Posts by dburns:
- Personalization and customization – a composition engine that enables the merging of variable data, and supports interactive communications that can be created by business users.
- Object management – the ability to track text objects (e.g. paragraphs), graphic elements, e-signatures, or other objects.
- Version control – the authorization and workflows to manage individual objects as well as templates and final versions.
- Template management – the ability to lock down certain graphics or text elements of a particular template.
- Delivery tracking – recording when specific print or electronic communications were sent and ensuring that e-delivered communications are received.
- A US engineering firm, thinking that a financial incentive would generate new business, began offering its consulting engineers a bonus for uncovering new business from the clients they service. However, after a year, of their 35 engineers, only three had found new business opportunities.
- Research at the Stanford Shyness Institute suggests that almost 60 percent of young adults entering the business world have difficulty introducing themselves and engaging in conversations with potential prospects.
- A study in Harvard Business Review shows that strategic networking skills will help organizations uncover and capitalize on new business opportunities.
- Understand and leverage personal style: Networking is not just for the extrovert! Introverts can be just as effective at developing interpersonal networks; they just do it in a different way.
- Strategically target your activities: Not all networking events or organizations are equal; you need to determine which events will give you the best return on your investment.
- Systematically plan networking: Meaningful connections don’t just happen—planning activities, evaluating experiences and anticipating next moves is what leads to great connections.
- Develop relationships over time: You don’t meet someone today and become their trusted advisor tomorrow. You need to learn how to build relationships and with whom to build them.
- Engage others effectively: Sure, laughing and socializing with others is fun, but it is not how you create effective business networks. You need to learn how to engage meaningfully, remember people’s names and make sure they remember yours.
- Showcase your expertise: You can learn to talk about your accomplishments and skills without coming across as a braggart, and it is essential to do so if you are going to have an effective network.
- Assess opportunities: Easy to join, hard to leave—it is essential that you evaluate your networking experiences relative to your changing goals and decide when order viagra online to get more involved and when to exit gracefully.
- Deliver value: At its core, networking is an exchange of value, whether it is time, information or your talents. You need to be able to recognize what you have to give, as well as what you want to get.
- To gain context for the voice-of-the-customer interview, which ideally will take place right after the tour. With this information, the vendor will be able to ask much better probing questions to understand their customer’s needs once they’ve observed the customer’s process firsthand.
- To look for potential areas of improvement that will benefit the customer.
Creating Better Jobs For Manufacturing’s Comeback
May 24th, 2013By Ray Attiyah, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Definity Partners
Scan through the business section of the news, and you’re likely to see stories about the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing, about how companies are moving jobs back to the United States because of the rising cost of manufacturing in (and shipping to and from) China. Certainly good news for American manufacturers, but I would argue that this trend is not what the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing should be built on.
A favorite saying of mine is that we hire people not just for their hands, but also for their hearts and minds. When we hire frontline employees, it should not be just for the work they do on the line, but for the creative thoughts in their hearts and minds. This philosophy has pushed me to have a radical thought: What if we paid frontline manufacturing employees just $2 per hour for their labor but $14 per hour to use their minds to come up with better and faster ways of doing work, to think of new ways to use a product, to come up with brand new products and to solve problems that the company didn’t even know it had?
Source: Thinkstock
This move would challenge people to take action, to take accountability and to be engaged in the work they do. They would view their job not just as a daily checklist, but as an opportunity to learn, to grow and to improve. This would then provide an unlimited source of innovation that will lead the company into brand new directions. Those new directions will lead to more jobs. The result will be a strong American manufacturing base that can produce jobs because of its own vibrant energy, and not just because the cost of doing business in China went up.
For a true resurgence in American manufacturing, then, there must be innovation. Instead of simply asking, “How do we bring more jobs back to America?” we should ask, “How do we create new and better jobs in America?” Here are some thoughts on how we can do that.
Understanding the Challenge
Yes, jobs have moved to other countries because of labor costs, but jobs have also moved because it was simply the right thing to do. When America was a young nation, countries like Japan, Germany and England sent jobs our way to help us develop and prosper economically. Likewise, for several decades we’ve moved jobs to countries like Mexico, India and China to assist with their economic development. It makes sense to let simpler jobs, like sticking arms on Barbie dolls, stay in less-developed countries. Meanwhile, more-developed economies should focus on more complex and challenging industries. As a global society, we should embrace this exchange, as it will help to ensure long-term worldwide stability.
Accepting the Challenge
In the world of competitive gymnastics, an athlete’s score is calculated by multiplying the score for how well a routine is executed with the degree of difficulty of that particular routine. Simple routines executed perfectly may not score as highly as extremely complex routines executed extremely well. The degree of difficulty can quickly bolster a score, particularly when combined with perfect execution.
In manufacturing, the degree of difficulty is innovation. Manufacturers will create new jobs when they take bold steps to increase innovation in their organizations. To do this they must proactively tackle difficult problems that no one has been able to solve and look to improve areas that aren’t necessarily broken. They need to stop measuring success based on doing better than they did two years ago, and start measuring success by looking at how they are improving relative to their competition. This type of proactive improvement takes courage and capacity, and requires leaders to really understand their customers and markets.
Effective leaders recognize the need to look ahead, even beyond their industry at times, to innovate and to offer customers bold promises. When your team accepts this challenge by increasing its ability to execute and innovate, think of what that will do to your competition, your customers and your organization!
Facing the Challenge
Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said it best: “Manufacturers are ready to power the economy. With the right policies in place, we will transform a difficult and sluggish recovery into an economic resurgence. After all, manufacturing has the highest multiplier effect of any other sector of our economy. Investments in manufacturing multiply across the economy, creating jobs and growth in other sectors. Simply put, manufacturing makes America strong.”[1]
According to a September 2012 survey by the Harvard Business School, manufacturing companies were the most active in undertaking programs and initiatives to boost U.S. competitiveness. The survey showed that 86 percent of manufacturers are engaged in internal training; 59 percent in regional initiatives; 40 percent in offering apprenticeships; 47 percent in community college or other external training partnerships; 54 percent in sourcing locally for supplies; and 45 percent in supplier mentoring. The survey also showed that manufacturers rank near the top in participation in collaborative research initiatives, with 63 percent involved in this activity.[2]
Overcoming the Challenge
Our current economic challenges are one part of a cycle that Americans have experienced for decades. Newspapers in the 1930s wrote of “a worldwide economic crisis marked by widespread unemployment and near halts in industrial production and construction.”[3] In the 1980s, the American automotive industry was overtaken by Japan. Even the construction and housing market — an integral component of the economy and major generator of American jobs — has experienced unprecedented loss. During the latest recession, the amount that the housing and construction industry contributed to the GDP fell from 6.3 percent to 2.3 percent.[4]
So what’s new isn’t the challenges we’re facing, but the rate at which we are facing them. If manufacturers — and America — are going to succeed, we must innovate even faster than we have before.
Tips to consider as you I.N.N.O.V.A.T.E.
Incubator — Become true learning organizations, with priority on proactive improvements.
New — Solve problems that people don’t believe are problems.
Now — Take action! Stop talking about innovation and start doing.
Opportunities — Capitalize on the biggest and surest opportunities.
Velocity — The rate by which improvements are made will significantly impact relevance and sustainability.
Attitude — Shift the mind-set from “We can’t” to “What will it take to…?”
Talent — Hire and spend time with top performers and proactively position them in their most-value-added roles.
Entrepreneurship — Share best practices with other industry leaders.
References:
“Growth: A Growth Agenda: For Goals for a Manufacturing Resurgence in America”http://www.nam.org/~/media/AF4039988F9241C09218152A709CD06D.ashx
David Brousell, “Harvard Survey: U.S. Competiveness at a Crossroads,” Manufacturing Executive. Mar 11, 2013. http://www.manufacturing-executive.com/community/leadership_dialogues/industrial_policy/blog/2013/03/11/harvard-survey-us-competitiveness-at-a-crossroads
Nick Taylor, “A Short History of the Great Depression,” New York Times/Times Topics. Accessed Mar 26, 2013.http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index.html
Housing’s Impact on the Economy, Bipartisan Policy Center. Accessed Mar 26, 2013. http://bipartisanpolicy.org/projects/housing/infographic-economy
Ray Attiyah is the author of “The Fearless Front Line” and founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Definity Partners, a training, process and leadership improvement firm.
Master the Challenges of Engineer-to-Order Manufacturers
May 24th, 2013
How ERP focused on unique business verticals is evolving.
8 Signs Your Company Is Second Best
May 24th, 2013By Joseph Callaway
Picture this: You’re relaxing on your couch and watching your favorite crime drama after a long day at work. You’ve halfway tuned out during a commercial break when something catches your attention. “Come see what we have to offer. We’re proud to be second in area sales and customer satisfaction since 1992!” an announcer enthuses while a giant yellow “2” flashes on the screen.
