When we review the Executive Maturity Curve, we realize that an effective CEO spends 50% or more of his time delegating and then following up to get his results through others.  Once a CEO understands this, making a list of things to delegate is not a difficult task and we often delegate many things.  Why, then, are we not always successful in our delegation?  The most common source of failure in delegating is in the method of follow up.

Here’s a tip:  Start a journal, maybe on a notepad, using the name of the person that you are delegating to.  Each time you delegate something to them, write it down in that journal.  Be specific by including the date you assign the task and what it is that you are going to follow up on.  As you come in contact with that person throughout the week, just pull out your list, review it with them, and perhaps make a note or two about the progress they have made.  Better yet, if you conduct coaching sessions, start your sessions by reviewing these open items.  You’d be amazed how much gets done through effective follow up.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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Think back CEOs:  Think of a time when you called a vendor and left a message and nobody called you back.  So you called again, and still didn’t get a call back.  How did you feel?  What was your attitude toward that vendor?  How quickly would you change if another vendor with a more responsive customer service system came along?  Now imagine how your customers feel if they call and nobody gets back to them.

Here’s the tip:  First, develop a system to make sure that every customer’s incoming calls and your team’s responses are tracked.  When you find customer inquiries that have no response within a reasonable time, make it a point to ask why.  You may be surprised at what you hear.  Your team may say things like, “I had nothing to tell them, no update to give them, and no changes to communicate.”  The lesson here is very important.  Remember, to make and keep a happy customer the key is not fulfilling the immediate request every time.  Customers understand that orders take time and sometimes things happen to slow down delivery.  No matter what that status of the order, for the sake of the relationship it is often enough just to respond to their inquiry.  It’s true:  Responding to a customer’s request is as important as fulfilling their request.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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You know CEOs, there’s no question that our employees and our managers follow our lead.  Although we really want them to listen to what we say, we need to be very careful to make sure that our actions don’t speak louder than our words.  In other words, we need to be sure we are practicing what we teach?  Remember, people truly do have one ear tuned to what you say and both eyes focused on what you do.

Here’s a tip:  Look at the things that you do routinely.  Here is a simple test you can use to evaluate yourself.  Think about how many meetings you schedule with people in your organization.  As you think, ask yourself this question:  Do I find myself setting these meetings and then canceling them?  Do I schedule them and then show up late?  After you are sure you have answered honestly, then ask yourself this, do you get frustrated when your managers schedule meetings and then cancel them?  How do you feel when they show up late to your meetings?  Now, ask the really critical question, how much of the weakness in your managers is a mirror of your actions?

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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I once had a CEO Client who asked one of his department managers to create a budget for the balance of the year.  The manager said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”  One week went by and it wasn’t done.  Then two weeks…then three weeks…and finally about a month had passed with no results.  This CEO, during one of our coaching sessions, said that he had a manager who refused to give him the budget he had requested.  I asked the CEO to do two things:  First, go back and have the employee explain how he had understood the assignment.  Second, have him explain how he was going to go about completing it.  As the CEO listened he discovered that manager did not know how to get the job the done.  He was more than willing, but because he had never produced a department budget before, he just did not know how.  Now the “AHAAA” that the business owner got, was that the manager didn’t know how he was going to do it.  The manager was willing to take on the task, but he was not able because he did not know what to do.  Once the CEO discovered the problem, he was able to provide training for the manager and the budget was quickly produced.

Here’s a tip:  The next time you delegate anything to one of your key people, ask them those same two questions.  First, ask them to repeat back to you just what it is they believe you are requesting them to do.  This way you will be certain that they understand the assignment.  Second, ask them to explain their plan for how they will go about doing it.  If they cannot answer either of these two questions well, you will know that you need to do some training before they will be ready to take on the task.  By following these simple steps you will make sure that your team members have both the willingness and ability to accomplish the tasks you set.

I am Ruben Estrada, this has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  Your Next Move

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It never fails to amaze me how many business owners do not have strong measurement systems for their managers and employees.  Especially since setting and tracking key impact numbers at the department level is one of your most powerful tools to motivate your managers and employees to succeed.  To make this work, the CEO needs to set a goal or establish a standard for success.  The manager or employee is responsible for tracking and reporting against that goal or standard.  Tracking will allow them to see where they actually are.  With very little involvement from the CEO, other than keeping that number in front of them or having them report the number to you, they will always know where they stand with regards to the goal you have established.  In our experience, once a CEO “gets” this rule and implements these measurement systems, their team begins to work more effectively to produce the results desired.

Here’s a tip:  Think of one department in your company right now that could be improved by better measurement.  Identify one key impact number in that particular department that they could track on a regular basis and feed up to you.  Set a standard or a goal for what that number needs to be and then encourage, support, and train your people to achieve that standard.  The form of tracking will depend on the company and the department.  In sales, you could measure number of sales.  Maybe you will want to measure your pipeline values.  Or in your world you might want to start measuring the number of customer’s that have called in with complaints or problems and track the reasons for their problem.  You may want to measure the number of pieces coming out of a certain department in production, or perhaps your gross profit by individual job.  The key to success is to have the people responsible to produce the numbers take ownership of the measurement and reporting of those key numbers.  If you do this well, you will be amazed at the impact it has on your business. Remember, people respond to what you measure.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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I think we all agree, in business cash is king.  Yet so often our cash is encumbered by how we get paid, and how we get paid is controlled by our customers.  Most businesses should set a standard that calls for at least 98% of all receivables to be “current” at any time.  Of course, “current” is defined by every business, but normally this means payment on or before the due date you set.  No matter what your standard for current is, in every business no more than one half of one percent (.05) of your accounts should ever be over 90 days past due. If you find your past due accounts growing in number, a sure way to resolve the problem is to remember:  You create your own collection and payment cycles.

