Articles by Martin Harshberger, President, Measurable Results LLC on ArticleSnatch.com

Keys to Protecting your Business from Litigation

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:49:42 -0400

As a business leader, chances are you’re aware of the risks associated with litigation. With the multitude of local, state and federal regulations, there are ample opportunities to get into trouble if one isn’t aware and prepared. So, what are the most common causes of potential litigation - and what steps can you can take to prevent (or at least minimize) their impact? The most common legal problems stem from the areas you deal with most frequently, including: • Employee-related lawsuits • Business-to-business litigation • Breach of contract disputes • Intellectual property disputes Of the above, employee-related lawsuits are most common. According to the EEOC, employee-related lawsuits comprise almost 75% of all suits filed against businesses today, with 40% of all employment practice claims filed against private employers with between 15 and 100 employees. What can you do to minimize your risk in these specific areas? Employee-related litigation 1. Have a documented employee handbook detailing expectations and policies including: a. Compensation b. Time off c. Disciplinary processes d. Grievance procedures e. Employee performance review policies and schedules 2. Be consistent with employee treatment. **End Summary** Topics: small business]]> leadership]]> employee engagement]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

Change Management Starts With Changing How You Think.

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:29:08 -0500

About a year or so ago I wrote an article entitled the “Biggest Problems Facing Small Business Today”. Based on the number of downloads and visits to my blog it was of significant interest and must have resonated with many business leaders. I have since revised my thinking somewhat. The biggest problem most business leaders face isn’t what they think it is. I listed the top issues at that time as: • Lack of a clear plan– the SBA says that over 50% of businesses that fail don’t have a plan. I can say from my 30 plus years of experience not only is that number conservative, but worst many businesses don’t know how to plan. • Ineffective leadership – this issue takes many forms. In my experience it is frequently in the form of depth of leadership. The founder of the company is hands- on and effective but has little or no management depth behind him or her. • Sales / marketing effectiveness- this leads back to planning and leadership. **End Summary** Topics: change management]]> effective leadership]]> effective strategy execution]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop more and better options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

What do small business CEO

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:09:18 -0500

In my effort to learn about the efforts going on in small businesses to resolve issues I occasionally search the Internet to see what small business CEO"s are reading. I did that this morning and there are literally thousands of books, magazines, membership sites, and courses giving advice on how to improve yourself and your business. Many were highly recommended by one expert or another. Being the skeptic that I am, I had to ask myself, with all of the information available both at a cost and free of charge, why aren"t all businesses successful and all CEO"s "living their dream"? I mean there are no shortages of experts, myself included, that seem to know what you need to do to get where you want to be, why isn"t everyone there? I keep using the diet industry analogy because it"s such a perfect fit. There are thousands of diet books, new pills and programs that allow us to lose weight "easy and fast". Why then are 60% of Americans overweight and 30% of us obese? In my 35 plus years working with executives at all levels, I've learned a few things about human nature. **End Summary** Topics: Strategy execution]]> small business]]> leadership]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is Managing Partner of Measurable Results LLC, Marty specializes in strategic planning, pre and post merger integration, as well as business process improvement. He can be reached at 662-844-9088 or mailto:martin@bottomlinecoach.com His new book Bottom Line Focus is available at the website below or on Amazon. Website is www.bottomlinecoach.com

What will you change in 2011?

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:26:11 -0500

Everyone makes new years resolutions, lose weight, be nicer, whatever. Research shows almost nobody meets those new goals. Businesses are no different, after the holidays everyone comes back to work energized and committed to starting the New Year with a clean slate. The success rate for businesses is no better than our personal resolutions, most businesses simply fail to execute strategy and sustain improvement programs. Why is that? Common sense tells us if we keep doing the same things we’ll keep getting the same results, but that’s exactly what most of us do. I’ve written numerous times that change is hard but there has to be more to it than that. We can change we just need to proper motivation. One quote I heard on change that made the most sense was “we change only when the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying the same”. Unfortunately then it’s often too late. I’m convinced that most leaders understand that things need to happen in their business, they simply don’t know how to make them happen. **End Summary** Topics: strategy execution]]> effective strategy execution]]> execute st]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is Managing Partner of Measurable Results LLC, Marty specializes in strategic planning, pre and post merger integration, as well as business process improvement. He can be reached at 662-844-9088 or mailto:martin@bottomlinecoach.com His new book Bottom Line Focus is available at the website below or on Amazon. Website is www.bottomlinecoach.com

