The age-old Value Equation of Price + Quality + Service is something we've all read about, talked about and maybe even studied. I submit that it may be the most overlooked, critical factor affecting the performance of small and medium sized businesses today.
In today's world, businesses have to be competitive in all 3 areas of the Value Equation, but to grow and succeed, they must very clearly identify one of those 3 areas and excel at it. I've recently done work with with a franchise organization that has positioned itself as the premium quality product and service provider in their space. Yet a conversation with a struggling franchisee revealed that he does not spend money on marketing or on improving in any aspect of customer service and product expertise. He simply spreads word of mouth that his products are the cheapest in town. Clearly there is a breakdown between the value his brand would like to provide and what he has decided to provide on a local basis. It is no wonder that marketing material messaging and tools "do not work for him" because he has not bought into providing the component of the Value Proposition that the company's training, tools and marketing address.
Look at your business and determine if your best competitive advantage should be 1) A lower price (a dangerous game unless your operational efficiencies are better than the big guys), 2) Providing Quality that the competition can't match (allows you to make the margin you want), or 3) Superior levels of Service. Many companies fool themselves by saying their business is all about service when that is the last thing they truly provide. When you know what your edge is, ensure that everything about your organization screams that message. It's the way you recruit, hire, train, manage, market, price, look and communicate. It should be the over-riding theme that guides every decision made within your organization. Figure out what your niche is and then blow the competition away!
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of small business management and franchising.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Career Searching in the 21st Century
Each day we hear about people in our personal networks who have been downsized and outsourced. Searching for a position with unemployment hovering around 10% can be daunting...even for top performers.
Time proven strategies for a successful career search still include networking, on-line portals, executive recruiters, and so on. It is very important to know that technology is playing a larger part than ever. 80% of resumes submitted are now added to data bases and your resume has in effect become your own personal web home page.
Databases used by recruiters and employers use the same search functionality that a web browser employs. They search for keywords that are part of your resume. To get noticed, ensure that you do on-line research for keywords that relate to your target career. You will find great suggestions under categories ranging from account management and sales to technical positions. Be sure to take the extra time to ensure that key words are included on your resume and you will greatly increase the chance of employers finding you!
Good luck in your search!
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of small business management and franchising.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
Time proven strategies for a successful career search still include networking, on-line portals, executive recruiters, and so on. It is very important to know that technology is playing a larger part than ever. 80% of resumes submitted are now added to data bases and your resume has in effect become your own personal web home page.
Databases used by recruiters and employers use the same search functionality that a web browser employs. They search for keywords that are part of your resume. To get noticed, ensure that you do on-line research for keywords that relate to your target career. You will find great suggestions under categories ranging from account management and sales to technical positions. Be sure to take the extra time to ensure that key words are included on your resume and you will greatly increase the chance of employers finding you!
Good luck in your search!
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of small business management and franchising.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Where are you headed?
This simple and straightforward question gathers significant meaning when directed at one's career or one's life. In plain terms, if you don't know where you are going, you certainly don't know how to get there. The old line "we don't know where we're headed, but we're making great time" applies to to many professionals these days. But how do we get out of this rut?
The answer is simple, but it's not easy. The key to know where you are going is taking the time to lay out a plan. This plan begins with fundamental goal setting. We've all been to the seminar when the speaker asks the group how many of us have our goals written down and on our person. Typically about 5% to 10% of the group will raise their hands; and half of them are lying.
Effective goal setting takes patience and focus. I recommend the following process. Begin by identifying the roles you play in your life. They could be spouse, parent, business owner, sales manager, sibling, son or daughter, friend, church volunteer, coach, and so on. Next, think about the components that describe all the important areas to having a balanced life such as family, career, finance, health, spiritual, adventure, relationships and so on. List these categories on a sheet of paper. Next look at each of these categories and consider each of your roles as listed above. Write down what you want to accomplish in each category and under each role. List goals for the current year, and for 5 years. Making this list should be fun. It reminds me of being a child during the holidays when we would take an old style catalogue and circle what we wanted for Christmas. Rather than toys we now list things like being debt free, improving our physical condition so we feel great, having a great relationship with our spouses and children, getting that promotion at work and so on.
The next step is the one that was a pleasant surprise for me. After you list the things you want while considering your roles, being to list the action steps required to attain each of those objectives. The surprise for me is that I already knew what I needed to do. The key was committing the steps to writing and then adding target dates and getting them onto my calendar.
For example, under finance, you may have a vehicle loan that you would like to pay off in the coming year. After writing this down, you think about the additional funds you'll need. Now you start to look at your budget at home and see where you can save the amount of money you need each month or even better you look at your bonus plan or business to see where you can find additional income there.
