By Michael Angier

My wife convinced me recently to turn on and leave on the automated spell checker in Outlook (my email program). I had resisted doing this because I have many acronyms, email addresses and URLs the spell checker wouldn't recognize, and I didn't want to bog down the process of sending my typical 40 outgoing messages a day.

My defense was also grounded in the fact that these messages are mostly informal and sent to people who know me. They shouldn't have to meet the same standard as an email broadcast or a typed letter. 

But Dawn pointed out that I wasn't practicing what I preach. Ouch!

She was right; I was taking the easy road. I had no ground to stand on and I relented.

And it's been amazing to me just how often my spell checker catches typos and keeps me from embarrassing myself and detracting from the image of SuccessNet.

Raising the bar is like that. The more you strive for excellence, the more you find what can—and should—be improved. You're never "there". You never arrive. You must constantly challenge the standards you have.

Here are just a few areas to look at where you may want to consider raising your standards:

• customer response time

• returns and refunds

• logo and collateral

• cleanliness of work space, vehicles, etc.

• quality of your guarantee

• speed of product manufacturing

• turnover rate of staff

• timeliness and efficacy of reports

• gross sales

• earnings

• cost per unit

• safety for employees and clients

• acknowledgement of employees

Raise your sights. Raise your expectations. Raise your standards. And raise the bar!

Raising the Bar - Part One can be found here.
And Raising the Bar - Part Two can be found here. 

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