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Monthly Archives: October 2009
A brand or a “narrative”
Politicians on both sides of Australian politics are calling for a “narrative” to describe the values that the electorate should hold dear, particularly advocating a set of values that happen to be consistent with theirs, and their particular brand of … Continue reading
Road to the top.
In a world of disruptive change, the perhaps usual path to the CEO’s office needs to be rethought. Over the last 50 years, CEO’s have largely come from accounting and business management backgrounds, more latterly, marketing & strategy have had … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Leadership, Management
Tagged Change, Innovation, Leadership
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Have we forgotten how to communicate in writing?.
Yesterday I received a number of communications, by various means that broke all the accepted rules of grammar, spelling, and what an old fogey like me considers common courtesy, and it got me thinking. Email, phone text, and now twitter … Continue reading
The facts and the stories.
Remember your history teachers, one who just had you remembering the dates of events, hard work remembering, and why bother anyway, but what about the one who told you about the people, and engaged you with the stories around the … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Management, Marketing, Strategy
Tagged Branding, change management, Marketing
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Measuring the quality of a sales lead.
Generating and qualifying leads is a key function that rarely receives the attention it deserve, and is rarely measured for effectiveness other than looking at sales results. Like any process, if it can be measured against performance standards, improvements can … Continue reading
Category management and demand chains.
Demand chains are a representation of the drivers of “flow” through a supply chain, a concept familiar to those engaged in “lean” initiatives, when the motivator to the flow is demand rather than an ability to produce for inventory or … Continue reading
Posted in Demand chains, Management, Operations, Sales, Small business
Tagged category management, demand chain, lean
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The 3 questions of successful selling B2B.
It is pretty obvious, although not always acted on that you should define the problem before you spend time trying to sell a solution. There are many techniques to getting to the point where the sale can be made, libraries … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Sales, Small business
Tagged customer, managing yourself, Sales, SME
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The hardest bit
Yesterday, I wrote about the process jig-saw that supports an implemented ERP system as it works to drive efficiency, but deliberately left out the hardest bit. The most challenging changes necessary to make an ERP implementation deliver the value promised are the behavioural … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Management, OE, Operations, Small business
Tagged change management, Leadership, Management, Operations, SME
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Sales & Operational Planning processes summarised
Talking to a client last week about his S&OP processes, (or lack of them despite the software) I realised that we were both using English, but were talking a different language. This is often a challenge in S&OP implementations, and … Continue reading
Posted in Management, OE, Operations, Sales
Tagged Management, Operations, supply chain
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Demand chains as the competitive differentiator.
We can learn a lot about supply chain management from successful retailers. To be successful, generally they have identified their logistics chains as a key source of competitive advantage and they work on it. Their business model depends on having … Continue reading
Posted in Demand chains, Management, OE
Tagged demand chain, lean, Operations, Value chain
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A strong sense of purpose.
It is not the words of a company vision that count, as much as the conversation that goes on around the water cooler about the purpose of an organisation. The notion of including all personnel in a conversation about business … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation, Leadership, Management
Tagged change management, Innovation, Leadership
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Forecasts are not predictions.
If you want a prediction, go to the lady in the tent at the local fair. If you want a forecast, talk to those who have an intimate knowledge of the drivers of the outcomes you are seeking to forecast. … Continue reading
Posted in Demand chains, Management, Operations
Tagged demand chain, lean, Management
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Questions sell.
Selling is all about finding the way your product can add value to your prospective customer greater than the price you are asking for it. Why is it then that most selling activities I see are the commercial equivalent of … Continue reading
Marketing focus.
It is easy to see opportunities outside the “home base” often easier than seeing them close to home. However, success comes with exploiting potential in existing markets before you “export” resources to chasing new ones. Chase market penetration, cost reduction, … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation, Management, Marketing, Small business
Tagged Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
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Lessons from the coal-face.
As we appear to be coming out of the worst of the downturn, as highlighted by the .25% increase in the prime rate day before yesterday, it would be a mistake to think that the good times are back without … Continue reading
The organisation pyramid.
Organisation charts almost always depict organisations as an equalateral triangle. It is a simple change in perspective, to see it with a third dimension, like the Egyptian pyramid. Suddenly, it is clear that the guts of the organization are largely hidden … Continue reading
Invest in the unexpected.
One of the most widely known strategy tools is the SWOT, but it is widely misunderstood. Often there is confusion about what is a strength, and what is an opportunity, similarly, what is a weakness, and what is a threat. Strengths … Continue reading
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