Source: Thinkstock
Sure, it sounds absurd. But while most of us pay lip service to our desire to be our customers’ first choice, our actions may say otherwise.
Any time you don’t make the client your top priority, you’re tacitly agreeing not to be their top priority. You cannot truly be number one until your clients are. Being number one really is a two-way street, and it’s not an easy street. You can’t coast your way to number one—and when you settle for doing so, you soon fall to number two or even lower.
I know all about the high price of being number one. My wife and I built our business—Those Callaways—in a tough industry that’s had more than its share of challenges. To date, we’ve sold over a billion dollars’ worth of homes and have been the market leader in our area for years. Our New York Times bestseller Clients First: The Two Word Miracle describes our late-in-life entry into real estate, how we had our “Clients First” revelation, how it changed our professional and personal lives and how readers can put it into practice for themselves.
Living and working this way is rewarding, but it’s also tough. Putting your customers’ interests ahead of your own—every time—can seem counter intuitive, risky and even frightening. That’s why so many businesses fail to be as competitive as they’d like: Even if they don’t realize it, they’ve chosen to operate in a way that makes it impossible for them to come in first from a customer’s perspective.
Especially in an uncertain economy, you can’t settle for being number two—or three, or four—because that puts you on the road to eventual failure. Sooner or later, your vulnerability will catch up with you. The best job security is being the best.
Here, I share eight signs that your business is aiming lower than you may have thought, as well as advice on how to finally start hitting the bull’s-eye:
1. Your number one business goal is to make money.
Ummm … isn’t that the point of running a company? you might be asking. Well, it’s a point, but it’s not the point. You see, a too-acute focus on improving the bottom line takes your attention off of the people who are going to enable you to raise it: your customers. Your clients can always tell when they’re not your first priority. (If you’re skeptical, just consider the backlash that often occurs when small businesses are bought out and transformed by larger, more impersonal corporations.)
The difference between paying attention to customer service so that your clients will give you more business and doing so because serving the customer is your first priority may feel slight, but it’s significant. Yes, taking your focus away from the bottom line may feel uncomfortable at first. But you’ll soon find that when you focus on how best to serve clients, tough decisions make themselves. If it serves the client, you do it. If it doesn’t, you don’t. This neutralizes moral dilemmas and really simplifies your life. And it almost always has a miracle effect on your growth and success.
2. You let the little things slide.
So … what’s the problem? Rushing through paperwork so you can get home early, failing to spellcheck an email or two and running late to a meeting probably won’t matter that much six months from now. It’s the “big” things like growing your company, expanding your client base, hiring more employees and making a profit that are most important, right? Not necessarily.
So often in life, it’s the small details that differentiate “good” from “great.” So be careful not to become so fixated on the forest that you fail to see the trees. In other words, stop being so distracted by the “big grand ideas” and start getting the small details right. Promises kept, deadlines met, little extra flourishes and small acts of kindness add up to happy clients.
One thing Those Callaways does with clients in escrow is to call or email them every day, even if nothing is happening. This simple message of “nothing happening, wanted you to know” is a huge stress reliever and an even bigger business builder.
3. You habitually let certain clients go to voicemail.
It’s happened to everyone: When you see that name flash on your phone’s caller ID, you slowly pull your hand back from the receiver and let the ringing continue. You just don’t want to deal with the drama, or the whining, or the accusations, or the belligerence just now. Yes, we all have “problem” clients. But to avoid them or just go through the motions for them is a mistake. They will notice and remember your behavior. (And be honest: Would you want to give your business to someone who might write you off when the going got tough?)
Clients first means all clients. In over 14 years, my wife and I have never gotten rid of a single client—even when we secretly wished we could—and we believe this no-fire strategy has contributed significantly to our ultimate success. Here’s the payoff: When you make the choice to stand by all of your frazzled, frustrated customers, you will eventually reap financial and personal rewards.
You may even become known in your company or industry as the guy or gal who can handle the toughest customers. And chances are, your clients themselves will be grateful that you didn’t give up on them and may even send others your way.
4. You find yourself telling white lies.
It’s true that telling clients white lies, or exaggerating, misdirecting or omitting, might make life easier temporarily. It’s also true that we can often justify such behavior to ourselves (she’ll never know, and it’ll save me hours of work, for example). But these “little” lies are just as bad as the whoppers. There is always a chance that customers will see through you and call you on the carpet. And even if they don’t, a willingness to play fast and loose with the truth is indicative of a broader attitude that relegates clients to second or third priority. (In return, that’s usually how they’ll rate you.)
Honesty can be tough in the moment, but a reputation for trustworthiness (or untrustworthiness!) can stick with you for life. Live by a policy of never holding back or sugarcoating, and you’ll gain customer loyalty that money can’t buy. Plus, when you have only the truth, you wave goodbye to moral dilemmas and sleepless nights. You don’t have to worry about getting the story straight or remembering what you have and haven’t shared. You know you’re doing the right thing.
5. You spend more time trying to get off the phone than really hearing what the customer has to say.
Chances are, you roll out the red carpet in order to get prospective clients on board. And you’re probably willing to bear with the whims, questions and requests of fairly new customers whose business isn’t yet cemented. But what about older, more established clients? Do you take the same amount of time and care with them, or do you assume they’ll stick with you out of habit and convenience?
The Callaways book, “Clients First”
If you wouldn’t hang up the phone at the first opportunity with a client you signed last week, don’t do it with one you signed 10 years ago. Companies that become number one don’t do so because they win customers over once, but because they do it every day. A good experience last month usually won’t keep a customer coming back this month if he or she believes that your level of service has slipped.
6. You don’t know your client’s daughter’s name or what he likes to do on the weekends.
In your eyes, you’re being professional when every question in your meeting is about the client’s financial preferences, for example, and not his family, pastimes and interests. But in his eyes, you’re cold and impersonal. Remember, to truly serve, you have to care. When you keep yourself at arm’s length, you can’t give your clients 100 percent … and you give them an incentive to take their business elsewhere.
Do you see your clients as sources of income, or do you see them as actual human beings with likes, preferences, quirks and stories? People want to do business with individuals they like—and they like people who like them! Make a deeper connection with your clients by asking about their kids, their pets, their hobbies and their jobs or businesses. You’ll find that most of them are just like you: filled with worries, hopes and dreams. Once you get familiar with and invested in these things, you’ll work that much harder on each client’s behalf, and you’ll earn their loyalty in the process.
7. You feel your main obligation to employees is writing their paychecks.
While (of course) you don’t treat employees like dirt, you may feel that you don’t owe them any special favors, either. After all, you’re paying them—isn’t that enough? Well, no. The way your people treat customers reflects the way you treat them. Are you courteous? Kind? Enthusiastic? Do you listen when they talk to you and try to accommodate their needs? Or are you short, perfunctory and even (sometimes) rude?
Your job is to serve others, period. You can’t do that by making distinctions between the people who work for you and the people to whom you provide a good or service. Realize that you set the tone for your company’s “personality,” and that you’re creating a tribe of people who will beat the drum for your message. Try to see your employees through a client’s eyes and be honest: Would they win first or second place in a customer service competition? If you don’t like the answer, try adjusting your own attitude first.
8. You’re not above badmouthing the competition.
Some leaders don’t hesitate to casually say things like, “Sure, Outlet X is cheap, but the quality of their merchandise leaves a lot to be desired,” or, “I’d think twice before I took my business to Firm Y—didn’t you hear they had to lay off half of their staff last year?” But I suggest you look at what happens in the political arena: When you sling mud at your opponent, some of it is likely to get on you, too. Besides, wouldn’t you rather rise to the number one spot solely on your organization’s merit, not because you took cheap(ish) shots?
In fact, you can—and should—strive to win the approval, goodwill and admiration of your competitors. If possible, get to know their leaders and employees and help them when you can. You don’t have to give away trade secrets, but you can offer advice, for example, or refer a customer whose needs are better matched to what another business has to offer.
Don’t do these things manipulatively but in the spirit of giving. Your efforts will come back to you with interest. Have faith that there is enough business to go around.
Finally, don’t put the cart (being number one) before the horse (serving your clients).
A customer isn’t focused on where you stand in the big picture so much as on how well you treat and serve him or her individually. And that’s the beauty of how this whole thing works: By keeping your commitment to clients first, you’ll win enough loyal supporters to put you squarely in the lead position after all.
About the Authors:
Joseph Callaway and JoAnn Callaway are coauthors of the New York Times bestseller Clients First: The Two Word Miracle and founders of the real estate company Those Callaways.
