What Does Your Business Need Today?

Every business needs to succeed in at least 4 out of 6 core areas in order to survive
and all 6 areas if they want to prosper. These areas are:

• 1) Create products that Customers want to buy
• 2) Generate sustainable and healthy profit margins
• 3) Sell products / services profitably
• 4) Generate new sales leads
• 5) Convert prospects into Customers efficiently
• 6) Run a productive organization

We frequently coach our Clients to achieve success in each of these 6 main areas. If we could help you to improve any one of these categories – where would you want us to start?

Give us a call, let us know your thoughts.

What’s in a Name?

What makes a good name for a business? I mean, what’s really in a name? There has been much psychological research into the process of naming a company and even more investigation into names that helped propel a firm into the Fortune 500 stratosphere. In this article we are going to explore a few of the best methods known and outline the process we use for our Clients at the same time. Up to now, this was a highly confidential document kept in our vaults because we have used it in the past to create some very compelling brands for our Clients.

Generally speaking, there are four key similarities that winning brand names have in common. The number of syllables in the name, the visual appearance, the meaning or implied meaning of the word or phrase and the linguistic elements that make the name memorable and easy to speak when communicating it to others.

Let’s start with syllables – a good name should have an absolute maximum of 4 syllables in order to make it easy to remember and pronounce, examples here include APple, AMaZON, iPHONE, GOOgle, YAhoo SWISSair etc.

The next similarity all winning names have in common have to do with their visual appearance – for businesses where the name needs to be communicated primarily in writing, words which form visually interesting shapes help to anchor the success of the name. Examples that come to mind include: Google, Apple, Sony, Oracle, Levis.

Meaning – having words which have specific meaning, implied meaning, double meaning or evoke certain thoughts or emotions in a person are said to be powerful in generating a strong, memorable name for your company. This does not always need to be an obvious or business descriptive meaning but can be based around controversy; Virgin is a great example of this and so is Big Ass Fans and RedBull.

Lastly, let’s review the most complex of these similarities – linguistic elements such as plosives and fricatives. Plosives are sounds formed when airflow to the vocal tract is stopped. Words that use P, T and K are good examples. Fricative sibilants cause us to roll our tongue. Examples include ‘s’ and ‘z’. When words use both plosives and fricative consonants the word tends to have a stronger and more memorable impact on both the speaker and the listener. Examples include Prozac, Microsoft, Kodak and Pepsi.

So with a bit of the psychology presented, how do you create a really great brand name?

For folks with no time to spare and a dream of running an online businesses that have a flair for something different and exciting in the web 2.0 space, check out this site, it is loads of fun!

For those of you with your feet more solidly planted on the ground, there are a few ways forward. One is to use a dictionary, a search engine, a thesaurus and a healthy dose of imagination to brainstorm your way to the idea brand name… this is what most people do until they get a bit frustrated and basically run out of time or patience (whichever occurs first). At BoxOnline, we prefer a process oriented approach because it opens the team up to new trains of thought that allow participants to really think out of the box. The net result is a bigger list with much more diversity and a strong focus on the product, the Customers who will pay for the product and the industry in focus.

When the list has been prepared, our team of analysts use resources such as The National Business Register to check each idea against registered business names, domain names, limited companies and trademarks. There are other such resources as well and this is an important step prior to presenting executives with a list of viable candidates.

Many of our Clients claim that they don’t have the time or the money to invest in something like a name generation workshop. They believe that they can do it on their own and, to this we politely offer our best wishes because during the past 20 years we have held 400 name generation workshops and we deliver results for our Clients. In fact, we even guarantee our Clients that we will find a winning name that is still available for registration or we will refund your money… it’s that simple.

If the name of your business and the image it conveys to your Prospects and Customers is important to you, then let’s sit down to establish the strongest possible brand in a structured best practice workshop.

The process oriented approach to developing a brand name for your business takes a lot more time and effort that reviewing a word list or playing around with the dotomator but the results are usually very rewarding and lasting.

Are you ready to have a look behind the curtain?
The first step is gathering enough relevant information. Below are many of the questions we ask in our data gathering phase of the workshop. If the team, the timing and the element of creativity are all positive… we usually produce a list of 10 to 20 viable names which then need to be checked and cross checked to ensure that they are not yet trademarked or registered to another business before we begin exploring or confirming domain availability.