5 Steps to effective strategy execution

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:28:19 -0400

We’ve all read the information that 50% of small and mid-sized businesses don’t have a documented plan. While that number is bad, what’s worse is that only about 10% of all businesses large or small that have a plan execute it to any degree. Sitting down to clarify and document a strategy is hard to do, but it’s much harder to execute, to actually do what you say you want to do. That requires change; commitment, innovation, leadership and numerous other things to align your organization in a way that facilitates plan execution. Why then is it so difficult to execute a strategy? In an earlier article I wrote about many businesses not knowing how to plan. They simply don’t know the process well enough to develop a plan that has a chance at success. Strategy execution is no different, many leaders feel that once they’ve documented a plan, put it into a binder and distributed it, it will magically happen. Obviously there is a little more to it than that. Based on my experience and research there are 5 steps that if followed can dramatically increase your chance at successful strategy execution. **End Summary** Topics: Strategy execution]]> effective strategy execution]]> execute strategy]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

Barriers to Strategy Execution

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:26:18 -0400

Recent studies have shown that organizations that have gone through the effort of developing a written strategy fail miserably at execution. According to Paul Niven in his book "The Balanced Scorecard": • Only 10% of organizations execute their strategy  • Only 25% of managers and executives have incentives linked to strategy • 85% of executive teams spend less than 1 hour per month on strategy  • 60% of organizations don’t link budgets to strategy Those are pretty dismal facts about commitment and results as they pertain to strategy execution. Why are companies so poor in doing what they say they want to do? According to an article in the Sloan Management Review in the summer of 2000, most of it has to do with leadership. The Sloan report listed "Six Strategy Killers”: 1. Ineffective senior management teams 2. Top-down management style 3. Unclear strategy and conflicting priorities 4. Poor vertical communication 5. Poor coordination across boundaries 6. Inadequate leadership skills down the line These are all related to leadership and vision of senior management. In over 35 years' experience as a CEO and business coach, if I had to pick one of the strategy killers, it would be unclear strategy and conflicting priorities. **End Summary** Topics: Strategy execution]]> better strategic planning tools]]> accountability]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

Where do you look for cash in your business?

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:08:51 -0400

One of the top issues for the majority of businesses large and small is cash. There is never enough whether in the form of credit availability or cash flow. So where do you look fore cash within your business? What do you really have control over that can improve cash flow? There are a few ways a business owner or CEO can improve their cash position quickly. 1. The one that most go to instinctively is to stretch out payments to suppliers. This is a two edged sword however because sooner or later they begin to limit you ability to do business. A planned and communicated move from paying in 30 days to say 45 days can be an effective way to generate free cash in the short term. 2. The second place to look is inventory. Quite simply inventory is cash sitting on the floor of your warehouse waiting to be converted to sales. The faster you can turn inventory into sales the faster you can collect on the invoice. In my career I have seen numerous companies where this problem becomes severe, either through too much inventory or the wrong inventory resulting in slow moving sales. **End Summary** Topics: Cash flow]]> improved cash flow]]> waste]]> rework]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

What is effective leadership?

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:13:11 -0400

What constitutes effective leadership? If you ask ten people you’ll probably get a variety of answers. During my leadership development programs we spend a great deal of time defining what leadership means to the individuals in the session. The simple fact is you can define it in many ways, it almost becomes an individual preference of what each calls a great leader. That’s understandable because different people respond to different things. We begin by establishing the attributes of effective leadership. We ask each participant to think if a person that they consider to be a great leader. We then ask them to list the main characteristics of that person that makes them a leader. We always get a variety of the same answers: Integrity Great communicator Innovative Intelligent Decisive And many more. We then discuss each of these traits and decide if their choice of leaders was born with that skill or acquired it. The answer to everyone except possibly native intelligence is they are acquired skills. So the inference is made, ‘leaders are made not born”. **End Summary** Topics: Effective leadership]]> leadership]]> better bottom line results]]> better leadership results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

How's the government doing on job creation?

