Trimming the Fat: Focus on Your Customers to Help Shore up Your Processes
Source: Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Impact Magazine – October 2009
By: Stephanie R. Conner
Here’s a number that might make you shudder: only about five percent of the activities that any business does are things the customer actually cares about, according to Ron Wince, CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions. That means there’s enormous opportunity to increase efficiencies and save money by refining processes. Wince offers these tips to get started:
- Be the customer. “If you want to be an efficient organization, you have to learn how to be the customer,” Wince says. Look at every process from the time the customer contacts you to the time you get paid. Are you photocopying extra papers? Are you filling out extra forms? Repeating steps for no reason? Tracking data you don’t use? At each step, ask yourself if the customer would pay for that.
- Turn to your staff. The people who know the processes best are vital resources to find alternatives.
- Be open. It’s natural to think everything you do adds value. “You have to force yourself to step out of your day-to-day,” Wince says.
- Be aggressive. Sure, go for the low-hanging fruit first, but don’t settle for a three to four percent productivity increase.
- Keep at it. The first time you examine processes, Wince says, you’ll likely get only about 15 to 20 percent of the available opportunity. “It ends up being a journey,” he says.
In tight economic times, any business can benefit from taking a good look at its operational efficiency. Some little savings can add up and make a big difference.
All contents © 2009 Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Impact Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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