Force Your Business to Improve - Kaizen with Teeth

How can you turn small steps into big profits?

Let your clients tell you where you're screwing up.

Here's what I mean ...

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, offers this story worth emulating:

Consider, for example, Granite Rock Company, a small construction-materials outfit that won the Baldrige award in 1992. The company espouses continuous improvement in customer satisfaction.

They tell their customers, "If there’s anything about an order you don’t like, simply don’t pay us for it. Deduct that amount from the invoice and send us a check for the balance."

They call it shortpay; I call it a thorn in the laurel or a mechanism with teeth. While many successful organizations rest on their laurels, Granite Rock does the opposite. They devised a system that makes it difficult if not impossible to become complacent about continuously improving customer satisfaction.

A mechanism with teeth -- what a great visual.

By telling customers NOT TO PAY for anything they don't like, Granite Rock finds out FAST where it's under-performing, so they can fix the problem FAST.

Personally, I'm jealous. Although I work without a safety net, too, by offering an unconditional money-back guarantee on my copywriting, Granite Rock's "shortpay" invoice concept is way sexier.

If you send out invoices (I don't, or I would borrow this idea yesterday), why not test this out on a small scale, and see what kind of results you get?

If you're any good at what you do, a shortpay invoice will pleasantly blow away your clients ... not to mention the referrals you'll get. Because an outstanding product or service is often the best form of marketing.

Bio: Kevin Donlin can help you grow your business and enjoy the breakthrough results your hard work deserves. If you're interested in boosting your revenues and profits, please click here.