Like a Virgin

KEEP AN EYE ON THE DETAILS

So you have an idea for a business – one that you believe has the potential to alter the industry. You have put together a simple, straightforward proposition that potential customers find easy to understand. You have raised the necessary capital, gathered a team and publicised your new venture by every means available. What happens next?

It’s time to deliver on your promises. And the only difference between merely satisfactory delivery and great delivery is an obsessive attention to detail. Every detail – no matter how seemingly insignificant!

Anyone who aspires to lead a company must develop a habit of taking notes. As I’ve said, I carry a notebook everywhere I go but an iPad would work just well. Most of my entries are like this one, from a Virgin Atlantic flight years ago: ‘Dirty carpets. Fluff. Equipment: stainless steel, grotty. Choice of menu disappointing – back from Miami, prawns then lobster (as a main course) in Upper Class. Chicken curry very bland. Chicken should be cut in chunks. Rice dry. No Stilton on cheeseboard.’

What’s most revealing is this final note: ‘Staff desperate for someone to listen. Make sure flight staff reports are actioned IMMEDIATELY.’ I’m pleased to say that they have been ever since. This is the real key to getting all the other items on the list done – employees who are enabled to report problems and get them fixed – before I come along with my notebook.

And as you decide how best to deliver your product or service, keep in mind the company’s core business values, the short-to medium-term strategic considerations and where the industry is heading in the long term. Make your decisions on the micro level in light of that bigger picture and your business should be heading in the right direction.

Owners and leaders of established companies should sample their business’s products as often as possible. Many bosses regularly speak to staff at all levels, but often fail to follow up on problems they uncover. This means that their employees never learn what importance the CEO places on getting the details right, or see just how necessary and possible it is to address the everyday problems that come up. If you foster a corporate culture of waiting for someone else to solve problems, the company will suffer the consequences.

Great delivery also depends on great communication, which should start at the top. Be brave: hand out your email address and phone number. Your employees will know not to misuse it or badger you, and, by doing so, you will be giving them a terrific psychological boost – they will know that they can contact you anytime a problem comes up that requires your attention.

Instilling attention to detail throughout your new company will prove especially important when the business begins to gain ground. It always tickles me when a spokesman explains to reporters that a company experiencing delays or other problems is ‘a victim of its own success’ – as though it had undergone something rare and freakish.

The other line that is guaranteed to get my goat is when the excuse for slow service is ‘Sorry but we’re really busy today’. My reaction is always to say, ‘Oh, too bad, but don’t worry, keep this up and it won’t be a problem much longer’.

Finally, when you do start to see success in the form of a stream of new and repeat business, remember to keep a cool head. You’re delivering change, and if you are succeeding, other businesses are very probably getting hurt in the rough and tumble. They will try to shut you down and they will try and emulate what you’re doing. So keep moving and improving: laurels are nice but to rest on them is to risk losing your edge.

Be sportsmanlike, play to win and try to avoid nasty confrontations with your enemies. If you do fall out with a partner, colleague or competitor, let the thing cool off then call them and suggest you get together for dinner. It is likely you have a great deal in common. After all, why did you both get into the business in the first place?