Name Development Process

Understanding Your Purpose and Your Product

The word “product” refers to whatever you are naming, whether it’s an object, a person, a company, a service, a piece of intellectual property, an event, or an abstract idea. Sometimes product and company will both be used to clarify the meaning.

“Customer” refers to whomever you want the name to attract.

Save every name you think of, regardless of quality. A poor name may become the kernel of an outstanding name.

Begin brainstorming the name itself.

Consider the four most important issues in creating a memorable name:
the purpose of the name
the nature of the product
the nature of the person you want to impress and
the impression you want to make.

Here’s the first set of questions to get you launched into our process approach:

How convinced are you that this project is worth the effort?
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What is the expected lifespan of the name, and what does this imply for the amount of time and money you should devote to it?
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What would you gain or lose by delaying the project; and how long might you delay it?
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What are your personal feelings about the project?
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If your feelings are less than enthusiastic: what is the reason, and what would it take to change your mind?
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What if you were to quit the project now?
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Who else is involved in the naming:
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Who else may be working on this name–or on other names for the same organization? How about pooling resources?
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Who will decide upon the name, and when?
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HOW will the decision be made? Do you still need to decide how to decide?
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How much research of reserved and registered names are you expected to do before submitting your recommendations?
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At this point, does everyone agree on the importance, the required resources, the division of labor, and the final deadline?
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If not: what are the differences? How should they be resolved?
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IF YOU ARE CHANGING A NAME: [Consider the next 13 questions. Otherwise skip to “DEFINING THE PURPOSE OF THE NAME.”]

Why was the current name selected? (What impression was the name supposed to convey? Was the selection arbitrary or political?)
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What are your reasons for changing the name?
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How sure are you that a change is justified?
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Could it be that a winning name has simply become boring to people within the organization?
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What are the dangers of weakening the market position held by the current name?
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What if you change a component of the marketing formula OTHER THAN the name?
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redesign the package–size, shape, material, graphics
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target to a different customer
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change the method of distribution
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What if you REVITALIZE the name, rather than risk losing what it has gained?
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modernize the visual image of the name and the logo
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modernize the sound of the name or the sounds associated with it
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update the people/things/activities associated with the name
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DEFINING THE PURPOSE OF THE NAME:

Are you seeking a name with local appeal, regional appeal, national appeal, international appeal, or a combination of these?
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As part of your total marketing effort, what do you want the name to DO?
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help position a new product in people’s minds
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help position a new company in people’s minds
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help position a new company along with its primary product
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help revitalize/reposition a mature or lagging product
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help revitalize/reposition a mature or lagging company
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help overcome a damaged reputation
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help entice people to attend an event
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What type of person do you want the name to impress or attract?
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What thought have you given to the FIRST IMPRESSION you want the name to make? (What do you think it should immediately imply or immediately bring to mind?)
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What thought have you given to the TYPE of brand name/trade name/service mark you’re seeking?
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coined, arbitrary, fanciful: Bic, Kodak, Pringles, Tic Tac
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coined, suggestive: Cheerios, Crayola, Jif, Kleenex, Polaroid, Purex, Rice-A-Roni, Ziploc
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real, arbitrary, fanciful: Birds Eye, Carnation, Corvette
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real, suggestive: Airstream, Bronco, Budget Gourmet, Grape Nuts, Janitor in a Drum, Midas, Safeway, Tiger Paw
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real, descriptive: Jiffy Lube, Murphy’s Oil Soap, Tender Vittles
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If this is a technical product for a scientific/technical market: what if you choose a friendly, nontechnical name?
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If you’re positioning a company along with its primary product: should their names be similar? Which one should you focus on now?
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If the product creates a new product category: should you concentrate first on a name for the category, or first on a name for the product?
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If this is one item in a product line: what thought have you given to creating, maintaining, or preventing similarity among names?
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UNDERSTANDING THE PRODUCT:

What is the CORE IDEA behind the product you are naming? (What is the customer to expect from the product? What is the promise? What miracle does the product perform?)
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Which words that pinpoint the CORE IDEA offer clues for a name?
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What total package of benefits does the user of the product receive?
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What does the product help a person save, gain, improve, achieve, or enjoy?
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What new or different expression of the good life does it provide?
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What fear does the product reduce?
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What loss does the product prevent?
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What is the ONE KEY BENEFIT, and how might it be expressed in the name?
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What are you really selling? (For example: soap, or cleaning power? Fax machines, or speed of information?)
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What important problem or difficulty does the customer often face, for which this product would be a help or solution?
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What name might suggest an answer for the problem?
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What is most interesting about the USE of this product? Imagine the name expressing:
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what the product is doing; the reason it’s being used
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the unique way it’s being used
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the special time when it’s being used
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the important place where it’s being used
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something else the person can do while using it
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What desirable aspect of product DESIGN might be reflected in the name?
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convenience, accessibility, maneuverability, ease of operation
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durability, longevity, reliability, repairability
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elegance, beauty, grace, color, style
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practicality, comfort, economy
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shape, size, weight, portability
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speed, power, strength
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versatility, adaptability, flexibility
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association with an historical period or with the future
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association with a country/continent/geographic area
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association with a particular group of people
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What distinct or unusual SENSORY PERCEPTION is associated with the product? Is it so essential that it warrants expression in the name?
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What sight, sound, taste/flavor, odor, or texture?
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When the product is handled or experienced, what “feel” does it have, and how might you convey this feeling in a name? (such as well balanced, delicate, sturdy, snappy, smooth, responsive)
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What other intangibles are associated with this product or with this KIND of product? Is one of them strong enough to center your thoughts about a name?
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fantasy, whimsy, escape from the ordinary
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friendship, love, romance
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insight, understanding, higher awareness
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joy, fun, happiness, cheer
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loyalty, devotion, admiration, respect
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progress, improvement
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quality, rarity, excellence
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safety, protection
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status, prestige, success
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thrills, excitement, adventure
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trendiness, timeliness, agelessness
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What ACTIVITY is synonymous with this product? What images do you associate with the activity?
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What MOTION or RHYTHM is peculiar to this product, and what does it suggest for an attention-getting name?
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For varieties of movements, see the IdeaBank Topical Category called action/motion/movement/rhythm.
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What CHANGE or EFFECT does the product bring about? How might the name of the product point to this desired result? (as in Downy fabric softener and Perma Soft shampoo)
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What special effect does the product have on people?
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Does the product decrease, minimize, or eliminate something?
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Does it increase, expand, maximize?
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Does it attract or bring together?
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Does it energize, invigorate, activate, embolden?
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Does it promote, enable, empower?
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Does it save, keep, preserve?
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Does it strengthen, fortify, reinforce?
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Does it serve as a catalyst to transform or convert something into something else?
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Does it transform itself? Does it create something new?
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What value does this product add to an existing product or service?
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What if the name communicated the value added?
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Because you want your customer to think “this is my kind of product,” what words could you use as metaphors of its character?
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aggressive, competitive, fierce, intense
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calm, tranquil, serene
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cheerful, cheery, optimistic
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capable, competent, qualified, skillful, proficient
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charismatic, persuasive, irresistible, compelling
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comical, funny, witty, clever, entertaining
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friendly, kindly, comforting, likable, tactful, loving, helpful
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honest, genuine, dependable, predictable, trustworthy
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smart, bright, intelligent, brilliant, knowing, wise
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smooth, sophisticated, suave, urbane, first-class
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splendid, incomparable, peerless, superb
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strong, confident, forceful, persistent
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If the product could talk: what words would it use to describe itself? How would it describe its own identity?
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Imagine listening to what the product is trying to tell you. What is it saying about the name it would like to have?
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DISTILLING YOUR MESSAGE:

To summarize your analysis: what position do you want this product to occupy in the customer’s mind? (Where, in people’s thoughts about the product category, do you want THIS PRODUCT to be?)
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To achieve this position, which focus should your message take?
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suggest what the product is or does
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suggest the main benefit of using the product
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suggest both its purpose and its main benefit
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If you’ve not yet distilled the essence of the name: should you try harder, or should you consider an ARBITRARY name?
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If you do select an arbitrary name: should it be coined, or should it be a real word? Does that matter?
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Should it be fanciful? Or suggestive of the product?
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What should be the TONE, including the SOUND, of the name? (What would be inviting? What tone would be in tune with the customer?)
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assertive, forceful, commanding, take-charge, leader-like
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brilliant, sparkling, twinkly, shiny, bright
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chic, sophisticated, subtle, elegant, honeyed, moneyed, smooth
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classic, ageless, timeless, eternal
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exquisite, lovely, beauteous, handsome, rare
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intelligent, intellectual, educated
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flamboyant, reckless, creative, risk-taking
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futuristic, modern, forward-looking
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helpful, cooperative, sympathetic, soothing, gentle
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macho, competitive, military, rugged, burly, bullish
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mysterious, intriguing
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nostalgic, sentimental, hearkening to the past
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outdoorsy, woodsy, nautical, environmental
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patriotic, nationalistic
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powerful, potent, lusty, healthy, robust
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practical, reasonable, no-nonsense, businesslike
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quick, crisp
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romantic, flirtatious, passionate, risque
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scientific, technical. high-tech
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warm, homey, comfortable, steady, down to earth, protective
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whimsical, light, flighty, humorous, merry, happy, joking, jolly
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young, trendy, upbeat, vibrant, energetic
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zippy, zingy, tangy, hot
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SUMMARY:
You have now addressed the basic issues in naming:
the purpose of the name
the nature of the product
the nature of the person you want to reach and
the impression you want to make

The next step would be either continue brainstorming with
questions about the Customer – Competition – Market or
use questions from our Name Generation Techniques.

If you still need a good name for your product, please do get in touch with us and let us know how we might be able to help?

Mantra Mantra Mantra

I just asked the key managers employed by my latest Client to tell me what exactly it was that their company did – the response was so shockingly bland that I decided to escalate my curiosity on a more personal level. I asked the same folks to tell me what they do at the company – After an hour I was speechless. You see, a few months ago this company hired a consultant for $20,000 to help them bond as a team and then use the synergy of the moment to draft and approve a new mission statement that would help propel them forward, somehow… magically. The statements I listened to lacked purpose, focus and cohesiveness among other things. To put it bluntly, several managers were fighting with their counterparts in other divisions – Sales was determined to place some form of blame on Engineering and Engineering had it out of the folks in Finance. This is not healthy – nor is it productive so when the CEO asked for my help I wanted to be sure that I understood what I was getting into. I’d been tasked with making a positive change in the work environment so that the team could identify and then achieve common goals yet the issue seemed to stem from something much more basic and a lot less complex.

In many ways this situation reminds me of companies that hire a consultant to conduct a two day ‘broaden your horizons’ type of company event away from the office with team building exercises leading up to a brainstorming session designed to create a mission statement, a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) or something in between. The event usually goes like this:

Day 1: A day of exercises, games and puzzles designed to improve relationships within the company and encourage trust among colleagues. One such activity includes turning your back on the group, closing your eyes and then falling backwards hopefully into the arms of your co-workers. Another one involves sticks and ropes to encourage the team to work together to achieve a common goal.

Day 2: Usually the rain day plan (an indoor activity) where the entire group assembles to create a mission statement. The room is usually too small to contain the entire team and there are pens, paper, white boards and usually a facilitator who knows nothing about your business. Everyone in a managerial position and above in the company is present and encouraged to contribute. After several hours you typically get something like:

‘The mission of Moevenpick is to deliver superior quality products and services for our customers and communities through leadership, innovation, and partnerships.’

Don’t get me wrong. I love Moevenpick, but I’ve never thought I was participating in ‘leadership, innovation, and partnerships’ when I ordered an ice cream there. The basic reason for mission statementosis is that people contributing to a company’s direction usually worked for McMinsey or Boston Consulting Group, have a MBA or some combination of all three.

These days, it is probably more helpful to have a mantra than a mission statement. A mantra contains 6 words max (the fewer the better) and if your receptionist is able to retain it for more than a day, you probably have something interesting.
A few examples:

• Domino’s Pizza “You got 30 minutes”
• YouTube “Broadcast Yourself”
• UPS “What can brown do for you?”
• McDonald’s “i’m lovin’ it”
• PHILIPS “sense and simplicity”
• M&Ms “melts in your mouth, not in your hand”
• Red Bull “Gives you wings”
• INTEL “Leap Ahead”

So, although you may have wanted to hire that consultant for $20,000 to help build some team spirit and get everyone to pitch in and create a mission statement – think instead about taking a weekend off to relax – do something you really enjoy and then on Monday, dedicate time to creating a memorable mantra for your company. If you still want to outsource this to some creative types, get in touch, we may be able to help.

