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INSIGHTS & JOY
A business newsletter with Pizzazz! "We help leaders become better marketersusing a holistic business approach!" Enjoy happy holidays and a prosperous 2005!
The holiday season can be hectic and stressful. Let's try to relax, enjoy ourselves, and appreciate those who make our lives worth the living. Doris and I will be spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays in Reno with our daughter, Debbie, her husband, Jake, along with Travis and Austin, our two grandsons. As a bonus, we will be there for Austin's seventh birthday! We will return on January 4 to some very interesting business projects. Year-end is also a good time to reflect back on the year's victories and concerns. This month's Insights & Joy discusses five common business dilemmas and offers a solution to each. Perhaps one or more will ring a bell with you. If so, solving your dilemmas should improve results in 2005. Feel free to forward Insights & Joy to friends and associates Subscribe directly by e-mail to rpmorgan@morganmarketingsolutions.com and writing "subscribe" in the subject box. Check our web site for $ Million Marketing Tips, Insights & Joy Archive, Speakers Bureau, and our Article Library! www.morganmarketingsolutions.com New speakers added!IN THIS ISSUE ►Five business dilemmas
and how to solve them. ►Book review: Free Publicity by Jeff Crilley, TV Reporter ►Smiles make the day! ►$ Million Marketing Tips ►Amazing facts...
Five business dilemmas and how to solve
them. Business Size Predicament. The smaller
the company, the quicker problems become dangerous, yet smaller companies
have fewer resources available for problem solving or
prevention. Solution - Whatever the threat, don't sit and wait for somebody else to fix things. Time is not on your side! Prompt action avoids crisis. Know what resources you have at all times. That means timely month-end statements. Monitor cash flow...weekly at least. Chart sales levels, inventories, collections, and payables frequently. There's no call for panic if you stay on top of your business and use your flexibility to vex your competitors. Management Complexity Spiral. Small companies often diversify in an effort to continue linear growth and improve profits. Complexity is a geometric progression, however. As results lag there is a perceived need for even more diversity, creating greater complexity. Business management becomes more complex as you diversify, but growing complexity is not linear. It is more geometric. Two product lines and three services equals five, but the complexity of managing the five activities can increase by sixteen times! Why is it when you add one more thing, the difficulty of keeping everything straight seems to mushroom? That's the complexity spiral at work. When results of new additions aren't as good as you anticipated, you may be caught in the complexity spiral. There is real value in arranging your business so that management can keep it's eye on the ball. It is possible to operate a complex business, but it takes a lot more planning and organization than most small companies can muster. Solution - Develop greater competitive advantage in your existing lines before considering new segments. Once you build real advantages with existing lines, you have a solid base and may be able to carefully add another segment. Stay close to what you already know. Resist adding more than one new segment at a time. Develop contingency plans in case the complexity spiral sets in. Be harsh on lines of business where you have not been able to build real competitive advantage. Don't bet the farm on the new segment, because you are usually up against entrenched competition. They usually won't let you have your way without a fight. Keep your eye on the ball. If results slip, look at what all you are attempting to see if your business has become too complex for the resources you can muster. A strong management team, along with outside advisors, can greatly increase the owner's ability to cope with the complexity spiral. Reassess your team. The Planning Pickle. The management team can best set a company's direction. Others can facilitate. Yet, management, left alone, will usually focus on day-to-day operations and postpone planning activities. Owners and managers will do almost anything else to postpone their planning obligation. Owners may jump in a truck and make deliveries rather than spend an hour thinking through their primary objectives for the next period. Management is oriented toward action in the here and now. That's good. They must get things done and keep customers happy. That's why they are also in the right position to develop plans for the future. Operating management should do the planning too. Others can facilitate the process and keep planning on track. In fact, an outside perspective is a vital element. The owner and the team need an independent resource they can use for bouncing ideas and gaining objective feedback. Leaders know that deciding strategy is a line responsibility. They stop the usual stalling and schedule action planning as part of each team member's work life, including their own! Solution - Planning is like looking at a road map and deciding your route before leaving on a vacation trip. Don't run your business without a road map! It is the owner's prime responsibility to map out a plan. It is much more successful if others involved plan for their own responsibilities. Schedule planning time into each business period. That way, you will not be making seat of the pants decisions as you move from crisis to crisis. The plan communicates what is expected of each team member, so there is clear understanding and better overall focus on key objectives. Written objectives and action plans, along with proper measurement will improve the likelihood of successful results. Schedule review sessions to help ignite action. Use an outside facilitator so that the owner is also accountable for staying on the right road. Business Seesaw. Businesses prosper when marketing, finance, and operations are in balance. Many business owners tend to stress one major function, creating imbalance and future profit problems. A business needs to stay balanced. The main points to balance are marketing, finance and operations. Also, balance human resources, physical resources, and cash. When one area overshadows the others, trouble usually follows. If marketing makes promises, operations must deliver on the promises. Growth in sales must balance against available working capital. Solution - Assess your current situation carefully. Do you have the right mix of resources to grow right now? If you feel you are not in balance, make balance your priority. In the future, consider whether or not a new plan helps or hinders your balance. Adding more sales will require more working capital and, perhaps, a larger facility or more trained people. Guard against big surprises with better planning and by developing contingency options. 