JoAnn sold more than four thousand homes totaling in excess of a billion dollars. She accomplished this in her first 10 years of selling real estate, and she did it one client at a time. She is proud to be a REALTOR® and believes her fellow agents share her heart for helping others. She loves flowers, art, books and Joseph. JoAnn lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and wishes it had a beach.
To learn more, visit www.clientsfirstbook.com.
4 Tactics that will Define your Career
May 24th, 2013By Jessica Lovejoy, Cincom Expert Access
Four-time author, Ben Newman, was interviewed by Expert Access Radio. He ranks in the top 1% of wealth management professionals in the world. Ben’s renowned boot camps, videos, books, blogs, and speaking events, empower and inspire thousands of individuals each year to maximize results in their lives both personally and professionally.
Source: Thinkstock
During the recent radio show, Newman shared with audiences his four personal tactics that can help you guide your career.
1. Act with Courage and Integrity
Try to do something that is of service to other people once a day and in return, trust in the greatness of others. Recognize this is not about you – it’s about serving other people and recognizing that when I do things that are legacy based. Understand the truth and understand that it’s not about ‘I’; it’s about ‘We.’ Realize the importance of team and truth and evaluating things with honesty and moving forward with courage and integrity.
2. Take Some Time for Yourself
Take out your phone where you keep your calendar, schedule 15 to 30 minutes with yourself over the next week, turn off your cell phones, turn off your computers, read a book that you’ve wanted to read, read a magazine which you’ve wanted to read. Start at 15 or 30 and start adding to it and you’ll recognize when you start taking some time for yourself, you become a little bit more aware of the things that are going to help you on your path.
“Once you kind of gain that control of your calendar,” said you start to realize that it’s a little more exciting, and each and every one of us whether you actually own a company or not should empower themselves, become the CEO of your life, take charge of your life.
3. Accept the Truth
Nobody wants to hear lies, nobody wants to be influenced by things that aren’t truthful. Bring the truth, really recognize it, soak it in, take it in for what it is. Process that truth, and when it comes to processing the truth. You have to believe confidently in where you are going with the truth and this belief in yourself, you got to give yourself time. Just because somebody wakes up and says, I want to make change, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen immediately, you’re going to face obstacles, you’re going to face barriers. Create a plan that’s based on the truth, and it’s not going to be perfect, but create a plan and put the people in motion, put the people in place that can help you to move forward to attain that belief in yourself to be the best that you can be in your life.
4. Define your Living Legacy
Be conscious of what you love. People think about legacy and it becomes this far distant animal that you can’t connect to. Encourage audiences, whoever it might be. Really grab your future and bring it to today. Recognize what the daily activities are that are going to influence your legacy, the impact you have on the world and the people whose life that you touch. Start aligning your passion and your purpose for life, and you’re going to start to live that legacy every single day.
“When you think you start focusing on writing the story of that legacy in your life, it could be through charities, it could be through business lessons, it could be from what you teach your children, what you share with your loved one,” said Newman. “Every day we can embrace legacy because every single day is a gift.”
LISTEN to the complete interview with Ben Newman on Expert Access Radio.
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About the Author
Jessica Lovejoy is a Public Relations Content Developer for Cincom Systems. Background is in digital journalism and French. Passion for reading and storytelling. Glass half-full kind of girl, a peacemaker, a go-getter and a life lover.
How Social Media Can Help Sell and Service Insurance
May 24th, 2013By Jessica Lovejoy, Cincom Expert Access
Improving customer experiences was a key topic at ACORD LOMA Forum 2013. How social media can help build upon that experience for insurers was a critical discussion, but can social media have an actual role in improving those communications?
Yes, it can.
Source: Thinkstock
Building Visibility
Consumers are increasingly demanding choice of the channel they use to interact. By answering questions in advance through social media, this provides one method of providing visibility and an indirect value of providing a better customer experience.
“Some of the insurance carriers can be slower movers relative to some of the other industries, but customers are demanding choice of the channel they use to interact,” said Jasmine Jirele, SVP of enterprise operations at Allianz Life. “We have clients that you wouldn’t expect to be digitally focused, but actually are.”
Social Monitoring
You should understand how deeply engaged your customers and employees are with particular topics, brands and companies. By being aware of these social media conversations, you can see how your network is connecting with each other and their customers. Social media monitoring then leads to engagement.
“The ways insurance is sold have changed a lot over the past 10 years due to the big companies doing a ton of advertising,” said Greg Pfluger, assistant VP of American Family Insurance, during a social media discussion at ACORD LOMA.
Promoting Internal Communications
It is important to create a strong sense of shared goals among all employees communicating within the organization. By making sure that the right values drive how people interact externally, it ensures everyone can operate within the same set of core values.
“One way to build internal communications is through social media,” said Charlene Li, author and social media guru. “Social media can be that tool to help ensure proper communications.”
By working indirectly and alongside regular customer communications, social media has the potential to improve a better customer experience for insurers.
About the Author
Jessica Lovejoy is a Public Relations Content Developer for Cincom Systems. Background is in digital journalism and French. Passion for reading and storytelling. Glass half-full kind of girl, a peacemaker, a go-getter and a life lover.
3 Tips to Jumpstart Your Entrepreneurial Enterprise
May 24th, 2013By Jessica Lovejoy, Cincom Expert Access
It takes a lot of courage to start your own business. No one may understand that better than entrepreneur, Jen Groover, top business and lifestyle contributor and content creator for major networks such as ABC, CBS, CNBC, NBC, Fox News, Fox Business News and CW. Her products, brands and work have been featured in hundreds of media outlets including O, The Oprah Magazine; Redbook; People; US Weekly; Success and Entrepreneur. She has coached many people in launching their own business.
Source: Thinkstock
During a recent interview on Expert Access Radio, Groover laid out three insightful tips to help those who want to get into the entrepreneurial game.
1. Provide a Solution
Be a solution-driven person. Ask yourself, “What can I possibly do?”
For Groover, she had that “aha” moment when she realized that there was nothing out there that she wanted to create. She began to show her friends who all said either: a) “Come on, someone must have thought of that,” or b) “Come on, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
The journey begins with you thinking, “Wait a second, I must be crazy. I don’t know how to do any of the things that I’m about to do.” So, we talk ourselves out of why we don’t think we can do something.
Words of advice? Don’t do it.
2. Passion Is a Must
It starts with passion; it also starts with really identifying what your purpose is. And who are you? The reality is that this is not the right question to be asking. It’s not what you want to do, it’s who do you want to be. What is your legacy? What do you want to leave in this world?
Passion is really an attachment to progress, and the clearer you are as to your purpose the more passionate you are every moment of every day. This is because you are making the choices that are in alignment with what you are supposed to be doing and with who you are and what you are meant to do in this world. If you know you are making an impact in other people’s lives, that gets you fired up.
“When my alarm goes off in the morning,” explained Groover, “I’m so excited. I’ve no idea what my day holds for me on a daily basis, but I know it’s going to be good.”
3. Power of Visualization
You must really envision the life that you want and believe that you could have it.
First, when you start to surround yourself with people you want to be like, you surround yourself with people who are thinking bigger and grander than you are. Now that’s when you begin to think that way. And so, then it becomes believable; it becomes enriched with who you are and the people with whom you surround yourself.
Secondly, constantly read. Pick up a book that you know is going to reframe your mindset. Ultimately, there are going to be a lot of things that are going on in your world that you cannot control. If there is one thing that you can control in your life, it is your mindset.
By visualizing that your ideas are worth pursuing, and through believing that your life is worth giving it to other people, there is motion and momentum behind your entrepreneurial goals.
LISTEN to the complete interview with Jen Groover on Expert Access Radio.
LISTEN:
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About the Author
Jessica Lovejoy is a Public Relations Content Developer for Cincom Systems. Background is in digital journalism and French. Passion for reading and storytelling. Glass half-full kind of girl, a peacemaker, a go-getter and a life lover.
Ten Ways Cloud Computing Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing
May 13th, 2013By Louis Columbus, Cincom Systems
The best manufacturers I’ve visited this year all share a common attribute: They are obsessed with making themselves as easy as possible to work with from a supply-chain, distribution and services standpoint. Many are evaluating cloud-based manufacturing applications including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and several have adopted cloud-based applications across their companies.
Why Manufacturers Are Looking to Cloud Computing
Manufacturers are under constant pressure to increase accuracy, make process speed a competitive force and capitalize on their internal intelligence and knowledge to make every supplier, distributor and service interaction count. The majority of manufacturers from which the following insights are gained are in the high-tech, industrial and aerospace and defense industries, where rapid product lifecycles and short time-to-market schedules are commonplace.
