15.08.2010 11:57:49

daveboulter

It has been around one month with the iPad. Has it lived up to my expectations? Well, the easiest way to measure that is by asking my wife. Her comment is: "Have you got that thing with you again?" It is true. There have been very few times when the iPad has not been close by. It has become another device that has made our lives one where work rarely escapes us. But then again, this one is different. It does not seem like work. Looking at the past month deeper, I have actually been more productive.

I am a voracious reader of many websites and I use Google Reader to aggregate the RSS feeds associated. I use Reeder app as it is one of the better readers around. I am surprised at the many moments in the day when you have a few minutes spare. For example, I don't watch a lot of television. If I do, it is usually a show that the rest of my family is not watching. Commercials are a great time to catch up on a little reading or email.

I use the inbuilt email client. It works quite well. As I use Gmail I can also use Safari to browse to my Gmail as well. I have all of this synced via Gmail and so I can go to any computer or my iPad or even my dumb old Nokia phone and read my email and it all just works. The same with my calendar Google calendar syncs with the iPad calendar. Oh, And there is contacts, it all just works.

I also use Mind Maps a lot. iThoughts app is a great solution. It exports complete maps in many different mind mapping tool formats.

I won't bore you with the other apps ranging from TV guides through weather apps and Google Earth which is just mesmerising. The World Cup has been easy to follow via an app and my eBay addiction can be dealt with as well. TweetDeck and Soobees for FaceBook feed the Social media needs. DropBox allows me to share files and I can keep track of website and notes via EverNote.

The 3G access via Telstra has been faultless, but the Telstra app for keeping track of your usage is rubbish. The wireless connects easily. Skype and GotoMeeting look after the communications side of things.

I have paid for Pages from the iTunes store. I had a couple of weeks of trying to work via Google docs. That was somewhat successful but you have to be connected on the net all the time. The main limitation is the Safari browser. It does not support the needed functions, maybe later.

With no network access the iPad is limited. You can do things on some of the apps and obviously work on documents and presentations, using Keynote. But like the few minutes that I have now waiting in KL for colleagues to pick me up, wireless or 3G access would be good. 3G roaming is very expensive so it is a last resort thing you would do.

On the accessory side, I have bought a photo like stand from the Apple store and a keyboard which mounts the iPad in portrait mode. On second thoughts, I should have gotten the Bluetooth keyboard as the iPad in landscape mode just looks better to work with.

So would I buy an iPad again? Yes. Would I have the 3G version? Yes.

21.07.2010 18:29:20

waynem

We hear a lot these days about “innovation” and the need to be innovative to be competitive. But what is innovation?

Innovation is much more than just having a good idea, because ideas in isolation are of little or no value.

My colleague, Michael du Plessis defines innovation as the “Practical Implementation of New Ideas”

Sure, innovation has to start with an idea, and these ideas can come from anywhere. Generate new ideas by scouring the world, watching the market and your competition, have brainstorming sessions in house, asking your customers, but make sure you nurture “germs” of ideas from anywhere or anyone.

But an idea without action is still just an thought. It may provide inspiration, but you must do something to make that idea valuable, you must take action!! Only practical implementation of your idea will deliver results, so have a go.

And innovation is not just the domain of the business owner, managers or R&D. It is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone in your organisation can be innovative, so create a business culture that supports and encourages innovation – thinking outside the box. Support your creativity in your people. And make sure their creativity is be acted on and provide feedback on the success or otherwise of the innovative idea. Always encourage going that extra step to act on their ideas.

And innovation must take the customers point of view – this is something that is often lost in the enthusiasm of getting new ideas into practice. If the innovation is not of value to the customer or simplify the way you do business, maybe it’s not as innovative as you thought.

Innovation shouldn’t be something that needs special attention, it should become part of the way you do business – continually asking “what could I do to improve the customer experience? What could I do to simply this process? What could I do different to increase sales?

Research shows that innovation is a powerful driver for achieving better business results.
Innovation is linked to:- increased market share- high rates of growth- more profits

And when you implement a new idea, how do you know it is helping develop your business? MEASUREMENT!

Measure everything:- number of leads- value of each order- revenue- profit- time to deliver etc, etc, etc.

Innovation is critical to the ongoing success of any business, because if you are not making changes, your competition no doubt are, and you can bet the person making the changes that are most appreciated by the market will come out on top.

It's all part of the Practical Implementation of Good Ideas!

22.06.2010 21:47:35

waynem

As a parent of young children, I have never been a fan of Gordon Ramsey’s straight-talking TV shows. However, I have watched with a professional interest as I find the way he approaches solving a restaurants problems are so characteristic of the basic business management principals I use when working with clients.

Well it seems I am not alone as I have recently read an article in “In The Black” magazine that looks for the “gems that are often lost among the expletives and insults”.

If you have ever watched “Kitchen Nightmares”, think about some of the basic questions Gordon asks. He looks for honest feedback about the owners’ vision and why they do things like they do (often because they are copying someone else). He invariably looks at how they can simplify what they do, use more local produce and then meet their goals. Those that can put up with the abuse and take on board what he offers, and maintain the introduced changes usually go onto success in their restaurant.

With thanks to “in the Black”, let’s look at what business can learn from foul-mouthed Gordon:

• Who’s the Boss? Someone needs to be in charge. Multiple bosses keep staff chasing their tails instead of focussing on clearly articulated tasks.
• Keep it simple – If there’s too much choice, the company doesn’t know what the company wants (think about restaurant menus)
• Have Passion & Pride – It’s the best way to retain customers and staff
• Know your market – If you’re copying the competition, you’re behind before you start
• Say what you mean – Clear communication lets everyone know where they stand
• Listen properly to your customers – The best feedback is negative because you learn the most from it
• Work as a team – Every member of the team has something useful to contribute: ask, listen and learn.

So you will be surprised where you can learn about how to better run your business – we just need to keep our *%#*ing eyes and ears open.

25.05.2010 14:52:20

waynem

Face it: Most companies can't compete on price. And the good news is they don't have to.

