TRAIN YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER.

The cost of hiring and replacing persons who do your work from outside is so enormous and inconvenient. Have you ever considered this at all?

Your service providers include:

• Consultants
• Artisans
• Printers
• Graphics Designers
• Stationery Suppliers
• Raw Material Purchasers
• Anyone who is part of your process chain from beginning until end when you sell a service or product to your customers…

These persons MUST KNOW YOUR OWN CULTURE and CONTRIBUTE TO ITS FINESSE.

If you observe SOBCA culture, we have tried to maintain the SAME SET of persons since our inception. We have not changed our printer, our designer, our source for buying pens, papers and any consumables, and even food, after attempting with several vendors, we have pitched with one through thick and thin. WHY?

Because we figured the following:

• that with each change comes a cost of learning and the curve of satisfaction. There is no time for that.
• with each change, prices went up. Even when we negotiated better, the quality was threatened.
• with each change, trust was reset back to zero and we had to learn to grow it afresh. That is risky.
• and ultimately, each vendor has their own issues so we reckoned it is better to BUILD A VENDOR TO SPEC than to MOVE FROM VENDOR TO VENDOR.

This is how we built our structure by utilizing the same set of service providers who have served us for exactly FIVE (5) YEARS to date. THIS IS CHEAPER & MORE PROMISING.

How do you train your service providers?

1. Develop your own SPECIFICATIONS for any task you want to give out to be done.
2. Be specific about your dimensions, sizes, shapes, colors, logo appearances, sewing, binding style, font preferences, timing (of delivery) (SOBCA stipulates 48 hours before event delivery time, latest), budget (we say how much we will not exceed), cost of B&D (B&D is Bad & Damages, we define who bears what losses), etc.
3. Pay well in advance for this service since you now have a firm agreement (even in principle). SOBCA pays 100% in advance ALWAYS to all her vendors.
4. Give room for errors but always be VERY FIRM & DIRECT with feedback because your specification is your brand.
5. Grow to a point where you don’t remind about specs again just to ascertain they can deliver to spec without reminders. THIS IS WHERE SOBCA HAS REACHED NOW. We just emailed content and await delivery. We do not interfere in design again because we all know the drill now. This is your goal.

TASK FOR THE WEEK:
So, if I may ask you, WHAT LIST OF SERVICE PROVIDERS MUST YOU CONSIDER AS PART OF THIS EXPECTATION?

m a k t u b!!!

SO