Volume 4 Issue 1
JUST THE STATS
When you've got the facts, it's much simpler to find the right solution.
Eat Your Veggies
- 61% of shoppers say they'll purchase veggies more frequently if they're more convenient to prepare/eat.
- now available: fresh, pre-washed, pre-cut veggies in plastic bags.
- soon in the produce department: salad and protein packs (like fresh veggies and chicken)
(American Demographics - Jan '96)
A New Micro-Food Generation
- 47% of teens (12-19 years) cook meals for their families
- 71% of teens (12-19 years) cook for themselves
(Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU))
- predicted by Art Siemering (food futurist) - the microwave is about to be re-born (in light of teen cooking)
- new supermarket will be dedicated to ready-made, simple, nutritious microwavable mixes displayed at children's eye level.
(American Demographics - Sept '95)
High Tech
- Revenue from World Wide Web software is anticipated to jump from about $265 million in '95 to $600 million in '96... and that's just the start.
- The spreading web is spawning web-related programs and a huge software epidemic. (Hambrecht & Quist Inc.)
A WORD OR TWO ON LEADERSHIP
"We have set some clear long range objectives. If they are not met the company should find a president better than me who can meet them."
Tatsuhiko Andoh, President, Okatoku Securities Co.
"Be wiser than other men, but do not tell them so."
Philip Dormer Stanhope, 1694-1773, English Secretary of the State
"My definition of a leader... is a man who can persuade people to do what they don't want to do, or do what they're too lazy to do, and like it."
Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972, thirty-third President of the United States
"The prospective chief executive has to be action-oriented. You find a lot of planners who can't act."
Roche, Chairman, Heidricks & Struggles
"I praise loudly, I blame softly."
Catherine II ("The Great"), 1729-1796, Empress of Russia
"Effective managers live in the present - but concentrate on the future."
James L. Hayes, President & C.E.O., American Management
RECENTLY OVERHEARD
"Just as reading diet books is a substitute for losing weight, reading management books is a substitute for good management."
Vanderbilt University Professor Terrence Deal, author of Leading with Soul, on the
desire by some executives to find quick-fix business solutions
"Technology always starts out as a solution in search of a problem. No one needs this stuff yet. Billions of dollars will be lost in this market."
San Francisco new-media analyst Denise Caruso, referring to the Internet
STRETCH FOR THE GOOD OF IT
"Only a mediocre person is always at his best."
- Lawrence J. Peter, University of Southern California
When the American Management Association's study on downsizing was published, a very interesting phenomenon came to light. Two of every three U.S. companies laying off staff were hiring others to take their place.
It has become apparent that downsizing is really "reconfiguration"... a strategy used by companies to divest themselves of staff unable to stretch - unable to give them a competitive advantage... while simultaneously hiring staff that give "value added" to the company and their customers.
Corporations are finally realizing that their marketplace has reached global proportions. They must stretch to grow... to compete effectively.
To be as good as the world's best requires superior utilization of all company resources to offer customers the "value added" they demand. Learn from the best... stretch yourself and your company for the good of it.
1. Know the World Standard. Benchmark. Emulate "the best" in every area that affects your business. Create "value added" of your own.
2. Be "reconfigurable". Correct inefficiencies through staff and process changes. Keep your customers and their interests at the forefront of your decisions.
3. Improve.. focus staff performance. Ensure your "vision" is clearly communicated. Assist staff to understand how behavior impacts every facet of business.
4. Empower staff. Trust them to achieve on their own. Allow them to provide new ways to give "value added".
5. Recognize Core Competencies. That is, make whatever your company does, indisputably "THE BEST" there is.
6. Understand globalization is here to stay. In a networked world, the consumer's shopping experience has no geographical limits. Find niches, find differentiation, find "value added" to give to your customers.
7. Be relentless. Never stop. A moving target is much harder to hit than a stationary one.
... AT YOUR SERVICE
In our relentless attempt to be better, to do more, to ride on the wings of change, we very often grasp at every customer strategy, sway toward every new product line, nod at every colleague's suggestion. As change whirls around us, we must focus on the steadfast customer the customer who got us to where we are and who will help us grow from there.
In today's marketplace, where it has become a virtual impossibility to be all things to all people, it seems essential to become and remain of consequence to our best customers. They are the customers that traditionally buy from us or use our services more frequently, buy higher margin goods or services and engage in larger transactions. In general, our best customers generate higher profits over the lifetime of the relationship. Research has shown the "value" of these customers to be 3 times the value of an average customer. In terms of gross margin dollars, for every $100 collected from an average customer, $300 is collected from a best customer. To better appreciate the consequences, extrapolate these figures over the "lifetime" of your customer relationships.
It doesn't take much to realize the value of the best.
To keep our best customers, we must learn about them, and continue to learn about them (because they change). Find out who they are what their needs and wants are what their likes and dislikes are what they're doing differently today than they did yesterday and why what will precipitate new needs and wants?
Use this valuable information to provide "the right" services to sell "the right" products to develop "the right" innovative loyalty programs to offer desirable bonuses to create "value-added" strategies to build effective positioning to engage in providing "solutions" rather than just product/service selling.
Focusing on our best customers promises such rich rewards that the steps toward success are worth climbing.
- Capture (and update constantly) customer information and transaction or service data on an appropriate database system.
- Ensure your senior management team is on side and trained to move the relationship forward.
- Hire frontline employees whose customer vision is in sync with your corporate vision.
- Train and empower staff to provide excellent service.
Just like personal relationships business relationships, when they're developed to the benefit of all, they bloom and grow, nurture and sustain.
THE WAY WE WERE
With new trends in technology, free trade and globalization, how different is our basic business philosophy today from what it was 65 years ago? Really not much!
These 10 Business Commandments, posted in Vern's Bakery in Saint John, dates from 1929
- Work hard.
Tackle the hardest job first each day.
- Study hard.
The more you know, the easier and more effective is your work.
- Have initiative.
Ruts often deepen into graves.
- Love your work.
There's a sense of satisfaction in doing work well.
- Be exact.
Accuracy is better than haste.
- Have courage.
A stout heart will carry you through difficulties.
- Be friendly.
Only friendly people become successful leaders.
- Cultivate personality.
Personality is to the man what perfume is to the flower.
- Wear a smile.
It opens the door into the sunshine beyond.
- Do your best.
For if you give to the world the best you have, the best will come back to you.
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