Global Public Articles

Focus is a huge problem for any CEO in the business world today. With so many demands on their time and their energy, how does a business owner determine what are the right things to focus on at the right time?

As a business grows, the rules begin to change. The business owner can’t grow the company any longer by simply doing more of the same thing. Business owners are constantly balancing a myriad of issues. In today’s business climate, tough by everyone’s standards, focusing on the areas of your business that improve sales, drive profits and protect cash and capital are crucial.

However, the other area of focus that each leader must address is how their leadership style is matching up with the demands of your business. Here are four areas that a leader should be addressing that will help improve revenues and profits.

1. Roll out 3-4 new revenue generators that diversify your sales engine and allow you to create multiple streams of revenue.

2. Evaluate your company’s profit design to improve the allocation of your company’s resources and clarify the underlying profit architecture.

3. Explode your beliefs about your current leadership style and how minor tweaks in it could add 5% to 9% to your bottom line.

4. Identify and then rivet your company’s focus on only 3 to 5 profit drivers.

Utilize Wide Range of Sales Generators
Most leaders understand that to grow your business you need to: grow your customer base, increase transaction value and/or increase transaction frequency. Have you renewed your commitment to these three areas lately?

Where can you:
– Deliver higher-than-expected levels of service?
– Increase the sales skill levels of your staff?
– Make irresistible offers?
– Develop a unique selling proposition?

Evaluate Your Company’s Profit Design
Most companies understand the need for a business plan. Few begin with a profit design. Twelve specific components make up a company’s profit design:
1. Value exchange
2. Customer intelligence
3. Scope
4. Strategic control
5. Knowledge management
6. Strategic allies
7. Culture
8. Organizational structure
9. Research and Development
10. Capital intensity
11. Business development
12. Operational systems

When you begin to understand your company’s profit design, you begin to limit risk and improve performance. Profit design questions everything you know about your business and forces you to think about:
– What is your company really good at?
– The expertise it takes to sell your service or product
– What the customer magnet is that is built into those products and services
– How employees access important information
– Your company’s primary personality culture
– Your organizational capacity

Adapt Your Leadership Style
Companies change. You, as the leader, must change also. By understanding the specific needs of your company as it grows, you can adjust your leadership style to stay ahead of that growth curve. As a start up, companies demand a leader who can make things happen, who can create the vision and excite a group of people to follow that vision.

However, a company with 50 employees requires a leader with a coaching style, someone who is able to encourage employees to solve problems on their own. A dominant CEO in a company of this size can disenfranchise the organization, creating a company that is CEO-centric, not a good formula for growth.

Identify Your Company’s Profit Drivers
Only 12% of all firms researched in a recent study were able to unequivocally say what their key drivers of profitability were. It all gets down to the intensity of focus. Successful company’s have a laser focus. Unsuccessful companies are scattered.

To identify and then focus on these key drivers, you need to understand what drives the success of the organization, communicate that understanding to internal stakeholders and know when and how to focus the organization in the right direction.

Examples of profit drivers include: customer purchases, new product releases, customer retention, customer acquisition and strategic alliance development. Notice that not one of these are financial controls? They can and should be, but if that’s the only profit driver you are focused on, you are probably not covering all your bases.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, unsure or frustrated about your business, you’re normal. Take control of those feelings by identifying and maintaining a rock-solid focus on these four critical aspects of your business.
– Review and refresh your sales generators each quarter
– Evaluate your profit design
– Adapt your leadership style to each phase of your company’s growth
– Identify and focus on your 3 to 5 profit drivers

Laurie Taylor is a speaker, trainer and a business growth specialist. She works with business owners with fewer than 500 employees and speaks to business audiences all over the country on a unique model called the 7 Stages of Entrepreneurial Growth. Visit her website at http://www.igniteyourbiz.com.

When we improve our business processes, we are reducing the number of defects in our products and services for our customers. If there is a high level of complexity in our processes and products and services, there are more opportunities for defect. Therefore, to achieve a high Sigma capability, our goal is to reduce the total number of opportunities for defect, and concurrently increase the capability of the remaining opportunities.

An opportunity is defined as a set of circumstances that are favorable to some end. Each characteristic of our products and services is an opportunity. In general, four factors must be present for an opportunity to exist: a characteristic, a scale, a standard, and density. For example, characteristics that are critical to the customer are measured according to performance limits or success criteria. When we measure these characteristics, we are creating density, which is historical distribution. If all of these factors are said to be present, the opportunity is said to be “active.” If the density is missing, the opportunity is said to be “passive.”

