Category Archives: Index

29. Minnow Busi-Ness Prevents Big Account Wins

Concierge Customer Service, Core Renewal, Distribution Strategy, Index

A US economist tours China in the early 80’s. Seeing a canal being dug by an army of workers with shovels, he inquires: “Why not use a bulldozer?’

The Manager snaps back: “Do you want to put these poor workers out of a job!”.

The Economist muses: “Then, give them spoons” (and create more jobs).

The extra Busi-Ness of the spoons idea is laughable. But, the real problem is that the Manager can’t envision what his Unseen, Next, Higher-Level Opportunities are for redeploying slack workers after getting a bulldozer. What are your next-level, value and profit improving opportunities that you are dying to pursue?

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28. 5 CEO Goals to Finish Big

Core Renewal, Distribution Strategy, Index, Profit Analytics

Bo Burlingham of Inc. Magazine wrote the book: Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top. He distilled his CEO survey results into these five general goals:

  1. Be treated fairly during your exit process.
  2. Have a sense of legacy accomplishment. The world is better for your fun work invested.
  3. Be at peace with what happens to those who helped you build the firm.
  4. Have new things to do that you are looking forward to.
  5. The company will continue to thrive (even better) without you.

But what pre-requisite skills must you to achieve these goals?

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27. 8 Ways to Engage Distributor Employees with All-Win Information

Concierge Customer Service, Core Renewal, Distribution Strategy, Index

According to a March 2016 Gallup poll, only 33% of U.S. employees were “engaged” with their jobs. But, what if I told you that you could get much higher engagement, as well as increased growth and profit rates, simply by ensuring that all of your distributor employees know the answers to these game-changing questions? It’s true! Here are the questions:

  1. Who are the top 10 most (potentially) profitable customers that pay a disproportionate amount of your profits and payroll?
  2. What are the customer/niche-tuned service metrics that they want?
  3. How do department metrics help improve key- account service metrics?

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26. Channel Reps: It’s Time to Reinvent Your Cost/Benefit Value!

AmazonBusiness, Index, Profit Analytics, Supply Chain Partners

The changing objectives of supply chain buyers and the Internet have combined to erode the value of traditional, product-pushing, channel reps. In today’s world, the challenge for reps will be in adapting and acquiring new skills before they fade away.

The Trends and Current Realities   

Since 1980, there has been a huge and ongoing reduction in and consolidation of factory reps in all major channels. The 1990s first saw the behemoth Wal-Mart change the game when it requested that suppliers switch out area reps working on commission for executive-led supply chain teams with the power to enter into new collaborative supply chain solutions.
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25. 7 Distributor Beliefs that Just Aren’t So

Distribution Strategy, Index, Profit Analytics
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”    Mark Twain

The founder of Waypoint Analytics, Randy MacLean, recently spoke to a distributor group on: “Seven Limiting Beliefs That Prevent Profits”. The group’s Executive Director asked Randy for a summary article to share more widely.  Randy obliged. Now, you too can read it at his web site. (Link below).

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24. CEO Sales Calls that Win Huge, New Profit

Cost-to-Serve Math, Index, Line Item Profit Analytics

The CEO, Profit-Sales-Call Formula:

  1. Do a customer profitability ranking.
  2. Personally call on the #1 (or few) most profitable accounts.
  3. Use your title to win audiences with higher ranked folks reps don’t get to see.
  4. Have maximum account information and pre-written, best questions in advance if need be.
  5. Besides saying “thanks” and “showing the flag” have these goals:
    1. To do an immediate (or pitched for) “audit” of the buy-sell, inter-business process that has evolved between you: so far, un-managed and un-tuned. Find inefficiencies to fix with your people and dime. The account’s profits over-justify the investment.
    2. Improve the customer’s profits by the reduction of their “soft costs”. Find ways to consolidate small, frequent – line and invoice – purchases that also cost the customer recurring – downtime, expediting and emergency small order- costs. (You will save matching service-activity costs!)
    3. Find, deserve and win more share of sales.

      4. Continue reading 24. CEO Sales Calls that Win Huge, New Profit →