This helps when taking messages and answering letters.
If you follow an invariable format we sweep up most of the problems. Any questions that are raised because of our invariable practice go back into the pot and are looked at again. All part of continuous improvement.
If we have to take other people in we can teach them a system which everyone understands. All these secretaries are using the same method so it is easy to teach, as they all know the same one.
I have taught them all so I have no questions such as We used to do this of that.
Experienced secretaries can sometimes have the habit of using out of date systems that they learnt many years ago and now have no relevance. An example of this is having or keeping paper record system or ledger that no one looks at but used to be used under old manual systems but have not been discarded because of the fear that a mistake will be made.
With computers as little hand written systems as possible should be allowed to exist. There must be back up systems of computer systems but they should be kept on disks not writing I ledgers or diaries.
I buy standard books which these days have standard letters and forms on CD ROMs. When they arrive all the secretaries have a copy on their computer so they are using the same format.
The letters and formats should be introduced slowly so that they accept the change and need to be constantly updated as things change. No reorganisations or restructuring for us just continuous change and improvement.

50 Making it easy to do business
I expect the minimum information of my clients. Some organisations will not do business with you until they have quizzed you dot death. Like message taking that is name and telephone number doing business should be easy.
Don’t ask them their life story before you will act for them If it is a question of them making an appointment all I need it know is when they are coming their name and telephone number, what they are talking about and that is it.
The rest I will gather as and when I speak to them.
Also when they arrive I might ask full names address and I have their telephone number.
Let them tell me their problem before the quiz starts.
They have their say and I tell them what I think I then tell them what I am going to do, and I have enough to proceed. If I want them to prove their identity I do that later and I send a full instructions sheet that can be sent later one. I do not hold off whilst this is being processed.
I act immediately. If you try to do business with banks or building societies or accountant they will get you to fill informs before they will do anything. I cannot afford to do that. If I do not take on the instruct immediately I am taking the risk that someone else will nick them
They have to be aware that I am acting for them and a letter is on its way to them that day. They need to know on the case and that things will start moving.
Banks and building societies maybe even accountants do not seem to be so motivated.
If the client wants to fax the instructions sheet the answer is yes if they want to e mail the answer is yes any method is acceptable. Similarly with paying a deposit we take any reasonable variations of money.

Making it easy to do business
I expect the minimum information of my clients. Some organisations will not do business with you until they have quizzed you dot death. Like message taking that is name and telephone number doing business should be easy.
Don’t ask them their life story before you will act for them If it is a question of them making an appointment all I need it know is when they are coming their name and telephone number, what they are talking about and that is it.
The rest I will gather as and when I speak to them.
Also when they arrive I might ask full names address and I have their telephone number.
Let them tell me their problem before the quiz starts.
They have their say and I tell them what I think I then tell them what I am going to do, and I have enough to proceed. If I want them to prove their identity I do that later and I send a full instructions sheet that can be sent later one. I do not hold off whilst this is being processed.
I act immediately. If you try to do business with banks or building societies or accountant they will get you to fill informs before they will do anything. I cannot afford to do that. If I do not take on the instruct immediately I am taking the risk that someone else will nick them
They have to be aware that I am acting for them and a letter is on its way to them that day. They need to know on the case and that things will start moving.
Banks and building societies maybe even accountants do not seem to be so motivated.
If the client wants to fax the instructions sheet the answer is yes if they want to e mail the answer is yes any method is acceptable. Similarly with paying a deposit we take any reasonable variations of money.
It has to be a joy to do business with us not a chore. Don’t expect the clients to write you a letter. If you want confirmation of something important give them a copy of the letter and ask them to sign and return it.
If it is really important give them a stamped addressed envelope.
51Invoicing- sending interim bills

