Finance Company

Pete is the general manager of a west coast plant for a national company. He has had trouble meeting his revenue and profit numbers for the last year. His District Manager has asked him for a meeting to discuss action plans for performance improvement. Pete’s company is in a highly competitive market and margins are slim. He has been a general manager for eight years and is known as a tough, no-nonsense boss. He has always made money and reached company goal, but he never has achieved stellar results. This year has been particularly difficult. A bigger national competitor has purchased smaller local companies, lowered prices and he’s losing accounts. He has lost some employees due to turnover and has fired some of his managers for lack of results. Most of his salespeople are new and new sales have been slow in coming.Pete’s been working long hours and the stress is getting to him. He has wracked his brain with how to improve results quickly. He has already:
Threatened his management team
Cut expenses to the bone
Pulled in favors from a few key accounts
Fired people
Held service and sales contests
Demanded his management team work extra hours and delayed vacationsUnfortunately, results haven’t improved. He knew his job was on the line and he wasn’t sure what to do next. However, he would have a plan for his boss with timelines and new projections. He just dreaded the meeting. His boss took no excuses and would rant and rave at him and his team. Pete just hoped he didn’t stay an extra day.This is a typical scenario and challenge managers face today. How would you rate this manager as a boss? What do you think his managers would say about his leadership? He isn’t a bad person, and some in upper management would say he is a good boss doing the best he can and others would say fire him. What do you think his employees say?All Good Performance Begins with Clear Goals and PlansGood bosses know that people want to succeed. Goals motivate people to succeed. Earl Nightingale said it years ago, “The problem isn’t in achieving goals, people will do that. It’s getting them to set the goals in the first place.” Once the goals are set the key is the atmosphere you create will implementing the plan.A 100-year-old services company in the US wanted to improve sales to their existing customers. Their results were mediocre. They had tried a variety of incentives and meetings and nothing worked. By engaging them with the positive performance management strategies they began to make progress. Improvement began with a thorough assessment of sales management’s skills in communicating with existing customers. Tracking reports were created around well designed goals. Training was designed and implemented The goals were shared with all involved. With consistent communication on the numbers and goals, occasional incentives, follow-up coaching and regular recognition, results improved and were sustained.What changed? Did the employees decide to become better? Did they get fed up and decide to do it themselves? Did they go to management with a big goals and a new plan? Certainly not. The management changed, with some help. They refocused their efforts with new goals, tools and support. How was this process different from Pete’s?Bad bosses often lack clear goals and plans. If they have them their execution is suspect and weak, and some threaten termination if they aren’t achieved. One general manager in a retail organization changed goals and direction so often, he disillusioned his employees, performance suffered and he lost his job. Other managers simply don’t worry about goals. They don’t know how to set them; no one showed them how, so they show up every day and do the best they can. Little is discussed about goals or progress. Of course most managers have goals, but they forget to tell the employees. If the goals aren’t reached, the employees get in trouble or are tormented about the lack of results.Once people are clear on the goals and action plans to achieve them, most people perform better. What is it about this that confused or frightens managers? So few really do it well. Research shows goal-setting is the motivational technique that works and performance will improve. To set goals and plans, a manager must:
Think about and create a plan for his area, department or company.
Do this regularly with periodic updates, staying one step ahead of the company process.
Identify department or company strengths and areas of improvement.
Identify each direct report’s strengths and areas of improvement.
Analyze customer feedback or quality data.
Consider all relevant information: equipment, the economy, competition, resources, etc.
Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound) goals on company priorities. Improving customer service is not a SMART goal. It’s vague. Improving the customer survey results from 69% to 75% in the next year is a SMART goal.
Regularly communicate results.