This is a very interesting article - all credit to The Wall Street Journal…

By now, we're all aware of the slash-your-prices scenario many companies take as a given these days: Your customers demand more and have online access to product comparisons from multiple sellers; you face global competition from rivals that have labor-cost advantages; and the financial crisis has accelerated the commoditization of more and more markets.

The solution? Cut your prices to gain volume and scale.

That definitely works for a few companies. But the reality is a very few—think Wal-Mart or Costco or Southwest Airlines. In fact, the very success of these business models makes it difficult for their competitors to duplicate—think Kmart or Sears, or any number of bankrupt budget airlines.

This article is for everybody else: those who choose not to compete on the basis of cost and low price. This article is for companies that can and should compete on the basis of performance, for which their customers willingly pay higher prices.

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Does your company continuously focus on improving its products and services in ways that are important to customers and that allow you to raise prices and increase profits?
2. Do you communicate regularly with customers to find out how you can improve your offerings, and to make sure they're aware of any unique value you provide?
3. Do your salespeople speak to the right decision makers and others who care about these value benefits in the customer's organization?
4. Does your company involve every department in discussions about product development and pricing strategy in order to maximize efficiency, quality and profits?
5. Does your company consider pricing when it's still developing a new service or product instead of when the product or service is introduced to the market?

If you answered no to any of these questions, your company is probably not doing enough to maximize profits in line with products and services that customers want and are willing to pay more for. And if you lack a repeatable process for doing these things internally at your company, it is unlikely that you will effectively identify and communicate value externally with your customers: Like so many other important things in business, pricing and leadership begin at home.

By competing on performance instead of price, you shift the battle to where your company's strengths lie—in the ability to deliver unique benefits. So-called performance pricers are adept at three core activities: identifying where they can do a superior job of meeting customers' needs and preferences; shaping their products and their business to dominate these segments; and managing cost and price in those areas to maximize profits.

If you can find these performance segments, manage them cost-effectively, and communicate to the customer the extra value being delivered, then as long as your offering is superior to the competition or other alternatives, you will be able to boost both prices and profits.

For an idea of how to become a master of performance pricing, let's consider a global chemical company we studied.

For years the company had a pretty typical sales rule: It would take any order at any acceptable price. That sounds familiar, no doubt. But by 2003, it had recognized this wouldn't generate acceptable shareholder returns or growth.

So the company switched to performance pricing, using a continuing four-step process that any company can duplicate: Identify value opportunities, choose which ones to prioritize, align their value and price, and constantly communicate to customers the value being provided. Here's a look at each of their four steps.

• Identify Value Opportunities

The leaders of the company started out by repeatedly asking in meetings across functions: What can we do to help our customers succeed or be happier? Every product, service and benefit the company delivered to its customers was examined to better understand all of the ways in which it had some impact on the customer, and how the offering could be improved.

Take a simple example: The company sells rubber stoppers to packagers of pharmaceuticals that use the stoppers to cap containers of injectable drugs. The company had long viewed the stoppers as a commodity. They're easy to make, perform a simple function and cost very little. But looking at them afresh, from the customers' perspective, it recognized that the stoppers could deliver multiple benefits to customers, and that these benefits could be quantified and ranked in terms of the value they produced for the customer.

The stoppers' low price was only the first benefit. Their design could be tweaked to improve customers' packaging-line speeds, lowering their operating costs. And because the customers used the stoppers to seal vials with different contents, making stoppers in different colors was recognized as a way to help hospitals and doctors reduce errors by making each vial more recognizable, and thus lower their insurance costs.

• Set Priorities

After detailing the benefits, the company had to decide which products to develop further and how to invest its resources accordingly.

To be considered for performance pricing, an offering had to meet two basic tests. First, it had to have either a strong competitive position in its market or a highly ranked benefit to the customer (benefits were ranked, from low to high, in three groups: offering low acquisition price, helping reduce operating costs, and improving sales by enhancing quality). And second, the product had to be manufacturable at a cost that yielded attractive profit margins.

Thus, any product whose main benefit was its low sale price was likely to be rejected. But so were premium products if their costs were high and their projected total market too small. For example, the company had done well with a certain dental-filling product, but the total potential market was extremely limited and the investment costs would have included long, expensive testing of the product on people.

The stoppers, by comparison, looked promising. They offered highly valued benefits to customers, and could be produced at low cost.

• Align Price and Value

The next step was to set higher prices in line with what the customer was willing to pay.

The key here is being able to document and quantify the precise nature of the benefits that your products offer, and to figure out what their tangible value is to the customer, in terms of acquisition cost, operating cost and added value to the end user. Once the supporting data are in hand, then you sit down with the customer to discuss what the new price should be.

In the case of the rubber stoppers, the company used the data to successfully argue to a customer that two products, while nearly identical in appearance, should be priced very differently because of the different ways they were used. One stopper sealed vials of a vaccine for chickens that the customer sold for less than $5 a vial; the other sealed vials of an anticancer medication that sold for more than $1,000.

While the stoppers looked alike, the higher-value application had tighter tolerances and came with significantly more technical assistance, service responsiveness and quality-control data, due to the difference in the costs and risks associated with the two stoppers. Indeed, failure of the seals on a few of the anticancer vials would have far greater impact on the customer's bottom line than a few ruined vials of the chicken vaccine. And, while both kinds of stoppers helped production—in terms of high packaging-line run efficiency and low scrap rates—higher efficiency for the anticancer vials, resulting from the technical assistance and tighter tolerances, translated into increased profits for the customer.

Thus the chemical company proposed a significantly higher price for the anticancer-vial stopper, and presented reams of data from the tracking system to support its argument. The customer later came back with figures of its own that painted a lesser impact than the company had suggested. But the customer's figures were in the ball park, the chemical company said. The two companies agreed on a new price for the anticancer stoppers that was a multiple of the price for the chicken-vaccine stoppers, and both parties felt like winners.

• Get Cooperation

Such a system relies on a lot of help from the customer, and getting that cooperation takes work. The chemical company had to display a thorough understanding of all the issues the packager faced to win its case for the differently priced stoppers. After such increases are won, continuing efforts to communicate why higher prices are justified can bring other benefits as well.

By adopting performance pricing throughout the firm, over the next five years, the chemical company's profits grew 10% annually in a market growing less than 2% a year.

