DevelopYour Small Business
It’s June already! So, how is this year playing out?
Are your sales growing as planned?
Are your employees solving customers’ problems?
Are customers pleased with your products and your high levels of personalized service?
How many new customers have you added?
It’s not too late to fix strategies that aren’t working and to invest more into those that are showing good results.
An Unexpected Event Can Disrupt Your Business
Natural disasters, most commonly floods, earthquakes and severe weather can be devastating. Disasters of a different nature, such as fire, power failure, industrial accidents and even fiber optic cable cuts can have a huge economic impact on your business.
Have You Spoken with a Customer Today?
Customers make everything happen in a business. They call, email and walk-in with cash in their pockets and a request that we solve a problem for them. Wow! Can it get any better when folks want to spend their money in your business?
THE 80/20 RULE IS ALIVE AND RELEVANT
The 80/20 Rule is generally appropriate when examining two critical performance indicators 1) inventory - 80% of revenue comes from 20% of the product mix, and 2) sales - 20% of customers generate 80% of a firm’s revenues.
Are Your Employees Prepared to Write?
Our society has drifted from writing fully formed sentences in multiple paragraphs to texting partial thoughts using shorthand versions of common words and phrases. It might work informally among friends, but your stakeholders expect more. They expect your written communications to be clear, concise, grammatically correct and easily understood.
The Differences Between a Boss and a Leader
The differences may be subtle, but they make all the difference.
How Should I Price My Product?
Creating a pricing strategy is a thoughtful and deliberate process, always mindful of competitors and customers. Companies typically conduct a thorough evaluation of competitive products to determine if they should price at, above, or below competitors.
Meeting and Exceeding the Customer's Expectations
You might remember the Hunter S. Thompson quote, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.”
Are You On Track for Success in 2016?
As we complete the first half of 2016, we should examine where we are against projections (sales and expenses) year to date (YTD) and full year. This enables us to make timely adjustments, if needed.
How Much Money is in Your Bank Account?
Money comes in and goes out of the business. It’s always a great day when more comes in than exits.
Do You Remember When You Learned to Drive?
Driving your business is very similar to driving a car. You have to perform multiple tasks often simultaneously and always maintain a light foot on the accelerator pedal, ready to switch to the brake at any time.
Finding Money in Your Business
Making a profit has always been a challenge, but perhaps even more now.
CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY
Research indicates that we retain just 25-50% of what we hear. Of those 70 compelling words, the listener will probably hear at best 35. Choose your words carefully for maximum impact.
Protect your business from dishonest employees
Chances are you, or someone you know, has or will become a victim of a dishonest employee. While locking the doors of our business, our home and our car is second nature, we often fail to recognize the assets of our business also require protection.
10 ways to reduce energy consumption
Do you know the monthly energy usage in your factory? Not necessarily the cost, but how the energy is consumed within the business. Energy Management is just another component in a well-run business.
Do you have an Andon Cord? Maybe you should
The Andon, a key component of the quality driven Toyota Production System, empowers their production workers to pull the cord, halting the assembly line, when a defective part is found.
Is your technology truly disruptive or just another flavor of ice cream?
Arguably, the iPhone (2007) was a game changer not only in personal communication devices, but also for information retrieval and dissemination.
Creating a pricing strategy is a thoughtful and deliberate process, always mindful of competitors and customers. Companies typically conduct a thorough evaluation of competitive products to determine if they should price at, above, or below competitors.