Fundamentals & Complexity Ep 136

Speaker A emphasizes the importance of maintaining fundamental business practices while scaling up, rather than constantly seeking new processes. They argue that successful scaling involves adapting these core principles to handle increased complexity without altering the customer experience. The speaker shares a personal epiphany that refining and executing fundamentals at scale, rather than introducing new systems, is key to growth and stability. They illustrate this with their own company's approach and the example of Chick-fil-A, highlighting the significance of preserving a consistent, high-quality customer experience regardless of business size.

• Entrepreneurs often try to change working processes when issues arise, mistakenly attributing problems to the processes themselves.
• Growth in business increases the complexity of executing fundamental principles.
• Maintaining human connections and providing value are constants, regardless of business scale.
• The tendency to constantly alter processes and create new SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) is common but may not be necessary.
• Successful, advanced businesses focus on perfecting fundamentals, not adding complexity.
• The key to scaling is not introducing new elements but enhancing the execution of existing, proven practices at a larger scale.
• Constant changes can confuse and frustrate teams; framing improvements as scaling up effective practices is more beneficial.

"And so when you think about scaling a business, right, there's so many people who can maintain one on one clients really, really easily, right. The idea, though, is that human connection and the things that you need to do to maintain a relationship and provide good value and provide service and whatnot don't change, right? Like, humans aren't different at scale as they are one on one."

This quote emphasizes that the core aspects of maintaining relationships and providing value are consistent, whether dealing with individual clients or a larger customer base. It suggests that human interaction and service quality should not be compromised when a business grows.

"But we try and change our processes constantly. And so we spend all this time and effort recreating sops, creating new processes, trying to change all this stuff, when what I'm now seeing, even with our company at scale, the secret is that the people who are more advanced in business don't do things that are fancy. They always do the fundamentals."

The speaker highlights a common pitfall where businesses waste time reinventing processes instead of refining what already works. The insight is that successful businesses stick to the basics and master them, rather than seeking complexity.

"And it's just that the fundamentals, when delivered at scale, become complex. And so I know this sounds like, hopefully it's not like semantics, but understanding that, for me, has been a really big epiphany, or at least articulating it, that we don't need new, we need better."

This quote clarifies that the speaker's realization is about the nature of complexity in scaling. It's not about discarding the old for the new but about improving existing methods to handle a larger scale effectively.

"And better is doing the things that, you know, worked at a small scale, at a large scale. And so a lot of times it's not introducing things that are going to confuse your team, that are going to make them feel like you're constantly changing things, but instead kind of framing it as, how can we do the thi"

The speaker suggests that 'better' means taking successful small-scale practices and adapting them to a larger scale without unnecessary changes that could create confusion within the team. The focus is on scaling up what has been proven to work, thereby maintaining stability and clarity in the business processes.

• The process of scaling delivery in a service-based business should maintain the quality of the one-on-one customer experience.
• Systems should be established to handle increased client numbers without altering the end-user experience.
• Identifying key interactions, touch points, and communication cycles from a one-on-one relationship is crucial.
• These elements should then be extrapolated to fit a scaled system, while the customer's journey remains unchanged.
• Keeping the customer experience consistent is beneficial for mental clarity in designing and scaling services.
• The concept of scaling should be communicated to the team as a means to preserve the original one-on-one connection.

"When you have ten clients versus 100 clients for 1000 clients, things change. Right. But the actual experience should be the same for the end user."

This quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining a consistent experience for the customer, regardless of how many clients there are. As the number of clients grows, the behind-the-scenes systems must adapt, but the quality of service received by each client should not be compromised.

"And so that's kind of the process that you should think about in terms of, like, how do I scale delivery is, what does it look like for if I had to coach this person one on one, what does the client experience look like from their perspective?"

The speaker is suggesting that business owners should consider scaling their service delivery by first understanding the optimal one-on-one client experience and then finding ways to replicate this experience for a larger customer base.

"And then taking that and then seeing how we can do this at scale with systems and multiple people, but the actual customer experience is the same."

This quote outlines the goal of scaling: to replicate the one-on-one customer experience using systems and additional personnel to serve a larger number of clients without changing the essence of the customer journey.

"And so if you articulate this to your team, I think it actually helps give clarity because it feels more simple, because it's not like we're introducing this system and this system and this system, when really it's like we're just doing this thing because we're trying to still have this original one on one connection, which is originally why people came and why people loved us in the beginning."

The speaker suggests that explaining the scaling process to the team in terms of maintaining the original one-on-one connection simplifies the concept and reinforces the core reason why customers chose the service initially.

"And that's why people, like so many gym owners, can get from zero to 700 to 100 efts, really, without any kind of training, right, because they know what that experience should look like. They just don't know how to scale that experience."

The speaker indicates that gym owners, as an example, have been able to grow their client base significantly by understanding the desired customer experience but often lack the knowledge to effectively scale this experience while maintaining its quality.

• The speaker had an epiphany about maintaining a static experience while allowing processes and teams to evolve.
• The core objective of the business remains unchanged despite the growth and changes in the team and processes.
• This realization can be useful for leaders to communicate changes to their teams.

