Four times the revenue growth, twelve times the stock performance, and over 700 times the profit growth over an eleven year period. What competitive advantage led to this huge margin in performance of one group of companies over another in similar industries? In a landmark study of over 200 firms by Harvard professors John Kotter and James Heskett, it was found that companies which equally focus on three key stakeholders…
Work no more than 90 minutes and then take a break! Do this two more times in a day and you’ll accomplish more in 4.5 hours than those cranking hard for 8 to 12 hours straight. Throw in an occasional Vitamin C IV with glutathione and some deep breathing exercises and you’re good to go for the next decade. I’m oversimplifying the message from executive performance icon Tony Schwartz, but…
To read Basics of Retail Math (Part 1), please click here. To read Basics of Retail Math (Part 2), please click here. How to Increase Your Margin Obviously, the question here becomes, “How do I increase my margin?” An additional question must be, “How do I increase my margin while still keeping my customers happy and therefore my sales rising?” Relax. There are several different tactics you can use to…
To read Basics of Retail Math (Part 1), please click here. Inventory Turn Turnover of inventory, or turn, is the calculation of how many times you sell and replenish the merchandise in your store over the course of a year. To figure out your turn, divide your annual sales by your average inventory (at retail). For instance, if your sales are $400,000 for the year and your average retail is…
Truly, this is the Holy Grail in sales organizations. Sales recruiters are always looking for the “intangibles” that make for a great sales producer. Management is frustrated in their hiring. HR is always on the lookout for seminars and classes that can help improve performance from this vital part of every organization. Sales Managers have their bookcases filled with the latest theory on unlocking the keys to attract this special…
I read a book recently which changed my life. It is called The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less. I’ve read many business books, and this one has had one of the largest impacts in the shortest time. First: the concept. What is it with this 80/20 rule? The Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, is the law of the vital few. About 80% of effects come…
Like many CEOs, Larry Weinberg thought he knew his customer base – and was marketing to it correctly. His award-winning company, BOWA, which for 22 years has built and remodeled luxury homes in the Washington, D.C. area, considered its main customer the architects who were doing design work on a home and needed a builder’s help on the job. “Yet early last year,” says Weinberg “we realized we were marketing…
Are you following up too much? Or, not enough? It’s a constant dilemma for sales, especially someone running a small business. There’s always a fear that perhaps, you’ve crossed the fine line of being persistent, over to the side of being obnoxious. Following up is important but it must be tempered to have the right balance. Without follow-up, you are missing HUGE opportunities. It is one of the best things…
Dr. Hermann Simon, my favorite growth company researcher, is at it again – racing around the globe (in Japan as I write this), sharing what he sees are the trends shaping the new decade. He was kind enough to let me preview his latest research and share the results. Here’s my interpretation of four of his trends most likely to impact growth firms: Accelerating Globalization We’ve only seen the tip…
Retailing is all about change, because consumers change and so do their tastes. If you don’t change, you don’t grow. —MARVIN TRAUB, former CEO of Bloomingdale’s Financial freedom. Setting your own schedule. Being your own boss. Take your pick. No matter what your collateral reasons for opening a retail store, the numbers are obviously what drive your decision about whether or not to invest the large and intense amount of…
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