There may be many opportunities for defect for each characteristic of our product and service. However, some opportunities are active and some are passive. When we are not measuring opportunities, they are passive. But, when we measure, test, or inspect opportunities for defect, they are considered active. Any CTQ (Critical to Quality), CTD (Critical to Delivery), or CTC (Critical to Cost) would, by definition, constitute an opportunity for non conformance, so long as it is actively measured and reported. In fact, in order to evaluate the true capability of our processes, it is important to consider only active opportunities for metric calculation.

We can establish density for both discrete and continuous data. When we have collected the number of categorical occurrences per observation, our density is based on discrete data. When we have collected measurements that are continuous in nature, our density, the historical distribution of continuous data, is based on the total area under the curve. Different statistical distributions, such as the Binomial, Poisson, Normal, and Log-normal are the most frequently used distributions for CTs to establish density. As organizations evolve in Six Sigma, they will value measurements more and density will be based on continuous data, allowing for estimates of process capability to become more accurate.

Process Quality Focus — Overall this is the best way to attack the root causes of defects and customer satisfaction issues. The key, is identifying the processes that are critical to satisfaction and that are operating at a low Sigma level. This approach requires good cross-functional coordination since many of the processes will cross the traditional boundaries of departments.

Product Focus — Another way to focus efforts is to identify the product family or system that is most contributing to poor customer satisfaction and is also a strategically important product or service. Such an approach usually requires that we look at a number of processes that feed into that product or service.

Project Cost Savings Focus — While it is essential that we track the reductions in the cost of poor quality projects, we must also recognize that, depending on the priorities of a business, cost savings might become the main focus. In this situation, projects are selected on the amount management thinks it will save in costs, not necessarily which projects will most affect the root drivers of process capability. We need to recognize the limitations of this approach with respect to establishing new mindsets about quality.

Problem Focus — Worst of all is a focus on the biggest problem or fire. It is short-sighted and usually not very focused since it is not clear what process should be addressed.

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Jacquelyn Donner, Master Six Sigma Black Belt

By definition, a business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable and the plan for reaching those goals. They are used in both primary and secondary programs to teach economic principles. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan. If it identifies and target internal goals but provide only general guidance on how they will be met, the they are called strategic plans.

It should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal. It can be helpful to view the business plan as a collection of sub plans, one for each of the main business disciplines. Indeed, there are no fixed content for a business plan. The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context and cost and revenue estimates are central to any business plan for deciding the viability of the planned venture.

An external business plan should list all legal concerns and financial liabilities that might negatively affect investors. However, they may require each party receiving the business plan to sign a contract accepting special clauses and conditions. Traditionally, business plans have been highly confidential and quite limited in audience. Business plans are kept as secret, however, the emergence of free software and open source has opened the model and made the notion of an open business plan possible.

In the free software and open source business model, trade secrets, copyright and patents can no longer be used as effective locking mechanisms to provide sustainable advantages to a particular business and therefore a secret business plan is less relevant in those models. Every business plan is uniquely suited to its companys situation but successful plans tend to have several key traits in common.

Moreover, while there is no one perfect length for a business plan, you should make sure your plan hits the right level of detail and meets the expectations of your readers. A good business plan will be the best indicator that can be used to judge your potential for success. Though, in some cases the business plan as a whole contains similar information but for one type of plan it is mere detail and for another it is a key decision making factor.

Sometimes a business plan will seek to earn a superior return by adding superior management talent to an existing weak company. Infact, external business plan should list all legal concerns and financial liabilities that might negatively affect investors. Depending on the amount of funds being raised and the audience to whom the plan is presented, failure to do this may have severe legal consequences.

Moreover, they may require each party receiving the business plan to sign a contract accepting special clauses and conditions. Marketing plan defines all of the components of your marketing strategy. It should also integrate traditional offline programs with new media online strategies. Powerful business plan will be the best indicator that can be used to judge your potential for success.

Nevertheless, a good business plan should indeed contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a certain goal. When preparing a business plan, draw on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines like finance, human resource management, intellectuals, property management, marketing and other sources. A successful business plan is a living roadmap to your future, not a packet of paper in your desk drawer. Start your business planning process with a clear look at where you stand today and what you want to achieve.

Obinna Heche. Los Angeles - California

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There are many individuals and groups associated with schools and many of these people are likely to have valuable ideas to contribute to schools. Because they are close to your school they also have a vested interest in its success. The more you involve these people in contributing to the strategic direction you wish the school to take, the more ownership they will have of the final product and the more loyalty for the brand.

Generally when schools talk about their stakeholders they are thinking of the board, parents, staff and students; however, this excludes many important and valuable groups from providing input to your strategic planning and thinking.