Cloud-based strategies give these companies the chance to bring their own innate intelligence and knowledge into every sales situation. While on-premise systems could also do this, cloud-based systems are quicker to roll out, easier to customize and show potential to increase adoption rates across resellers.
Source: Thinkstock
One manufacturing manager explained how during a new product launch, the speed and volume of collaboration was so rapid between suppliers and distributors that an allocation situation was averted. He said that this made senior management believers. These epiphanies are happening daily in manufacturing.
Based on my visits with manufacturers, here are the 10 ways they are using cloud computing to revolutionize manufacturing:
1. Capturing and applying company-wide intelligence and knowledge through the use of analytics, business intelligence (BI) and rules engines.
For the many manufacturers that rely on build-to-order, configure-to-order and engineer-to-order strategies as a core part of their business models, using cloud-based platforms to capture knowledge and manage rules is accelerating. A key part of this area is mobility support for analytics, BI and rules-engine reporting and analysis.
2. Piloting and then moving quickly to full launch of supplier portals and collaboration platforms, complete with quality-management dashboards and workflows.
Among the manufacturers visited, those in high tech are the most advanced in this area, often implementing Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and demand management applications that deliver real-time order status and forecasts.
3. Designing in-services is now becoming commonplace, making cloud integration expertise critical for manufacturers.
From simplistic services integration on iPhones to the full implementation of voice-activated controls including emergency assistance in the latest luxury cars, adding in-services integrated to the cloud is redefining the competitive landscape of industries today. Revising a product or launching a new product generation with embedded services can mitigate price wars, which is why many manufacturers are pursing this strategy today.
4. Accelerating new product development and introduction (NPDI) strategies to attain time-to-market objectives.
Using cloud-based platforms in high-tech manufacturing is growing today as time-to-market constraints are requiring greater collaboration earlier in design cycles.
5. Managing indirect and direct-channel sales from a single-cloud platform tracking sales results against quota at the individual, group and divisional level is now commonplace across all manufacturers visited.
Dashboards report back each rep’s status, and for sales managers, the profitability of each deal.
6. Using cloud-based marketing-automation applications to plan, execute and most importantly, track results of every campaign.
Marketing is under a microscope in many manufacturers today, as marketing-automation applications have promised to deliver exceptional results. And, many manufacturers are still struggling to align their internal content, strategies and ability to execute with the potential that these systems promise.
7. Automating customer service, support and common-order status inquiries online, integrating these systems to distributed order management, pricing and content-management platforms.
Manufacturing industries are at varying levels of adoption when it comes to automating self-service. However, the cost and time advantages in high tech are the highest levels of adoption I’ve seen in visiting manufacturers.
8. Increasing reliance on two-tier ERP strategies to gain greater efficiencies in material planning and supplier management and to reduce logistics costs.
Manufacturers are also using this strategy to gain greater independence from a single ERP vendor dominating their entire operations. Several manufacturers remarked that their large, monolithic ERP systems could not, without intensive programming and customization, scale down to the smaller operational needs in distributed geographic regions. Cloud-based ERP systems are getting the attention of manufacturers that are pursuing two-tier ERP strategies. Acumatica, Cincom, Microsoft, NetSuite and Plex Systems are leaders in this area of ERP systems.
9. Reliance on cloud-based Human Resource Management (HRM) systems to unify all manufacturing locations globally.
This often includes combining multi-site talent management, recruiting, payroll and time tracking. Contract manufacturer, Flextronics, uses Workday to optimize workforce allocations across its global manufacturing centers for example.
10. Increasing reliance on cloud-based financials to gain greater predictive insight into manufacturing operations.
This often includes revenue management, asset management, expense management including accounts payable and accounts perceivable and project-based costing.
Bottom Line
Using cloud-based systems to streamline key areas of their business, manufacturers are freeing up more time to invest in new products and sell more.
About the Author
Louis Columbus is Senior Manager, Enterprise Systems at Cincom Systems, concentrating on assisting clients with their ERP and sales/product configuration system strategies. Louis has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, specializing in market and industry analysis, sales, product management and development. He’s held senior positions at Toshiba America, Lockheed-Martin, Intergraph, and immediately before joining Cincom, as senior analyst at AMR Research. Mr. Columbus is a frequent contributor to industry publications and has published 15 books on operating systems, peripherals, and industry analysis.
Transform Your Business
May 13th, 20138 takeaways for transforming your business
How to Get a Job that Isn’t Advertised
May 10th, 2013By Bob Prosen
On average, seven people apply for every job. For certain jobs, it’s hundreds. We have to find a way to compete against all of those people, somehow rise above all of them and differentiate ourselves so that we get the interview.
How? By properly marketing ourselves. Let’s face it, if we don’t market ourselves, who is?
Be a Problem Solver, Not a Job Applicant
Source: Thinkstock
People only get hired to solve problems. Companies don’t go out and hire people just for the heck of hiring them. They only hire them to solve a problem. Now a problem doesn’t have to be negative, it could be positive, it could be growth issues.
But there are challenges. If you know they’re going out there to hire people to solve problems, if you knew the problems they were trying to solve, you could customize your job-seeking program to that company to show how you could help them solve that problem faster, better and cheaper than they could on their own.
It’s important to understand that even if you don’t see a job posted by a company that you want to work for, it doesn’t matter. Figure out the company you want to work for.
Four Steps to Your New Job
Step 1: Turn your strengths into a hireable position
First, figure out what your strengths are, then convert your strengths into the positions that companies hire. For instance, if your strength is project management, you want to say, “I’m great at working interdepartmentally to bring projects in on time and on budget.”
Step 2: Find the hiring manager
Then we go and do our marketing program to a hiring manager, because a lot of jobs never get promoted, they’re never out there on the marketplace, they’re filled internally. You want to make sure your name is in the game.
Start by searching for these companies on Google. It doesn’t take long to figure out who the hiring managers are in these departments that you might be interested in.
Say, you’re interested in the Finance Department. You’re going to go to the homepage of one of these companies and you’re going to find out who their employees are and then who their executives are. Almost all of this is so readily available. Give me about 10 minutes and we’ll figure out everybody in that company.
Step 3: Find the problems
Once you find the potential hiring manager, start to do some research on the company. Look at press releases. Look at blogs. Look at all the different types of information out there, and say “Oh, this is what’s happening with them.” They’ve been acquired, they’re buying another company, they’re going through some sort of transition, great growth, they’re having quality problems, stock price is up, stock price is down. There’s all types of things we can learn from that.
As a matter of fact, go to the employee blogs, those are always fun because they’re talking about their boss. And you can learn a lot of stuff there. Once you do this, you’re going to come up with a list of two to four key areas you think they’re struggling with. Then you’re going to go even further into those and start to do some very specific searches to figure out what are those types of problems, and more importantly how can I use my skills to help solve them.
Step 4: Offer your skills as a solution
Go directly to the hiring or department manager, not the HR department.
Imagine you are a hiring manager. Somebody comes to you with a white paper, video or article and it’s exactly the issue that you are facing. It’s clean. It’s to the point. It’s concise and it tells you tips on how you can solve that problem without saying, “hey, interview me, I want the job.” It just provides some of this information.
I helped a woman who moved to California from Texas. She had no network in California. She wanted to become an architectural engineer in an environment where almost all the firms had either folded or cut their staffs in half. I took her through this marketing program. She targeted five companies in San Francisco. Within two months, she got an offer from two of them and she’s working for one right now.
It works.
The above is an edited excerpt from the transcript of Bob Prosen’s appearance on Expert Access Radio. This is an overview of Bob Prosen’s 12-step Career Accelerator. To learn more, visit www.bobprosen.com.
LISTEN to the complete interview with Bob Prosen on Expert Access Radio.
LISTEN:
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RSS Feed
iTunes Link
About the Author
Bob Prosen is President and CEO of the Prosen Center for Business Advancement. In addition to offering training programs, he speaks to a wide range of business professional associations and not-for-profit organizations. Bob was formally the Senior Vice President for Sabre; Vice President of Professional Services for Hitachi and Managing Partner at AT&T Global Information Solutions/NCR. Bob Prosen is the author of “Kiss Theory GoodBye.”
Is Your Leadership Hurting the Bottom Line?
May 10th, 2013By Ginny Grimsley, News & Experts
What can business leaders and managers learn from watching the earnings of publicly traded companies?
“Plenty,” says Kathleen Brush, a 25-year veteran of international business and author of “The Power of One: You’re the Boss,” a guide to developing the skills necessary to become an effective, respected leader.
“When looking at the corporations reporting lower-than-expected earnings, you need to read between the lines. They are not going to admit that the reason is a failure of leadership, but 99 times out of 100 that’s what it is.”
