Month: February 2020

Everyone in business has had a moment when they wished their business could just be predictable and reach a point of status quo. A point where every day is predictable and surprises are all good, if they come at all. Each day runs according to plan and no day requires more hours than you want to give. A mythical point of homeostasis – a moment of relative stable equilibrium. For some business leaders, this mythical vision consumes their every waking hour. There are likely as many reasons for this desire as there are business owners. Maybe it’s a desire to spend more time with the family or attempting to please a previous owner who remembers the way the business ran when they were in charge – maybe even a parent.…

Strategy can be straight forward or an illusive and long sought-after mirage in the desert. One factor that makes strategy difficult to develop and hard to implement are ongoing conflicts regarding products and product lines. In some ways, sales teams find certain legacy products easy to sell due to their existing customer base driving high customer demand and an easy selling environment. On the other hand, new products and the need to keep a product line fresh can be the lifeblood of a company over the long haul. It is logical that a sales team, much like water and electricity, will always choose the path of least resistance making legacy product lines a low resistance favorite. Unfortunately, or fortunately, these disagreements MUST be resolved before a solid company level strategy…

While it may be common knowledge that dogs age about seven years for each calendar year, for businesses, the pace is much quicker. Products that require application testing, your sales planning process is likely starting to focus on 2021 revenue opportunities and how to close them. This is a process that cannot be left to fate. It requires a significant amount of advance planning and effort. A business can grow for a brief period with little to no advance planning, but unplanned growth typically is accompanied by a never-ending stream of problems to solve. (more…)