The approach also provided a strategy that allowed the company to weather the recession better than competitors: In 2009, industry volume declined more than 20%, compared with 14% for the company. But, despite lower volume, the company's return on sales increased by more than 40% due to its ability to identify value opportunities, prioritize requirements, align value and price, and communicate value to cost-conscious customers.

Frank V. Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Elliot B. Ross is chief executive of MFL Group, a Beachwood, Ohio, consulting firm that assists clients on growth strategies and pricing. Benson P. Shapiro is the Malcolm P. McNair professor of marketing emeritus at Harvard Business School. They can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

16.05.2010 14:27:13

waynem

Recently I was with a group of sales managers and a discussion began around the question, “What separates top producing sales people from the others”?
The discussion was lively and often animated, but in the end, most agreed on the following list of ten points.
Take a look at the list and let me know if you agree, or if you would have added other items to the list.

1. Clearly Defined Expectations
Does everyone in the organisation understand the company’s vision, strategy and objectives? Sound performance across all areas of the business requires the clear communication of expectations. For sales staff, for example, are you looking for short term revenue or are you prepared to forgo this for more strategic sales that will have longer sales cycles? Sales representatives should:
• Know their roles and responsibilities – what they should and should not do. For example, should they let customer service representatives service while they themselves focus on consistently executing the sales function?
• Understand their targets.
• Set goals and use these goals to measure their performance.

2. Planning
Planning and organization are critical to sales success. Each sales representative must develop and execute a strategy that proactively addresses the dynamics and changes in his territory. Effective planning means establishing clear objectives and organizing specific sales activities into integrated yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily work plans. The sales representative should:
• Develop a plan for maximizing the territory’s potential.
• Follow a process that begins with an annual plan and filters down to shorter-term plans – even to daily plans if this is appropriate for the type of sales activity.

3. Understand The Customer’s Needs & Business
It is often said a good sales person is defined by “3 E’s” – Ego, Energy and Empathy.
The most successful sales person has highly developed empathy that allows them to see things from the customers perspective and position the sale to best meet their needs. Each sales representative should:
• Focus on the customer as a “market of one.”
• Drive discussion around the strategies, objectives, and initiatives of his customer’s business.
• Avoid dumping information, and instead, listen while the customer does most of the talking.
• Communicate effectively at all levels in the customer’s business. This includes participating in quality business discussions with those higher up in the customer’s organization chart and if appropriate bringing in those higher up in their own business.

4. Creativity & Innovation
Developing new and better solutions to customer problems requires creativity on the part of the sales representative, the ability to communicate this to those in their organisation making product decisions and the talent to influence these decisions . The sales team must understand that:
• Required solutions are not always easy to find.
• The sales cycle at times may become a drawn out process. The sales representative must find ways to stay engaged and lead that process.

5. Create new opportunities
Good sales people don’t just take orders and they don’t promise the world.
The most successful sales people are solution providers who qualify and listen, always looking for new opportunity, either from existing customers or new prospects.
Top-producers not only take advantage of existing opportunities, but find ways to create them as well. Our sales representatives must understand that:
• Selling requires more than sustaining current business.
• They must create new business not only within current accounts, but also through new accounts.

6. Know Your Company & Your Competition
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tsu – Chinese Military General: lived c500 – 320 BC

Only by fully understanding the resources and total capabilities of your company and that of your competitors can we know what it is we take to market. Because of this, sales teams must understand:
• Their company’s capabilities and those of their competitors – what they do well and not so well.
• The suppliers they represent, product offerings and the applications that they best address.
• And most importantly the value propositions and competitive advantages of everyone in the game.

7. Know the Market
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors,” says business strategist, Arie de Geus, “may be your only sustainable competitive advantage.” Because markets and tastes change, our selling opportunities change. Our sales representatives must learn all they can about their selling environments, including:
• The markets and industries in which they compete.
• The strengths and weaknesses of their competitors.

8. Personal development
Tennis champion, Venus Williams’ candidly observed, “You either improve or retire. I try to keep evolving.” Likewise, survival in today’s business climate mandates a continued evolution. “All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners looking for new skills, insights, and ideas,” says author, Denis Waitley, “If they’re not learning, they’re not growing . . . not moving toward excellence.” Our sales representatives must:
• Desire continued growth and accept the support our company offers to achieve it.
• Commit to continued growth (When is the last time they did something for the first time?)
• Agree to after-hours development and personal investment – one of the most successful sales persons I ever managed had a budget to invest in his personal development. It was a percentage of his commission so the more he earned, the more he developed.

9. Collaboration
Collaboration allows us to “huddle” with co-workers to produce greater results than we could ever achieve on our own. It’s based on the belief that early involvement, teamwork, defined responsibilities and processes can turn good ideas into dynamic solutions. Our sales representatives should demonstrate the willingness to share knowledge and expertise.

10. Integrity
I have ‘stolen’ this from an anonymous quote sent to me by a friend, but thought it too good to leave out.
More people are watching you than you think. The University of Notre Dame Athletics Department advises participants in its sporting events to be their “best” selves because “everything we say and do (and don’t say or do) sends a message about our values.” Notre Dame describes integrity as doing what’s right even when it’s unpopular or personally costly. “By not making a wrong right, you are supporting the wrong. By inaction, you condone the behaviour. If you know the truth, speak it loud and clear. In other words, don’t hide behind the presence of officials – play as if you are refereeing the event.”

What Are Your Thoughts?
So there’s my list of what separates top producing sales reps from the rest. What did you think of this list? Do you agree? Disagree? Have others to add? Let me know – I look forward to your input.

03.05.2010 00:13:01

mikek

 

It is common knowledge that in today’s complex business environment, good is frequently not good enough. TAG Team is a Business Skills Training System that stimulates Systems Thinking and encourages team members to ‘think outside the box’. We all know that running a business requires that we have an input, a transformation process, and finally an output that we sell and deliver to our customers. If we do this efficiently, then the income generated from sales exceeds the operational expenses, and we make a profit.  But can it really be that simple?   Perhaps not…

TAG Team....helping to solve the business puzzle

TAG Team is designed to improve the understanding of business principles by simulating a typical business environment. The game is not a computer simulation, but rather a practical ‘hands-on’ game where groups or teams compete against each other in an attempt to generate the maximum profit for the team. The game highlights how common market and operational conditions impact on the profitability of any business.   TAG Team…. • Highlights the impact that market constraints, quality problems, lead times, operating efficiency, and process design have on business profitability. • Is ideal for all levels and any mix of employees, from senior executives to operational staff members. • Is fun, interactive and great for team building • Is ideally suited to a total group size of 12 to 25 people.