She cites Oracle, the business hardware and software giant, which recently reported a quarterly revenue shortfall based on a decline in new software licenses and cloud subscriptions.
The company is “not at all pleased with our revenue growth this quarter,” Oracle co-president Safra Catz told analysts. “What we really saw was a lack of urgency that we sometimes see in the sales force … .”
They are pointing the finger at the employees, but they are really admitting a failure of leadership, Brush says.
“Do you know how simple it is for managers to motivate salespeople? If indeed the lack of sales urgency is the problem. There are dozens of bad leader behaviors that can cause sales to decline,” she explains.
In her work for companies around the country, from restructuring operations to improving profitability, Brush says she sees an epidemic of bad leader behaviors.
Source: Thinkstock
“When I point them out, most leaders downplay, or refuse to acknowledge, the impact their behaviors are having on their bottom line. But, in companies where leaders change these behaviors, employees become engaged and motivated. It is really that simple to increase productivity, innovation and the bottom line,” she says.
“If you’re a boss examining your own lower-than-expected performance, instead of wasting time searching for scapegoats, look in the mirror. Most bosses unwittingly exhibit bad leader behaviors daily that cause their businesses to suffer.”
Four Bad Bosses
1. The unethical boss
This is a category that doesn’t just annoy employees, it appalls them. As such, it’s a powerful demotivator. When a boss breaks or fudges the rules, cheats, lies or indulges in behaviors that reveal a lack of moral principles, he or she loses employees’ respect. Without their respect, a boss cannot lead. In addition, when a leader indulges in unethical practices, he gives his employees permission to do the same. Padding mileage reports, splurging on business travel expenses, failing to take responsibility for mistakes—they all become endorsed activities by the boss—the role model.
2. The unfair boss
Our current societal efforts to treat people equally—think gay marriage, healthcare reform, the children of undocumented immigrants—have led to confusion among some leaders about “equality” versus “fairness” in the workplace. “I talked to a manager who gave all of his employees the same pay raise because ‘he wanted to be fair,’ ” Brush recalls. He then seemed mystified that the productivity of his best employees declined to that of an average worker. “Rewards can be powerful tools of motivation, but they must be administered fairly.”
3. The buddy boss
Bosses can never be buddies with their employees. Ever. Friendships neutralize the boss’s authority and power. They can also cloud a leader’s objectivity and hinder her ability to correct behaviors, to delegate and to hold employees accountable. When friendships compromise output, it’s the boss who will be accountable. “Be friendly to employees, but do not cross the line that muddies the relationship between boss and friend. It could cost you your job,” Brush says.
4. The disorganized boss
Workplaces are filled with employees who lack direction because disorganized leaders don’t deliver and manage plans and strategies to guide their teams. What’s the chance of an unguided team maximizing its productivity to create competitively superior innovative widgets? “What’s the chance of employees being inspired by a leader who leads like a doormat or by random thoughts?” says Brush.
“As a manager, you wield a tremendous amount of power,” she says. “You can be an incredibly negative power or a positive one who’s looked up to by both peers and employees.”
“For the latter, bosses have to purge the bad behaviors.”
Is Big Data Hurting Your Sales?
May 9th, 2013By Donna Hedge Burns
You can’t go far nowadays without hearing someone talk about big data—a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.
Big data is a problem because if you can’t extract the data you need, you can’t extract the information. And if you can’t extract the information, you can’t develop the knowledge necessary to make good business decisions—including those in the sales process.
Cincom recently spoke with Cincom partner and advanced manufacturing expert, Mike Shields of the eLogic Group, about big data, its effect on the sales process and what technology is doing to help.
How can big data improve sales effectiveness at the point of sale?
“In the past, the historical barriers to big data have been simply the cost of gathering the data from the disparate sources across the organization. And then extracting, transforming and loading those into some data warehouse,” says Shields, president of the eLogic Group, a consulting company and Cincom partner that simplifies business practices for mixed-mode manufacturers.
“Today the tools that we’re using encapsulate knowledge in a context-sensitive, user-relevant manner. If you’re the salesperson, you need the knowledge necessary to make tradeoffs in what you are selecting for your customer, or to make pricing adjustments based upon the market segment, the channel, the geography, the customer and even your competition. That’s a certain kind of knowledge that you need right at that point in the process. And those are enabled right at that point of demand.”
How does big data affect my organization as a whole?
“What we’re seeing now is the need for predictive analytics, where companies are actually building upon the granularity of the sales transactions in the market data and the analytics of the market and sales management functions themselves. Companies are coming to recognize what’s going on earlier and earlier in these processes and are being able to respond proactively instead of reactively months or even years behind.”
To hear more from Mike Shields, view his interview with Cincom’s Jim Wilson in the Unfair Sales Advantage video series below or visit http://acquire.cincom.com/unfairsalesadvantage.
About the Author
Donna Hedge Burns is managing editor for Cincom’s Expert Access. Google
How to Mitigate Risk in Your Company Communications
May 9th, 2013By Mark Breading, Strategy Meets Action
Strategy Meets Action identifies three categories of risks in communications that insurers and others need to address. These are risks related to compliance, incorrect information, and customer satisfaction. All three areas may have serious consequences; out-of-compliance communications may result in fines, incorrect information may lead to overpayments or lawsuits, and poor communications that affect customer satisfaction may result in lower retention rates. All three have clear financial implications.
Source: Thinkstock
To understand how to mitigate these risks, we need to identify the underlying causes that trigger the three problem areas. Communications may be non-compliant due to timing issues, incorrect formatting, or incorrect or missing verbiage or forms. Incorrect information may be due to poor quality data or faulty logic. Poor communications may be due to problems with layout, graphics, or lack of personalization.
How Technology Can Help
Clearly, modern customer communication management (CCM) solutions can help to address many (although not all) of the underlying issues. The issues that CCM systems cannot address are incorrect data or faulty logic. There is a range of data quality solutions available for address cleansing and parsing of other data elements. The faulty logic would come from applications that need proper testing. The rest of the underlying causes cited can be addressed with comprehensive CCM solutions.
The capabilities that many modern CCM solutions have to address these problems include the following:
A key best practice that some insurers are beginning to implement is to establish a senior executive and/or cross-functional group with responsibility for customer communications. This exec/group monitors all customer communications, across the enterprise and for every department. Their charter is to ensure brand consistency, accurate communications, compliance, and overall excellence in customer communications. Modern CCM solutions along with these organizational constructs will go a long way to mitigating the risk in communications.
About the Author
Mark Breading is a partner with Strategy Meets Action. He has more than 25 years of insurance and information technology experience in a variety of leadership roles. He has held both technical and business roles in sales, consulting, marketing, and business strategy, including roles as IBM’s Global Insurance Strategist, Global Insurance Marketing Leader, and Director of Global Executive Conferences for insurance and banking. In these roles, he has advised C-level executives around the world. You can follow him on Twitter @BreadingSMA.
Interactive Selling: How to Start Now
April 25th, 2013
Lists, tips
and specs to create a selling advantage.
The Truth about Analytics in Project-Based Manufacturing
April 24th, 2013By Louis Columbus, Cincom Systems
Breaking down the silos that separate the shop floor from supply chain operations, finance, sales and service is how the best-run manufacturing companies are making analytics pay. Shop floor operations often have their own set of analytics, key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards that get finely tuned over time to production performance. Supply chains run on an entirely different set of metrics and KPIs, often concentrating on inventory costs, pricing and sourcing strategies.
The same holds true for every other department. Each has their own version of the truth.
Source: Thinkstock
The highest-performing manufacturers today are using analytics to break through individual department silos—each with their own version of the truth—and create a single, unified view of their business. This single version of the truth is being driven by analytics platforms that span entire Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, giving manufacturers the ability to do the following:
Break through the data availability roadblocks that hold companies back from having a single, unified view of operations.
When speaking with CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and line-of-business leaders in project-based manufacturing companies, their highest priority and greatest source of frustration is improving data acquisition and consolidation. Knowing the data exists on how the shop floor is rapidly progressing down the learning curve of a new production technique is great internally; yet translating that into cost gains and rolling that up into financial statements can give any manufacturer greater financial strength. That is just one of many examples C-level and line-of-business leaders are after.
Manage project-based manufacturing strategies and quickly re-align processes to support changes in project schedules with real-time intelligence.
As more aerospace and defense manufacturers define commercially available products and
systems, the need for real-time manufacturing intelligence increases exponentially. The lifeblood of project-based manufacturing is having real-time intelligence on each project, its value and a quantification of downside risk as well.
Set the goal of near real-time visibility into production and project-based site-level performance.
This is what CFOs are also after and what analytics platforms are progressing quickly to deliver. This requirement includes translating shop-floor KPIs and metrics into financial metrics of performance, which is admittedly difficult to do. Yet this is where analytics can deliver significant value and where forward-thinking manufacturers are looking to get the most value from their investments in these applications.
