by Fronetics | Nov 18, 2014 | Blog, Logistics, Marketing
Cerasis is a top North American third party logistics company offering logistics solutions with a strong focus on LTL freight management. In 2012 the company decided to move from a traditional approach to marketing (ads in print publications and a heavy reliance on referrals) to a digital strategy – inbound marketing.
Within 25 months:
- Visits to the Cerasis website increased by 1,141%;
- Visits to the company blog increased from zero to 46,404;
- Traffic driven by social media increased by 376,150%;
- Organic traffic increased by 4,066%.
Moreover, Cerasis gained 715 leads. Fourteen percent of these leads converted to customers. The 98 new customers Cerasis gained through their inbound marketing efforts generated a 14% increase in revenue.
To learn more about Cerasis’ approach to inbound marketing and for more results, download the case study: 3PL company Cerasis acquires 98 customers through inbound marketing.
by Elizabeth Hines | Sep 11, 2014 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
Strategy is not execution
Strategy and execution are fundamentally different. Strategy is about making choices. Execution is about getting down and dirty so that the choices made can produce results. Here’s how you can get from excellent strategy to strong execution.
Strategy is the pursuit of excellence. It is more than white boards, spreadsheets, taglines, slogans, and vanity metrics. Strategy is about making choices on where to play, how to play, and how to maximize value — for your company and for your customers.
Execution is about doing the work needed to produce results within the context of the aforementioned strategy.
Here is how to move from strategy to execution.
Keep it simple.
When it comes to strategy simplicity is key. Develop a few simple but big ideas or themes that will drive your organization. Live or die by these ideas. If you develop too many or they are too complicated, you will lose focus and internal buy-in. When you lose focus and internal buy-in, execution is doomed to failure.
Involve your team.
When you pick your few big ideas (see above), make sure you involve your “front line” team. These are the people who turn action into daily routines. Their insight and knowledge are invaluable.
Be obsessed with your strategy.
If you cannot articulate the “why” of your strategy in everything your organization does, it is probably the wrong strategy. Being obsessed with your strategy means that your strategy can be demonstrated in every action, every day.
Focus on the customer.
If it is not about the customer, it is not strategic. Everything you do needs to link back to the people who are paying you… your customers. If it does not help them, it does not help you and therefore cannot be strategic.
By staying focused on these business execution strategies, you’ll be able to successfully move your supply chains from idea to reality.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 28, 2014 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Talent
Most teams are able to fairly easily decipher what needs to be done. However, when it comes to the how, new or weak teams fall flat. Here is how you can optimize your team for success.
Define roles
Clearly define roles and make sure every team member understands not only their role, but the roles of others on the team. When roles are defined and understood the team can avoid overlap and can avoid the trap of “I thought someone else was doing that.” In short, by defining roles your team can be more efficient and more effective.
Establish a communication protocol
Take the time to establish a communication protocol. This protocol should not be a rulebook, but rather it should outline a set of decisions about how the team will message each other and stakeholders on the progress and needs of the team. If you leave this to chance you are, well — taking a chance. If you establish a communication protocol up front you will achieve better communication and it will be less likely the ball will be dropped.
Develop performance metrics
Develop performance metrics up front. If you don’t take the time to do this, how will you know if you are making progress? How will you know what to do if you are not making progress? How will you know when goals are achieved? How will you be able to reward team members? Take the time to develop performance metrics up front — and get everyone on the same page.
Provide your team with necessary tools
Provide your team with the tools that they need to succeed, or you will set them up for failure. For example, give them the go-ahead to make certain decisions without needing to go through 11 bureaucratic steps. Similarly, give the team access to the people and information that they need to get the job done.
By focusing on the best path forward, rather than the end goal, good teams can get even better.
A version of this post previously appeared on EBN.
by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 27, 2014 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Talent
Look across business, sports, entertainment, and the military, and identify the top performers. Next, take a step back at look at the characteristics of these individuals. What you will find is that there are at least three elements that they all have.
They know how to maximize through self-knowledge. Top performers have intimate self-knowledge. They know themselves — their strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and vices. They know how to use this knowledge to stretch and apply themselves. Furthermore, they know how to sustain themselves.
They know how to work with the environment. Top performers know and understand their environment. This enables leaders to work with and within the environment effectively, shape it, and be in tune with it.
They know (and use) the ingredients for a top performance. Top performers know what makes a top performance. They know that it requires planning, preparation, delivery, and evaluation. And they execute — each time.
They understand emotion. Top performers understand when and how to remove emotion from the equation. On the flip side, they know when not to table their emotions.
By focusing on these characteristics, you can be a top performer and encourage your team to do the same. In the end, maximizing the performance of each individual will maximize the performance of the team and, eventually, your company.
A version of this post previously appeared on EBN.
by Fronetics | Jul 24, 2014 | Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain, Talent
The supply chain industry has a talent crisis. The question is: how can we solve this crisis? To answer this question I turned to Rodney Apple, founder of the SCM Talent Group. Apple has worked as a supply chain recruiter for the majority of his 19+ year career within the staffing industry and he has filled more than 1,000 positions within the industry ranging from executive-level in Fortune 500 headquarters settings to leadership and staff-level roles across large networks of manufacturing and distribution facilities within North America. Apple’s role affords him the ability to witness the talent crisis from the perspective of the industry, the company, and the job seeker.