Stakeholders also might include:
Old Scholars
Business owners
Employees who take students for work experience, for example
Clients/customers
Community groups
Community leaders
Competitors
Donors
Experts on educational issues, such as university personnel
Regulators
Suppliers
Professional Organizations
Partners or potential partners
Potential enrolments.

Consulting with a wide variety of stakeholders has much to offer your school. Widespread consultation:

One: Increases the quality and quantity of input and reduces the chances of group think. It is possible that those closest to the school are also those most resistant to change. A broader perspective challenges traditional thinking and increases the likelihood of more creative decision making and problem solving.

Two: Encourages ownership of school goals. The more opportunity people have to shape the direction of the school, they more likely they are to be satisfied with the final product. All of the conventional wisdom, as well as educational research, tells us that ownership of decisions and strategies is essential for take up of a plan.

Three: increases the chances of success. The more commitment you have to a plan the more the people involved are motivated to make it happen and the more interest others have in monitoring its success.

Four: Widespread consultation improves relationships. Genuinely seeking and valuing the input of others increases self esteem and improves relationships. It also reduces the chances of misinformation and complaints of lack of transparency.

Schools can consult in a variety of ways: by surveying as many stakeholders as possible; by providing opportunities for one on one meetings; or by organizing focus group consultations with a small group of stakeholders.

Surveys are cost efficient and provide quantitative information. One on one meetings build personal relationships and provide deep, quality and detailed data. Similarly, focus group consultations bring together people, often from the same representative group (e.g. parents) to present the point of view of a particular category of stakeholders and provide qualitative data.

All of the data provided from a wide cross section of stakeholders feeds into the strategic planning and thinking of the school, and increases the chances of accessing quality data for quality decision making.

Robyn Collins is a former school principal and passionate about education. She wants every school to be the best it can be.
Find out more about school improvement through strategic planning at: http://www.strategicplanning4schools.com

I recently met with my friend Neil to discuss several business building strategies. I shared with him a tool that I use in my own business on a daily basis.

You can create this tool on your own, it’s super easy to use, and I guarantee it will help you grow your business exponentially.

The tool is a simple text document (I created mine in Microsoft Word) that you use to measure your daily KPIs. KPI stands for key performance indicator, and every business - even yours - has them.

The first step in creating your KPI measurement tool is to figure out what your Key Performance Indicators are - what activities do you do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis that directly contribute to the success of your business?

Some examples of KPIs might be the number of phone calls you make, the amount of time you spend networking, the number of presentations you deliver, the number of articles you distribute, etc.

Next, create a simple sheet where you can measure your performance in each of these areas. The document I created for myself is a single sheet of paper in landscape view (that’s the wide-way) divided in half so there are two columns.

In the first column, I measure Monday through Friday activities, and in the second column I measure weekly activities.

I cut the sheet in half (so each column became its own page) and took it to the local print shop. I had them make 52 copies of each page and turn the copies into a
notepad. (Most print shops or copy shops have this capability.) I can keep the notepad handy and use it on a daily basis.

Before making 52 copies and turning them into a notepad, you’ll want to spend some time testing out your Key Performance Indicators.

Your KPIs might not be immediately evident, and you might be wasting your time by measuring things that don’t really matter.

For instance, you might think that distributing press releases in an important KPI for your business. Test it out for a while. Send out press releases on a regular basis, measure your performance, and determine your results.

What has this activity done for you? Did you get more sales inquiries after sending press releases? How valuable were those inquiries? Will you be able to attribute an increase in the bottom line to sending out press releases? If so, then this activity is definitely a KPI.

But on the other hand, if you think adding a new article to your blog on a daily basis is an important Key Performance Indicator, try it out for a while. Write an article every day and track the results.

Did you add more prospect names to your database as a result of your articles? Did you see your sales increase? If not, this activity is probably not a KPI for your business, so there’s no point focusing on it
and measuring it.

After a few weeks, you’ll be able to figure out which activities are actually contributing to your progress. If you notice your sales increase as your networking
increases, then networking is definitely a KPI.

If the time spent on a certain activity varies but your sales remain stagnant, you’ll know that activity is not a KPI. It can be dumped from your list.

Once you’ve identified your KPIs and you’ve measured them for a set time, you’ll then have an awesome tool to plan for your sales growth. You’ll know exactly what to do in order to grow your business.

Let’s say you’ve identified “making prospect phone calls” as an important KPI. And in your measuring process, you’ve discovered that when you make 5 phone calls each day, you average $15,000 in sales for the week.

If you’d like to increase your progress to $30,000 in sales every week, you know you’ll need to make at least 10 phone calls.

Identifying your KPIs is the most important step in effectively using this tool. That step is extremely personal and will differ from business to business.

Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at http://www.ModernImage.com.