Analyze in real time the production and quality performance levels across multiple projects and production locations or sites.
Many mixed-mode manufacturers have production centers located across diverse geographic locations globally. This is the result of decades of mergers, acquisitions and aligning to supply chain centers globally.
Achieve real-time visibility into predictive, preventative maintenance and Service Lifecycle Management (SLM) across manufacturing locations and assets.
From the airlines needing to provide Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) on jet engines and related maintenance equipment to microprocessor and
memory-chip foundries, all manufacturers have a need to see in real time how predictive, preventative and SLM-based analytics, metrics and KPIs are performing. These are extremely valuable metrics for also checking on Return on Investment Capital (ROIC)—a key metric for manufacturers who rely on their fixed assets to enable rapid inventory and transaction cycles. They can’t afford even a day of being down, hence the critical nature of these metrics.
Bottom Line
Manufacturers make analytics pay by using it to break down silos that separate the core parts of their businesses and get a clearer view of how they are really doing from a financial standpoint in real time.
Louis Columbus is Senior Manager, Enterprise Systems at Cincom Systems, concentrating on assisting clients with their ERP and sales/product configuration system strategies. Louis has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, specializing in market and industry analysis, sales, product management and development. He’s held senior positions at Toshiba America, Lockheed-Martin, Intergraph, and immediately before joining Cincom, as senior analyst at AMR Research. Mr. Columbus is a frequent contributor to industry publications and has published 15 books on operating systems, peripherals, and industry analysis.
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Eight Networking Skills to Improve Your Sales
April 22nd, 2013By Michael Leimbach, Ph.D., Wilson Learning Worldwide
Growing revenue is critical to all organizations. Yet finding new markets, new buying points or new needs in existing clients is increasingly difficult. That is why organizations desperately need all employees, not just salespeople, to be able to effectively uncover new opportunities.
But it is not that easy.
Source: Thinkstock
The reality is that many organizations are leaving revenue on the table, not from a lack online canadian pharmacy of incentives or desire, but because of a lack of networking skills. Or, as Francesco Polese said, “The relationship with a customer has a major impact on the total value received by that customer, because value is increasingly created and delivered order viagra online over time as the relationship develops.”
Unfortunately, networking skills do not come naturally to every salesperson. Technology is partly to blame, suggests Ruth Sherman in Fast Company: “Dependence on remote forms of communication has left many younger workers bereft of interpersonal skills.”
Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon, leading experts in networking skills, have boiled the research down to eight critical skills needed for effective social networking.
Eight Critical Networking Skills
These eight skills reflect a comprehensive body of knowledge that gives salespeople the skills they need to immediately begin to build organizational and personal success. Organizations can achieve better performance, have more effective employees and bring products to market faster if they devote time and effort to building effective networking skills.
# # #
About the Author
Michael Leimbach, Ph.D., is Vice President of Global Research and Design for Wilson Learning Worldwide. With over 25 years in the field, Michael provides leadership for researching and designing Wilson Learning’s diagnostic, learning and performance improvement capabilities. Dr. Leimbach has managed major research studies in sales, leadership and organizational effectiveness. He has developed Wilson Learning’s Impact Evaluation capability and return-on-investment models. Michael has served as a research consultant for a wide variety of global client organizations, is on the editorial board for the ADHR professional journal, and serves in a leadership role for the ISO technical committee TC232: Standards for Learning Service Providers. Michael has co-authored four books, has published numerous professional articles and is a frequent speaker at national and global conferences.
To learn more about the concepts shared within this article and how Wilson Learning can assist you in addressing these issues, contact Wilson Learning at 1.800.328.7937 or visit www.wilsonlearning-americas.com.
References
The influence of networking culture and social relationships on value
creation. F. Polese. In Firms’ Management: Processes, Networks and Value, 2009.
Uncovering the unconnected employee. A. Baber and L. Waymon. Training and Development, 2008 (May).
Shyness, social anxiety, and social anxiety disorder. L. Henderson and P. Zimbardo. (2010) In S. G. Hofmann & P. M. DiBartolo (Eds.), Social Anxiety: Clinical, Developmental and Social Perspectives (2nd Ed.). Academic Press.
How leaders create and use networks. H. Ibarra and M. Hunter. Harvard Business Review, 2007.
Gen Y v. boomers: Generational differences in communication. R. Sherman. Fast Company, 2006 (December).
Seven Skills 21st Century Managers Need to Succeed
April 13th, 2013By Kathleen Brush
Are the young, multiplying countries of Africa the next frontier? Which countries will be members of the EU in five years? Where is the ground safe in the Middle East? What will happen if things go awry in the South or East China Sea? Is Mexico going to replace Brazil as Latin America’s superpower? Is the debt-soaked, trade-o-phobic United States destined to be a country with meager growth, sidelined from the global growth party?
These questions and others like them will keep many managers awake at night as they contemplate how their businesses will survive and succeed in the 21st century. Those managers will sleep much better if they start now to build the global skills needed in the 21st century. Here are seven skills that I believe will be essential.
1. Create strategies with a global context.
These are the strategies that cant lose. In the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threat (SWOT) analysis, managers will have to discern between the threats and the opportunities. For example, Africa is the last continental frontier, but which of its countries will offer the best opportunities? Answering that question will go beyond assessing populations and demographics and into an analysis of workforce skills, labor regulations, availability of credit and health care and the quality of
the transportation infrastructure.
Source: Thinkstock
2. Know when affordability trumps innovation.
The cardinal rule has been to always focus on products with superior innovation versus lowest price, because the former fetch a premium. That will no longer be a slam dunk. In many countries, successful products will deliver country-specific basic functions that are priced for the market. These consumers don’t care about innovation; they care about basic, affordable functionality.
3. Be more adept at building relationships than filing lawsuits.
Businesses need to lose the crutch of legal systems to ensure that contractual commitments are met.
Cross-border litigation is always expensive and time-consuming. Worse, justice does not always prevail. Exchange the art of suing with the art of building relationships, because that’s how most of the world outside of the United States makes sure commitments are met.
4. Become fascinated with world events.
The illusion that the world rotates
around the United States is just that—an illusion. What happens in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Australia affects America.
5. Learn what motivates employees in different cultures.
Motivating employees will be key to the productivity gains necessary to compete with rivals operating with lower costs. Managers will have to understand how cultural programming affects employee motivation in the nations where they’re operating, and how employees of modest means are motivated differently from most Americans.
6. Embrace new bottom lines.
Maximizing shareholder value has been an American mantra. In other countries, businesses are expected to have multiple bottom lines that take into consideration shareholders, employees, the environment and the community. Managers in the 21st century will need to become super motivators who drive productivity and innovation, create competitive products and generate more sales and increased profits. These will support higher wages, increased hiring and investments in clean technologies in addition to shareholder value.
7. Maintain a strong moral compass.
In many countries, the norm is bribery, unsafe work practices, discrimination and cutting corners on quality. Managers must have and be guided by a strong moral compass, understanding that integrity is
never locally defined. This will be essential to building trust and relationships—the business currency in many countries.
These are exciting times. The most attractive opportunities for growth are in the 162 countries of the world that are developing, or will be soon. These countries are/will be building costly infrastructures and institutions such as schools and banks, engaging in trade, creating competitive businesses and watching their middle classes—with all of their attendant purchasing needs—grow.
Who will be the winners in the competition for the best opportunities? That’s easy. The companies that have managers who are skilled for the 21st century.
About Kathleen Brush
Kathleen Brush is the author of the new book, The Power of One: You’re the Boss. She has more than two decades of experience as a senior executive with global business responsibilities. She has a Ph.D. in management and international studies. Brush has been teaching, writing and consulting on international business and leadership for companies of all sizes, including those that are public, private, foreign and domestic.
How to Get Much More Out of Your Customer Tours
April 12th, 2013By Dan Adams
As a B2B supplier, you can approach new product development one of two ways. You can ask your customers what they want, or you can find out what they need. Of course, the sure-fire way to success is to address their needs in ways they may have never thought possible. And there’s no better way to do that than by touring their facilities.
New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth by Dan Adams
The name of the game is to find ways to help your customers that they wouldn’t think to tell you about. In my book, New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth, I emphasize that the reality is they’re often too close to see everything clearly. When you can tour the facility to get a look at not only their general operations but how they use your products specifically, you’ll gain a unique perspective. You’ll see it with fresh eyes, and as a result, you’ll discover where your company and its products can really add value.
