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A well designed business method or process saves time, improves reliability, lowers costs. Every restaurant has a standard process for welcoming and serving customers depending on whether they want to dine-in or take out. An auto mechanic goes thru a process of inspection, providing estimates, and then begins work. When you apply for a process, the steps are nonnegotiable. These are very straightforward and standard processes, and rarely does a customer ask for an exception.

The most important point that is missed when creating a method or process is that it is useful only when it satisfies a customer need. Most creators of a business process or method is more engrossed with internal efficiencies and cost control.

Analyze the customer’s problems before you adopt a process or method. If the customer is not satisfied, then change the process. Or change the customer’s expectations. For internal processes, most co-workers will learn to live with a defective process and find workarounds. That creates other problems, as we saw in a prior blog. External customers, those who pay the bills, will either move to a different source or they will lower your profits by raising your costs, the costs of handling their complaints, and the emotional aggravation caused to your employees.

A business process or method can be a business advantage, but you have to design it well and you have to execute it even better.