Set goals with each employee and regularly review progress with them.We recommend that managers include employees in the process. One manager I met in an airport had just accepted a job as plant manager with a new company and was moving from Memphis to Houston. I could tell he was a good boss based on his actions and how he spoke about the value of his employees. After assuming his new role, one of his first steps included involving his team in a planning process. Why do this? People want to be part of something – the team, a cause, a mission. With their contribution, managers not only achieve that, but tap their minds for creative ideas that they don’t have. The employees are committed to the plans, because they now “own” them and the manager has buy-in.How to Manage PerformanceAll good performance begins with clear expectations and goals — keeping employees’ daily focus on excelling in their jobs. When employees understand what managers expect, they will stay more engaged, want to do their jobs well and find ways to keep improving. They will perform more effectively and become more satisfied with their jobs. Without this important communication, only the very best employees will excel. The biggest complaint from managers is that all of this takes time. And, it does. However, it’s an investment in a process that saves you time later and that can dramatically improve productivity. Effective leadership is a high contact sport. Here are three key considerations.Setting Expectations Meet one on one and review the job description and duties in detail with the new employee. This begins in the hiring process. Answer their questions about the job, and once hired have them talk to others doing the job. Set goals for 30 through 90 days. Meet with the employee periodically to clarify any misunderstandings, review progress and handle problems. Ask for periodic updates on projects, and continue to check employees’ expectations: first day, first week, first month, and monthly.Goal-setting and Planning Meet one on one and establish clear goals with all employees. Put three to five goals in writing and clarify what’s in it for them, relating their performance to personal impact. Schedule a meeting to discuss this at least monthly, but flex with the challenges and follow-up. This is an invaluable communication process that will help the employee succeed. Some companies discuss goals daily, but most managers don’t do it at all or just once a year at a performance review. That isn’t enough; jobs are too fast-paced and complex to let things go that long. Good bosses make goal-setting, communication and feedback on results a priority.Coaching Review employees’ performance daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly depending on the need. Coaching discussions aren’t about pay increases or for job evaluation purposes. Follow your company procedures for those. They are usually required every six months or once a year. With coaching, talk about recent specific performance one on one and review how things are going from two perspectives. First, understand the employee’s view. Ask these key question: How’s it going? What’s working? What are your key problems or challenges? What can you do differently or better? How can I help? While you ask the questions, you thoughtfully listen to their comments and then give appropriate feedback. For example:
Give positive feedback. “I agree you did a good job on the report. It was specific and well-researched.”
Bring up problems. “Have you noticed the growth in complaints? What’s happening there? How are you handling it?”
Give guidance and create a plan of action together. For example, “What about a campaign to gain new customers. I haven’t seen much of that. Can we focus on that? What are your ideas?”If you are separated by distance, this can be handled with a phone call. But e-mail is inappropriate – it’s too impersonal and we will often write what we might not say in person.Six Other Performance Management StrategiesManage by Wandering Around. Tom Peters coined this term. It means to touch base and observe what’s happening with your team during the day. Do informal coaching, talk to employees, pat them on the back, tell a joke, give them a hand if needed, listen to what’s going on or give needed praise and encouragement. There are times that your duties might prevent you from doing this, but make every effort to make it a regular practice.Every day at the end of the day check in with every employee you can. Keep it informal and ask things like: How did it go? What progress did you make? Any problems? Anything you need help with? What happened on that goal we talked about? What’s the plan tomorrow? Good job on that account. Remember, to follow-up. Always try to keep things positive!Track your priority goals on a bulletin board, an intra-company web site or dashboard. This provides immediate recognition for employees and fans the flame of competition and pride in doing the job well.Meet weekly or every other week and review progress in a staff meeting. Include people in other offices through phone conferences or a WebEx. The meeting doesn’t have to be long. You want to get updates on priority goals or projects, discuss problems or issues and communicate any news about your area or company.Keep people informed through email updates. Communicate progress and results to employees regularly. Without information, people tend to think the worst and the rumor mill grows. This is especially important to employees in remote offices, who are separated by distance from headquarters. Keep your e-mails positive as well.Use the phone (or Skype) for the same reasons as above, but it’s more personal. The phone is a good tool for coaching. Managers of one of our client companies call their locations across their districts a couple of times a week to encourage or recognize them. This also gives them the opportunity to find out how things are going. In the beginning, most employees asked, “What’s the problem?” They were so used to managers only contacting them with issues. By the way, use the phone to confront performance issues only if there’s no way to meet one on one. Then, focus on the problem, not the person, and identify a plan for improvement.As a manager, you have the single biggest influence on your employees’ performance than anyone else. Be proactive and consider the strategies we have discussed. With consistent and enthusiastic application you will have a positive and powerful impact on their results.

