Its all about systems (E-Myth Revisited)

The “E-Myth Revisited” in my opinion is one of the greatest books out there for the small business owner.

What makes it great for me is that when reading it I frequently say to myself “yeah that makes sense”.

Yep – common sense

A previous mentor/boss told me it was a very rare thing to find in people and I have to agree. The E-Myth Revisited book is full of common sense insomuch that I believe following the teachings within it will really make a positive impact to the success of any business.

I have talked the book up so much that I failed to acknowledge that some of you would not even know anything about the book. So let me provide a very quick summary because you really need to get a copy yourself and read it.

Its all about being consistent

The book is written by Michael E. Gerber and what I really got out of it is that in order to run a successful business you really need to focus on the systems within that business. By creating or improving existing systems within your business you can provide a better product/service and what I consider very important is that you provide consistency to the customer. So each time she comes to your business she will get the same great service/product which makes her feel like she is in control of the relationship.

Let me give you an example of how important consistency is within a business.

Coffee at $9.00 per day

Every day I get myself 2 coffees from a local café. Now each one costs 4.50 NZD (yep its that expensive here for a triple shot capo’). Now depending on who is on during the day I can have a great coffee or I can have a really really bad coffee.

By not providing a consistent experience with their coffee making I walk into the café each day not knowing what I will get. It may sound strange to you but this really stresses me out! Why should I have to worry about the quality of my coffee each day? Why should I? I am the one paying them! Now because they are not consistent I have given up and will buy myself a coffee machine and then I will be in control of what coffee I get each day!

Because the café was not consistent they lost a customer and a customer who was very willing to pay $9.00 NZD a day for two coffees. If they had a good system which could have been as simple as creating a process to train each staff member on how to make the coffee and then had a “buddy” with them for a week monitoring their process they would have a far better chance of providing a consistent service throughout their staff.

The classic example is McDonalds

Why is it that a Big Mac tastes the same in virtually every country? Well its simple they have an operations manual that details how to create a Big Mac. Its in so much detail that a 16 year old spotty child cannot get it wrong – that consistent approach is the reason why I think they are successful.

Now I am not washing over the importance of the people within a business but if you provide good, robust and effective systems within your business then the people within your business are not the asset. So if your number one delivery manager leaves you have not lost all that knowledge she would have had.