Production & Delivery Resources

Matrix Key:  Financial Viability - Production and Delivery - Resources

"The waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity." - Thomas Love Peacock

It should be no secret to business owners that in these challenging economic times, managing resources well is essential to being profitable.  In the Financial Viability quadrant of the WholeLife Matrix, we dig into resources management as part of a successful production and delivery system.  The first question to ask is, what exactly are we managing?

Every production and delivery system has four key resources:

1. Facilities and Equipment
2. Inventory
3. Labor
4. Management 

When you break your system down into these four parts you accomplish two things.  First, you identify more clearly what needs to be managed within each of the four resources.  Second, you begin to see how they affect each other.  Each resource should be managed and measured in different ways but also in the context of the entire production system.  A breakdown in any of the four will have serious impact on the rest.  The key is to manage all your resources both independently and collectively if you want your company to succeed.

We continue to offer our Deeper Dive into the Whole Life Matrix, a free bi-weekly discussion of different elements of the WholeLife Matrix. To join the Deeper Dive, email Ralph@Consulting2Win.com, with "Deeper Dive" in the subject line.  We will send you the log-in information for the call.  

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Managing Your Product Resources

Matrix Key:  Financial Viability - Resource Management - Products

"A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone." - Seth Godin

Next to your employees, the most important resource in your business is your product!  If you don't have a product, you don't have a business.  As you can see on the WholeLife Matrix, you must devote time and energy to caring for your product resources.  If you cannot consistently produce a quality product, you will not be able to sustain your business.

Here are the most important points to consider if you want to effectively manage your product resources:

1. Cost
2. Materials
3. Technology
4. Research and Development

You can manage these resources by developing good relationships with vendors and always looking for new ways to source materials.  Make the investment in the technology that will keep your product cutting edge, and always be on the lookout for your product's next evolution.  When you produce a quality product effectively, you have already won half the battle.

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Intentions - The Starting Line

"If you don’t know where you’re going, you might wind up somewhere else.” – Yogi Berra, American Baseball Great

At Possibilities Unlimited, we spend a lot of time working with people to create specific and measurable intentions for their businesses. Those intentions are the essence, if you will, of your business purpose. In the past several blogs, we have gone over all the different aspects of creating intentions that will propel your business to unprecedented results.

What we’ve done is map a very clear destination for your business. You know where you’re going and what it’s going to be like when you get there. You’ve analyzed your action steps and scheduled them into the calendar. You have taken out a map and highlighted your route. You have programmed your company’s GPS and you are ready to go.

The only thing that’s missing now is the starting point! Before the GPS can figure out the distance to your destination, it has to determine your current location. In business terms, you have to know where you stand and what you have to work with before you can deliver on your intentions.

A SWOT analysis is a great tool for taking stock of what is and isn’t working in your business. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It’s like an inventory of your competitive advantages and your challenges. Taking the time to assess what your company does well and where you need to focus more effort can eliminate a lot of the guesswork in your action plan. The SWOT analysis also clarifies where you have ample resources and where you may need to devote capital to become or stay competitive.

Our previous blog on SWOT analyses details the concepts and questions to ask yourself when assessing your “current location.” It’s important to conduct SWOT analyses on a regular basis because the external components, Opportunities and Threats, change with the economy, trends, competition and other factors outside of your control.

Once you’ve done your SWOT analysis, you are ready to start your journey toward the fulfillment of your business intentions. You will have a very clear picture of the path ahead, and exactly what it will take to get there. To win any race, you have to show up at the start.

Are you ready to win?

Shifting Gears to Stay in the Game

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. If you run into a wall…figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.” Michael Jordan, Legendary Basketball Player

This is the second in a three-part series on how to stay competitive in challenging and changing economic times.

At Possibilities Unlimited, we work with a broad range of companies and industry types. Last year, we witnessed a lot of creative reactions to the changing marketplace. Here are some examples of strategies our clients implemented to stay in the game in the face of shrinking resources:

1. Cross-training. Sounds simple, but it is always an effective strategy that gives you the capability to respond quickly to unpredictable market swings. Our client is an upscale real estate consulting firm. They decided to train analysts to sell consulting and got more boots on the ground to spread their message. The result is an increasing pipeline of business and greater visibility upon which they continue to build.

2. Renegotiation. Hey, your customers are doing it, why shouldn’t you? We had several clients renegotiate leases, contact terms and employee pay. It never hurts to ask for a better deal to save money, just be careful you don’t sacrifice quality along the way.

3. Add on services. We had one client broker a complimentary service (printing with advertising) to provide more of a one-stop-shop. He got a cut of the printing and kept his client happy with the service.

4. Upselling. Go back through your client list and see who needs additional services. It’s a lot cheaper to upsell an existing relationship than to go out and get a new one.

5. Not standing for what isn’t working. Now is the time to stop putting up with systems and people who aren’t getting the job done. The status quo doesn’t work in tough times. Everyone on your team needs to be stepping up to the plate and looking for ways to be more efficient and provide better service. Make it a game within the company and reward good results. And if someone isn’t willing to play, maybe they aren’t a fit for your organization.

There are a lot of ways to stay competitive. These are just some examples. If you have a good story of how your company dealt with adversity, we’d love to hear it. And if we can help you break through a challenge in your business, just email us. We’re here to help you win.

Next in the series: How to Generate Leads in Any Economy

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Production & Delivery - Running With The Ball

"You are never really playing an opponent. Your are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits that is real joy." - Arthur Ashe, American Tennis Player

Production and Delivery – this is where your company runs with the ball. This is where you make your product, develop your service, and get it out to the public. You’ve got to have an energized, efficient production and delivery system, or you’re never going to win the game of business.

The Four Elements of Production and Delivery are:

· Measurements of Performance
· Resources
· Procedures
· Team

Measurements of Performance are essential to any business operation. They provide the specifications to employees so they can know if they are winning in their job. If you give someone a task, and you do not define what you want, that person has no means of determining what will satisfy you. It’s like going into a restaurant and asking the waitress to go get you something to eat. Who knows what she might bring from the kitchen? You do not want to take that chance. By defining your measurements of performance, you eliminate the guesswork. The specific, measurable results clearly explain what you expect and give the employees benchmarks for success.

Resources are the building blocks you use to produce your product. They include your facilities, equipment, inventory, labor and management. You combine these ingredients in various amounts to create your product. You must manage each carefully. You must control the purchase and distribution of each. How well you manage the cost and use of these resources determines the profit of your business. Setting up systems to control, manage and reduce the cost of resources is a great way to increase profits.

Procedures set up the flow of your business. When you move from a business that has all the information in people’s heads to one that has the procedures on paper, you will have matured into a company with the potential for more growth. It also creates potential for a business that can grow without the owner there on a day-to-day basis. That is the sign of a growing business. Putting your procedures in writing is often the limiting factor. Once companies take this action, the door opens up to a lot of new opportunities. More people can be cross trained to more jobs, creating more efficiency. Employees can deliver a more uniform product that meets the company’s written standards.

Team is what is present when your company is aligned on a purpose. People work together as a high-performance team when they are aligned on a common goal. If you look at your business as a sports team, you will see that all the elements that are present in sports are present in your business. Goals, rules, scoreboards, penalties, coaches, celebrations, winning, losing, and deciding what to do next time. You must create team spirit in your company to get the turbo boost that happens when people work together. When all their efforts combine the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and you win the game of business.

Are you ready to win?