Put Your Customer First

To quote Sam Walton, “There is only one boss. The CUSTOMER. And he can fire anybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

We can easily find ourselves getting caught up in making the best product, simply for the sake of having the best product. But if nobody needs or wants it, what have we gained? We must ensure we are making the best product that best suits our customer. At the end of the day, we cannot sustain a business with our ego. Everyday you need to ask yourself if you are satisfying your customers’ needs.

Be Willing to Go the Extra Mile

This may sound counterintuitive to point #1 but hear me out. You must first find what is best for the customer. Then up the best product with the unbeatable service. Find out what your customer expects of you, then exceed it.

Work to Prevent Not Correct

Corrective actions are extremely important and are not likely to go away. However, there is so much value in preventing issues before they occur. This is much easier said than done. A strong FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) program is critical to having a successful preventative action program. You may never know if you overprepared, but you will certainly know if you underprepared.

Check Up on Yourself… Often

So many people view “audit” as a bad word. Stressful? Maybe. Bad? Nah. So much is learned during an audit. It is a tool to ensure you and your team are always working to get better. No system is perfect, even if you come out of an audit with zero findings. We can all work to improve somewhere.

I am so fortunate to be in an organization that values this concept. We have the privilege to get audited by our third party twice annually. We pay extra for it, but it pays for itself tenfold. We also allow our customers to audit anytime they request. The outside eyes really help to enhance your own internal checks.

Automate Along with Human Connection

Technology is a tool with endless capabilities. Yet that tool rarely makes decisions for itself. As we continue to grow and expand with automation, we must not forget that we need key people to analyze the data and respond when needed. Look for opportunities to improve a process with automation, not just a place to eliminate headcount.