jwanheah

An extraordinary 300%! Thats right! 2024 marked yet another record growth milestone for the 29-year old brand since i (unofficially) helmed the reigns, and we are primed for continuous growth if we can overcome our internal challenges. Here are some of the many things we did to get us to where we are today. 

In any business, everything is either a PROCESS or PEOPLE problem. And even if it is a people issue, it still comes back to the process. Process of hiring, process of training, processes that ensure people can perform, process of eliminating interference, etc etc. Proper processes minimise problems, and ensure people can perform. If growth is stunted or there are repeated issues in certain areas of your organisation, take a good look at the processes in that area.  

1. Speed  

Today everything in the world moves at lighting speed. If your processes and procedures hinder immediate response and immediate access to data, you’ve already lost. We streamlined processes, restructured the organisation for correct information flow, moved people to minimise interference, and invested in digital solutions to speed up our access to data and cut out ‘paper pushing’ within the organisation. Speed is everything, in many situations a customer isn’t always upset with the product, product or a service rendered is rarely the cause of complaint or frustration, it is the speed of response. A customer feels disrespected and unvalued when we are slow to respond, heightening their frustration which leads to a negative ambassador. Always respond faster than expected to keep customers happy! We’re closing more new clients because we now respond swiftly and accurately, address issues at lightning speed and providing information faster than ever before. Among the many, one of the changes we made was having social media processes to ensure ‘first to post’, giving us substantially higher views, shares and drawing new eye balls to the brand. With technology today, almost everything can be done via mobile remotely, theres no excuse for not being in real time. Today, we have real time access to all data within the organisation which allows me to make real time decisions, and have my figure on the pulse of the organisation all the time. Whilst it has been a great year, we are not without challenges and our greatest obstacle to overcome, archaic mindsets. Which may take a while to address before we can take off at full speed!
My advice is to frequently take a good audit of your processes, policies, and procedures, what & who can you remove to make things faster.  

2. Service Vs Hospitality  

Every business provides a service (even a product provides a service the client requires!). To me, service is a transaction where you are paid to do something. Service is a given. Hospitality is an experience. An engineered experience designed to ensure a client stays with us and more importantly comes back. Service improvement is a given, it is a procedural checklist that anyone can and must complete. Hospitality is a strategic art where we create an experience the customer appreciates. Be it going above and beyond the agreed paid service, providing a connection, value adding or simply providing value to someone way before there is any intent of a transaction. We have people in the field doing the above. I find the belief of ‘providing value first’ most impactful for us, our clients appreciate the ideas & insights we provide to them at the get-go when they have just made an inquiry. Think of why you’re a loyal customer to certain hotels or restaurants, then see where you can inject hospitality strategies into your funnel to help build brand loyalty or turn one from interest to action (or like i’d like to say, repeated action!)

3. Right people, right seat 

This has been the biggest stumbling block for the organisation and every small movement we make, yields the greatest results. It is not only about hiring the right person from the start and putting them in the right seat, though this is a crucial success factor. I believe this is a continuous on-going process of discovery learning. Watching, listening and understanding with intent gives us a continuous ability to understand a person. What are their strengths, their interests and passions, their capabilities, their personalities and their goals. These like all things in life change over time and where the person is in their lifeline, and so leaders have to know when to move them to their next seat. I have had arguments, dealt with disgruntled colleagues, strained friendships because i moved people. Moving people occasionally warrants the moving of responsibilities and authority, this will not sit well with the subject. But we do what needs to be done, do what is right for the greater good of the brand. Remember, leadership is not a popularity contest.

I hope you find some small insight from this that can help you achieve your growth goals in 2025. If you’d like to hear more, connect with me on social media. 

Thank you to the team at Malaysia Book Of Records for supporting my decisions and for the hard work and dedication throughout 2024. Thank you for the amazing results and i look forward to another extraordinary 2025! Happy New Year everyone!