As for my Client, we were able to identify the issue within two days. Our team addressed the major concerns in a consultative session called Potential Problem Analysis and created viable solutions within one day. We were then hired to implement 2 of the 6 solutions and project manage the remaining 4. The solution that seemed to make the most difference at the end of the day was the mantra. I still can’t believe it – the mantra was missing and when it was selected and put in place, 20 very different managers walked back into their arenas to fight the competition instead of each other. This case was fun, rewarding and delivered with excellent results. Does your company have a mantra yet? Tell us about it.

Successful Hiring

To build a successful team is not a magical secret nor is it an exact science but to increase your probability of success, we have collected a few suggestions from our Clients whose teams outperform their competition year after year.

Firstly, the interview…
We could dedicate an entire blog to the art of the interview so rather than delve into this topic today, we will post articles on successful interviewing techniques, top 10 questions to ask and what to look for during and immediately after the interview process. Suffice it to say that the interview is where both parties (the employer and the prospective employee) get to strut their stuff and present themselves in a positive light creating feelings of desire in a similar method to some dating rituals we witness in the western world. Should a candidate actually receive and accept a job offer, the trial period begins and this is the focus of our article today.

There are several reasons for the trial period and one of them is that it gives each party an opportunity to walk the walk – can the employee actually deliver what they claimed to be capable of delivering during the interview process? Successful companies with successful teams require existing employees to accept some HR related tasks in their workload and one of these tasks is the process of inducting new hires into the complexities of existing business processes and offering them some form of introduction to the company culture at the same time. In the top performing companies, such an induction involves up to 10 employees for each new hire with two distinct outcomes; one is to have 10 different people assess the new person over a period of 3 months and the other is to offer the new hire the opportunity to bond with a few existing employees or even model someone that has achieved the recognition or status that the new employee aspires to attain.

Many companies have decided that a one month trial period is sufficient and I argue against that view based again on the dating game analogy. It takes months to get to know someone well enough to be able to assess their performance and come to a conclusion if this person adds value to the team or not. The most successful method that we have seen in the trial period phase of assessing new employees and determining if the fit works is a review 2 to 4 weeks after the new employee starts work. Questions such as How do you feel when you’re at work? Is something missing that we can provide to help you get the job done? What might we have promised you, but haven’t yet delivered? Do you look forward to coming to work each morning? What could we improve regarding teamwork? How do we compare to other employers? etc etc etc…

The answers to these sort of questions help to remove potential road blocks that could derail an employees good intentions and positive moral so you want to ensure that the communication channels are left open and that there is a healthy dialog between the new employee, management and the existing staff. At the same time, it is often valuable to gather feedback from the entire team involved with the introduction of the new employee to collect their opinions and ensure that everyone has what they need to get the job done effectively. After all, a business oriented team is like a football team in that the players have one major goal in common and they all need to pull together to score. The issue with many new hires in companies today is that often their input is ignored during the trial period and thus the new employee learns to play ping-pong rather than football. Incidentally, the game of ping-pong relates to the process of throwing a business issue back and forth between employees rather than gathering forward momentum and getting a job done. Several of our Client’s employees decided that ping-pong was their game of choice especially when it came to Customer service and this is one of the reasons that we were hired to restructure the organization and build a strong football team.

Would you like more information on how we might be able to build a football team for you? Please tell us about your current situation and your objectives – we would be honored to help you to score the next goal.

The Right Clients

Someone recently asked me why I chose to capitalize the words ‘Client’ and ‘Customer’ in my texts. Well, the simple explanation is that I appreciate their business. As a sign of respect and acknowledgement of their importance to my company, I want to show my appreciation in every article that I write containing these words.

It’s wonderful to have successful, paying Clients but even better to do business with the right Clients. To start with, we are either big fans of our Clients or we become big fans as we get to know them better. I hear our employees and freelancers raving every week about some of the great things our Clients are doing to grow their businesses. I want to maintain this positive culture and have therefore decided that our sales teams will only target companies that we really want to do business with. I want to be selective with the people that we do business with so that the result is and continues to be a positive experience for all involved.

Today we have four business relationship guidelines that steer our Client acquisition decisions:
1. Essential elements of our Client’s business culture MUST match ours or at the very least, are similar to those that we value and respect on both an ethical and moral basis. We take pride in our reputation and credibility and wish to work with those with similar ideals.