The key component to this is how we spend our time. The old adage, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" holds true. Even worse, with the way the world is changing around us, if we do what we've always done, we'll get even less. Ensure that you block time on your calendar for the things that bring results. In this day and age, effective prioritization may be the most important skill for an entrepreneur or executive to have. When planning your schedule, do it in this order. 1 Personal things. If you don't put your life and your family life first, it will come last. 2 Required or Mandatory meetings. If the boss says you have to be there, be there. (Sometimes the boss is your customer rather than an employer.) 3 Time to execute the actions on your plan from your goal list. Don't let other people's priorities become your priorities. Schedule major blocks of time for major initiatives and don't allow other things to interfere. Minimize distractions like e-mail and voice mail. Check those twice daily, on a schedule and use the major blocks of each day for accomplishing your objectives.
The clear key to all of this is identifying the objectives, laying out the plan, committing the time (your most precious commodity) and executing. The results from this simply but disciplined course of action will change your life forever. Guaranteed.
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of small business management and franchising.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
The answer is simple, but it's not easy. The key to know where you are going is taking the time to lay out a plan. This plan begins with fundamental goal setting. We've all been to the seminar when the speaker asks the group how many of us have our goals written down and on our person. Typically about 5% to 10% of the group will raise their hands; and half of them are lying.
Effective goal setting takes patience and focus. I recommend the following process. Begin by identifying the roles you play in your life. They could be spouse, parent, business owner, sales manager, sibling, son or daughter, friend, church volunteer, coach, and so on. Next, think about the components that describe all the important areas to having a balanced life such as family, career, finance, health, spiritual, adventure, relationships and so on. List these categories on a sheet of paper. Next look at each of these categories and consider each of your roles as listed above. Write down what you want to accomplish in each category and under each role. List goals for the current year, and for 5 years. Making this list should be fun. It reminds me of being a child during the holidays when we would take an old style catalogue and circle what we wanted for Christmas. Rather than toys we now list things like being debt free, improving our physical condition so we feel great, having a great relationship with our spouses and children, getting that promotion at work and so on.
The next step is the one that was a pleasant surprise for me. After you list the things you want while considering your roles, being to list the action steps required to attain each of those objectives. The surprise for me is that I already knew what I needed to do. The key was committing the steps to writing and then adding target dates and getting them onto my calendar.
For example, under finance, you may have a vehicle loan that you would like to pay off in the coming year. After writing this down, you think about the additional funds you'll need. Now you start to look at your budget at home and see where you can save the amount of money you need each month or even better you look at your bonus plan or business to see where you can find additional income there.
The key component to this is how we spend our time. The old adage, if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" holds true. Even worse, with the way the world is changing around us, if we do what we've always done, we'll get even less. Ensure that you block time on your calendar for the things that bring results. In this day and age, effective prioritization may be the most important skill for an entrepreneur or executive to have. When planning your schedule, do it in this order. 1 Personal things. If you don't put your life and your family life first, it will come last. 2 Required or Mandatory meetings. If the boss says you have to be there, be there. (Sometimes the boss is your customer rather than an employer.) 3 Time to execute the actions on your plan from your goal list. Don't let other people's priorities become your priorities. Schedule major blocks of time for major initiatives and don't allow other things to interfere. Minimize distractions like e-mail and voice mail. Check those twice daily, on a schedule and use the major blocks of each day for accomplishing your objectives.
The clear key to all of this is identifying the objectives, laying out the plan, committing the time (your most precious commodity) and executing. The results from this simply but disciplined course of action will change your life forever. Guaranteed.
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of small business management and franchising.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Don't Be SNIOPS!
16 years of my career were spent working for a dynamic entrepreneur named Tom Gegax. Tom and his co-foundering partner Don Gullett founded Tires Plus. Tires Plus was a Minneapolis based tire and service retailer (now owned by Bridgestone-Firestone www.bridgestonetire.com/ ) that dominated markets it entered. One of Tom's favorite expressions was "Don't be SNIOPS!" SNIOPS stands for Subject to the Negative Influence of Other People".
How has the chatter around your office or work place been lately? Are you hearing a lot of doom and gloom? Does it seem like business is bad and getting worse? Are many of you afraid for the loss of your jobs? Are you wondering how you are going to handle to bills if your income stream comes to a screeching halt? If these are the kinds of thoughts that are racing around your head, how exactly are you going to focus and remain fully engaged with your business building initiatives? If you are an entrepreneur or manager, your leadership has NEVER been more important than it is right now.
