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Step 7 - Get the right materials to get the job done right

You need to make sure your staff has all the tools it needs to get the job done right such as efficient equipment, materials, and supplies. Do things like making sure your staff has good working computers with plenty of disk space and memory. Nothing is worse than having a slow computer, especially while on the phone with a customer. Continually communicating with your staff is the key to finding out what they need to make things run more efficiently. Many managers assume everyone has what they need because they do not ask for anything. They might think it is too trivial or that they do not want to waste your time with small requests. Don’t let this happen to you. Encourage your staff to look for any improvements that can make their lives a little easier.

Hopefully you have enough in your budget to adhere to the requests. Many times, items such as computers are part of Capex (capital expenditures) and should not necessarily come out of your budget (basic finance and creating a budget will be discussed in more detail in lesson 8). Insist from upper management that you need this equipment in order to achieve your objectives and goals. The software you choose is also of vital importance. Clumsy and hard to use programs like old DOS type of software is hard to use and takes extra time to find and enter information. You should also be able to show how the benefits outweigh the costs. Lesson 9 goes into detail regarding how to determine the cost-benefit analysis. Getting fast computers with easy to use software programs makes for easier training and efficiency improvements.