52 Taking Deposits
In our business we have a lot of disbursements that is fees we pay out to other authorities such as courts. It is normal that we take deposits up front to cover these.
Also if you are going too involved in a lot of work that may not be billed for a while attempt to take a deposit. It certainly aids cash flow and if things fall through you at least can bill that amount.
In a transaction of a couple thousand pounds you should be looking for 500 pounds. A sliding scale for smaller amounts.
If the client baulks at this ask them to pay by instalments if they have financial difficulties. If they baulk as a matter of principle think seriously about whether you want to take them on. There are no prizes in taking on work that doesn’t pay.
People are serious at the beginning of a transaction at it by far the best time to ask them for money later on complacency sets in as they see the problem being resolved.
At the beginning they can’t do enough for you
Controlling the Debtor- creditor situation
The minimum is you have got to know what it is. If you have gone as far as finishing the transaction and delivering the bill or letting the client know how much they owe you should then chase them
I have a print out each monthly of all outstanding sums on all my accounts. It tells me if we have spent some money on that client but have not yet billed them.
It also tells me if we are holding large sums of money on the client account but have not put it on deposit or distributed it. Good practice says that we should not hold money on any client without doing something on that client for six months.
This may be unavoidable but you should be aware of it and keep it under control.
It can remind you that you have billed people and have not transferred the costs. That is they money is still in the client account when it should be in the office account.
If should be consulted once a month and used continuously during that month with a target of clearing as many as possible.
It is a never ending job and should be done on a daily basis. Every time you take on a new client you should consider how much money you want up front.
If you do not get the money then if may be coming out of your back account. You are effectively financing the client. You are taking the risk that if the transaction does not go ahead you will not only have lost your billable time but also any disbursements you may have paid out o their behalf and that you have no recouped up front.

53Analysing customers for profit contribution
54Minimising delivery costs
55Recruiting the right people
56Being aware of Parkinson’s Law
57Misusing computers
58Monitoring -Stores stocks and inventories
59Putting the package together efficiently
60 Producing the package efficiently
61Controlling Breaks and down time
62 Maximising Office furniture
63 Controlling Use of typists and secretaries
INCREASING SALES
64Marketing is about persuading people to use your services.
65Marketing- becoming obsessed- listening to the clients
66Building a better Website
67Selling add ons and up selling
68Creating Joint ventures
69Treating Targets
If you are going to double your profits you really have to have some idea of the numbers. Setting targets of goals is a rough way to proceed.
Ultimately the target is to double your profits, but on a day to day basis you have to have an idea of what your profits are.
People confuse doubling their profits with doubling their turnover. Because most of you costs are not going to increase just because you do more work, such as your rent, rates and maybe some of your staff costs, then you need other targets apart from doubling your turnover.
To motivate yourself and your staff in the early stages you can give yourself rough targets such as letters in, letters out, phone calls made.
To motivate myself in the early days I would actually literally make a note of the number of letters I had in and the number of letters that I sent out. This would show me on a day to day basis that I was producing a certain number of letters.
The only problem with this is that it really has no indication of how much work that you are actually doing, that is profitable work.
Targets in recent years have had very bad press because of government bodies have taken them up serioulsly and they are now attempting to measure everything.
Once you set a target as being a measure of success, then all you end up doing is measuring that particular target.
I would therefore only suggest setting targets and goals as a rough indicator of how you are going. I set a overall target of what I would like by way of turnover . this fixes the mind as to where we are going but it requires a lot more than that to double your profits.
If you are not making sufficient savings in other areas, you can be wasting your turnover and making no profit.
It would be easy therefore to increase your advertising and all your other marketing efforts, with a view to increasing sales, but making less profit.
For instance you could cut you prices to take in a considerable amount of work which would double your turnover, but your profit margins would be slimmer and you would be working too hard for the outcome.
Therefore I would suggest that targets are a very rough indication of where you are going and should be used sparingly.
If you impose them or agree them with your staff they can become de-motivated for some reason if you include matter beyond their control.
These days the work should be regarded a more of a collabrotive team effort, so if your do have targets, have team targets and them everyone can feel part of. Therefore if you do not achieve them then no single person has failed.
In government circles now particularly in the national health service targets have become badly derided. Only those tasks, which count towards the target are done and no account taken of the overall effect of where the service is going and what they are trying to achieve.

