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Slow Economy Business Plan

Posted on August 17, 2008 by Super Job For You

These are good times; the second halves of most decades are. While individual segments such as mortgages, housing and manufacturing might be suffering at the moment, most industries are doing well and the prospect for the future is bright. This is particularly true for those industries operating in the B2B segment (Business 2 Business).

When things are going well, those at the top usually don’t have time to spend thinking about the aspects of the future that aren’t so pretty, because they are so busy trying to manage the growth and problems of the moment. Which makes it all that more important to create a plan to refer to when the local, regional or national economy slows down, or when a particular segment, whatever it might be, hits tough times.

A good plan begins not with a goal, but gaining an understanding of the facts. For every organization, that means developing an early warning system, or series of early warning detectors that give advanced symptoms of what is about to take place. These are leading indicators, and every company has unique ones. Leading indicators might include a slowing in the number of appointments that the sales force is able to secure. It could be a slowing of the number of proposals that the sales force is developing for presentation. It could be that repeat orders are slowing. It might be the number of web site inquiries or the number of telephone calls that are generated through advertising. Whatever the leading indicators are, they should be identified and monitored.

The second step is to set a goal that focuses the organization to address the situation. Lincoln did not first say that his goal was to preserve the union; before he did that he gained an understanding of the facts not only through personal observation but by sending men he trusted to be his eyes and ears and to report back to him with the unvarnished facts so that he could set a goal.

The goal has to short, simple and easily understood by everyone in the organization. A good example might be “retain every client.”

In the movie “Remember the Titans” the defensive coach calls the team to the sideline and tells his players that the opposition is not to gain “another yard.” This is short, simple, easily communicated and most importantly, understood. The goal will vary according to the situation, but a rallying call has to be established by the leader.

Next, take an inventory of what is available now to deal with the problem, and what might be available in the near future. Add to this inventory a candid list of dangers and weaknesses.

Another way to phrase this step is to perform a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis. A SWOT analysis is an all purpose, all powerful tool that many at the top could use more often. It is also an excellent vehicle for educating others about a given situation.

The fourth step is to “turn old business into new business.” What are the possibilities for going to clients and partnering with them to create a stronger alliance for the future, so that both parties can benefit in the long run? For example, when tough times hit the airline industry, GE, a manufacturer of airplane engines, began partnering with airframe manufacturers and the airlines themselves.

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Fifth, create something tangible to provide to clients. A strong and visible symbol will be long remembered; Lincoln approved the continued construction of the US Capitol in Washington DC during the midst of the Civil War because he said “If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.” A visit of a top executive to see clients is a tangible sign, as is a walk through the factory floor.

Finally, break ranks and be bold. Far too many organizations face an uncertain future by hunkering down, doing what they have always done, and hoping that a difficult economy or tough times will just do away.

In a perfect world, creativity in organizations would be at every level. Unfortunately, those at the top have the most invested in a successful future and so the burden of being bold and doing what has never been done before must come from.

The leader is ultimately responsible for having a plan when things go from good to not-so-good. What’s yours?

Slow Economy Business Plan

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Posted in Business, Sales, SEO | Tagged Business, Economy | Leave a comment

Employee Benefits

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Super Job For You

I had a recent conversation with a gentleman who wanted to discuss his career plans with me. He is a college graduate, working for a large firm that has many retail locations around the country. His degree was not in business but he was definitely working in a for profit environment.

His situation was that he had been employed for the firm for about a year and a half and he wanted a promotion. He believed that because he had been there for that long, he deserved one. Maybe not exactly deserved one, but that he wanted one, badly enough to pick up the phone and call me to talk about it. And, to talk about his options, both in the company and out of it.

Not that it matters, but he is in his mid twenties. He could have just as easily been in his 30’s, 40’s or 50’s.

As the conversation started, I heard a familiar tune playing in the background. Perhaps you’ve heard it: The Entitlement Blues. To be sure, I have been guilty of singing it out loud more than a few times myself over the course of my career.

I realized that I am no Socrates, but I wanted him to discover for himself what the issue really was. So, I asked questions, starting with asking about how the organization was organized; did it have so many locations supervised by a district manager, so many district managers supervised by a regional manager and so forth. Once that was confirmed, I asked how many locations his district manager supervised, and the answer I was given was ten.

