|
Dear A.J.,
Whatever the size of your company, you need to capitalize on your most
valuable assets: your existing customers, and prospects who requested
information from you.
That is where you will get the most value. . . and they in turn will
get the most value from you. And managing value is what we are all about.
Take a few moments and dig into this edition of The Value Manager. If you
have any questions please give me a call. Enjoy!
-aj-
Slow but Steady
Yep, that's me with a smile on my face. Business has been good. It has
been a slow, but steady upswing for the past 6 months. This is confirmed
by our clients.
Although sales or budgets have been stagnant, even decreasing in some
of their cases, we have been able to take a look at projects and processes
and weed out the unnecessary, change those that affect the bottom-line in
a positive way, and allow for profits to increase.
Our mission at Value Management Partners is to help you remain or
become the pre-eminent value creators in your industry. We work with you
to develop and implement strategies for growth and competitive advantage.
Through our experience, over the years, we have learned the most effective
ways to bring strategies to life in compressed time frames using
results-oriented methodologies.
We work with you to understand and adapt to today's business
environment. We help you sketch out scenarios and strategic options,
visualize desirable outcomes three to five years hence, and develop new
business models. Together we are constantly extending our perspective and
generating new insights into the future, so that we can bring you ideas
and solutions that will enable you to stay ahead of the curve.
Find
out more....
|
|
Consultant Eye for the Business Guy |
 |
 The other night my wife and I
tuned in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on cable's Bravo
channel. The makeover show has become the surprise hit of the
summer. On each episode, five gay hosts guide one hapless straight
schlep through a fashion and decorating makeover of himself and his
abode.
We had a few laughs and the makeover was dramatic, especially for
the guy's apartment bathroom. But during the show one of the hosts
quoted some familiar words I have used before with my clients:
"We're not here to change you, we're here to make you better." Just
like this hapless guy, nobody likes change.
We live in a dynamic environment, with rapid change in every
aspect of our lives. Instead of letting these changes control us, we
must ourselves become change agents, using these external shifts to
our advantage, even to the point of creating some ourselves. We must
increase our ability to create and innovate, not merely react and
replicate.
The velocity of business change has increased to the point that
you must be able to constantly shift your thinking and emphasis to
address issues and opportunities as they arise. There is no
management practice that didn't work before that works now. Your
employee development and retention must change. Your new business
development and customer retention must change.
In short, your leadership skills and techniques must change, and
"Consultant Eye for the Business Guy" can show you how: How to
change your focus to be less on process and more on outcomes. How to
shift your thinking from linear problem solving to creative problem
solving. How to earn and nurture the support of your associates so
they share vision and consolidate their energies toward achieving
your goals.
Most important, you need to learn the "why" behind the "how."
Knowing how gives you tools to act, but knowing why gives you the
knowledge to anticipate, to move quickly, to consolidate the genius
of your organization--and blow away the competition.
Use
a Business Assessment as your springboard to change... »
|
|
|
Book Report |
|
 What's The Big
Idea?
Creating and Capitalizing on the Best New Management
Thinking
by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak
Major new management ideas are thrown at today's companies with
increasing frequency. But the fact is that only a handful of these
ideas will be a good fit for your organization. If you choose the
right idea at the right time, your company can become more
efficient, more effective, and more innovative. But if you choose
the wrong idea, or if you jump on the right bandwagon too late, your
company could fall hopelessly behind.
Some managers have improved their odds of success in the risky
but essential game of idea management. In What's the Big Idea?, the
authors introduce a class of managers they call "idea
practitioners." Idea practitioners are people who do the real work
of finding the right ideas and turning them into action.
It's the ultimate responsibility of leaders to make sure their
organizations are receptive to new ideas. More than technology, more
than capital, more than products or services, the future success of
every company will be measured by how well it finds and acts on the
most powerful ideas. This book describes how.
Get
it at Amazon »
|
|
|
Value-based Fees |
|
 No article in The Value Manager
has brought out more comments than last issue's "Why Value-based
Fees?" While most responses have been positive, it's the negative
ones that stick in my mind.
"All our consultants are paid hourly." That is a common response
when told there is no hourly rate. If you don't have any idea of
what you need, no idea of outcomes or results, and no idea of the
value you wish to receive, then by all means go as cheap as you can.
But then again, is it better to hire one consultant at $150 per hour
or another at $80 who will take twice as long to complete your
project?
The problem is that hourly fees focus on tasks -- what a
consultant does -- and not on results -- what you get. If you accept
the fact that the results of a project -- your improved condition --
will determine the range of your investment, then the outcomes
determine the fees. Remember: It's the outcomes, not the tasks, that
matter.
We'll have more discussion next issue. Look for "Pricing,
Packaging and Positioning."
Read
the article - Why Value-based Fees? »
|
|
|
You can quote me on that. . . . |
|
"Success in business requires training and
discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these
things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever
were."
--David Rockefeller
"Value is what people are willing to pay for it."
--John
Nasibitt
"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that
makes the difference."
--Coach Bear Bryant
If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't
really living.
--Gail Sheehy
"We will either find a way, or make one."
--Hannibal
|
|
|
Working with Numbers |
|
| How long did it take for each of the following
technologies to reach 25% of all U.S. homes?
- Telephone: 35 years
- TV: 26 years
- Radio: 22 years
- The PC: 16 years
- The Internet: 7 years
###
- Men do 29% of laundry each week.
- Only 7% of women trust their husbands to do it correctly.
###
- 46.5% of men say they ALWAYS put the seat down after they've
used the toilet.
- 100% of women claim to ALWAYS find it up.
|
| Quick Links... |
|
|
