彭蒙惠英语：Indispensable? Your Biggest Business Mistake（在线收听）

Indispensable? Your Biggest Business Mistake

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Make a small business work

Take J.D. Cochran, a retired Navy chief who bought an independent auto-repair business in Florida 14 years ago. He drew on experiences from his 26 years in the military to develop systems for his business. “My plan going in was not to work every day,” Cochran said. “I wanted to build the business up and then hire the proper people to work my system. That was the goal all along.”

It didn’t work out that way at first, he said. He, his wife and one hired mechanic were the only employees. When he bought it, there were no systems in place. “We had a five-year plan. But that five-year plan took about 10 or 12 years to get in place,” he said.

Now, there is a system for doing everything. That includes greeting customers with the same “spiel,” performing diagnostic tests in front of the garage so customers can see exactly what is being done to their cars, and recording the details of every job on computer so Cochran knows exactly how the business is doing at any moment.

The key

Cochran’s daughter, Linda, works in the business as his financial manager. She has systematized her end of the business, too. Her father or the shop’s general manager can step in for her when needed. She has a standard operating procedure, or SOP, written up in an employee handbook for her job and for the front counter.

Even so, Cochran thinks getting good employees who make the system work is the crucial factor. “I’ve got key people in key places,” Cochran said. “And that’s what affords me to be off and play golf two or three days a week.”

Vocabulary Focus

spiel (n) [spi:l] a speech, especially one that is spoken quickly and is intended to persuade the listener about something

diagnostic (adj) [7daiE^5nCstik] relating to examinations made to find the exact problem of something

step in (idiom) to do someone else’s work for them because they cannot do it themselves

Specialized Terms

standard operating procedure [SOP] (n phr) 标准作业程序 the usual way of doing something; a set of instructions

非你不可？企业经营的最大错误

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让小企业运转

拿杰迪·柯全来说，他是位退休的海军军官，在14年前买了一间位于佛罗里达州独立运作的修车厂。他以其26年的军旅生涯经验，发展出经营管理制度。“我当初投身于此的计划不是要每天工作，”柯全说，“我要先把生意做起来，然后雇用适当人选依我的制度运作。这一直是我的目标。”

开始时并没有按此计划进行，他说。他、他太太和一个雇来的技师是仅有的员工。当他买下时，并没有营运制度。“我们有个五年计划，但花了10或12年的时间才上轨道。”他说。

现在凡事皆有制度可循。包括用同一套“欢迎辞”招呼顾客；在修车厂前进行诊断测试，顾客因此可清楚看到他们对车子做了些什么；用计算机记录下每件工作的细节，柯全就能随时确实地掌握业务进行的情况。

关键

柯全的女儿琳达是公司的财务经理。她把她那一端的业务也制度化。在必要时，她父亲或是厂里的总经理都能接替她的工作。她有一套标准的作业程序（或称 SOP），记载在她的职务和柜台职员的员工手册内。

即使如此，柯全认为能找到让制度运转的好员工才是关键因素。“我在关键位置上放了关键人物，”柯全说，“这就让我得以1星期打两天或三天的高尔夫球。”