 

27.04.2010 22:46:23

daveboulter

I am a geek. Cannot help it. I have been like this all my life and probably always will be. I have so wanted an iPad that it is not funny. I am waiting patiently for the release in Australia as I want it to have Australian 3G support etc. Of course, I have been trying to figure out how to justify this purchase from a business perspective. Why would having an iPad be better for my business? Maybe like yourself, I have read the first day reviews and continue to follow the Blogs and reviews that are still coming. It is a big ipod Touch. That has basically been the flavour I have been seeing.

So what does that mean? Well the big difference revolves around the lack of a filesystem as we would know it in computers. You cannot load up a file and go to your folder and double click and bingo start editing your favourite word processing type document. You also may expect a USB port? Wrong, there is the Apple Connector for connecting to a PC or Mac so you can sync it up. In fact when you get one you, you may expect to start it up and enjoy the fun. Wrong, you connect it to your PC or Mac and do a Sync with your iTunes account. After a pretty long effort like this you can then play with your new toy. So far you are not impressed? Me also. So why do I still want one? This is an incredible piece of industrial design. The screen is so clear. It is pretty light and very thin. It is way cool! It is a true Cloud Computing device. It does have a browser. So I can use Safari to surf the net. And I am hoping I can use Safari to access Google Docs. Once I have that in place, I can do email via my GMail account. I can use Google Docs for documents. I can use the really cool graphics to show customers and clients images as well as Google Docs presentations. I am now excited once more and convinced that this will be a productivity tool and a great presentation tool for my business. Bring it on !

26.04.2010 19:58:28

daveburgess

The answer is a resounding YES but the key to success is the HOW.... the HOW to implement, the HOWHOW to communicate and the sustain improvements for the long term.

Let’s start with your business culture.....

I see the culture of an organisation as the key to success of applying LEAN principles throughout a business or organisation, especially to gain long term benefits in growth and profitability.  What do I mean by culture?  Simply put, the culture reflects the values of the organisation and in most cases the culture reflects the history and the values of the leaders. Or it is simply “how we d things around here...”

If “how we do things around here.....” means:

• We share ideas and no one has a silly idea
• We have open communication on a regular basis
• We are always looking for ways to improve our product or service to our customers
• We are always looking for ways to be more efficient

then you have a solid foundation to implement LEAN Business principles and get the long term benefits growing sales and reducing costs.

Where to start.....

LEAN focuses on the Voice of the Customer (define the product/service attributes and features) and delivering what the customer is prepared to pay for at the lowest cost.  So, the focus is on customer service and reducing unnecessary costs in the business.  

When you start to really get serious and detailed about the Voice of the Customer (VOC) you will very quickly start asking questions like “Why do we do things that way?” You will start looking for ways to be more efficient and deliver what your customer needs.  To get real solid data on the Voice of the Customer consider surveys, interviews, focus groups and reliable consumer research.  The best method will depend very much upon the number of customers you have, whether they are consumers or whether you are more “business to business”.  What is vital is to get the whole picture quantified, not just, Quality, Cost and Delivery but other factors such as:

• Packaging and labelling
• Invoicing and payment terms
• Flexibility in service
• Technical support and after sales support

Having a clearly defined and quantified the VOC then the next step is to measure your current product and/or service offering against the data from the survey.  This will do two things for you:

1. Identify where you are not meeting your customers needs – allowing you to do something about it!!!
2. Allows you to identify what your customer is not prepared to pay for, that is, the non-value add activities.  These can be considered a waste and need to be minimised.

This is a starting point for the implementation of LEAN Business, one which will give you a clear focus on what is valued by your customer.  You will find that all your staff will be able to contribute positively to this approach so long as the “way we do things around here” matches the four points above.
Look out for more installations of LEAN Business in the near future.....Dave Burgess

22.04.2010 21:23:05

mikek

The implementation of a Lean Philosophy in any business is a continuous 5-stage process that begins with the identification of the value desired by the customers. Unfortunately, this old marketing concept is frequently forgotten during Lean implementation as suppliers and service providers regularly introduce new products and services that are constrained by their own internal demands and their existing facilities and paradigms, rather than by actual customer requirements.
"...I know exactly what our customers want. We have been in this business for many years and they only want three things... price, quality and delivery - in that order!"
Far too often companies, whether manufacturing or service orientated, work on the assumption that they know exactly what their customer needs, or they give their customers what happens to be convenient to them, e.g. automated telephone answering systems that reduce costs to the provider but infuriate customers, or goods packaged in containers and in quantities that suit the manufacturer, but not the customer. While many companies often know who the key decision makers are in the customer organisation, few actually understand the individual value criteria that influence their buying decision making. True customer satisfaction is achieved only when suppliers meet or exceed the customer's expectation against a range of customer-specified value criteria.
While customers do want price, quality and delivery (PQD), there are a host of other factors that can influence buying decisions, e.g. packaging & labeling, invoicing, design flexibility, communication (including methods, speed, style, documentation etc), quotations, after sales service, environmental issues, lead time reliability, technical support, safe handling, product/packaging disposal, and payment terms. By conducting a detailed customer needs analysis with the relevant decision makers, i.e. those people that come into contact with the product or service and are able to influence buying behaviour, many companies are surprised to find that the actual customer needs are quite different to their perception of these needs as is depicted below.
Customer Value - Actual vs Perceived   Determining the actual customer-specified values depends on the number of customers and relationship that the company or service provider has with these customers, i.e. a) Direct relationship with relatively few customers, as is the case with a typical manufacturing company that supplies other manufacturers or the wholesale trade. b) Indirect relationship with many customers, as is the case where goods are sold to the mass market via retail outlets. The first case lends itself to conducting direct interviews with the various decision makers within the customer organisation, asking them to identify their personal value criteria and then ranking your performance relative to your competitors or the 'best in class'. Where the decision maker has identified numerous needs or values, these should then be ranked in order of importance. In the second case where there is only an indirect relationship with the customers, market surveys, focus groups, warranty repair data and customer feedback forms typically become the data source for determining customer value criteria. Any customer needs analysis should be conducted with a representative group of existing customers (high, medium and low volume), and should also include potential customers. Be sure to include the following two aspects of product or service delivery, i.e. * Pre-Ordering: Listening to the customer to understanding what is important to them before they place an order. * Post-Delivery: Determining the actual level of service achieved relative to customer expectations. Having collected the data, collate and plot the results to determine the most important value criteria, and then establish action plans to address shortcomings within your organisation. Only after having listened to the voice of the customer to understand the true value of the product or service from the customer's point of view, can the supplier continue down the path of Lean and identify those internal processes that contribute, or add value to that product or service, i.e. stage 2 - identifying the value stream for each product or service group. This is the sequence of all current processes, both value adding and non-value adding from raw material to product launch or from initial customer contact to service completion. In doing so, the non-value adding processes will automatically be identified which allows the supplier to progress to stages 3 and 4 in the Lean implementation, and use the various Lean tools and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the non-value adding processes. Having completed an initial cycle of the Lean implementation, the process constantly repeats itself in a never-ending quest for perfection. For further information, contact Mike Karle ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