Business marketing is when a business markets and sells its goods and services to other businesses or organizations. These other organizations may resell these goods and services or use them in their own business to support their operations. Business marketing is often called as industrial marketing or business-to-business (B2B) marketing.The perfect example of Business to business marketing is the automobile industry. Automobile companies buy various spare parts such as tires, batteries, electronics and door locks which are manufactured independently by other businesses and sold directly to automobile manufacturers to assemble automobiles.Even the Service industry is also engaged in large number of business to business transactions. For example Companies specializing in housekeeping provide services exclusively to other organizations, rather than individual consumers.Business-to-customer marketing is when a business markets and sells its goods and services to retail consumers for personal use. While most companies that sell directly to consumers can be referred to as B2C companies. The business-to-consumer as a business model differs significantly from the business-to-business model, which refers to transaction between two or more businesses.Business market (B2B) vs. Consumer marketing (B2C)B2C marketing differs from B2B marketing in a number of key ways. A Business market has very few customers as compared to a consumer market which has large numbers of customers. A business market usually sells a customized product where as a consumer market sells a homogenous product. A Business to business transaction is a huge value transaction as purchase quantity is very high where as business to consumer transaction is a small value transaction. Price can be negotiated in business markets where as price is usually fixed in consumer market. Business markets have lengthy and complex selling process with multiple decision makers but in consumer market buying decision are simple and are made by individuals.Keys to success in Business markets are:1) Value creation & Customer satisfactionBusiness begins with value creation. It is the prime objective of the business to create and deliver value in an efficient manner which will ultimately lead to profits. Value leads to customer satisfaction. Customer experience is an integral part of B2B marketing. The customer experience is the key brand differentiator, even more than the price and product.2) Social media marketingSocial media marketing is when a company uses social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter to market its product or services. Social media marketing is one of the best and efficient platforms for marketers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools which enable companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing including current and potential customers.3) Mobile marketingMobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy whose aim is reaching a target audience on their Smartphone, tablets, and other mobile devices through email, SMS and multimedia messages.Smartphone usage has increased multiple times during the last few years, app usage has also highly increased. Therefore, mobile marketers have increasingly taken advantage of Smartphone apps as a marketing resource. Marketers aim to optimize the visibility of an app in a store, which will maximize the number of downloads. This practice is called App Store Optimization (ASO).4) Multimedia Content MarketingMarketing using Multimedia content attracts more customers. B2B marketers are widely adopting this trend. The primary driver is the desire to make content more engaging, compelling, and shareable than just the traditional modes. The most common forms of visual content include 360-degree videos.5) Effective Personal selling & Executive BrandingDistribution channel is the path through which the product reaches the final customer. Personal selling is the most preferred form of distribution and promotion used by B2B marketers The sellers promote the product through their attitude, appearance and specialist product knowledge. Executive Branding is when an executive showcases his professional strengths as a way to attract the customers. Executive branding is also known as reputation management. Especially in B2B environments, executive branding is now considered a necessity. Senior management must create and develop their personal brand image to attract new customers.

In this discussion, we are going to focus on issues pertaining to how to start a home-based business. Many of the most successful businesses were actually started it in someone’s home. We’re all familiar with the many fables and legends of individual starting multi-billion dollar enterprises in their basements and garages and certainly you can develop a highly successful business that is based from home. Of course, only a small and almost infinitely small fraction of the use of home-based businesses will become as successful as the next Microsoft were Facebook, however, you can develop a secondary income for yourself to the development of a home based business. In fact, over time, your home-based business may become your full-time job. When you are starting a home-based business, the most important thing to do is to first determine what type of business at you ultimately seeking to start. Many people, with the advent of the Internet, have taken the starting small e-commerce businesses were small blogs are able to generate a modest amount of income on a monthly basis. As such, we fully recommend that you harness the power the Internet when you are starting your home-based business. However, not all home-based businesses need to be based on the Internet or have a nationwide presence. For instance, if you are very good with numbers and have a strong background in bookkeeping, then it is very common for you to open up a part-time bookkeeping practice that is based solely out of your home.One of the downsides to opening a home-based business that operates with local clients if they can come off as unprofessional that you simply work out of your home as it pertains to the services that you render. As such, you may want to work directly with the client at their location or providing services such as bookkeeping or other personal services that do not necessarily need to be rendered within your home. Over time, you may want to be to able to afford a small office space that will allow you to give your business and more professional look as it pertains to working with local clients.It should be noted, on a side discussion, as it pertains to financing a small business it is somewhat typical. The small business administration typically does not allow for loans made to home-based businesses. This is primarily due to the fact that one of the reasons why the small business administration was created was so that traditional businesses could be launched and individuals would hire other people within their small business facilities. As such, you may be an excellent candidate for a SBA loan however you are going to need to move into a traditional facility before you’re able to receive this type of financing. However, there are a number of other types of financing methodologies available to you. This may include using some of your own savings, using some income from your 401(k) or IRA accounts, taking out a personal loan, using credit cards, or working with a potential investor that can provide you with the financing that you need in order to launch a business. Of course, there is no proper way to ever play in the business, there are a million ways to skin a cat, and as such you may want to tap some unconventional means as it pertains to obtain financing for your home-based business. As it pertains to using credit cards or personal loans in order to finance your home-based business, this can be a very expensive endeavor. Most personal loans are unsecured by any type of tangible property more tangible asset typically has a substantially higher interest rates in the back associated with a secured