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:58:40 -0400

Everyone is talking about the stimulus package and job creation. Depending on which side of the political fence you’re on it’s either a great success or a total flop. Unemployment is at 9.5%, some say it’s higher than that but somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 million folks have simply stopped looking. At any rate was the stimulus needed and is it working? Well as to the first question there is no doubt it was and is needed. That only leaves one question did we spend the money wisely, or in my simple business outlook did we get an adequate return on investment? Well if you look at the money allocated, $787 billion dollars, that seemed to me a significant amount of money to invest. Of that total about 57% of the money of $453 billion has been used. It seems a simple math step would be to simply divide the amount used by the number of jobs created and you could get a feel for it’s success. That unfortunately is where it gets murky. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the package to date has created 800,000 to 2.4 million jobs. **End Summary** Topics: job creation]]> economy]]> return on investment]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

Is there any leadership left in large companies?

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:35:22 -0400

Everyone is familiar with the horrible public image projected by BP’s CEO during public talks on the gulf oil disaster. For an educated, experienced executive I don’t see how he could have come off any worse than he did. And that was his public image. I wonder what he’s like inside the walls of BP? I was thinking about that this weekend while discussing management and job related issues with several friends and family members. It appears last weekend was the time for all job related concerns to surface. What surprised me about the conversations I had with two of the people was I really wasn’t surprised. I have experienced so many similar occurrences in my history I almost expect it. Both people were to say the least de-motivated. I’m not sure de-motivated is a word, but I can’t think of another that’s better suited. I say that because both people are self-driven, hard working, and results driven individuals that I’ve known for many years. What their management has succeeded in doing is converting a highly motivated employee into a disengaged employee. **End Summary** Topics: employee dissatisfaction]]> effective leadership]]> effective laedership]]> better leadership results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book Bottom Line Focus provides 18 proven steps to help businesses improve sales and profitability while facilitating employee engagement and teamwork. Itâs available at www.bottomlinecoach.com or on Amazon

Top ten mistakes small business owners make

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:40:29 -0400

I’ve been a business owner, a mid-sized business CEO, and now I’m a business coach. I’ve had thirty-five years experience in my own businesses and with those of clients. I have recognized patterns regarding the top mistakes business owners and CEO’s make. It actually inspired me to write a book a year or so ago. Here is my top 10 list in no particular order of frequency. 1. Failure to plan. Of the businesses I’ve seen over the past 35 years that are experiencing problems , the vast majority don’t have a documented plan. If you don’t have a plan, and documented goals what is the baseline for making decisions? The answer is, of course, there isn’t any and they spend time and money chasing diversions that look good at the time. Create a vision, communicate it, and base decisions on whether it takes you closer or further from where you want to end up. 2. Lack of financial skills. I don’t mean the ability to read an earnings statement or a balance sheet, but the skills to analyze the numbers and understand what the trends are. **End Summary** Topics: Small business]]> execution]]> accountability]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to clarify strategy, develop new products and services, and improve bottom line results. He helps businesses develop options through improved profitability and cash flow. His new book just released Bottom Line Focus is an easy to read 192 page synopsis of hundreds of companies and over 35 years of hands on experience. Visit our website at http://www.bottomlinecoach.com

Is there a best practice for strategic planning?

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:13:17 -0400

I"ve done a lot of research into the subject of strategic planning. There are many theories about what is the best way to develop a plan. There is the "basis" method, scenario planning, organic planning, and bottom up planning, among others. There are even software programs to "self develop" your strategic plan. So what is the best practice? After studying the subject and developing literally hundreds of plans both for my businesses and client organizations I think I can say it doesn"t matter what method you use as long as you follow a basic roadmap and think it through. As I said in my writings you need to start at the end. You need to agree upon a vision for the organization. Any journey begins with an end in mind. You simply have to determine where it is you want to go in the next three to five years. This is a key first step that many if not most organizations don"t do. I"ve heard things like if we decide on a specific direction we might miss opportunities in another direction. **End Summary** Topics: Strategic planning]]> better strategic planning process]]> ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> ...

How can you create value without funding?

