by Elizabeth Hines | Jul 27, 2012 | Blog
It’s safe to say that the clients I engage with fall into two categories when it comes to business data; those that are drowning in it and those that ignore it altogether. The ones that are drowning in data know all the relevant facts that keep them out of trouble with their Boards or their senior executives, but struggle to tell you what really drives their business costs or profits. The ones that ignore the data are the savvy veterans that rely on their historical win / loss records in their business, but ask them to change course or innovate, and they are like fish out of water.
Chances are you’ll fall somewhere close to those two camps, and for some time, I did as well. It was then that I realized that tracking data for the sake of “tracking” was a waste of time for me and for my teams. However, there is data that should be relentlessly tracked and used in all of your decision processes. I call this data, “Decision-Quality”. This is the data you track that drives your business strategy and execution.
Decision Quality data goes beyond the traditional Profit / Loss packages that are churned out every quarter and disseminated to your business chieftains. Decision Quality Data sets are the building blocks and the levers of your business. Examples of Decision Quality Data are areas of your business that can be affected by the execution of your employees. Put simply, your sales employees may not be able to directly affect your finance treasury function, but working together with your finance team, they CAN effect cash flow by selling credit-worthy customers, cutting better financial deals, and when necessary, helping in the collection process. The same can be said of your purchasing professionals teaming with distribution leaders and finance team. This team can coordinate at the front line to cut costs and reduce inventory spend by developing inventory and financial metrics that matter to them and the company overall. By working in concert, they have the ability to solve the problems that arise and avoid pitfalls in real time instead of reacting when the quarterly metrics come out.
Quite frankly, if you are collecting and looking at data, but not taking action as the result of it, STOP. You won’t miss a thing and your team will thank you for saving them time to spend on more productive activities. Don’t fall into the data-cycle-trap dictated by data that is tracked on a calendar basis for the sake of tracking. Ask your teams what data they need to be effective, and simplify the way for them to get it in near real time. Once this type of data is in the hands of a cross functional team of front line managers, task them with the needed improvement and watch them make dramatic impacts in your overall business performance and customer experience, and in turn, your profits. The results will be better and more sustained than if you drove them with a mandate from the top because these managers live and breathe in the environment that created the data in the first place. Their cross functional nature and familiarity with the issues are a winning combination. Give them the data and the direction and watch your teams win.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jun 25, 2012 | Blog
It can happen to good companies as well as weak ones. Your organization makes a “relationship defining” mistake with a new customer or even worse, one of your best customers. How do you handle it?
On a recent client engagement where we were retained to increase sales force effectiveness, we got to see firsthand our client company reaction to an operational mistake in one of their after-market spare parts service engagements. It wasn’t pretty. Once the service break came to light, their first reaction was to go into “denial-mode” as they disputed the customer claim. After that didn’t work, they moved on to “shirk-mode” where they cited other factors that may have caused them to miss their service obligations. Lastly they entered “apology-mode” where they went overboard apologizing profusely instead of solving the problem in the first place. At that point, it got pretty ugly with their longstanding client.
What could they have done differently to remedy the situation and save the customer relationship? Here’s what I like to see my clients do and the advice I give them. It’s a pretty simple 3 step formula that everyone in your organization should follow when there is a service disconnect of any proportion.
- Get to the heart of the matter immediately. Don’t look for back doors or contributors to help share the blame. If you make a mistake, own it outright and clearly. Don’t be wishy-washy. Be strong in your admission and stronger in your statements of reparation. Then move to step 2.
- Contain and problem solve. Putting your company’s energy here instead of trying to distance yourself from the problem will not only limit the damage, it will show your customer that your organization has core values and that your intent is to limit your customer’s exposure and then fix the service break. You don’t need to be super-heroes here, be focused, listen and act decisively. Then move to step 3
- After the smoke has cleared and tempers have subsided, reaffirm your company’s commitment to your customer and reiterate the steps you took to solve the problem in the short term as well as the steps you will put in place to insure that the issue will not reoccur. Do it in writing. Conversations fade as well as memories. Everyone will remember the pain of the service issue, make sure they remember the short term and longer term solution. One note of caution here; this is not the time to be patting yourself on the back. You screwed up, but you made it right for the long term. That’s why your customer chose you in the first place. Reaffirm your commitments to your customer and do it in writing.
Customers don’t like mistakes, and they have a bigger dislike for mistakes that come with a lack of ownership and path to resolution. Follow these simple steps above and keep more customers for the long term.
by Elizabeth Hines | May 31, 2012 | Blog
I read an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review that was written by Jody Greenestone Miller and Matt Miller titled The Rise of the Supertemp. The article does a really nice job of positively exposing and exploring the growing numbers and interest in what they term “the free agent nation”, a/k/a “The Supertemps”. Supertemps are top managers and professionals with real world experience from top corporations who have chosen to pursue project based careers independent from any firm. The authors go on to say that these Supertemps are being relied on more and more by companies to handle mission critical work that in the past would have had to be performed by permanent staff (read costly) or expensive outside firms (also read costly).