Here’s a tip:  Set clear standards for your Accounts Receivable Department to measure current and past due accounts.   Measure your results as percentages of total A/R’s counting accounts that are current (within the scheduled due date), 30 to 60 days past due, 60 to 90 days past due, or  90 days plus past due.  If you set the standards accurately, you can use these to manage the Accounts Receivable process no matter what your normal payment cycles.  It may take some time and effort to bring past due accounts current, but you will have a clear measure to determine where you are as you work toward that goal. Also, consider revising your payment options.  If your business allows for it, consider moving you’re accounts towards EFT, Drafting (ACH), or Credit Card payments.  While there is no crystal ball that will tell you exactly how quickly you will get paid, if you are using an electronic payment process you are likely to see your cash much faster.  The small fees charged for these services are usually well worth the cost.  This is particularly true if you are in a reoccurring revenue business.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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You know, CEO’s, often in a coaching session my clients will tell me about struggles they are having.  They will talk about things like customers not paying their bills on time and how that really impacts their cash flow.  Or maybe they have a manager who is not really leading his team well.  Some times they talk about vendors who make mistakes on orders causing serious delays. The problems come from many directions and can involve any area of the business.  When I hear these stories my immediate reaction is always have you told them?

Have you told the customer the impact their failure to pay is having? Have you had a conversation with them about the payment terms? Have you talked to your manager about their leadership development skills and provided options for training if needed?  Have you talked to your vendor about the impact of their late deliveries?  Often what I hear back is “no, I have not talked to them directly.”  Unfortunately when we don’t have frequent open and honest communication with the people in our business, the problems fester and grow.  The result is often an adversarial situation that is even more difficult to resolve.

So here’s the tip:  Next time you find your self disappointed with a customer, vendor or manager, ask yourself, have you had an open and honest conversation with that person? So often the answer to this question is no, but without communication we cannot solve the problem.  In this case the solution starts with you.  Make it “top of mind” that if you have that frequent open and honest communication, your difficulties are less likely to reach the point where they become adversarial or create unhappiness.

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As CEOs we know by now that we need a brand identity.  We need a picture, a logo or something that works to create a visual connection between us and the people we want to connect with.  This is because people think in pictures.  They need images to help them identify with and recall who you are and what you do.  We also need slogans, a word or phrase that helps connect the images to our emotions.  Of course, it is not enough to just create the images and words that create that brand identity.  We need to make sure that we develop policies and systems to ensure that it’s consistent and constant.  What do I mean by that?

Here’s a tip:  Look at the forms that your company uses internally.  Is your logo and slogan on everything that you print?  Look at the forms that your customers fill out.  Is your logo and slogan there also?  I’m sure it’s on your business cards, probably on your letterhead, but is it on your checks?  Look at those areas where it is printed, put them side-by-side, is it consistent, and is it constant?  Think of having your printer create a Standard Corporate Identity Manual for your business so that anytime something goes to print that includes your logo or your slogan it’s printed with the same colors, the same font, and the same fill.  Do everything possible to make sure that every time your corporate identity appears, it looks the same as every other time.

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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I was out at Home Depot recently doing some shopping.  I happened to be wearing a shirt that had the logo of one of my client’s companies embroidered on it. I was surprised when another shopper walked over and asked me, “is that your company.”  I briefly explained my relationship to the company, and we had a brief talk, and then we went our separate ways.  As I got back to my shopping I had an ahaaa . . . my client’s identity was growing because I was wearing a shirt with his brand on it.

You know, CEO’s we talk a lot about branding in our business because we know how important it is to have a great company logo and a memorable slogan.  But what are you doing to make sure that the hard work and expense you went through to get that logo is having its biggest impact?  What are you doing beyond the brand itself to make sure that people recognize you?  There are many, many ways that you can identify yourself uniquely in the market you serve.  You could use a clever little giveaway with your logo or slogan on it.  You might get your slogan put on shirts that you and your employees wear.  You might find that your best identifier is something unique in your product or service that you are able to promote in a public way.  It can be just about anything, but it must be something.  The rule is, if you don’t have something that uniquely identifies you, you have no identity.

Here’s a tip:   Think about your business.  Think about what you have that can be promoted or distributed to uniquely identify you in your market.  What will people remember?  For example, I once had a client that served the real estate industry.  To make sure people knew who he was, he would fill a candy jar with his logo and his name on it.  He gave these jars to real estate agents as gifts, and then every couple months he’d go around to the different real estate agents and refill that candy jar with candy.  He became known as the Candy Man.  At Estrada Strategies, we put our logo and website address on a gold coin that we call a “Round TUIT.”  I am sure many of you have one.  People know us as the company that has that little gold coin that helps people get things done in order to move forward.  What do you have? 

This has been your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

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CEOs, quite often we put so much time into growing our company.  Almost all of our efforts and energy go into sales and new client acquisition.  By operating in this manner, from time to time we loose track of the overall importance of the Bottom Line.

Here’s a tip:  Set gross profit and expense standards in dollars and percentages for your business.  Track these standards; hold people accountable and communicate with your departments how well they are doing at meeting their targets.  At the same time, set net income goals for you and your business because remember: It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.

This is your CEO Rule of the Week.  I am Ruben Estrada.  Your Next Move

Please click here to listen to the CEO Rule of the Week