Though we all know achieving perfection is impossible, clearly it's in the best interest of your business to strive for it. Success will demand that you seek perfection in every area.

Often people hire our company after their businesses are open and ask us how they can make them more profitable. This type of consulting job is without a doubt the most difficult. It's much easier to do things right the first time.

Although no person or business is perfect, the most successful strive for perfection in every area. Many settle for less, so your efforts to be the best will put you in the lead and make your business unique.

The Perfect Product
The perfect cup starts with the best available beans. But don't assume every customer can appreciate the finest beans without a little guidance. Part of good marketing includes giving them background and information about coffee, usually available from your suppliers. Let your customers know if you roast your own, or buy from an award-winning roaster. Display roasting dates prominently. A big part of education is learning to discern differences. When you educate the consumer, you build sophistication and a willingness to pay a premium price.

On a trip through Italy, I consumed over 60 espresso beverages, and 55 were absolutely perfect. American retailers can't come close to this now, but they must learn to do so, to survive the onslaught of competition.

For years, coffeehouses have been able to get away with inferior product because many consumers still don't understand the differences. We camouflage our bad preparation with too much milk and sweet, flavored syrups. We waste the potential of hand picked and carefully sorted beans from the far reaches of the globe.

But our customers are becoming more knowledgeable every year. For our industry to continue to grow, we must serve truly excellent coffee drinks. I want to encourage small independent retailers to admit they could learn more, try harder and become more innovative. To do well, you have to do it right. Striving for perfection in your entire operation, beginning with every cup you serve, is the key to survival and growth.

The Perfect Procedures
The successful operation requires excellent systems, including employee training. If your employees can't prepare and serve a perfect product, you are missing the point of opening a coffeehouse -- to impact the community and gain recognition.
In Italy, the coffee business has come up with what they call the four Ms of the perfect espresso beverage:

• Macinazione, or machining, refers to the perfect grinding of the coffee, which will vary, even with the weather. For each cup, the seven to eight grams of coffee, as fine as sugar, must never be ground too far in advance, or your coffee will lose freshness and its potential.
• Miscela is mixing, the perfect blending of the coffee for a complex and harmonious flavor. Most Italian coffeehouses add robusta beans to the usual arabica, providing more caffeine and a denser "crema."
• Macchina refers to the perfect espresso machine, one that is always immaculately cared for.
• Mano refers to the skilled hand, the manual labor contributed by the barista of passion and experience. The barista is the most important of the four Ms, the artist who holds the brush.

The Perfect Place
Let's assume your business is beautifully decorated, full of innovation and loaded with ambience. It's graced with elegant lighting and is plush with scrumptious color and texture. The floors are fascinating, the tables unique, the seating comfortable. The equipment gleams, the counters are wiped constantly. Even the restrooms get hourly attention. Congratulations. You are now doing only the minimum.

Every inch of your business must be sparkling clean at all times. People may not consciously notice your cleaning efforts unless you fall below their personal standards, but they will sense some trustworthy quality they can't name in a clean, uncluttered location. Assign someone to constantly patrol the seating area -- bussing cups, washing tables and hard chairs, whisking away papers and debris, straightening furniture, sweeping all corners.

Greet everyone who walks in your door. You want your customers to remember a smiling face and an enthusiastic welcome that makes them feel special. Make eye contact. Let them know you are glad to see them. When your staff is upbeat and eager to serve, customers feel as if they were among friends. They will happily spend money, tell their friends about your unique place, and return often.

Perfect Solutions to Problems
No matter how good you are, you will occasionally get a complaint. Though some people love to gripe, most complaints are justified. The best response to a person poised for an argument is to agree and to sympathize. "You're right, of course. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Our customers deserve excellence. We want you to be one hundred percent satisfied, every time you visit us. Let me take care of this for you."

Unconditional customer satisfaction is your goal. If the customer says the coffee is not perfect, your employees need to know they can offer a choice of any beverage free, as compensation. A quick and sincere response will surprise and disarm even hostile guests. You can turn an error into an opportunity when you turn a mistake around, and create a relationship.

You want an unhappy customer to know you really care and regret what happened. Follow up and ask if they were happy with the solution. Or you can create customer comment cards, preaddressed to you. This provides a direct route to management if people have strong emotions. Instruct employees to fill out daily reports on any problems, how it happened and how they resolved it.

Welcome the opportunity to fix what doesn't quite work, and to improve your employee training. The biggest mistake is to learn nothing from an error, which guarantees that it will happen again.

Provide Perfect Leadership
The small business owner and manager has a job millions yearn for, with a chance to inspire others and to turn a vision into a profitable reality.

The great leader, be it manager or owner, lives a life of purpose with clear long-term goals. Define your large and small goals. List obstacles and chores, research to be done, expertise to be found, then set up timelines as part of a fully developed plan that includes a way to measure your success. Then get to work. With daily and weekly goal setting, you can modify a mediocre operation into one that is nearly perfect.

To lead and manage on a day-to-day basis, you have to plan and stay organized so you can provide direction as to who will do what, when, and how. Each employee needs to know what you expect and what is not permitted. You earn respect by displaying your own passion and skills and by inspiring people to learn from you and to set personal goals.

As a leader with good people skills, you can attract and keep talented employees who are committed to your goals. To lead effectively, you must see past your own wants to understand why people do what they do and to understand and accept human failure. Use your imagination to see reality from their point of view. Employees know when you have their best interests in mind. An excellent manager sincerely wants others to do well and seeks to motivate them to unlock their own potential.

The good leader thinks carefully before speaking, like a good diplomat, but also uses body language and visual clues to add meaning. Educators talk about seven different brain types, each with its own way of learning. Some people will not get it when you tell them, but need physical practice. Others won't make sense of a written explanation but will understand instantly when they see it done. For others the rhythm of practice will prove successful.

The good manager works to create a team with common goals of excellence. But select those goals to reflect true priorities, those that will make the biggest difference with the least effort.

Always set high standards and then put in place ways to measure how they are achieved. The best manager sets targets but does not micromanage how people go about achieving them. Show trust and encourage thinking by expecting employees to deal with the normal, everyday issues themselves.

Keep precise records and make generous notes on everything, and record incidents as you just won't recall details later. Our top executives keep daily diaries noting everyone they talk with and what was said. Refer to your notes later, as needed. They could one day protect you from a lawsuit.

Always let people know when you like what you see. Reward excellence by telling the whole staff about achievements. Pass on any compliments you hear. Positive reinforcement is powerful. Rarely criticize. If you see someone doing poorly, turn your disappointment into a teachable moment. Focus on the positive.

Your personal will and attitude set the tone for your entire operation.
Good communication with customers and employees is basic to success. Don't stop there. Extend it to suppliers and other businesses you work with to expand your circle of goodwill and cooperation. It all starts with valuing and caring about others.

Always strive to create a winning team aiming for perfection.