“Where do you rank in that list of ten?” I asked, making sure to note that 10 was the best store and 1 was the worst. The answer I heard was that his location was sixth, but, he added that the ranking was based in tenure, or seniority.

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Taking away tenure, I asked him, how did he measure up on the list, was he a great manager? Or was he a very good manager, or a good manager, or a fair manager, based on the metrics that organizations use to measure success?

He thought about that for a couple of quick minutes and said he thought he would still be ranked in fourth place.

Why, I asked him, would I promote you over the three managers who you gave higher ratings to? Just because you want a promotion isn’t good enough.

At this point I had a flashback to the movie Top Gun where the young pilot is being chewed out by his commander, saying something to the effect that “you have to do it better than the other guys.” It was about 20 years ago that I was in a similar situation to this young man I was talking to, and I remember how badly I wanted a promotion, a change in title, something that would make others stand up a little straighter and take notice of me.

The advice I was given at that time consisted of three short phrases: learn what you need to know; shore up your weaknesses; and, no guts no glory—in other words, be willing to take risks to achieve your goals.

That same advice applies to this young man.

He had been working at this company for a year and a half, but he did not grasp the key metrics that could help him make his move from the middle of the pack to the top.

In many organizations, basic metrics revolve around revenues, costs, profits and projects. While some numbers may be closely guarded, if you are a manager, you need to know how you can positively impact the company’s numbers.

He did not say that he had ever reviewed his numbers with his immediate supervisor or asked for input to make the numbers better, but if he did, I explained, it would be a good start. If nothing else, it would get him learning about the basics, and it could very well cast him in a different light in the eyes of his supervisor.

He admitted that he had not been back to school since he graduated, and I suggested that he invest in his future by taking classes in business that would make him more valuable to his current employer.

I encouraged him to spend as much time as possible with his boss as possible, without being a pest, because his boss could teach him a lot about the business. I suggested that if the opportunity presented itself, that he volunteer to take on a special project or extra work assignment that would give him visibility. Should this happen, I made it clear, he had to do an extraordinary job or he would always be tarnished with the reputation that he had screwed up something big.

Getting a promotion (or a raise) isn’t about just putting in your time. In the end, it means doing a consistently excellent job over and above what everyone else does, simply to distinguish yourself. This cannot just happen around annual evaluation time; it needs to take place every day until it becomes who you are: someone who does more than is expected.

He is now enrolled at Pepperdine in an MBA program.

I hope he has learned that just getting a degree at any level and taking a job won’t necessary qualify anyone for a promotion.

Manufacturing

Posted in Business | Tagged Employee | Leave a comment

Business Coach – Bob Tompkins

Posted on August 10, 2008 by Super Job For You

The May 22, 2006 issue of Forbes magazine has a wonderful article by Rich Karlgaard entitled “About That First Job.”

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What caught my eye was the description of how, as a young man in the business world without a lot of business interest or experience, Karlgaard found mentors that never knew they were his mentors. Karlgaard writes “I picked mentors because they had something I needed to learn. From one I learned how to match a jacket, shirt and tie. He always looked sharp; I wanted to look sharp too, so I quietly observed the color of his clothing, the knot of his tie, the amount of shirt cuff showing. Sounds trivial and even silly, but it helped me and gave me confidence.”

If a person in business spends 60 hours a week on their profession that leaves 108 hours that are available to spend on their personal lives. Take out seven hours a night for sleeping and you have 52 hours left per week to spend with family, friends and other people you care about.

Often the quality of the time we spend in those 108 hours determines how we approach the other 60 hours. Most of us focus on finding mentors in our business lives. What we probably all could use are good mentors in our personal lives.

Nearly 18 years ago I found a good man to mentor me in my personal life. Like Karlgaard, I viewed my mentor from afar, never letting on that I was learning through all the intervening years.

When you meet someone and their history is revealed, it speaks volumes about not just who they are but the internal compass—their values—that guide them. My mentor was very happily married, and had been married at that time for 35 years to the same lovely woman. He had raised two daughters and a son, all doing well in their chosen fields of work. After a stint in the service of his country, his own employment had been with the same firm for more than 20 years; he was loyal to his company, done what was asked of him, and the firm was loyal in return. During my first few chats with him I discovered that at his core, at his foundation, he was rock solid, something akin to granite.

Now, fast forward to today, and allow me to take another look at my mentor. He retired after 35 years with the same company. His children have grown, and he is the proud grandfather of six, and the great grandfather of two. Just this week, he and his bride celebrated their 53^rd wedding anniversary.