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:49:13 -0400

I read in today’s Bloomberg Businessweek Report that the chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben S. Bernanke said that small business is having trouble getting access to credit needed to keep the U.S. recovery going. The article referenced Bernanke attending one of the series of meetings in Detroit last month and today recalling a business owner’s comment there that, “If you thought housing had declined in value, take a look at what equipment is worth.” It’s absolutely true of course if business isn’t growing and equipment is at a surplus banks, which are conservative in good times, aren’t going to want to lend money on it. Most of small business collateral is either in plant buildings and / or equipment. The combination of real estate and equipment values being low makes collateralization difficult. On the positive side I just had a client refinance his term debt at a great rate and excellent amortization schedule. The load was 90% guaranteed by the USDA rural enterprise program. Which is essentially a program that is working to create jobs in rural high unemployment areas. First the company must be “bankable” that is approved by a bank subject to the USDA guarantee. **End Summary** Topics: Small business strategy]]> access to credit]]> better strategic planning]]> create value]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Invent your future with better strategic planning

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:31:55 -0400

I read a quote somewhere a few years ago that really made me think. The author said “the future is an invention anyway, you might as well invent a good one”. If you stop and think about it, it’s really, true the choices and decisions we make throughout life accumulate to determine where we are and what we’re doing. How many times have you hard someone say, if we knew then what we know now. Well what if we did know then? What if you actually had a vision of where you wanted to be in five or ten years, and made decisions and choices based on attaining that vision? You really would be inventing your future. Many successful people employ goal setting as a regular part of their lives. Goal setting focused on a clear vision. Most people just don’t do that. They spend more time and effort planning a two-week vacation than they do determining what they are going to do with their lives. They look back one day and realize life just happened and they are where they are by _______________. You fill in the blank, luck, fate, breaks, whatever word you choose. **End Summary** Topics: Better strategic planning]]> business coach]]> better bottom line results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Strategic planning for the real world

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:18:06 -0400

Strategic planning has gotten a bad rap, and probably deservedly so. If you believe the research more than 50% of organizations don’t have a documented strategic plan. My view is, of those that do the majority aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. Why? Because most organizations simply don’t know how to plan. There is usually a mission statement developed to please all stakeholders and to ultimately be placed on the company website and brochures for marketing purposes. After that there is usually some futuristic stuff based on revenue and sales forecasts that talk about growth. No real direction and not much talk about how the sales forecasts will be accomplished. A strategic plan for the real world has to be better than that. It has to have clarity, goals and be used to drive accountability. Think of it as planning a vacation road trip. First decide where you want to go, determine where you are now, and then write down what it will take to get you from point A to point B. Start with a clear vision, what will your business look like in five years? How many people and locations will you have? **End Summary** Topics: Strategic planning]]> effective strategic planning]]> leadership]]> accountability]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

What is the difference between a business coach and a consultant?

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:26:20 -0400

I get asked this question often, and it’s confusing because some people use the terms interchangeably. The best way I can describe the difference is to explain what I do with my clients. A consultant is hired to study a process or specific issue within the company, whether it’s cycle time reduction, cash flow, or whatever. He of she comes into the business, conducts interviews with the appropriate staff, and learns how the process is being completed now. The consultant then looks at what the outcome is expected to be, compares it to what it is now, and develops recommendations. A business coach on the other hand does not take the time necessary to become a subject matter expert. He or she believes that the company management knows more about their business that he or she will be able to learn in a reasonable amount of time. The business coach facilitates a process that brings the management team together to solve the problem or issue. Which way is better? A consultant is actually better if the problem is new to the business and the expertise, skills or experience doesn’t exist within a business. **End Summary** Topics: business coach]]> business coaching]]> better bottom line profits]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

WIIFM for better leadership results

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:00:54 -0400

In order to get the most from your employees, and from your staff you need to learn and communicate WIIFM. (What’s In It For Me). In order for employees to embrace organizational goals they must view them as their own. To do that they must clearly understand how meeting the goals of the organization is tied to achieving their personal goals. It is much more difficult to separate personal and professional lives than it was even twenty years ago. Money alone is not the primary motivator but a short-term benefit quickly absorbed and forgotten. With the commonality of the two job household, work is a huge part of personal conversation and thought. Leaders who take the time and make the effort to understand employee wants and needs, and helps the employee set personal goals that complement organizational goals will find better leadership results very achievable. Goal setting is not a common practice among most of us. It starts by defining what you want in clear and crisp terms. Most of us have great difficulty in understanding or accepting what we want. Needs are easier to define, I need $500 more per month, I need a new car. **End Summary** Topics: Better leadership results]]> better leadership programs]]> goal setting]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Where should you use a return on investment criteria?