The point of this article is not to ask you to be an ostrich or a Pollyanna. The current economic situation is very real, but focusing on the challenges rather than the objectives will derail any team. As a leader, consider these techniques for pushing through these tough times.
Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
How has the chatter around your office or work place been lately? Are you hearing a lot of doom and gloom? Does it seem like business is bad and getting worse? Are many of you afraid for the loss of your jobs? Are you wondering how you are going to handle to bills if your income stream comes to a screeching halt? If these are the kinds of thoughts that are racing around your head, how exactly are you going to focus and remain fully engaged with your business building initiatives? If you are an entrepreneur or manager, your leadership has NEVER been more important than it is right now.
The point of this article is not to ask you to be an ostrich or a Pollyanna. The current economic situation is very real, but focusing on the challenges rather than the objectives will derail any team. As a leader, consider these techniques for pushing through these tough times.
- Ask for and share success stories. Good news can be as contagious as bad news. Find it. Spread it!
- Keep meetings with staff focused on objectives and steps to attain them. A receiver who looks down field before catching the ball often drops it. Keep every one's eye on the ball.
- Celebrate all successes publicly within your work groups. Seeing others chalk up "wins" will drive the rest of the team and show them that it is possible.
- Keep long-range planning and objectives visible. Short term market challenges look like blips when looked at as a small part of a long-range plan.
- Keep your team tuned in to WIIFM. No, this is not a radio station, but "What's In It for Me". Remind them of the rewards that await them for good performance.
- Emphasize the intangibles. With people, motivation often comes from the little things like a face to face compliment about a specific task or project done well. Send hand written notes acknowledging notable efforts and accomplishments. Studies show that environmental issues outweigh compensation when people list what is important.
There is an old adage that reads "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." As a leader, step up and keep the focus on moving forward. Be realistic, yet positive. You will get results that may surprise you.
Jim Pascale is a 20+ year veteran of consulting with small business owners and has comprehensive knowledge of franchising.Contact Jim at jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Common Denominator of Success for Entrepreneurs
Recently, at an annual conference of a franchise company, the franchisor's leadership team held a series of 4 meetings with its franchise operators to discuss pertinent issues for each group. The interesting part is that the top quartile (in terms of sales volume) met first, then the second quartile, and so on. For these particular meetings, management thought that high volume business operators would interact best with each other and the low volume franchisees would be facing challenges similar to other low volume operators.
The first group, the high volume franchisees, talked about numbers, numbers and more numbers during the entire meeting. They shared benchmarks about their marketing expenditures and plans, margins on sales, product mix by percent, payroll costs and so on. All the pens were flying in the room. By the time the fourth group came through, the meeting was completely different. When questioned about percent of revenue budgeted for marketing or about sales product mix, this group had no idea where they stood. It was a blinding flash of the obvious that the low volume operators did not understand the key metrics behind their businesses.
In high school and college I ran track and cross country. I was blessed with runners body and was very competitive. It is hard to imagine finishing 4 laps around the track and not knowing how fast I ran the mile. It's hard to imagine not knowing the split times for each lap. Without targeting 64 second laps, you would never finish the mile in 4:16.
Ask yourself the question, "Am I in touch with the key metrics that drive my business?" Strong leaders take it to the next level and ensure that all their team members are in touch with the metrics they control. Laying out a plan and consistently measuring actual versus desired results separates the winners from the "also rans".
Jim Pascale
The Entreprenuer's Advantage
Learn more about franchising at http://www.franchise.org/
Find everything you want at http://www.google.com/
jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com
The first group, the high volume franchisees, talked about numbers, numbers and more numbers during the entire meeting. They shared benchmarks about their marketing expenditures and plans, margins on sales, product mix by percent, payroll costs and so on. All the pens were flying in the room. By the time the fourth group came through, the meeting was completely different. When questioned about percent of revenue budgeted for marketing or about sales product mix, this group had no idea where they stood. It was a blinding flash of the obvious that the low volume operators did not understand the key metrics behind their businesses.
In high school and college I ran track and cross country. I was blessed with runners body and was very competitive. It is hard to imagine finishing 4 laps around the track and not knowing how fast I ran the mile. It's hard to imagine not knowing the split times for each lap. Without targeting 64 second laps, you would never finish the mile in 4:16.
Ask yourself the question, "Am I in touch with the key metrics that drive my business?" Strong leaders take it to the next level and ensure that all their team members are in touch with the metrics they control. Laying out a plan and consistently measuring actual versus desired results separates the winners from the "also rans".
Jim Pascale
The Entreprenuer's Advantage
Learn more about franchising at http://www.franchise.org/
Find everything you want at http://www.google.com/
jimpascaleminnesota@yahoo.com
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