 

19.04.2010 21:49:09

waynem

Research in the UK shows that sales people and business executives who play golf experience an 85% better chance of securing a business deal on the golf course than through conventional methods of marketing.
	Why do I mention this? Well there is no doubt that it costs less to retain and sell to an existing customer than it does to attract a new one. While there may be contention as to how much more expensive it is (marketing experts agree it is somewhere between 4 and 7 times), if you can develop customer loyalty you will repay any investment many times over.
Don’t play golf? Neither do I, but you can build a strong customer relationship off the course as well – although I am told it is nowhere near as much fun. Here are just a few customer touch points that you can use to strengthen your relationships and keep your customers informed and engaged: Email messages, newsletters, and surveys: Provide product/service updates, promote goods and services, and communicate news/events. Feedback: Ask for, capture, and act on your customer’s input. nsight: Research your customers’ markets, strategies, and goals. Customer loyalty: Implement loyalty, affinity, and rewards programs. Relationship building: Talk and listen to customers in order to maintain a dialogue and to build a trust based relationship. Be accessible: Make it easy for customers to reach you. Customer satisfaction: Implement a customer satisfaction policy that provides a way to resolve/remedy problems and issues. Involvement: Engage customers in product development/enhancement, via beta tests, focus groups, and pilots. Anticipate customer needs: Learn their business, their purchasing patterns, and their requirements for effective proactive solutions. Become an indispensable resource: Look for ways to add value, to be a real partner, and to help your customers achieve results. Help lines: Provide support, service, advice, and information. And lastly, I’m told the 19th hole is good...But aren’t there only 18 holes? In building customer relationships, remember to value the “personal touch.” Make an effort to get to know your customer “as a person.” You will be surprised at how much you may have in common. Establishing personal bonds goes a long way toward building lasting relationships. Your efforts will be rewarded with repeat business, referrals, and a satisfied loyal customer.

 

 

21.03.2010 14:55:02

daveburgess

For the last 27 years I have worked in manufacturing in Australia and SE Asia and have seen the rise of manufactured goods from China. The end result is a loss of manufacturing facilities, skills & jobs in Australia replaced by warehousing, distribution and logistics facilities, skills and jobs.  But is this the generic answer for our future?

The answer is NO and I have proof that it is the case. It maybe a small example but it is, to my mind, a significant demonstration of Australian based manufacture is the best business solution.

Since around 2001 a regional NSW based client has a vision of taking his communications products to the global market.  The “foundation stone” of this was cheap manufacturing in China enabling distribution to the US and UK market as well as Australia. In addition to this “foundation stone”; provide rapid design and development capability in Australia, to meet the needs of the global customer base.

Sounds good so far......

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight let’s see how this strategy went:

In the beginning:

Demand was strong for the products and the distribution channels are in place. Production starts and the stocks are building in both the US and Australia. Sales are strong...looking good. However, complaints started to roll in; the products were not working or failing after a short time. An inspection of the stock holdings in both continents found a one in four defect rate on the high volume product lines. The damage control actions were to isolate the faulty products and to put their own quality assurance staff into the China manufacturing facility. Some damage was done in the market place and sales continued to grow....

Now the company had a mountain of faulty product it had paid for, cash was short and they needed to replace the stock so they ordered more.

Having got through that what now.....????

The vision was still considered the correct path to take.  So with cash very tight and the order book growing the decision to push on was made.  The quality issues were resolved but the cost of having staff in China was eating into margins. As the sales grew so did the stocks of components in China. Some of these were imported from Europe and Australia to China for assembly. In addition, as the range of products grew the minimum production run size in China was increasing the stock of finished goods.  Cash got tighter and progressively tighter.

Stop and Rethink time.........???

By 2007 the business was still selling and growth was slowing and it should have been highly profitable so where was all the money going......let’s list now list the reason why:

Freight costs: lead times from placement of order to despatch ex China factory was around five weeks forcing the use of air freight.  Plus the added costs of clearance and associated documentation.

Lead Times: the customers wanted their products delivered within 2 to 3 days of order placement, this is the industry norm.  So stock of all product lines had to be held. In addition, since the GFC, the factory has cut its labour force and cannot respond quickly to peaks in demand.

Quality Issues: while quality had improved, any defect product had to be replaced which resulted in more freight costs and more stock due to the minimum order quantity requirements.

Communications: the amount of time communicating with the factory in China was excessive resulting in additional staff in Australia to manage factory orders.

The WINNING SOLUTION.....

