by Real Business - Thursday, 30th August 2007 -

For the past week I’ve been with Romans, the hugely successful estate agency, at its annual managers’ conference at La Manga Club, Spain. I was blown away by the effectiveness of its business operations but what stood out most was its understanding that marketing begins at home.

Dale Norton and Peter Coles, the owners of this 20-year-old company, have always recognised that their business epitomises service and, to deliver customer service, it is vital that front-line teams, and managers in particular, know the firm’s goals.

But knowing the value of internal communications and delivering them successfully are completely different.

Many companies seem content to send an email or hold a long meeting to inform their people what’s expected of them – not Romans. In the past year, it has taken staff to New Orleans, Nassau, Las Vegas and Spain to reinforce company values and its “work hard, play hard” ethic.

The messages are reinforced at home, too. Each month, managers work on two projects “Good to Great” and “Fast Forward” that, independently of each other, assess all aspects of the business, recommend and implement improvements.

These are communicated to all the front-line sales teams via 45-minute meetings in each office every morning – Dale and Peter realise that giving too much information in one session isn’t as effective as breaking things into chunks and asking their people to make small changes each day.

Based on my experience with “The Romans”, here are my recommendations for internal communications that get the message across:

1 Make time each year for a three-to-four-day review of your business by those who know best of all what’s working and what’s not – the managers at the coal face.

2 Carry out these reviews off site, with a themed programme of activities that will stimulate lively discussion, debate and idea generation.

3 Create names and set a finite time for the business plans – Romans has a ten-year business plan, but has broken this down into operational plans that last for 12 months.

4 Put together teams within the teams, mixing functions and people with varied skills and experiences to create a common learning experience.

5 Give the teams incentives – Romans executives typically earn 20 per cent of their income on determined business improvements.

6 Communicate all the ideas individually, as well as creating a picture of the desired overall outcome in order that people can see the relevance of each change, and appreciate how they can make an impact.

7 Be prepared to scrap or amend aspects of the plan that seemed great at the time, but take on a different consequence.

8 Continuously communicate progress and examples of the success of initiatives so people can see the benefit of their efforts.

9 Communicate everything three times in three ways – people don’t always pick up the significance of an email, or might not be paying full attention throughout a meeting. By communicating differently and frequently you will improve understanding and commitment.

10 Have a deadline and make sure each part of the project has, too. There is nothing like passing milestones to raise motivation.

After a week of hard work punctuated with a round of golf or two, and some much welcomed spring sun, I’ve returned to the UK re-energised and excited, thanks to seeing an exceptional group of people who have reminded me of the true importance of internal communications – and how to enjoy your business while running it.