That Time You Were Expecting Chocolate Chips and Instead You Got Raisins...

In last week's episode, we touched on one of my favorite topics: Policies and Procedures. I know what you're thinking... NERD! (I'm okay with that!) But, seriously, without policies and procedures in place, your team members can't possibly know the best way to do the things you do and, more importantly, how to do those things the same way every time to ensure a consistently awesome customer experience.

Interestingly, we didn't start off talking about processes; the main topic of the episode was communication, specifically within your team. Of course, we all have communication tools like meetings and newsletters and emails and Slack. But, if we're being honest, we can't hold people accountable to perform a process with excellence if we don't give them clear, concise instructions in an easy-to-find location, ensure they are reading and following them, and continuously review and update them.  It's not micromanaging- it's clear communication!

Let's look at a couple of examples of how unclear or differing processes can result in varying outcomes:

1. Imagine a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. The ingredients are pretty standard, but there are literally hundreds of chocolate chip cookie recipes. What makes them different? The ratios of the ingredients, the cooking time, the temperature, or adding something unique to the mix like oatmeal. Now think about your very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and how disappointing it would be to get a crunchy cookie when you were expecting a soft one, or one with raisins in it when you were expecting chocolate chips! It's not about the cookie itself. It's about what you expect to get and what you actually get!

2. Something else we can all relate to is visiting a restaurant in our hometown. Now think about a restaurant that some people complain about and some people rave about. Often, restaurants are described as "hit or miss" or "depends on who's cooking that night" or other comments indicating a variety in experience. I bet you the number one issue is consistency and that not everyone has a solid, repeatable process to follow! If you went to a restaurant one day and got great service, great food, and a medium price point and thought to yourself it was a good idea to come back another time and bring friends, but when you got there the next time you were being served by people in tuxedos at a much higher price point with much finer food, you would have experienced inconsistency. Both experiences are absolutely great experiences. But it wouldn't be what you were expecting. And it could be frustrating to get a much higher bill and even embarrassing if you brought friends expecting one outcome and you got something different.

So, how do you establish policies and procedures? First, I want to clarify the difference between those two terms. Policies are basically your rules or the whys behind the things you do, whereas procedures explain how you do the things you do. Here are a few steps:

1. Think of all the policies you might need by brainstorming a list. Some examples include:

   • Attendance Policy
   • Dress Code
   • Payments you accept
   • Social Media Policy
   • Employee Handbook
   • Driving Policy

2. Then, think of all the processes you do each day in your business and write them all down in a big brain dump. For each of the following areas, think of all the things that need to happen to serve your customers from start to finish and jot them down.

   • Administrative/Office Functions
   • Technical Operations
   • Sales & Billing
   • Advertising & Marketing

3. Begin with the most important (or simplest) ones and just start. That's the most important part!

4. Find a central place to store your document library (printed in a binder, in a Google Drive, linked on a page on your website visible only to your team, in a place like Notion, in Microsoft Teams, whatever works for you!)

5. Ensure that you have a way to document that your team members have read and understood the documents.

6. Create a review schedule to ensure that they don't become dated.

Policies and procedures can feel really overwhelming. The important thing is to just start somewhere and keep doing a little at a time.

Here's one great hint: Your policies and procedures don't have to be all written out. Get creative! You can use videos of how to do something, screen recordings (Loom is a great tool for this), step-by-step instructions using a web extension like Tango, or even voice recordings that you can transcribe using an app or a virtual assistant. There is no "rule" for small businesses (unless, of course, you answer to a regulatory body that has specific policy-related requirements) about how you do this, so get creative!

As time goes on, you will likely change or improve the way you do things. That's great- as long as you ensure the changes are reflected in your policies and procedures. It's incredibly important to write down the steps involved in your company's version of excellent customer service and a perfect product so that you can strive to deliver the same experience each and every time.

Here's to winning by serving our customers with CONSISTENCY!