A while back, I started posting on my blog about my parents… what I have learned from them, and made the argument that I don’t have to WAIT until I have the name recognition of Ivanka Trump to do this. =) So, here’s another installment of that series!!
I just got back from vacation with my parents and my brother and our families. On the way home from the mountains, my husband said something that I wish my Dad could have heard him say. He said, “You really do feel SAFE with your Dad around… You just know that he’ll make everything work out, and if it DOESN’T work out for whatever reason, it’s only going to end badly for him.”
Truth be told, I am the envy of so many women, because I have had that assurance my entire life… and still enjoy it today. He goes by one of two nicknames: The Make it Happen Man or SuperMan. You can take your pick… I don’t think he’d argue with either one. =) But, one thing that strikes me is how willing my Dad is to pay attention to the details… whether it’s in his marriage to my Mom… or on the job site… or with his kids… or even in the grocery store, he’s knows that every little thing “counts”.
I’ll give you a perfect example. On the way to the mountains, we stopped for groceries. Here we were…rushing through WalMart with five kids and six adults – trying to buy enough for all three families. We were rushing to get on the road in hopes of avoiding driving on the icy roads at night and while we were checking out, the bagging of the groceries was taking longer than we would hope.
I saw my Dad’s wheels turning. He watched and saw that the lady checking us out fumbled to open the grocery bags before filling them. Now, this MAYBE held us up about 1/2 of a second per bag… but it was something he could do to help out. And so he did. He began opening each bag before she started to fill it. In this way, we probably shaved off about 30 seconds of bagging time. But that’s not the point.
The point is that he noticed…and took action. This is exactly why homeowners want HIS company building their new home, beach house, or outdoor entertainment area. Because he pays attention to the details – all of them. He leaves no stone unturned, and is always looking for a BETTER way to get the results he wants.
In fact, all truly high achievers are consistently looking for small tweaks they can make to improve the outcome of a situation. Olympic athletes are always aiming to shave off even a nano-second off of their best time. Everyday heroes know that seconds matter, and in business – it would behoove us to begin sweating the small stuff again. So, watch… and take action… no matter how small.
I agree that attention to details can be an asset to business success–especially in relation to customer service.
However, I find that it can lead to perfectionism and spending too much time on things that don’t really matter.
I am guilty of that all the time!
My suggestion is to ask yourself with your business details, “what kind of impact will this have in relation to what I’m putting into it?”–basic ROI question.
If it relates to customer satisfaction, I’d say that’s the ROI to pay attention to; however, sometimes what seems to us to be a detail important to our customer really isn’t important to them (e.g., you don’t have any typographical errors in your newsletter or sales material–unless they’re a teacher!)