When taking customer tours, vendors should be focused on helping their customer in two ways:
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t blurt out a recommendation as it comes to you. Let “search now, solve later” be your motto while on customer tours. Still, there’s a good chance your “fresh eyes” will be able to spot workarounds (temporary, suboptimal fixes) and other areas you could help them improve later.
Of course, performing more effective B2B customer tours will require you to make some changes and acquire new skills. There is little guidance on the subject. Only two Harvard Business Review articles have ever addressed it. Ethnographic research is an interesting observation methodology, but it is heavily weighted toward consumer behavior, not B2B. “Muda” and the seven wastes of lean processes, part of the waste reduction methodology made famous by Toyota, is a helpful framework, but even it falls short of what is possible.
For years we struggled with ways to help our clients improve their B2B
customer tours.
We’d seen too many tours where active thinking seemed to end once everyone had adjusted their hardhats. Then, three years ago, we developed a new tour methodology called AMUSE, which stands for Accelerate activity, Minimize input, Upgrade output, Simplify transition and Eliminate activity.
Learn more about this customer tour boosting methodology and how to make it work:
Start by getting a preview.
All customer processes are made up of a series of activities. This is true of a factory process like paint-making, fieldwork like house-framing or a service like computer help-desk support. Ask your customer tour guide to help you draw a sketch of their operation before the tour. This helps you identify these activities, as well as a) their purpose, b) their sequence and c) key inputs. Then apply AMUSE methodology to each activity in the process, striving for improved customer outcomes. And remember, during the tour, you might be only thinking about these outcomes. The time for asking questions will come later.
Break up the workload.
Hopefully, you’re not going into your customer tour alone, so use everyone in your group. We teach a methodology in which your team would consist of a moderator, note-taker and observer. To make the tour more manageable, break the workload down. The moderator might focus on “accelerate” for each activity, the note-taker on “minimize” and “upgrade” and the observer on “simplify” and “eliminate.”
Source: Thinkstock
Follow AMUSE.
The easiest way to understand AMUSE is to see what it would look like in practice. Imagine you make nail guns and you’re observing their use on a house construction site. The activity you’re observing at the moment is overhead nailing. How might you apply AMUSE methodology to help the customer (later) with this activity?
Accelerate activity.
Basic questions: How could we make this activity go faster, thereby reducing labor costs and increasing capacity?
Real-world app: What if you lowered the weight of the gun? Would the framer be going faster by the end of a long day?
Minimize input.
Basic
questions: How could we reduce the costs of material, capital and energy applied to this activity?
Real-world app: Would a higher-powered gun let the worker use cheaper studs full of tough knot holes?
Upgrade output.
Basic questions: How could we improve the output from this activity, e.g., reducing defects or improving ultimate customer benefits?
Real-world app: One way to upgrade output would be to lower defects—nails that don’t fully embed—perhaps by having the gun sense resistance and adjust for it?
Simplify transition.
Basic questions: How could we streamline the transition between two activities, thus reducing inventory and lead times?
Real-world app: Maybe the framer’s next activity is to set the gun down on the floor. What if you designed a hanger on the gun? Could it cut down on a lot of unnecessary bending?
Eliminate activity.
Basic questions: How could we totally eliminate an activity—perhaps by combining two or more activities—to reduce overall costs?
Real-world app: Most studs have 14.5 inches between them. Was the framer’s preceding activity using a tape measure? If so, you might eliminate it by building a 14.5-inch guide into the nail gun.
Are these all great solutions? Probably not. But what if your customer interview teams were highly skilled in these observational methods? Would they ask better probing questions during interviews? Would they uncover new ways to help customers? Would this give your company a competitive advantage?
You can learn a great deal by watching workers perform tasks, observing posted production records, looking at the rework area and asking relevant questions. Tours are truly the windows into what’s going on with your customers and how they’re using your products. When you can maximize the amount and quality of information you get from them, you can make better products that truly work for your customers—that’s great news for
them and you!
Dan Adams is all about B2B product development. His free e-book, 12 New Rules of B2B Product Launch (free download at www.b2bproductlaunch.com/ebook), boosts launch success, and his 2008 hardcover book, New Product Blueprinting: The Handbook for B2B Organic Growth, clarifies the “fuzzy front end” of innovation. As president of Advanced Industrial Marketing, he conducts training workshops in every region of the world.
Nine Tips to Help Women in Business Ask for the Money (Even in a Tough Economy)
April 12th, 2013By Vickie Milazzo
Let’s say you’re on the short list for a promotion with your company. A big promotion. If you get it, you’ll take on far more responsibility, and you definitely feel up to the challenge. But the salary attached to the job is a little well, lackluster—especially in light of your experience. You’d love to ask for more money but frankly, you’re afraid to. “The economy still isn’t great, so I’d better lie low, you reason. No, it’s not what I was hoping for, but if I get too pushy, I’m sure they’ll pass me over for one of the other candidates. I should just be grateful to have made the cut.”
If you’re like many women, this just seems like common sense. But settling for less than you’re worth is a big mistake—even in the wake of the Great Recession. In fact, it might even cost you the job.
When I’m hiring, I actually weed out candidates who under-price themselves, because I assume they won’t perform at the level I expect. In my eyes and in the eyes of many other CEOs, job candidates actually lose credibility when they under-price themselves.
Many women mistakenly think they’re doing their employers a favor by not pushing for more or that they’ll be more appealing if they don’t ask for what they’re worth. The bad economy might be the current excuse, but I believe most underpricing occurs because many women just aren’t comfortable with negotiating.
Source: Thinkstock
In fact, a recent article in The New Yorker might prove my theory right. It found that only 7 percent of women negotiate their salaries upfront when
entering a new position … compared to 57 percent of men.
Those statistics are pretty telling, and I want them to change. In my book, Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman, I emphasize that women can and do negotiate all the time outside the workplace—with spouses, with kids, with teachers, with friends—and we can do it in a professional setting, too. It’s just a matter of changing the way you think about asking for money.
If you’re ready to stop sitting back and start negotiating like you mean it, read on for nine of my tried-and-true tips.
1. Never let them see you as a commodity.
After all, commodities are easy to obtain and easy to replace. And that’s certainly not how you want to be perceived at your job—whether you’re an employee, a leader or an entrepreneur. After all, if the people you’re working with know that others share your skill set, they won’t have any reason to pay the price you’re asking for. They’ll be in control, not you. From day one, do everything you can to ensure that you aren’t seen as interchangeable or dispensable.
Don’t shrink into your chair and become the invisible employee. Do what you need to do to stand out. Get in the middle of everything and bring new ideas to the table. Build relationships throughout the company. If you’re able to make yourself invaluable and leverage the things that make you unique, you’ll also make yourself impossible to replace. And when that happens, you’ll be in control of your own price.
2. Distinguish ambition from greed.
Prior to launching yourself into a negotiation, it’s a good idea to take a step back and ask yourself why you’re working toward this particular goal. For example, say you’ve been in your current position for two and a half years without a significant raise, and you think your skills are worth much more. Before you march into your boss’s office, ask yourself: Why do I want a raise? Do I just want more money, or am I honestly interested in advancing in this company?
It’s very important to distinguish ambition from greed. Wanting more money isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but it can get you into trouble if your quest for cash mires you deeper in a commitment you’re not passionate about or causes you to ignore opportunities that might be ideally suited to your strengths and interests. Always make sure you’re negotiating for the right reasons. I’m ambitious and competitive, but I’ve left very large sums on the table because the opportunity wasn’t something I was passionate about. And I haven’t regretted those decisions once.
3. Be your own number-one fan.
It can be hard for women to toot their own horns. To a certain extent, we’re actually wired to nurture and care for others and to put the good of the whole over our own personal interests. While these impulses aren’t inherently bad, it’s time for a newsflash: if you don’t announce your own achievements, you can bet that no one else is going to do it for you. With humility, make sure that you’re keeping your name, your accomplishments and your skill set in front of everyone.
Have you ever noticed that women tend to downplay their accomplishments, while men routinely highlight their achievements and use them to advance? Recall the stat on men and women making salary negotiations when they’re hired. Clearly, we females need to take a page from the male playbook and make sure that we’re getting the recognition and credit we’ve earned. If you still have doubts, consider that announcing your accomplishments validates the investments others have made in you. Your boss, for example, wants to know that she bet on a winner when she hired you!
4. Ask for everything at the beginning of the negotiation.
This can also be a difficult strategy for women to adopt. We don’t want to come on too strong or appear to be overly aggressive, so we don’t put all of our cards on the table at the beginning of negotiations. We tell ourselves that we’ll get the other person used to the idea gradually. But especially in business, adding on as you go along generally isn’t a good idea because it makes you appear unfair.