The author’s opinion is that these so-called Supertemps are growing in numbers and will eventually change how business works. In the article it was noted that a 2011 McKinsey study found that 58% of US companies expect to use more temporary employment at all levels of their organization and that 16 million Americans are working in this fashion today. We at Fronetics feel so strongly about this trend that we created a service offering tailored to these Supertemps and the companies that need their services. We call it Fronetics Interim Retained Management Service or F.I.R.M.S. .We like to think of it as a “management as a service” offering. Although the concept has been around for some time in the ranks of the production or hourly employee base, it is just reaching critical mass in the management and executive ranks.
If you think about it, the reasons behind growth in Supertemps are really simple. For the companies using the Supertemp, they get a high quality, experienced, and focused resource when they need it for exactly how long they need it for, at a fraction of the cost of a full time hire or an expensive outside firm. Not to mention, the time lag involved with getting a full time hire up to speed. For the Supertemp, they get to work on exciting and quality projects at superior organizations. The work is intense for a specific period of time (or outcome) and then it ends. The Supertemp gets to see the fruits of their labor, gets paid similarly (or in some cases better) than traditional full time options, and then gets to re-charge when the work is complete. And with the growing advances in technology, the Supertemps can be located anywhere and have access anytime. It really makes perfect sense for both parties. And this so-called trend is not going to go away. As companies continually need to “do more with less”, high quality expertise will get balanced against cost and time to market. When this happens, the “Supertemp” option will win that battle every time. In the near-term, it’s in the best interest of corporations and their hiring executives to start developing relationships directly with Supertemps or with intermediaries that represent them. At Fronetics, we are building our relationship base and deploying these Supertemps now and expect to see this “management as a service” offering continue to grow in the future.
by Elizabeth Hines | May 7, 2012 | Blog
I have had the opportunity to sit on several boards as well as be part of some amazing management teams, both in the profit world as well as non-profit. I have enjoyed the opportunity to participate. One characteristic that is universal in what I would term “effective” boards or management teams is the ability to recognize a suffering initiative or project and take the appropriate action….cut it. That’s right, knowing when to fold ‘em is the hallmark of a good team not afraid to do the right things.
I have also seen “not-so-effective” teams refuse to end a failing initiative or project because of the time and effort that are already “sunk” into it. Not to mention the personal capital that may be expended or exposed. Hello….these sunk costs are in the past….throwing more resources at projects that are duds doesn’t raise the chances of winning, either personally or professionally. In fact, they may have the opposite effect. Here’s a good way to see which category you may fall into and then point you in a better direction:
Seek a neutral opinion: Talk to peers, colleagues, mentors, or advisors that are outside the decision circle. They won’t be as rooted on the past or future and will be more likely to tell you the straight skinny as it relates to next steps.
Take the noose off your neck: Everyone makes mistakes…and I mean everyone. What is the real skill and one that sets people apart is the courage and ability to reverse or change course when things are not adding up either financially or operationally. You will be more respected and trusted if you evaluate openly rather than ride the past decisions into the ground.
Fear of failure is real the enemy: Many great outcomes come from strategies that were altered along the way. That’s a healthy and successful process. Encourage this type of flexibility in your decision making. Don’t get me wrong, outcomes are important, but the process of strategic course correcting will insure your teams get better outcomes more frequently.
by Elizabeth Hines | Apr 30, 2012 | Blog
I think it is safe to say that with Avnet’s latest announcement regarding their introduction of Avnet Integrated Resources , that the aftermarket logistics business just got a little more crowded, a little more consolidated, and a lot more recognized.
The terms aftermarket services, integrated logistics, and product lifecycle managementare by no means new. They encompass the services commonly referred to as technical support, field support, service parts logistics, electronics repair, asset recovery, data destruction, and e-cycling. The “new” piece is what was once a fragmented industry of focused organizations servicing their niche in the aftermarket space is now regarded as a big business opportunity for companies like Avnet. And let’s not forget about Arrow Inc.’s interest in this “niche”. Almost two years ago, Arrow got into the aftermarket services space with their strategic acquisition of Converge and later branded the service offering ReSolve by Arrow.
What does all of this mean? For the marketplace, it means the recognition that profitability is not only about bringing a product forward; it’s about managing every phase of the product lifecycle from design to de-manufacture. For industry participants, it means that everyone needs to step up their game in terms of service strategy, competency and breadth as the “big-boys” have entered the game. And for customers, it means a qualified one-stop-shop for all of their life-cycle needs. Aftermarket services has come of age.
