#2: “BLACK BELT” MASTERY FOR FRONT-LINE SERVICE JOBS
The Achievement: Crummy Service-Value to Guaranteed Best
I bought a small, 3-location distributor that was unprofitable. No one had gotten a raise in two years. Warehouse wages were 15% below the average for that job niche in each city. Best (lucky) hires didn’t stay; coasters remained; and levels for - experience, work-ethic, morale, and commitment -were all low. And, service mistakes were about 70 for every 1000 line-times processed.
How do you get to: highest, everyday fill-rates with zero errors and 100% on-time order shipment?
Solutions?
-
I announced that I wanted to improve warehouse – skills, quality and productivity – high enough to support 150% of the average job-comp for each city. A 76% increase!
-
I introduced a learn-n-earn program so that all warehouse folks could become “black-belt certified” at over a dozen different tasks within the warehouse.
-
I educated all employees on the “mastery process” for skills and implemented a monthly, personal-mastery program.
-
We hyper-focused on best customers within one best, core segment of customers for which we tuned fill-rates to be the best in our markets.
Results:
-
Errors dropped to 1-2 per 1000 picks, and we offered customers a zero-error, money-backed guarantee.
-
We began to grow 3-4X faster (and more profitably, with fatter rebates) than our overall channel.
-
Gross-profit-dollars/head grew faster than wages. Our premium wages as a percent of margin dollars declined.
-
We had people who had “learned how to learn” and become promotable from within. Jobs turned into careers with “best-service” pride.
The How-To details for my “solutions” are at these different on-line locations:
-
My “everyone wins pay policy/strategy” is at this link: Exhibit 10
-
A series of 3 “CultureGrams” on the need to: “learn how to learn” and Mastery are at this URL: merrifieldact2.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/17-Culturegram-Learning-to-Learn.pdf
(Note: each CultureGram has both homework questions for employees to turn in before meetings for “discussion questions”. If folks don’t go through the concepts 5-7 times they will not fully grasp and retain the concepts.)
-
If you prefer more (audio) detail, go to my youtube channel at this link:
Bruce Merrifield - YouTube. Choose “Module 5” and watch most narrowly video clips 29-38.
-
And, see my tool that expects every employee to invest in themselves to be a more skilled person at this link: MONTHLY GOAL PLANNING STATEMENTS
Having “good” people who deliver “good” service is a commodity. How is your firm achieving measurably-best, service-value for one, targeted, customer segment at a time?