Featured Article:

Only the Best-managed Will Survive
Business Owners Must Cope with Poor Economy
By Bob Campbell

Business owners face more obstacles today than at any previous time in U.S. history. Even in the depths of the Great Depression, businesses were not saddled with the quagmire of government regulations and tax mazes that exist now.

In the best of times, the “natural” forces of capitalism are difficult enough to cope with. Free market forces of ever-shifting customer demands evaporating profitability and voracious competition are naturally ever-present. There is constant upward pressure from salary expenses and other operating costs, while competitors strive daily to steal your customers and frankly, put you out of business.

But, these are far from “the best of times” and there are numerous “un-natural” and unpredictable forces, e.g., increasing governmental regulation and taxation, adversely affecting business success. The economic climate in almost every sector—ironically, save government—is stagnant to declining. Future increased tax burdens are unknown but threatening.

While there is no realistic end in sight to our current economic status, now, more than ever, business owners need to ensure their companies are practicing the fundamentals of excellent management. Here are the top four areas where concentration is vital.

1) Plan, plan, plan…then plan some more.

“Plan”, although intimidating, is not a “four-letter word”. A company without an operationally useful business plan is a rudderless ship. A “plan” that sits on a shelf, is not referred to, is not shared with all employees and hasn’t been updated in awhile is worthless.

Planning is a living process (for those companies who wish to live!). Great businesses write, rewrite and refresh their business plans frequently—as often as quarterly, but at least annually. And then they constantly track progress to their plan’s objectives, while course correcting as needed.

A good business plan—delineating operating efficiency and marketing activity--puts everyone on the same page. It is the foundation of focus—and focus on profitability and customer preservation is more important now than ever. If you are not planning how you are going to succeed, rest assured your competition is planning for your demise.

2) Intimately embrace the “80/20” rule.

Do you personally know your top customers? Do you know the 20-or-so percent of your customers who create 80-or-so percent of your profits? When is the last time you spoke to them or visited their premises? And when is the last time you did something for them?

Your competitors are trying to take these customers away from you. What are you doing about that now?

Every CEO/Owner should keep a fresh contact list on their desktops of the firm’s most-profitable customers. These customers should be talked to and met with frequently. Find a way to send these customers a new customer for them and/or see if a little more product can be included in their next order—as a gift and a very big “thank you”. In other words, strategize aggressively on how to keep your most valuable customers.

3) Avoid indecision.

Now is not the time for a “wait and see” attitude. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: “Things are going to get better.” Oh sure, they will get better. But will they get better in time to save your business? Many businesses, in troubled times, adopt a “deer-in-headlights” posture. Business development activity is postponed. Strategies are deferred. Plans are tabled. But inaction in the marketplace fosters stagnation. It gives room for competitors to strike. It may sound counter-intuitive, but it really is true that “a wrong decision is better than no decision at all”. Why so? At least a mistake allows for analysis and the discovery of what will succeed. Then, the aggressive implementation of that discovered success strategy can often recover whatever loss was caused by “the mistake” and help the company thrive.

4) Get to know your organization. No, really, get to know it deeply.

Organizational assessment is not an academic exercise. Mr. Business Owner, how much do you really know about the strengths and weaknesses of your business? How do you find these out? What do you do about them?

In battle (and that is what businesses are in right now), great generals match the strengths of their army against the weaknesses of the enemy. But to do that, you have to know the types, amounts and durations of those strengths in order to effectively use them. And you must eliminate or minimize your weaknesses—but first, you must discover them.

Professionally administered and time-tested organizational assessment allows business managers to prepare for battle.

If you know how to do all four of these things, then do them now. And if you don’t know how, retain professional help. Again, your competition is planning to celebrate your demise. And in these times, only the best-managed companies will survive.

Bob Campbell is the Managing Director for the San Diego Region of Strategic Development Worldwide. This advisory firm specializes in organizational assessment and development, turn-around/growth strategies, profitability improvement and preserving/enhancing owners’ wealth.

News & Events at SDW:

A Strategic Development Worldwide Roundtable Event

We sponsored and participated in a Manufacturer’s Roundtable on Thursday, February 26th at the San Diego Daily Transcript offices. This was the second event of this type that we have hosted and we find them to be very informative sessions. The purpose of the sessions is to provide an outlet for discussion among CEOs and top executives in the manufacturing sector relating to issues they find in today’s business environment and how they are positioned to handle them.

Watch for the article regarding this interesting discussion in upcoming San Diego Daily Transcript editions as well as our related articles and interviews on the Daily Transcript website. We will be sending out links and posting the information on our website as the information is released at the Daily Transcript.

We will be hosting a variety of these discussions with the Daily Transcript to include Small Business and Human Resource Roundtable subjects. Please drop us a line if you are interested in hearing more about these events.

The Arte of Motivation:

“Once we rid ourselves of traditional thinking we can get on with creating the future.”
- James Bertrand

How many times have you been encouraged to be creative or to “think out of the box”? And when is the last time someone talked to you about “pushing the envelope”? These are catchy and popular buzzwords that unfortunately don’t take into consideration the fact that we humans are creatures of habit and don’t really like trying new things or varying our routines. But then there are quotes like this that suggest we won’t be as successful as we could be without being a little non-traditional.

Will you be able to do something different and creative today? At work, take time to tell your colleagues something they didn’t know about you – use that opportunity to get to know each other better and to then work with a renewed sense of team and camaraderie. At home, stop and ask your family what they did today that was new and different – and show that you really care by listening to their responses and engaging them in a real dialogue about how trying new things worked out. In your community, go visit someone new – introduce yourself, find out what they’re all about and see if you can get involved with them in some way. Get outside of your comfort zone on all of these and expand your scope of involvement and knowledge. You’ll be surprised how looking at things just a little differently will give you a whole new perspective on who you are, what you do and how to interact with others. And that will be a good way to start creating your future.

Are you ready to grow in the days and weeks and years ahead? You need to continuously learn and renew your knowledge and abilities – to be prepared for the challenges that competition and this difficult economy present in our everyday lives. New technologies are always being introduced and if you don’t learn to use them effectively you just might be left behind. New personalities are being introduced all around as a new generation joins you in the workplace and in your community and if you don’t find ways to communicate with everyone you just might be left out of the next conversation. New practices are being introduced in every aspect of our lives – self-service, self learning, self check-outs – all of these may not be all that much better but they sure are different and if you don’t learn to use them you might get bumped in line. Conformity is a state of mind and now is the time to start breaking old habits and learning new ones. Start looking today for ways to be free to grow. Here at SDW we refer to this as being “frozen”. If you find yourself or your business frozen and unable to figure out which way to go, stop and look for ways to start fresh. Do you have a plan for you and your business? Have you taken a fresh look at the facts around you to discern if there are ideas hidden in there that might be useful? Are you preparing for each day and its challenges or are you letting events just carry you along? Now is the time to get ready for the future – don’t think it’s not coming because others will take your place if you do.

These are difficult times for sure, but they also are full of opportunities to learn new ways to succeed. The future begins today. Take time today to rethink what you used to think of as problems and start to view them as opportunities with which to learn and win. You’ll feel so much better when you master these and not feel like life is such a struggle. You may even feel like a winner!