2. The potential for success is reasonable to fantastic. We want to ensure that we have the necessary competencies and availability to deliver the project successfully and exceed our Client’s expectations. Should a prospect have what we determine to be unrealistic goals, we will gladly recommend a competitor. We will never try to convince a Client that an apple is an orange or that we can deliver something that we know we are not capable of delivering because we want to help each of our Clients solve their problem(s) and, as a consequence, recommend our services to others.

3. Profit = Fun. It is a simple equation and there is a ton of truth behind it. A project must be profitable and have the potential to be carried through to successful completion with high levels of motivation and contributions to our bottom line. In essence, we ask for a win-win deal. If our Client wins, we win as well and if our Client is not able to achieve their objectives, we reconsider our role and our efforts to provide the necessary ingredients for success. Competing on price has little merit in this equation since the team requires rewards for a job well done.

4. Bandwidth is an annoying topic for us because our product is based on people with specific skills and limited availability. We want to give our Client’s the best possible service and that means that we need to have a well rested, physically and mentally fit team ready to jump into action. Success brings with it some level of frustration as you learn that you simply can not please everyone all the time. Our people tend to be booked solid for 60 to 90 days out and that means that there is little available bandwidth to acquire new business unless we add additional people to the team. On some occasions this is exactly what we did because we were interviewing superb people at the same time as we acquired a new Client that required the type of services that these new people were capable of delivering. That was a lucky situation and in 10 years has only occurred twice. Most of the time, we are approached by prospects that were referred to us by Clients or read about a Client success story that we created. These prospects usually have some urgent needs and therein lies our challenge. We want to help such companies but only if we can put the right team together to increase the probability of success.

Naturally, there are exceptions to the above guidelines but truth be told, we learned our lessons in the past and such exceptions are rarely worth the time and effort when a win-win is simply not possible.

We count on people like you to understand our thought process and although it may seem in some ways to be rather exclusive given the way that we filter our opportunities, please know that we really appreciate new business opportunities, they are the lifeblood of our business model. BoxONline is currently undergoing some growing pains and thus further expansion is necessary to achieve our objectives so, if you know of people who may fit into and support this Client oriented model of exceeding expectations, please do get in touch with me directly using this form.

Compensation

This is always an area of discussion for my Clients. Rather than publish a list of current rates in several different countries and attempt to keep such a list up-to-date, I prefer to use a USD model which you can adapt to your particular situation and geography. The following are simply guidelines that we use in corporate restructuring projects. You may or may not agree with some of the line items but on the whole, the following has been helpful to many of us.

Title	Cash Range	Average	Bonus	% Equity	Equity Median
CEO Founder	100k-250k	200k	0-100k	5-20%	9.0%
CEO Non-Founder	180k-260k	225k	0-150k	3-7%	5.0%
President / COO Founder	100k-200k	175k	0-50k	3-8%	5.0%
President / COO Non-Founder	150k-230k	200k	0-75k	1-3%	1.5%
CFO Founder	100k-170k	150k	0-20k	1-5%	2.5%
CFO Non-Founder	100k-200k	160k	0-50k	0.5-1.5%	1.0%
CTO Founder	120k-200k	160k	0-30k	2-10%	4.0%
CTO Non-Founder	125k-200k	160k	0-50k	0.5-2%	1.0%
VP Engineering Founder	150k-185k	160k	0-30k	1.5-5%	2.5%
VP Engineering Non-Founder	150k-200k	175k	0-50k	0.7-1.5%	1.0%
VP Sales Founder	175k-200k	175k	0-60k	1.2-5%	3.5%
VP Sales Non-Founder	160k-200k	175k	20-150k	0.7-1.3%	1.0%
VP Business Dev Founder	150k-180k	170k	0-35k	1.5-5%	3.0%
VP Business Development Non-Founder	150k-190k	175k	0-70k	0.5-1.3%	0.75%
VP Marketing Founder	140k-180k	160k	0-30k	1.3-7%	3.0%
VP Marketing Non-Founder	160k-190k	175k	0-50k	0.5-1.2%	0.8%

Do You Really Need A Coach?

Ever come across a successful football team without a coach / trainer / manager?

How about a top basketball or ice hockey team?

Each player has his/her specialty, each has a training program to improve skills, abilities and experience yet the coach ties it all together for each player and then again for the entire team.