Consider this situation. If, for example, you tell a prospect your consulting fee is $150 per hour and his reply is, “That’s very reasonable,” you can’t jump in and say, “Well, but what I really want is $175 per hour.” Think through what you want before you sit down to negotiate. Prepare the list of points you must have and the points you’re willing to give up. Remember that some people do keep score, so being able to track what you really need helps you let the other party win points as you score big.
5. Ask for more than you think you can get.
Remember the old adage: nothing risked, nothing gained. Don’t jump too fast to say yes to the first offer, even if you think it’s fair. It’s always smart to assess the situation, the person making the offer and how far you might be able to go before signing your name on the dotted line. Chances are, if your request for more is denied, you’ll still be left with the initial offer.
If this sounds like greed, it’s not. Asking for more than you think you can get is part of being a strong negotiator. You have to be your own advocate! I remember mentoring an entrepreneur whose client wanted to pay her a flat rate for a project. However, the project involved a lot of moving parts, and a flat fee could end up costing her instead of making her a profit. Despite this woman’s fears that she’d lose the project altogether unless she agreed to her client’s unfavorable terms, I encouraged her to stand firm and insist on an hourly fee. She did—and got what she asked for!
6. Appear detached (even when you’re not).
Unfortunately, many people won’t hesitate to exploit a weakness if you let them see it. When you negotiate from a place of fear or desperation, your ability to be rational will be impaired … and you’ll also be susceptible to agreeing to unfavorable terms; in other words, anything to save the deal! If, despite your best efforts, you’re unable to banish your emotions, make an effort to appear detached.
I remember an especially pivotal day for my own business. I was sitting with an attorney-prospect, and I was scared that he wouldn’t hire me. Then I realized that if this man said no, there were a million more potential clients out there. This insight gave me the ability to detach when negotiating. One attorney wouldn’t make or break my business, but entering into bad deals because I was too caught up in making a deal certainly would.
7. Negotiate with the person, not the power.
Unless your name happens to be listed on a FORTUNE list entitled “50 Most Powerful Women,” at some point or another you’ll probably find yourself negotiating with a more powerful party—whether it’s your boss, your boss’s boss or another organization. When that happens, don’t make the mistake of assuming that your bargaining power is weak just because you’re at a lower level in the company hierarchy or because your business is smaller than theirs. Yes, this power imbalance might make negotiating more challenging, but you have a lot to offer, too.
Remember that ultimately, you’re talking to another human being. Try not to become so overawed by rank or position that you forget that! I have rewritten entire contracts with companies much bigger than mine—companies that claimed I had to sign their offer “as is”—by remembering that I was ultimately dealing with other people, not with a faceless corporation. I have learned that everything is negotiable, so if you have something to offer, go ahead and negotiate!
8. Never talk off the record.
When you’re negotiating for something you want, make sure you only go public with information you’re comfortable with the other party knowing.
Never tip your hand. You may think that saying to a colleague, “Just between you and me, I’m asking to spearhead the new project, but I’d settle for just being on the team,” will stay between the two of you. Maybe it will—but maybe it won’t. If you let others know that you’ll settle for something, you risk ending up with that instead of with what you really want—or worse, even less.
9. Never let yourself be bullied.
Women who aren’t used to negotiating are especially susceptible to being intimidated by a show of force—but even veteran businesswomen can be taken aback by unexpected aggression or resistance! If you find yourself in this situation, remind yourself (once again) that you are dealing with another human being and that you have something valuable to offer. Don’t be afraid to demand respect. And if you consistently don’t get it, well, it might be time to rethink whether you want to work with the other party in the first place.
I’ve worked with plenty of attorneys, met some tough negotiators and seen many different negotiation styles. When I’m up against a pit bull, I’ll take a walk and role-play with my husband Tom, who can be a pit-bull himself. I anticipate every possible objection and get myself into a Zen-like state. When it comes time to negotiate for real, I am centered and ready. I know that if I allow myself to be intimidated or provoked instead of remaining calm and professional, the negotiations are destined to fail.
Now you might be thinking, that’s all well and good … but times really are tough and money really is in short supply. So no matter how great a negotiator I might be, does it really matter if the money just isn’t there?
Yes, times are difficult for many right now and your odds of getting what you want at work might not be as high as they were five years ago. But why give up before you even start? What’s to be gained from that? I believe it’s better to ask and not receive than to not ask and to meekly settle for less than you
deserve.
Besides, it’s when times are hard that raw talent and know-how really count. Right now, more than ever, you deserve to get paid what you’re worth. Don’t let anyone—including yourself—forget just how much you’re bringing to the table.
About the Author
Vickie Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD, is author of the New York Times bestseller Wicked Success Is Inside Every Woman (Wiley, 2011, ISBN: 978-1-1181-0052-3, $21.95, WickedSuccess.com). From a shotgun house in New Orleans to owner of a $16-million business, Wall Street Journal best-selling author Milazzo shares the innovative success strategies that earned her a place on the Inc. list of Top 10 Entrepreneurs and Inc. Top 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America. Vickie is the owner of Vickie Milazzo Institute, an education company she founded in 1982.
How to Spot Business Opportunity In Tomorrow’s Economy
March 28th, 2013By G. Michael Maddock, coauthor of ”Free the Idea Monkey“
Take a moment to consider some of today’s largest, most recognizable companies—“some of them may not be around after the next several years,” says G. Michael Maddock, CEO of Maddock Douglas, which advises Fortune 100 players like GE and Wal-Mart.
Source: Thinkstock
“Napster was a rule-breaking company that paved the way for iTunes and the complete disruption of the music industry. When someone who has no business being in your business comes along and puts you out of business, we call that a ‘Napster Moment.’ And Napster moments are happening more and more often,” says Maddock, coauthor of Free the Idea Monkey, with Maddock Douglas president, Raphael Louis Vitón.
In a recent radio interview, hit maker and former Sony CEO, Tommy Mottola (think: Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Beyoncé), said that seasoned
record execs saw Napster as a “mosquito unworthy of swatting,” and in hindsight, realized that if they had just purchased the company, they would have “beaten iTunes to the punch.”
The lesson? To succeed, company leaders must not only be able to innovate, they must recognize opportunity and ensure they’re poised to seize it.
Maddock offers these tips for getting there:
1. Balancing act
Wherever you find an innovative culture, you will see two primary personalities in leadership: the “Idea Monkeys” who have no shortage of great ideas but do not have the follow-through to see a project to completion, and the (Ring)leaders, who specialize in execution and managing details. Every great enterprise needs a Yin for a Yang—Walt Disney had Roy Disney; Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak; Wilbur Wright had Orville Wright. Ideally, an innovator needs a (Ring)leader at his or her side, and vice versa. Too much of one of these personalities spells disaster for any organization. Is your leadership humble enough to understand this?
2. Outside the jar
There’s a great saying in the South: “You can’t read the label when you’re sitting inside the jar.” If you’ve been at the same company for longer than six months, you’re likely in the jar. You’ll
find your response to new ideas is typically, “We’ve tried that and it didn’t work,” or “Yes, but … ,” or silence, or even a dumbfounded “huh?” Fortunately, there are several ways to get your head outside the jar: Accept ideas from junior personnel, seek perspectives from different departments and switch up leadership roles, i.e., have a senior marketer switch from retail to manufacturing for a period of time and, most important, infuse perspective from outside your industry. Diversity is the key to a fresh perspective. Is your expertise killing you?
3. Laughter (more than stress relief)
As a response to humor, laughter is uniquely human; as far as we know, no other living thing can laugh. In business, laughter is the antithesis of fear. It is impossible to innovate effectively if you are afraid—nothing kills great ideas like fear. Fun-loving environments where workers are free to laugh are healthy places for creativity. One more thing … if lots of people laugh at an idea, there is usually a meaningful insight there worthy of much deeper exploration. When was the last time you heard your CEO belly laugh?
4. Failing forward
History is filled with people who risked and lost much, yet went on to change the world. From religious leaders to Christopher Columbus to Winston Churchill to today’s budding entrepreneurs, learning how to efficiently experiment and learn is key to innovation success. Does your company embrace risk-taking or is it too afraid to fail?
5. Be ruthless
Ultimately, the buck stops with leadership, and managers get the team they deserve. Most well-adjusted people do not like firing employees; however, people stuck in the “victim” mindset are incapable of
innovation. Why? Because they are always looking for fault or blame instead of possibility. Do you have a team of creators, or do you have a team of victims?
About the Author
G. Michael Maddock is the founding partner and CEO of the leading innovation agency, Maddock Douglas, which has helped more than 25 percent of Fortune 100 companies invent, brand and launch new products, services and business models. A serial entrepreneur, Maddock has launched four successful businesses and co-chairs the Gathering of Titans Entrepreneurial Conclave at MIT. He is a featured columnist for Forbes.
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