Kate Lee: The supply chain talent crisis is a hot topic. Is the job market as crazy as it is being made out to be?
Rodney Apple: The job market has been hot for years and there is always a crunch to find and source top supply chain talent. Baby Boomers are retiring in droves and there just aren’t enough people with the necessary skills and experience coming in to fill that gap. With that being said, I don’t think the job market is as crazy as the media makes it out to be. However, we still need the media to continue researching and reporting on this critical topic as this builds more awareness and helps to generate new ideas and solutions for solving the talent problem.
Lee: When it comes to supply chain talent, what is the biggest challenge?
Apple: We don’t have enough students at the K-12 levels that are saying “when I grow up, I want to be a Supply Chain Manager.” Many students coming up through our educational ranks don’t even know what supply chain is or they perceive supply chain as a blue collar industry where you either drive freight trucks or load and unload them at a warehouse dock.
There needs to be big thinking and big solutions to change this image at the macro level. The industry needs to make a concerted effort to communicate to K-12 students what supply chain is and what the career paths look like. Ultimately, it needs to find a way to brand supply chain as a top career choice. Investing into K-12 outreach programs and mass media campaigns, similar to how our military branches advertise for recruiting purposes, could be a great way to educate the future workforce about the supply chain and get them excited about pursuing degrees and careers within supply chain.
Lee: What other challenges do you see?
Many companies haven’t taken the initiative to develop best-in-class talent acquisition resources and programs. Companies that perform the best are the ones that treat the recruiting department like a strategic, value-added program versus a low-level, tactical HR cost center.
In addition, many companies are being too strict and inflexible with their hiring requirements. Instead of defining the job when they write out their job descriptions, they focus on defining the candidate by listing out a ridiculously long and unrealistic list of skills and qualifications that the “ideal candidate” must have to be “qualified”. This antiquated technique usually ends up deterring top candidates from applying and disqualifies candidates that have what it takes to do the job.
Lee: What can companies do to attract top talent?
Apple:
- Develop a best-in-class talent acquisition strategy and program
o People – hire the best talent sourcers and recruiters that you can find and make sure you have a properly staffed department so they’ll operate in a “proactive” versus “reactive” capacity.
o Process –streamline the end-to-end talent acquisition process with the goal of alleviating administrative, burdensome tasks and unnecessary touch points.
o System – implement a robust Applicant Tracking System, one that integrates with the company career site and ideally the HRIS or ERP system.
o Employee Referral Program – referrals are typically the top source for hires so companies should invest into developing a best-in-class employee referral program. Get the CEO and all senior executives to champion the program so all employees are involved and incented to participate.
o College Recruiting Program – partner with supply chain universities and proactively recruit students from these universities, early and often.
o External Supply Chain Recruiting Partners – identify supply chain recruiting agencies that specialize in the areas where hiring help is needed the most.
- Upgrade Career Branding Materials – Develop attractive branding/marketing materials to include a separate company career website that highlights company culture, history, key stats, job opportunities, career paths, etc. Incorporate interviews from employees and testimonials that illustrate why your company is a great place to work. In addition, learn how to write job descriptions that attract top supply chain talent.
- Create a Supply Chain Leadership Development Program –This is a great and cost-effective way to attract top entry-level talent and aggressively train and ramp them up to speed by rotating them into different functional areas within the supply chain. GE is well known for having best-in-class leadership development programs.
- Be open-minded when it comes to considering top talent from other fields/industries. Many candidates in other professionals have very transferable skill sets for careers within supply chain.
- Develop a program for employing Veterans, candidates with disabilities and long-term unemployed.
- Invest more into job training and mentoring programs e.g. supply chain certifications and tuition reimbursement.
Lee: What is the role of social media in recruitment?
Apple: Companies and their recruiters need to be on social media to establish their employment brand, to attract talent, and to share job openings and upcoming recruitment events. Furthermore, social media can be leveraged by all employees as a talent acquisition tool. For example, companies could require all employees to distribute jobs out to their social media connections/networks.
Lee: What advice do you have for job seekers?
Apple: A job search should be conducted strategically, not haphazardly. It’s all about laying out a robust job search strategy with a corresponding action plan. In addition, networking is where job seekers should spend the bulk of their time versus applying online and waiting for the phone to ring.
Lee: Do you have any advice for job seekers trying to break into the supply chain industry?
Apple: Changing industries is tough to do but not impossible. Start by looking at what skills are transferrable and highlight these skills on your resume, LinkedIn profile, and in interviews. In some cases going back to school may be necessary. This may mean a degree program, or it could mean obtaining a supply chain certificate.
Networking is paramount. Join local chapters of supply chain associations, attend their meetings and network your butt off.
Finally, remember that it may be necessary to take a step back in both job level and compensation. Often times taking one small step back in your career could result in three giant leaps forward.
