You’ve worked hard to make sure you have an awesome service, a responsive team and smart processes in place so that your business is running smoothly. 

But still, you are dealing with constant issues and fire drills. Where are they coming from?

Most business owners think about their team as the people who are on their payroll!

It’s high time for you to look at your whole eco system and that’s what I will cover in this episode.

As a small business owner, it is impossible to have all sorts of specialty skills on your full-time staff. And therefore, you are outsourcing certain tasks or even whole functions that are critical in providing services to your customers.  

If you think about it, there are so many more contributors to your business than the people reporting to you. For instance: 

·      The IT company who installed and services your CRM system

·      The call center you have outsourced routine customer service calls to

·      The media company who does all your digital marketing campaigns

·      The printing company who prints you monthly statements or marketing material 

 There are so many dependencies to ensure a seamless experience for your customers 

Sometimes, it seems it takes a whole village. 

 Here’s the point: Your ecosystem goes far beyond your immediate team. 

 Now … How can you make sure that your business is the number 1 priority for your vendors and business partners? As a small business owner, you may not be their highest priority based on revenue.

 Listen closely for the 4 things you can do to proactively build strong relationships that help to prevent fire drills.

 Negotiate Service Level Agreements (SLA)

 An example for an SLA for call center contract, for instance, specify the maximum time you want your customers spend on hold or in the voice response unit before they get to speak to a live service representative. The SLA would be something like: Hold time less than one minute. 

After all it’s your reputation that’s on the line!

Identify a Team Member to be the Point Person at the Tactical Level

Request regular SLA reviews between both teams. It helps them to stay on top of day-to-day operations and it builds relationships. Define the type of issues that you need to know about ahead of time and decide how you want them escalated to you.

You don’t want to be the last one to find out about a service interruption or any other hick-up that sends you into a tail spin. 

Have a Personal Contact at the Strategy Level 

Meet regularly and build an ongoing relationship. Share your company’s mission and vision so they become more familiar with you and your business.

 Make sure you are more than an account number to your vendor!

 Recognize Your Own AND the Vendor’s Team for Excellent Work

Nothing makes people feel more included when they are being recognized for productive collaboration.

See more at www.PowerUpYourTeam.com/2