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:49:14 -0400

When most executives think about return on investment they think about a formal justification for a large capital investment. Usually in a large company it’s expenditure over a preset limit of say $25,000. My experience has taught me that much more money is spent everyday with little or no accountability and without thought to return on investment (ROI). Business executives must demand a return on investment for every resource in their organization. As a business leader, you have a responsibility to ensure that the assets of your company are used in ways that provide the highest possible return to stakeholders. That applies to all assets, including your human resources. I have seen numerous managers over the years that pride themselves on being frugal. Sometimes they go so far as to refuse to purchase something that may aid productivity on the pretense of financial responsibility. Yet, many of these same managers continue to compensate underachieving subordinates without saying a word. They don't seem to understand that employees are critical and expensive resources. When I question them about the obvious disparity, most are unable to see the connection. **End Summary** Topics: Return on investment]]> leadership development]]> ROI]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Improved leadership results start with changing culture

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:08:44 -0400

I recently wrote an article on achieving better strategic planning results. It was a look at how Toyota became number one in the auto industry through effective long term strategic thinking and execution. It touched on the subject of culture but didn’t go into any real detail. Just this week I asked a group of people why they thought Toyota had enjoyed so much success and growth. The answer was of course their Toyota Production System (TPS), lean manufacturing and attention to detail. That is exactly what General Motors came away from the Toyota / GM joint venture at NUMMI. Learn the TPS and we’ve solved our problems. And it’s exactly what most U.S. companies feel, that lean manufacturing, or Six Sigma or some other program will make them world class. They are all missing the point. Toyota recognizes that the TPS is an excellent tool but is not a silver bullet. Real excellence comes from developing a culture that engages and empowers employees. This was further emphasized by conversations with a friend that works for a large Fortune 1000 company. He told me about the repercussions he got from escalating a problem with a major account. **End Summary** Topics: improved leadership results]]> better leadership results]]> employee satisfaction]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

How do you achieve better strategic planning results?

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:47:54 -0400

I think strategic plans have gotten a bad rap. If you believe the research most companies don’t even have one even though it is said that over 75% of businesses that fail don’t have a plan. When talking to people, especially those that don’t have a plan, I often hear, “strategic plans are useless, they are just guesses”. In doing the background research for my book, “Bottom Line Focus”, I read a lot on the subject and I think I finally understand why plans are perceived as guesses. Most people simply don’t know how to develop a meaningful plan. They document some “goals” as to where they want to take their organizations, assign some actions based on those goals and then basically hope it all happens. Before you can develop a meaningful plan for your organization you need to understand three things very clearly. 1. Where you want the organization to be in 3 to 5 years, in detail. What markets, what products, what your differentiator will be in that market etc. 2. Where you are now. A detailed look internally at your strengths and limitations, as well as externally at your opportunities and threats. 3. **End Summary** Topics: ]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Better strategic planning drives bottom line results

Mon, 24 May 2010 09:41:35 -0400

I’m reading an interesting book titled “How Toyota Became Number One” Leadership Lessons From the World’s Greatest Car Company by David Magee. It discusses the Toyota strategy process in detail from their first introduction into the United Sates until the present time. It also talks about how their strategic thinking and customer understanding differs from the U.S car companies. It points out that Toyota isn’t perfect and have made some market and strategy mistakes, but they recognized them quickly and corrected them just as quickly. There are several major differences between domestic manufactures and even the other Japanese manufacturers and Toyota, but they all start with better strategic planning. Toyota develops strategies based on recognizing what the customer needs and wants, and then executes to that strategy. How do they know what the customer wants? They ask them. They don’t guess and build large quantities of what they think will sell and push the units into the dealer network they study the customer. The book talks about the development of the Lexus brand in the U.S. **End Summary** Topics: Better strategic planning]]> better bottom line results]]> bottom line results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Create value to fight China Pricing