Faced with this situation the decision was made to set up manufacturing in Australia using imported Chinese equipment and machines, which by the way is very reasonably priced.  This was done 18 months ago.  The strategy was to get the high volume product made in China and to alter the design of some product lines so that China made partially completed products which would be finished in Australia to meet specific product specification as the order was received.  This has result in the following wins:

1. Lower stock holdings throughout the business – MORE CASH available.

2. Customers are getting their orders in the required lead time of 3 to 5 days.

3. Quality issues are picked up before despatch.

4. Gross margins are maintained as all the hidden costs are gone.

5. Dead and slow moving stock is reducing each month – MORE CASH available.

6. The staff who were talking to the China factory are now focussed on Sales.

7. More staff are employed in Australia making products for domestic sales and export.

This is a real live case of an Australian manufacturing business “bucking the trend”.  For further information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

14.03.2010 20:37:42

ericdediesbach

Customers (also called clients in some industries) are the basis of your business: No customers = No business.

So why not find out what they think, what they like and what they dislike?

Customers’ views and opinions are very critical to business success. Research shows that organisations that listen to their customers enjoy more success that the organisations that do not.

Even the large organisations that are powerful enough to create trends, often do market research, or “customer testing” (sometimes openly, sometimes discretely), to find out their customers’ opinion.

How can you find out what your customers really want?

Easy, you just ask them.

How can you ask them?

 

Depending on your industry, you would do it face–to face, via telephone, via emails, via normal mail or via your website.

What questions should you ask?

 

Well, this is where the professionals come in. To begin with, they explain to you the pros and cons of each survey support. Then, they design with you a questionnaire that will provide the information you are after.

What information do you get out of a Customer Satisfaction Survey?

A lot! The survey will provide you with the following information:

1. The perceived strengths of your business (some you may not be aware of), that you can capitalise on and put forward in all communications with existing and prospective customers.
2. The perceive weaknesses of you business and where your products or services should be improved (this is very important to retain your customers and make sure they don’t switch to the competition).
3. If the sample surveyed includes customers that have not purchased in the last 6 to 12 months, you may learn why they left your business (Which is instrumental if you want to regain them).
4. Last but not least, you will learn about the general expectations of future customers, which could be the guide for your corporate image (leaflets, brochure, website, communications, advertising, etc.) in order to give your future customers what they want. This should improve substantially your conversion ratio from prospects to customers. Imagine if a fashion clothes shop would know what attracts customers: They would put it in the window and everyone passing in front of the store would not be able to resist. They would go in and purchase!

Can you do it yourselves?

You can try, but do keep two important facts in mind:

- First, you need expertise to create an efficient questionnaire;

- Second, the people surveyed feel more comfortable and reveal a lot more to a third party than to the business itself…

 

Several of our clients have enjoyed the benefits of a Customer Satisfaction Survey that we have conducted for them.

 

Don’t hesitate to contact us and discuss your needs.

 

  

Have a great week! 

 

 

Eric de Diesbach

( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

 

10.03.2010 16:45:23

waynem

I recently met with a business owner who wanted to discuss developing a strategic plan for his manufacturing business.

This business owner knew he needed a plan to get to where he wanted to go with his business, but from previous experience he was worried that the plan would be “a thing of beauty, but of little use to his business. When I asked what he meant by this, he turned to what appeared to be a pile of manuals stacked under a table behind his desk. From this pile he extracted a 50mm, 4 ring binder. This was truly a “thing of beauty” – professionally printed front cover with “business name Strategic Business Plan”, section dividers that had been individually printed and a wealth of background research presented in graphical form. What I had trouble finding was the actions that were needed to be taken by the business management. And the date? 2004.

The business owner expressed his concern that having invested in this plan, he found it difficult to communicate it to his key staff and hence could not get them to buy into it.

So, what did he think he needed? “A simple plan that I can share with my staff and get us moving in the same direction.” At last, he saw what a business plan was all about.

All of my experience has been that for a business to thrive and grow, and to ensure that it is protected from uncertainty, it does need a plan; the plan shows that you have thought about the opportunities and threats, about the objectives and the targets, and that there is a system in place for measuring progress so that in the event that there is deviation one is able to take immediate corrective action.

Start by asking where you are now and how you got there? Then ask where do you want to be an when? Now, how do you build the bridge between the 2? What strategic initiatives will you use? Then think about the individual objectives for each area of the business to help you get there (eg sales, marketing, operations, financial etc) and how will you measure these. This can be easily communicated to appropriate staff and used to track progress.

Remember the old adage – “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will do”. A business plan doesn’t need to be complex, it doesn’t need to be a huge publication – it needs to be practical. I have successfully run multi-million $ companies with a 2 page business plan - try it.

01.03.2010 20:05:23

daveboulter

One of the problems in marketing your business is measuring the success of the campaign you  have been running.

The most important measurement is your sales. Have sales increased? Have the products or  services you have been marketing been requested more often?

Basic Rule #1: ask your customers. Simply asking customers and recording the results on a  sheet of paper and colating that information at the end of the week. Ask: "How did you here of us/this product/etc?"

In previous posts I have spoken about the various marketing channels. You can read more on this here. If you want to measure the performance of some of the  channels, there are great tools available. The power of tools that are free or cheap on the Internet is truly amazing.

Newsletters: using Electronic Direct Mail to communicate to customers regularly is well  documented. Using a tool such as ConstantContact or MailChimp makes your EDM much easier to  manage and it also comes with great reporting. You can see who opened the email and also what links, within the email, they clicked on. You can see if they reopen and reread the email as well. These are great tools to give you an insight into what interest your customers.

Your website: Google Analytics is a great tool for looking at the performance of your  website. One great innovation is the Site Overlay. Here you can see a percentage indication  of what parts of your website visitors are clicking on. You see your website with an overlay  of statistics. Apart from that you also get the number of people coming to the site, what  pages they are looking at, how long they spend on your site and also if they are coming  direct to the site or via a serach engine or referred from another site.

Here is a simple marketing campaign and you can see how you can measure at various steps.

The campaign consists of a direct mail letter sent to your prospect via a mailing list you  have rented. The letter invites the prospect to come to your website, to a specific landing  page, to get more information and download a guide or article of interest. The download  process collects the prospects name and email address and asks them if they would like  further information. This allows you to market to the prospect in the future at the cheaper  cost using EDM instead of posting letters.