loan. In most cases, your interest rate can vary anywhere from 9% to 20% per year depending on your overall credit score. As such, it is absolutely imperative for use loan financing in order to start your home-based business recommend that you very carefully to all potential financing options for using personal loans or credit cards. In time, there are other types of lending facilities that you can use as it pertains to receiving the financing that you may need on the ongoing basis.After you determine which type of home-based business one a start, it is time to start the preparation of your business plan. Here, you’re going to want to create a blueprint of how you intend to provide your services or products the general public, how you will integrate certain procedures and protocols into your day-to-day activities relating your to your home-based business, developing a well focused financial model that has a profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, pregame analysis, business reaches page, and general assumptions page that will be used in conjunction with your company, and a detailed overview of how you intend to market your business.As we discussed before, you can use the power of the Internet to market your business, even on a local level areas many home-based businesses are now also turning to popular social networking websites such as Facebook, Flickr, tumbler, and other popular portals in order to get the word out among people they know. You have a number of contacts within your local area that have a specific need for a specific type of service then you may be able to reach out to them directly by being able to directly contact them via e-mail and through the affirmation social networks. In fact, we strongly recommend that you create a Facebook page and work-related social networking page that showcases your home-based business in exactly the services that you provide as it relates to your company. If you are engaging in e-commerce operations, then it is extremely important for you to invest heavily in promoting your business through social networking media, search engine optimization, and pay per click marketing. In time, you’ll find a number of people are able to find your e-commerce platform very quickly and that your infant every turn over rate will be extremely high. Although this is somewhat of a general article pertaining to how to start a home-based business, you are, again, engaged in the business of selling products on an e-commerce basis than we strongly recommend that you also use very popular third-party selling platforms such as eBay and Amazon so that you are able to, again, had a very brisk inventory turnover as it relates to your overall operations. In the following, that at the onset of your home-based business operations, you are typically able to sell more of your e-commerce-based merchandise through Amazon and eBay versus through a proprietary e-commerce site. Additionally, as it relates to e-commerce, these websites often charge minimal fees as it pertains to showcasing the products that you have for sale to the general public. As such, if you are selling products that you are either acquiring or producing on your own that you may want to check out this type of third-party sales platform in order to further your sales as time progresses. Of the utmost importance that you developed a very strong marketing plan especially to if you are engaged in e-commerce selling activities.Relating to our discussion as it relates to financing ongoing business operations, once you have established your business then you may want to consider the possibility of taking credit cards. If you are heavily engaged in e-commerce, you can usually secure a line of credit based on your amount of money that is coming in through the credit card receivables that you receive. For instance, if you operate an e-commerce website that generates $10,000 a month in revenue then you can typically obtain a credit line equal to approximately $10,000-$20,000 depending on the specific lender. This is commonly known as merchant financing and it can be a very good way for you to manage your cash flow on a month-to-month basis as you plan on starting a home-based business. However, unlike in SBA loan that were conventional business loan, merchant financing based on credit card receivables is typically very expensive. As such, it is strongly recommended that you use this type of marketing sparingly as it does cost a significant amount of money. Typically, work in financing is approximately the same interest rate costs associated with a personal loan or credit card.Also, you’re going to want to think about whether or not you shooting for your business or create a limited liability company to manage your business operations. If you do decide to incorporate create a limited liability company then you will have the ability to create a bank account in the company’s name, and don’t conduct business under the company’s name, and have that company almost act as a third-party as he progressed business operations. Additionally, there are many tax benefits associated with incorporating as you will be able to more effectively receive and deduct certain expenses for your home-based business. On a side note, and home-based business should ever be started for tax savings purposes. In fact, the IRS has cracked down substantially on individual entrepreneurs have created a home-based business solely with the intent to write off a substantial amount of their ongoing living expenses were ongoing business expenses. As such, you need to ensure that you are operating this as a legitimate part time business it is simply based out of your home. When you’re starting a home-based business, we strongly recommend that you have a certified public accountant or tax attorney work with you so that you can properly plan out how certain normal expenses within your home will be deducted if you were Corporation or your limited liability company. Of course, you do not necessarily need to start a corporation or limited liability company in order to larger business operations. At the onset of operations, you can decide to work as a sole proprietor which means that ultimately everything that you do as you conduct business is through you as an individual and not as appropriate. However, with this comes the risk of unlimited liability if something should happen or if you are sued. For instance, many business experts often recommend that a individual business does incorporate into the fact that it should something go wrong be litigating party can typically only go after the assets that are held by the corporation. However, if you were acting as the sole provider, any leading party can come after all of your personal assets including your home, vehicles, retirement accounts, and other issues and assets that you may have been held by your person. As such, you should make a determination as to whether or not you will be engaging in any type of activity or selling any product that ultimately could have some potential for you don’t wind up in court for one reason or another. Again, we always recommend these speakers with attorneys for all of the advice as it pertains to these matters.This business can be a fun activity and certainly can provide you with a very good source of secondary income for the ability to eventually turn your home-based business into a full-time job. Again, in summation, you need to always ensure that you are starting a home-based business for the right reasons. The wrong reasons, as we discussed throughout this article, include simply starting a home-based business with the intent of paid tax deductions. The best reasons for starting a home-based business are typically because you want to have a business that provides you with ancillary income that this is your passion and that you want to create a full-time business out of it in the future.The other thing that we always discuss, and recommend, you keep a very reasonable and levelheaded and reasonable as he progressed through starting your home-based business.