"And so if you look inwards to yourself about, okay, I'm keeping the experience Static. That is unchanging. But as we have more people, the processes and the team that supports that will change, but the objective remains the same."

This quote emphasizes the importance of keeping the core customer experience unchanged even as the company grows and the internal team and processes evolve. The main objective remains consistent, which is a critical insight for managing change within an organization.

• The speaker humorously urges return listeners to rate and review the show.
• Ratings and reviews are crucial for the growth of the podcast, as they help spread the word.
• The speaker believes in the power of collective effort among entrepreneurs to support each other.

"Hey, if you're a return listener and you have not rated or reviewed the show, I want you to know that you should feel absolutely terrible about yourself and everything else in the world. I'm kidding. But it would mean the absolute, the world to me if you guys would go ahead and do that."

This quote is a light-hearted call-to-action for listeners to leave ratings and reviews, which are essential for the podcast's visibility and growth. The speaker uses humor to encourage audience engagement.

• The speaker discusses the concept of changing processes to maintain a consistent experience.
• Teams generally fear change, but framing it as maintaining consistency can reduce anxiety.
• The speaker contrasts the entrepreneurial love for change with the typical team's resistance.

"It's like we're not actually changing anything. We're changing a process to keep the experience consistent."

This quote reflects the speaker's approach to change management, where the focus is on altering processes to maintain a consistent customer experience, rather than changing the experience itself. This perspective can help reduce fear of change within teams.

• The speaker advocates for sticking to business fundamentals akin to sports fundamentals.
• Using Chick-fil-A as an example, the speaker highlights the success of maintaining an owner-operated feel at a large scale.
• Key elements of Chick-fil-A's success include customer service, cleanliness, and attention to detail.

"Business at a large scale. Look at Chick fil a, for example. They've created such an amazing business because they feel like an owner operated facility."

This quote illustrates how adhering to basic business principles, such as providing excellent customer service and maintaining a clean environment, can lead to success even for large-scale businesses. Chick-fil-A is highlighted as a prime example of this approach.

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of creating a personalized customer experience even when a business scales up.
• The concept is likened to the atmosphere of "Cheers," where everyone knows your name, suggesting familiarity and personal attention.
• The key strategy involves thinking like a small shop owner who knows their customers intimately and ensuring that this level of care is maintained as the business grows.

And obviously, that takes complexity, but the customer experience is the same, right. The customer experience is that of a cheers where everyone knows your name.

This quote underscores the challenge of maintaining a consistent and personalized customer experience despite the complexities that arise from business expansion. The reference to "Cheers" sets a benchmark for the desired customer experience.

• The speaker discusses reverse engineering the customer experience to ensure it remains consistent as the company grows.
• The approach involves considering how one would treat the customer if they were the sole focus or a regular visitor and then applying that treatment across the board.

And so they figured out the key points, that if they were the owner, right, they were the owner in the situation. Like, you're the small shop owner. How would you treat that customer if it was the only customer you had, or you saw them all the time and then reverse engineering that so that the experience remains static at scale?

The quote explains the process of reverse engineering, which is to start with the ideal customer treatment from the perspective of a small shop owner and then adapt this approach to work in a larger, scaled environment. This ensures that the customer experience does not deteriorate as the business grows.

• The speaker reflects on the current practices of customer service and sales within their business.
• They consider whether there is a need to change the sales process or other aspects in response to a changing customer avatar.

When I'm looking at not only just, like, customer service, but also sales for us, I'm like, okay, maybe we need to change the sales process. Maybe the avatar has changed.

The quote reveals the speaker's introspection about the effectiveness of current business practices, including customer service and sales, and the consideration of potential changes to adapt to the evolving needs or profiles of customers.

• The speaker suggests that businesses may perceive changes to be needed more frequently than is actually the case.
• The real issue may not be the need for change but rather the ability to scale the customer experience effectively.

It's just that our ability to scale the experience has changed, right?

This quote implies that the perception of necessary change in business practices might be a misinterpretation of the underlying challenge, which is effectively scaling the customer experience while maintaining its quality.

• The speaker shares a recent realization that their sales team was missing fundamental practices.
• The importance of sticking to the basics, such as clarifying customer goals and understanding their problems, is highlighted.

And he and I had a call afterwards, he's like, dude, we're just missing fundamentals. We're not asking people, clarifying their goal and asking them what their pains are and their problems, like fundamentals.

The quote conveys a key insight from the speaker's discussion with a manager, which is that the sales team was neglecting basic but crucial elements of the sales process, such as understanding customer goals and pain points.

• The speaker concludes by sharing that the realization about fundamentals has been a significant insight for them.
• They express hope that this reflection may also provide value to the listeners.

And so, anyways, guys, I hope you have an amazing day and fantastic Friday, and maybe that unlocks something for you, like it did for me.

In the final quote, the speaker wraps up the conversation with well-wishes and a suggestion that the listeners might find the discussed insights as enlightening as they did.