The true measure is the number of email addresses you gain for your database. But maybe you  dont get that many and you would like to understand where the process could be improved? I  will assume that you have implemented Google Analytics on your website already.

• The first measure to look for is increased traffic to your website in the week following  the physical mailout. You may see a general increase or you may see a spike.
• next is to look at the traffic coming to the landing page you have setup. If the traffic  is mostly direct, then the URL on the letter you sent would be the most likely driver.
• If the above two have not happened, then look at the content of your letter. Did it engage  and generate interest? Did it generate enough interest to make the person look up the site  on the internet and put in the URL you sent them? Have another person review the letter,  preferably somebody who does not work in your business or in your industry.
• Use the Site Overlay on the landing page to see what people clicked on in regards to that  page. Did the message on the landing page drive further interest, enough for somebody to  exchange their email address for that information?

For more information on Google Analytics look under Business Solutions on the Google  homepage.

22.02.2010 10:35:51

daveburgess

What is MORE important – focus on the outcomes or the inputs to your business?  I would argue that the output – e.g. profits or sales is a direct result of what you and your people are working on during the month, in other words the inputs.

The old computer saying – “garbage in garbage out” is true for how we run our businesses.  So how do we know what we should be working on and how do we know it is directly related to my financial performance?

Step One:  Identify the critical things you do in the business – or business processes.

For example a contract builder has about three critical processes to get right –tendering, sub-contractor selection, project management.  These are all processes with inputs, step by step actions and if all are not well executed there is a high risk of losing REAL money.

So, first things first, look at your business and identify those top 5 critical “things” you and your team do each month.  Write each one on a separate sheet of paper. On the left hand side write what you/your team do well; on the right hand side right what you could do better.  Try and fill the sheet for each of your critical processes.

Step Two:  What do I work on FIRST?

It is essential that you DO NOT try to fix everything at once, otherwise you will fail.

Review your five sheets of paper with your critical processes listed.  Select those three that “if we get these right we will make a lot more money.”

Now with these three, review each sheet and highlight the most important What We Do Well and what We Could Do Better.

You now have six critical “things” to measure.

Why do we look at what we do well?  Simply because this is why you are a success, why your customers buy from you and how you are positioned in your market. So KEEP DOING it and let all your people know this is critically important to the success of the business. Also, never take your eyes of these and do not let them slip while you make other improvements.

Step Three:  Measure, Monitor & Remember?

For the six areas you have identified – set up a weekly measuring system for each one. One could be hours spent re-working mistakes.  Get this down and you will make more money.

Report them each week, ideally on a big board so all the team can see.  Have the actions that will be done over the next two weeks written out so everyone knows what is going to happen.

Do this for 3 months and see how you go.  If the three that you do well have stayed flat or improved, FANTASTIC. Likewise if the three you could do better in have improved then FANTASTIC AGAIN.  Your business results will be improving as a direct result of working on the INPUTS.

Remember – celebrate your success with the team and go back to Step One every three to six months.  Within a short period of time your business will be on the path to Excellence.

 

17.02.2010 12:27:28

waynem

Often I come across some really good information on business that I like to share. This was sent to me by a colleague of mine, but without details of the author, so it is posted with "acknowledgement to anonomous"

A mark of a good leader is to be able to provide consistent motivation to his team encouraging them to attain excellence and quality in their performance. A good leader is always looking for ways to improve production and standards. Here are six management skills you can develop as a leader in working to create a quality effective team.

1. Observation
This is an important aspect that often gets neglected due the demands on a leader’s time and schedule. Observation and regular visits to the work environment are a priority and should be scheduled into the calendar. Observing employees at work, the procedures, interaction and work flow is foundational to implementing adjustments to improve results. To have credibility, a leader needs to be seen and be known to be up to date with what is happening in the work place.

2. Monitor Employee Performance
Employee performance needs to be monitored in mutually accepted ways. Policies and procedures need to be clear. Conferencing should be on a regular basis and not just when there is a problem. Assessments and evaluations should not be merely all formality or viewed a necessary paperwork to be done and filed away. Individual and group conferencing should be undertaken not only to monitor performance, but with the expectation of ongoing professional development and support. There should be frequent encouragement and clear criteria for ongoing goals both for the group and individual.

3. Implementation of Professional Development Programs
A good leader evaluates weaknesses and provides training and development strategies to strengthen the weaker skills in the team.

4. Demonstrates Working Knowledge and Expertise
Good leadership comes from a place of strong knowledge and experience of the production and process leading to results. If a leader does not possess all the expertise and knowledge personally, then regular consultations with experts involved in the departments should be held. This is important in order to maintain an accurate and informed overall picture.

5. Good Decision Making
Good leadership is characterized by the ability to make good decisions. A leader considers all the different factors before making a decision. Clear firm decisions, combined with the willingness and flexibility to adapt and adjust decisions when necessary, create confidence in the leadership.

6. Ability to Conduct and Evaluate Research
Ongoing review and research is vital in order to keep on the cutting edge in business. While managing the present to ensure ongoing excellence in product and performance, a good leader is also able to look towards the future. Conducting and evaluating research is an important way of planning and being prepared for the future.

Excellent leadership is always pro active rather than reactive. By developing these six managerial skills builds a solid foundation for success.