Thu, 20 May 2010 17:01:20 -0400

I read an article in our local paper entitled Furniture Industry fights China Price"��. Northeast Mississippi is a furniture manufacturing hub and is being hit hard by low cost imports. The article covered a workshop developed by the Mississippi State Franklin Furniture Institute and really provided few answers to the problem. Having grown up in a steel mill town and seeing what happens to an industry that cannot compete with low cost competition I have some historical knowledge of what happens to a region when the key industry is decimated. My hometown has never recovered. I"��ve done some research on the subject of competing with low cost manufactures and competing on price simply doesn"��t work. The average burdened labor rate in China in 2007 was between .70 cents and .92 cents per hour depending on where you get the data. The corresponding rate per hour in the United States for manufacturing jobs is about $25.27 fully burdened with benefits. In addition the Chinese companies don"��t have the regulations and environmental rules to follow and we can all agree it isn"��t a level playing field. But come companies are competing and doing well against low cost competition. **End Summary** Topics: Create value]]> better strategic planning]]> better marketing results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Do you get a return on investment on your sales dollars?

Mon, 17 May 2010 12:31:15 -0400

Do you even measure return on investment for sales or other normal business functions? Many companies only look at ROI on capital expenditures and other large dollar investments. The bulk of the money companies spend are spent on normal daily activities, but few look at justifying ROI on anything other than one-time major investments. Why should you worry about ROI on normal expenses, doesn’t your P & L cover that? The real answer is the P & L will tell you many things but it’s telling you about them after they occur. In my recent book I gave the example of using the P & L as a problem solving tool is like steering a huge ship by looking at the wake. What you see has already happened, and corrections take time. So how do you measure ROI on sales, and why bother? Let’s take a hypothetical company as an example. You run a $10MM dollar manufacturing company, sales are flat and margins are declining. You have a current net margin of 2% and high fixed costs. You feel you need additional sales to offset the high fixed costs, and improve margins. **End Summary** Topics: Sales and marketing effectiveness]]> return on investment]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

How do you improve sales results

Thu, 06 May 2010 15:38:25 -0400

In nearly all of the companies I talk with the need to improve sales results is one of the top three issues. Either sales results are lagging behind plan, or sales are being made for the wrong reasons. I know, how could there be a wrong reason to close a sale, right? There are actually many: • Selling too low and cutting into margins • Selling with unreasonable delivery times driving up production costs. • Selling using rebates or “freebies” to get the sale Those are just a few of the reasons I can think of. Why then do companies allow these sales to happen if they aren’t a win / win for the company and the client? The main reason I see is the sales force isn’t performing as well as it should and the company has few options. Bad sales are better than no sales, and “at least they cover overhead”. While that may be a good argument for the short term, you are setting expectations with your customers that are hard to break. The real answer is increase overall sales effectiveness to have options to take or leave business that may not be desirable. **End Summary** Topics: Improve sales effectiveness]]> improve sales results]]> better sales results]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.

Do airline mergers alone produce better bottom line results?

Mon, 03 May 2010 10:30:52 -0400

The news today reports a pending merger between United Airlines and Continental to be completed with a 3 billion dollar stock swap. The combined company will result in the world’s largest airline. The pending deal will surpass the recent Delta/ Northwest merger that I believe, then created the world’s largest airline. The real question is do airline mergers add value and increase bottom line profits? The intent is to merge routes, cut redundant flights and service providers, and reduce costs. The real world result is often different. Cost reduction gained by reducing headcount is often eliminated by higher wages and benefits given to labor to support the merger the subsequent loss of jobs and changes in work rules. About a year ago I wrote an article for an investment banking newsletter about mergers and acquisitions. The article was entitled “Can Acquisitions Work”? Research for that article cited a study done by KPMG in 1999 that showed that “83% of mergers were unsuccessful in producing any business benefits regarding shareholder value” (Feldman & Pratt 1999). **End Summary** Topics: Better bottom line profits]]> mergers and acquisitions]]> return on investment]]>]]> About the Author: ]]> Martin Harshberger is President of Measurable Results LLC, and Bottom Line Coach. His coaching practice works with businesses to develop options through improved profitability and cash flow.