Typically, the coach has been there before – they have played on a variety of fields and can leverage their experience to benefit the whole team. Ever notice that the coach does not put on a uniform and replace a non-performing player? The coach has a different sort of job that is oriented around managing people rather than executing on a given play.

Interesting that when comparing sports to businesses, only the most successful businesses have coaches. These coaches or mentors help guide executives by providing external input and expertise so that the business person can score a goal.

Why is it that only the most successful business people have a coach?

On the one hand, you could interpret this as “in order to be successful in business, you need a coach” or “When you have achieved a certain level of success, you can get even further with a coach”. We believe that the answer is something of a combination of the above scenarios in that, an external coach or mentor is a tremendous asset to any given business. Sadly, business people today typically come to the conclusion that they need help only after they encounter an obstacle crossing their path to success.

Why not hire a coach before you run into an obstacle?

If a coach can review your strategy, your plans, tactics and team profiles, do you think you could increase your probability for success?

Given what we have learned from coaching 25 companies during the past 10 years in addition to the learning we captured from our own coaches, the definitive answer is YES, coaching makes a positive difference. Here is how we came to this conclusion.

Many companies have learned that their employees can overcome self doubt, fears and concerns created by corporate restructuring or poor leadership by hiring a coach. Today, more and more firms are looking for support by bringing in a coach rather than sending employees out for additional education. Depending on the challenge at hand, a coach often is able to deliver results to a company faster and for less investment (time and money) than sending a team to an offsite for a few days.

For a coach, there is no secret recipe that can be applied to all Clients. The coach needs to explore the needs and objectives of each Client separately and then tap into a library of experiences, tools and resources to be able to deliver results that can make the difference between missing quarterly objectives and over-performing by 20%.

Several years ago an investor came to us to help get his bank get back on track. A few areas within the bank were delivering adequately yet not enough to offset the poor performance in one key division. This division of the bank had a ‘new’ manager who apparently lacked leadership experience and as a result, was losing many key employees. This particular manager was promoted one week after the former director passed away unexpectedly, more than 10 months ago. The manager may have been a good deputy director but was not prepared for the challenges faced by his boss and thus, the team wanted out.

The knee jerk reaction would usually be to remove the new manager and reform the team however, banks don’t necessarily work this way. They are very slow and resistant to change. Removing this manager was not an option but providing him with guidance in the form of a coach was in line with the bank’s culture and objectives.

The coach observed the manager in action, took notes on the methods he used to lead his team, plan for the future, inspire others and instill a sense of belonging in typical day to day situations. In the process the coach noticed that this manager allocated very little of his time dealing with employee’s needs or even listening to his people when they had feedback for the team. There was little doubt that this was one of the most probable reasons for the mass defections and the coach found a way to get the message across to this manager that a percentage of each day needs to be allocated to the bank’s most important asset.. its people. The coach provided a few models and some guidance on active listening techniques and then participated in a few sessions with employees while the manager put his newly acquired skills to work.

The first objective was to initiate a change in the way that this manager dealt with his staff so that each staff member felt as though they were able to communicate openly with their boss and that their voice was heard. The second objective was to ensure that the manager scheduled time to resolve the issues that each employee had raised and then to report back to the employee and close the circle. Mission accomplished: company board members happy, company execs happy, employees happy – a win-win-win result.

What exactly is coaching in today’s constantly changing business environment?

During a recent restructuring project there was a component of reorganization which created not only an uneasy emotional environment but outright confusion among staffers and management alike. Managers that go through a change process like this often have no one to turn to for advice or guidance. Access to a good coach is key to the manager’s well being and success. A coach’s role in situations like these is to create a sense of security so that all involved are able to see things clearer thus bringing a sense of calm into the organization. Also, as an external observer, the coach is often able to present a totally different perspective to the Client thus encouraging each member of a team to move toward something positive rather than away from something negative – but that is an entirely different topic that we will cover later this year.

If you believe that hiring a coach might help you to:

• see things more clearly
• introduce a sense of calm to your team
• leverage experience to provide you with guidance
• motivate yourself and inspire your team
• identify obstacles in your path to success
• better prepare for your business challenges
• achieve success

you are probably right on track and we’d be delighted to hear about your needs. Who knows, perhaps our coaches might be able to help you and your company achieve your mutual objectives this quarter.