03.02.2010 16:05:53

daveburgess

	One thing is for sure, “you will not succeed without one”.  How many times do you want to talk about strategy and you quickly hit a proverbial “brick wall”. Sometimes I get the impression that business strategy is overcomplicated and has a language that most business owners do not understand.  I own up, I am guilty of the language trap and have seen my clients eyes glaze over in a haze of mis-communication.
The Macquarie Dictionary is no help either – “skilful management in getting the better of an adversary or attaining an end”.  So we need some skills, some management and an end point, call this a goal.  This is a start.
As a result, the confusion over Business Strategy leads many business owners will do one of the following: Ignore strategy and hope it goes away Hire consultants to develop a strategy for them and then leave the business implement what they were going to do in any case. OR Integrate strategic processes into their business and as a result end up with an “evergreen” strategic direction. Let me explain the third option in more detail as it is the way to go for business strategy.Strategic Processes are actions and should be thought of in the same manner as, say, the Operational Processes used to build a product, sell a service or design some software.  There are required steps that need to be done to get something done well.  So the following outlines the three stages of strategic planning.
Stage One – Our Current Situation Define what the business does – this appears simple but putting this in words and writing it down will provide the clear statement required to move forward. “We provide a short lead time printing service to metropolitan based advertising agencies” Define Targets – the business owner must state what the targets are going to be for the foreseeable future.  “We will double the number of clients over the next twelve months and achieve sales of $2.5 million per year.” Define what is influencing the business – what is happening in our market, our competitors, our suppliers which will influence our business and our targets. This is where you need to get very good information on what is going on around you.  You sales people will have good information, industry associations will have reports and newspapers/journals will be another source of information. Summarise this down to around five critical “things” that you will need to consider. Define what needs to happen within your business in order to achieve the target.  This could be production related; numbers of staff; skill development; bonus and pay rates for staff; etc, the list goes on.  Make sure that you test each of this as being critical to achieving the target, if they are not, get rid of them. The output of Stage One will be a statement of what the business does, what the target is and a list of those critical “things” which will impact (both positive and negative) on achieving the target. Test and question what has been done to this stage; are your assumptions back up with facts and data; does anything sound too farfetched or unrealistic.  It is never too late get the strategy right.
Stage Two – Plan to Implement I will simply say here, you need to involve all your people and suppliers/customers to implement your strategy. Detail out your actions using the simple steps to project management.  Get the actions and outcomes owned by individuals in your team. You can get basic planning tools from the internet to assist with this step. Stage Three – Keep in Touch with Progress This is a vital step in your business strategy process.  This is where it can all fall down. As the business owner it is up to you to monitor progress, measure results and drive the fine tuning of the implementation while continuing to communicate the goals you want to achieve.  Also, this step is essential to react to dramatic changes in costs, orders or anything else which comes along to challenge your business. Remember to always refer back to the work done in Stage One and use this as a foundation for you actions and decisions.
Review the information in Stage One each year as a regular part of your business diary.  This will ensure your Strategy is EVERGREEN and a part of your business activities at all time. Finally, never ever get a consultant to “do your strategy for you”; it will not work and it will be a waste of money.  Use your consultant as the facilitator, not the decision make, let them keep you and your team disciplined and on track.

31.01.2010 13:50:02

daveboulter

Does this sound familiar? You have started your business and have a number of staff. Everyday is busy but there is that nagging fear of "what will happen if I am not around today?"

You are not alone. At InFormGroup we talk to businesses in the same situation regularly. Two things come up in discussions. It is difficult to get staff that you can rely on and secondly a lot of what is done each day is learned process and there is a lack of documentation to help staff through situations that may arise in the day. The first topic is for another day, but lest look at the latter.

"I just do not have time to document what we do". As a business owner myself, I would agree. But somewhere along the way a time comes when it is important to document things. If that time comes and you dont have the capacity to do the documenting, what would happen?

The usual example is" What would you do if you were hit by a Bus?" Well most likely I would be dead and so I dont really care ! But lets assume you survive but you are in intensive care in Hospital. How will your business run? Usually a family member steps in and helps. But how does that person know what has to be done?

If the staff have been with you for a long time, you may get by. What if the staff are relatively new?

A simple answer is an Operating Manual and it does not have to be Biblical in size to be of value. Here are some things to start you off:

* List your suppliers, contact names and what you normally order and when
* List your most valuable customers. They can be contacted by the family member and usually will be very helpful to that member in making sure the products and services outstanding is understood so they can be delivered.
* make sure all of you staff details and contact numbers are available so your stand in can find the person they need quickly.
* Make sure another family member can access and authorise Bank Transactions. You need to pay staff and your bills.
* Write down common tasks that are done each day: before business starts and after close of business

Apart from the above an Operating Manual for your business would outline different business activities that are done each day. Things like: Quoting, scheduling of jobs, invoicing, collections, newsletters you produce, handling incoming stock, delivering orders..... the list goes on and is specific to your business.

The main thing is to do something and do it today. Who knows when the Bus could hit!

21.09.2009 03:38:14

ericdediesbach

 

Money has a time value: $1 today is worth $1.

However, $1 last year was worth more than $1 today; and $1 one year or more from today is worth less than $1 today.

 

 

The general formula to calculate today's value of a sum of money (or cash flow) that will be received in the future is:

Present value = Future value / (1 + Interest Rate) ^Time

 

The above formula would help you to calculate that $100,000 to be received in Year 3, with a cost of money (interest rate) of 8%, represent a value of $79,400 today.

 

The same goes with $100,000 to be received in Year 6 with a cost of borrowing of 10%: They have a present value of $56,400 only.

 

 

 

If the above formula is too complicated, you may prefer to use pre-calculated factors/rates, such as in the table available by clicking here (The table if free, so price = zero).

 

Using the table, the formula becomes:  Present Value = Future Value x Discount Factor

 

All you need to know in order to use the table (click here) is:

· In how many years this future cash flow/amount of money will be received.

· The interest rate or the cost of borrowing funds. Happy calculation!

 

In doubt, shoot me an email at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Have a great week! 

 

 

Eric de Diesbach

 

02.09.2009 22:54:47

ericdediesbach

Sooner or later, most businesses will use discounts in order to boost the sales or get rid of some old stock. But giving a discount to customers reduces the dollar value of gross margin and that decrease can be quite significant.

If you wish to maintain the exact same $ value of gross margin (even without talking of an increase in $ margin), do you know how much additional sales you need?

The formula is:

Increase in Sales required = (Gross Margin % / (Gross Margin % - Discount %)) - 1

In other words:

· If you have a 40% Gross Margin and give a 15% Discount, you will need a 60% increase in Sales in order to achieve the same level of $ Gross Margin.

· If you have an 80% Gross Margin and give a 40% Discount, you will need a 100% increase in Sales to achieve the same level of $ Gross Margin.

Sounds difficult?

Well, if it does, just click here and you will go straight to the Products section of our website where you can find an eSheet called “What Sales do you need to maintain your Profits?” It contains a table with the calculations already done for discounts from 5% to 50%.

Have a great week!

 

Eric de Diesbach