70Communicating
71Managing time
72Standardisation
I used to dictate very letter, even though we were using a standardised format. I revolutionised my work load by standardising 90% of my workload. This does not require me to dictate it.
The secretaries know the format intimately. This has the effect of cutting out most of the dictation.
The secretaries can work independently creating standardised forms and letters.
It also eliminates a lot of errors because we are using the standard format and descriptions in the letters.
The client’s are then fully informed of what is going on at each stage of the transaction.
This is one of the big areas of controversy in professional firms. They claim that things cannot be standardised because they are professionals. This is entirely wrong as even the most intricate and complicated activites have a large area of standardisation.
If you standardised all the routine aspects of the work this allows you more time to deal with all the problem work. If you take the view that 90% of your work is standard and will go through without any difficulty this allows you 100% of your time to deal with the 10% that is giving you problems.
Standardisation is the answer to this and should be introduced at every conceivable stage.
I have been able to increase my turnover considerably with things such a quotes, Wills, Powers of Attorney, instruction sheets, because they can go out almost automatically, the only time spent is agreeing the small amount of variable information that goes into each letter.
This alone could double your profits and increase your sales
Packaging

73Contacting your contacts
In my very early days as a sole pracitioner I employed someone who taught me the essence of marketing.
No-one in the town knew that I was trading. What he told me I should do was to contact everybody we knew. I had met his a couple of years before when he was working for a building society. He used to come and see me every month, but not really say what he had come about. He would come and see me and tell me what the building society were doing etc. etc.
After about the second or third visit I said to him ‘what do you want?’ as I couldn’t work yout what exactly I had that he wanted.
At that time his company was working on a gross basis in that he was paid a bonus on the gross amount he took in, in any one month.
He suggested to me that there were various deposits that we could ligitimatly put with him of behalf of clients for which the clients would get interest, and that would help him.
He them set up a very simple method of doing this whereby I would phone him and he would collect the cheque and give me a receipt. When I wanted the money back he would reverse the process.
I had a considerable amount of money coming in and out of the accounts during any month and this improved his position.
When we set up together I created a list of people who I vaguely new and we set up meetings to see them wither in my office or local wine bars or wherever it was necessary.
We did this for a couple of months and as a result people got to know who we were and started giving us work. We did this for six months and that gave us enough work to continue with.
We had done it entirely by contacting and speaking to our contacts.
We didn’t have to do any overt selling and they obviously knew what our business was and we let them know and during that six month period we made ourselves well known and got the business as a result.
In fact he told me and I have still got the sign at home – ‘if you make the calls you get the business’

74Speaking in public
75Public relations
76Keeping in contact with clients. E mails / newsletters
77Networking
78Looking for leads/ empathise with the clients.
79Advertising – the budget
80Getting the staff to sell
81Appraising performance
82Training in money matters
83Profiling the clients?
84Converting more quotations into orders
85Closing by fax/ e mail
86Following up
87 Asking a friend -Do you know anyone else?
88 Winning Tactics for when business is slack
RAISING PRICES
89Overcoming price fright
90 Quoting
91Selling and increasing Hourly rates
92Increasing prices arbitrarily
93Pricing for maximum profit
94Discounting for quantity
95 Settling early give a discount
96Discounting generally
97 mposing a Minimum order value

Extra Tracks – The Toyota way
The Japanese company is regarded as the benchmark for excellence in manufacturing and the fourteen team principles are
Base you management decisions of long term philosophy even at the expense of short term goals
Create continuous process flow to bring problem to the surface
Pool systems to avoid over production
Level out the work load
Build a culture of stopping to fix problems to get the quality right the first time
Standardise tasks for the foundation of continuous improvement and employee empowerment
Use visual controls so that no problems are hidden
Use reliable thoroughly test technology that serves you people and processes
Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work and the philosophy and teach it to work for others
Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your companies philosophy
Respect you extended work partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
Go and see for yourself and thoroughly understand the situation
Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options, Implement decisions rapidly
Become a learning organisation through relentless reflection and continuous improvement

101 Ways to Double Your Profits

Monday, 26 February 2007

Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

Friday, 16 February 2007

A Modern Parable

Tuesday, 13 February 2007

Toyota Way- Eliminating Waste

Monday, 12 February 2007

The Toyota Way

101 Ways to Double Your Profits in a Year

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