There is a real difference between managing and leading, managing ends up being the allocation of resources against tasks and projects. Leadership focuses on people. My definition of a leader is someone who helps people succeed. Is there any way we can help you succeed?

State of the Art

Over the years we have consulted a number of primary care facilities and made suggestions or at the very least, strong recommendations to help each organization increase profitability. The issue most hospitals struggle with is achieving a balance between generating a profit and providing high quality patient care. One thing is often overlooked and that relates to vendor relationships and the cost of maintaining them. Processes can be streamlined but not many hospitals have stepped up to the plate and taken account of how each vendor fits into their processes so that they actually contribute to the hospital’s profitability and efficiencies at the same time. I remember sitting with the president of a large medical products company, who said, “We’re getting very good at mowing the lawn around the tower of Piza, without ever asking why the tower is there or even why it is leaning.”

Hospital directors can increase profitability usually by more than 10% simply by initiating Customer operating partnerships with their top vendors.

– Dr. T. Box

At one point, several hospitals asked this vendor to consider becoming a prime vendor, a “master supplier” who channels supplies from a variety of sources through one warehouse into the hospital’s receiving dock with consolidated invoicing. The president assembled a small team and asked them to follow the supplies downstream from the hospital receiving dock, to the points of patient consumption in several large hospitals. The team developed a systematic channel map and noticed a very disjointed, redundant supply channel. In the first segment, the company received hospital orders, picked the supplies, packed them, shipped them to the hospital, and invoiced for them. In the second segment, the team saw the mirror image once the supplies reached the hospital: The hospital issued the orders, received the supplies, unpacked the boxes, put the supplies away in the stockroom, and paid the invoices. In a third segment, the hospital wards ordered from the stockroom and put away the supplies. The conclusion drawn was that the materials management organizations were costly, but they also found very large pockets of hidden costs in areas such as nursing. When the team looked into these findings, the hospital personnel had a difficult time accepting the actual cost. They found that the total cost of a “delivered” product at the patient’s bedside was about $5.00, contrasted with the $1.00 sales price at the hospital dock. Of the $4.00 increment, the internal hospital supply chain costs comprised about half, while the other half represented other internal factors.

A startling new perspective emerged: Over 80 percent of the business was outside the company’s traditional business definition.

The company defined the boundary of its supply chain as the hospital receiving dock, and had always assumed this business definition. New communications and computer technologies, however, had given it the capability to extend that boundary far into the Customers’ operations for their mutual benefit. The net result is that processes in the hospital were addressed to allow for less expensive delivery and more efficient use of hospital resources to help increase profitability. Without the vendor’s input, this insight into potential cost savings would not have made it into board level discussions and thus action that helped the hospital in the above example increase their bottom line by more than 14% last year. All thanks to the state of the art technology implemented by a company in the medical products supply chain. Do they sell more products to hospitals like this today? No question was the most recent response we received when we followed up with our report. If you are curious about what we recommended to the hospital board, the answer can be summed up in a single phrase: A stockless sytem. Below are a few of the immediate benefits they were able to realize.

Cost reductions. The stockless system created large cost reductions for both channel partners. The hospitals eliminated several steps in the supply chain, and greatly reduced their inventory levels. Valuable space was released, and hospital personnel were redeployed into patient care. The vendor gained large, unexpected operating benefits because the stockless system eliminated the previously erratic hospital order pattern. Moreover, the business unit was now being paid to take and process the orders that were previously processed by the company’s customer service department.

Sales increases. The company’s sales increased dramatically, even in highly-penetrated accounts. This increase was directly driven by (a) the operations-to-operations relationship that formed between the head nurses on the wards and the company ward coordinators, who were personable lead hands from the warehouse, not sales reps; and (b) a near perfect service level allowing sales reps to focus on selling new products, rather than on solving supply problems.

CEO relationships. The division president was able to establish close working relations with the CEOs of the major hospitals because The system involved large savings and major changes. Several important new joint business initiatives resulted from these dialogs.

Competitive advantage. The company developed immediate strategic advantage over its competitors, enabling it to secure the largest, most profitable accounts. This occurred because Customers became evangelists in support of the new system, they established a proven track record for performance and published it and both companies committed resources to establish operations-to-operations relationships. Once the vendor established this new way of doing business, its competitors could not easily follow. Now that is what I call state of the art.