'Things' happen and plans do not always work out. That is usually how balance is lost. Prior planning helps you move quickly when things go wrong. Leadership Vacuum. The leader must create the vision and communicate the expectations to the team. Some leaders spend their energies on other people's jobs, ignoring their primary leadership role. The primary task is to lead the company, not make deliveries. When the leader ignores his role, the vacuum he creates sucks away the company's vitality! Leaders often end up doing work they have hired others to perform...and complain about how hard they work! It is tempting to rationalize jumping in that truck. The customer needs the product! Okay, once in a while you may have to do it. But, if a customer crisis happens on a daily basis, look for the real reason. It is likely that the leader is more comfortable doing routine chores than tackling the hard, lonely job of making tough strategic decisions. When you abdicate your primary responsibilities as leader, your business is like a ship without a rudder. Solution - Stop it! Don't keep doing the jobs you pay others to do. Your employees may thank you for getting out of their way! You really cannot afford the luxury of doing the jobs yourself. How much time do you spend on your primary jobs, the tasks you cannot delegate? It takes courage and often a change in your basic method of operation. The change, however, will be worth it if you stick to your plan and provide your team with the leadership they crave. As the leader, you must keep one eye on daily operations and the other eye on the road ahead. That's why we have so many cock-eyed business leaders!
Book Review Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Jeff Crilley discuss his new book, Free Publicity. It is a 'must read' resource if you want to get your story in the news without buying expensive ad space or media time. Jeff is an Emmy Award winning reporter in the Dallas area. Over twenty years, he has appeared on CNN, Fox News, The Discovery Channel, Good Morning America, and The CBS Early Show. As a general assignment reporter, Jeff covers a wide range of topics. His day-to-day news gathering experience has given him special insight into what the news covers and why. In Free Publicity, Jeff shares the secrets of getting covered on the news. This is stuff that is not taught in college PR courses! Jeff shows how to create ideas that will get coverage. He describes whom to call and when. He helps you write a killer press release. He coaches about what to say during an interview and how to hold a news conference that the media will love. Jeff tells how to combat negative news and how to get reporters to call you! Order online at: www.jeffcrilley.com.
Smiles make the day! ► Some people no longer celebrate the arrival of the New Year - they celebrate their survival of the old year! ► If it weren't for bad habits, we would have no New Year resolutions. ► The New Year is when some people drop in for a call and others call in for a drop! ► What the New Year brings us will depend a lot on what we bring to the New Year. ► New Year's Eve is when you take your wife out for some bubbly, and she drives you back home. ► New Year's resolutions is where you promise to stop doing everything you enjoy the most! ► New Year's resolutions go in one year and out the other. ► May your troubles in the coming New Year be as short-lived as your resolutions. Amen!
$ Million Marketing Tips
Amazing facts! ● Fifteen runners started the first Boston Marathon; only ten finished. ● Eskimos use walrus whiskers for toothpicks. ● Tablecloths originally served as big napkins: people wiped their hands and faces on them. ● Holes in Swiss cheese are technically known as "eyes." ● The average American home contains 15 cookbooks. Our home is way above average! ● Americans are stay-at-homes: 89% of Americans don't have a passport. ● Rabbits cannot walk. They always hop or leap.
P.S. ● Wants to develop a more productive marketing program, or ● Needs help building and implementing an effective operational business plan, I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the situation with you. Our ideal client is a business owner or CEO between 30 and 60+ years old. Usually with a financial, engineering, or production background. Who is often impatient, and interested in improving company performance. Comes alive when you ask, "How's business?" He, or she, is practical but also enjoys the finer things in life. So, you may see my ideal client driving a Lexus or SUV to Neiman Marcus...and to Sam's Club. Who do you know that fits this description?A client
speaks: "Your introduction of
strategic planning, action plans, and implementation guidelines was the point
where our planning took on a professional approach. Operations, marketing,
finance, and personnel all were beneficiaries of the planning process you
provided." To unsubscribe, e-mail to rpmorgan@morganmarketingsolutions.com and write "unsubscribe" in the subject box. ©2004 Morgan Marketing Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Other distribution permitted with proper attribution.
Richard P. Morgan CMC Telephone 972.931.7993 fax 972.931.0542 www.morganmarketingsolutions.com ******************************************************************************************** "We help leaders become better marketers using a holistic business approach!" ******************************************************************************************** CMC (Certified Management Consultant) is a mark awarded by the Institute of Management Consultants USA, and represents evidence of the highest standards of consulting and adherence to the ethical canons of the profession. Less than 1% of all consultants have achieved this level of performance and dedication. For more information go to: www.imcusa.org
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