DeWitt Jones the famous photographer for National Geographic, once said “It is no use walking to preach unless you preach while you walk.” And so it was for my mentor. He never preached; he didn’t have to. He walked the walk, and that alone was often enough for him to skip the talking the talk part.

My mentor was never a captain of industry, he never owned a business. He was, I am sure, one of the “get it done” people that helped his employer. He did this without negativity, grumbling, and complaining. He was, for more than one organization, a “good soldier.”

He was a role model in his personal life, and that translated very nicely to what he did all week long for 35 years at his company. He was a good neighbor, which is someone that you not want only to live next to, but would love to work with on a daily basis. His belief system in his personal life was very visible, and this made the transition to his work life as well. His valued his reputation and guarded it. I am sure that he helped others guard theirs. He took care to watch people’s backs.

I often weigh people by whether or not I would want to be in the same foxhole with them during a battle, a tough time in life. I know that my mentor Bob would be at the top of the short list of everyone who knows him. If you know Bob, you’d want him to be shoulder to shoulder with you. He is just that kind of guy.

Bob is my father in law. I’ve known him since 1988. Because of the geographic distance that separates us, I have had to observe and learn from afar for too long. But the lessons I have learned have been invaluable.

I visited him last weekend for the first time in a longtime. Bob is a real fight for his life. He still has, at his core, the values that made him a success in the 168 hours that he and each of us have been given each week in our lives. One of those values is to make sure that your priorities are right and that means taking care of those that you love.

Bob passed away in late August, 2006 and was buried in Longview, Texas. We all miss Bob, and think of him often. I can only hope that I can be as good as a mentor as he was to me.

Ken Keller

Posted in Business | Tagged Business, Coach | Leave a comment

Grow your Business

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Super Job For You

Many business owners say that they want to increase revenues and profits, but are they really ready? Growing a business is much more than making a wish; it requires a serious commitment as well as staying power. Resources need to be allocated to fund the increase in expenditures that growing a concern requires.

Here are some thoughts that should be considered before a decision is made to increase the sales and client base of any organization.

To grow requires a change in mindset to an external focus. Basic business systems have to be in place and working well. Many businesses can never shift from an internal focus to an external one because the systems are not sufficient to support more clients, production, or delivery than the current level.

Using an analogy of a garden hose, once the decision is made to put more volume through the hose, the leaks better be plugged, and the radius of the hose needs to be sufficient to handle the increased load. Unless this is done, there is going to be a considerable amount of frustration generated. Picture a hose with the faucet opened as far as it can go, with kinks and leaks showering water where it isn’t wanted, and at the end of the hose less than a desired amount of water is being dispatched.

This means that the brakes on growth have to be removed. Leading indicators of success should be identified and a monitoring system in place. This might mean sales calls made, responses to advertising, and so forth.

The organization’s business model needs to support the growth. In some companies, this might mean changing from what is “usual and customary” to something dramatically different. For example, a company that is used to doing work for clients, invoicing them and waiting for payment of 60, 90, or 120 days might change to enforcing a policy of requiring clients to provide a sizable deposit before starting any work.

To that end, before the switch is turned on to grow, the ideal client has to be identified. Unless this crucial step is taken, resources could be wasted as the company may do business with any prospect. The problem is that just any prospect may not be able to afford the company’s product or services, may not be credit worthy, and may over commit to purchases it does not need or cannot handle.

Part of growing is an understanding and acceptance of the best methods for marketing for new clients. Without a plan based on research, it simply becomes guesswork, which can be costly to implement, with no guarantee of a positive return on investment on the expenditure.

Specific goals need to be set at critical juncture points in the marketing process. It isn’t enough to say “We need more clients. We need more revenue.” SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound) goals need to be established and monitored.

Having a system of accountability is important, if for no other reason than to keep the marketing program on a path of success. At any point the progress can be measured to the action and resources expended, providing clues as to what is working and more importantly, what hasn’t and isn’t.

Last, does the organization have the right people in place to execute the marketing and sales programs that will result in growth? Too often it is assumed that someone who was previously successful in another role or in another industry or segment can make the leap without problems or hiccups.

Only the leader make the decision if a business can support an expansion. Chances are, if the decision is made to grow, changes will have to be made. Are you, as the leader, ready for that?

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