3. Understand the Customer Perspective

In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relati
   Mortgage Leads, Where to Begin
   If you are considering investing your hard earned money with a mortgage lead company, or you are switching lead companies because you have gone through the pain of seeing your money go down the drain, here is a good place to begin.Before you take that leap of faith with a lead company, take a step back and reexamine exactly what it is you are looking for from a lead company.You should be looking for the exact same thing that you would expect from any other reputable company that you deal with. And that would be good quality service.Before you invest your money, research the company, most of the research can be done right there on their web site. Read the FAQ’s, read about their return policy, read about how they acquire their leads, etc.Once you have read all there is to read about their company, give them a call and speak with someone in their customer service department. Ask as many questions you feel to be appropriate, and verify everything you have read with them.You should be able to get
   Why do so many companies languish and watch as their business turns into a zero profit zone, while others seem to thrive?

   When you look at your business, whether it’s a new venture or a company with a long history, can you answer the following questions?

   • What does my company do better than anyone else?

   • What unique value do I provide to my customers?

   • How will I increase that value next year?

   Companies that fail to answer these questions, and don’t believe they are of paramount importance, relegate themselves to marginal profitability at best and failure at worst. But companies that can answer these questions are able to raise the value bar for their customers and reap the benefits of success.

   Of course, being able to answer 3 simple questions does not ensure success, but it is an important step in creating a strategic and focused operation which leads to a successful business. With today’s business environment being so competitive, businesses need to re-invent the rules on which they compete in order to be successful. Companies like Wal-Mart have figured this out and have redefined competition in their market by delivering a unique value to a selected customer group. By maintaining a focus and discipline, they make it difficult for other companies to compete under old competitive terms.

   Simply, competitive strategy has never been more important to success in today’s business environment. It does not matter what type of business you are in or whether you are small, big or just starting out, a company can not survive without an adequate and focused strategic plan to best the competition. Yet many companies fail to execute a successful strategy; it is these companies that languish in the zero profit zone.

   In simple terms, for a company to achieve success and enter the profit zone it must first decide where it will stake its claim in the marketplace and what kind of value it will offer its customers. A company needs a clear marketing thrust, a precise knowledge of its customer base, and a product or service with a niche or some competitive advantage to be successful. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs and business owners get stuck in the process of defining their competitive strategy. They often have the idea and the product, but being the technician they are not sure how to define its market. Even worse, many entrepreneurs assume or guess their target market and often glaze over a competitive strategy, usually to the detriment of the business.

   So what are the steps to laying out a competitive business strategy? While there are different methods you can follow, I have laid a series of 6 basic steps to help you.

   1. Financial perspective

   This step may not seem to have much to do with strategy, but it is important to determine the value of success quickly. Why? Because, in simple terms if the venture can’t deliver significant returns, it may not be worth the risk, and you have to ask yourself if it is worth continuing with your business. In this scenario you complete a reverse income statement. You start by defining how much profit you want to see at the end of a certain time period, and then determine the amount of revenues needed to generate that profit and the costs to deliver that profit. Do the numbers add up and make sense? The goal here is to be objective, if the expected revenue is not sufficient to generate your required profit at the end based on an estimate of costs, don’t simply fudge the numbers and assume you can reduce costs or increase revenue. Be diligent in your assessment.

   2. Understand the industry and competition

   In step 2 you are going to assess your industry and the competition. This basically comes down to assessing 5 factors:

   1. Understanding who your competition is including factors such as competitor strengths and weaknesses, market position, pricing, new product development, advertising, marketing and branding. You should determine how you compare to your competitors.

   2. Assessing the threat of new entrants into the industry (which may include you) and any potential reactions from existing companies. There are basically 6 barriers to entry you can evaluate: economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, cost disadvantages, access to distribution channels, government policy.

   3. Assessing the threat of substitute products (existing or future) that can place a ceiling on pricing.

   4. Assessing the bargaining power of suppliers who can increase prices, lower the quality of products or limit the quantity of supplies one can purchase. This all has an impact on profitability.

   5. Assessing the bargaining power of customers who can force down prices or demand better quality, more services and play you off versus a competitor.

   3. Understand the Customer Perspective

   In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

   Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

   Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

   1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

   2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

   3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relatio
      About to Close the Big Sale on the Phone; Oh No Battery is Dead!
      More and more these days the top salespeople are on the road making deals and that means they're using cell phones. The problem with using a cell phone, as a salesperson is the reliability of cell phones isn't exactly what it should be and to top off matters there never seems to be enough juice left in your battery when you really need it.There you are about to close the big sale on the phone and all of a sudden the battery goes dead; oh great you say? If you really want to look stupid to a customer then I suppose you can offer the excuse; my battery died and then they will just think you're an idiot, but at least you are an honest idiot and told him the truth.You could lie to the customer and say I don't know what happened to cell phone; it just dropped me and then you look like a dummy because you have the worst cell phone service around, probably trying to save money and went with a cheapo service plan? There is no easy answer for the salesperson on the road except to have extra batteries and a special battery
      nique value to a selected customer group. By maintaining a focus and discipline, they make it difficult for other companies to compete under old competitive terms.

      Simply, competitive strategy has never been more important to success in today’s business environment. It does not matter what type of business you are in or whether you are small, big or just starting out, a company can not survive without an adequate and focused strategic plan to best the competition. Yet many companies fail to execute a successful strategy; it is these companies that languish in the zero profit zone.

      In simple terms, for a company to achieve success and enter the profit zone it must first decide where it will stake its claim in the marketplace and what kind of value it will offer its customers. A company needs a clear marketing thrust, a precise knowledge of its customer base, and a product or service with a niche or some competitive advantage to be successful. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs and business owners get stuck in the process of defining their competitive strategy. They often have the idea and the product, but being the technician they are not sure how to define its market. Even worse, many entrepreneurs assume or guess their target market and often glaze over a competitive strategy, usually to the detriment of the business.

      So what are the steps to laying out a competitive business strategy? While there are different methods you can follow, I have laid a series of 6 basic steps to help you.

      1. Financial perspective

      This step may not seem to have much to do with strategy, but it is important to determine the value of success quickly. Why? Because, in simple terms if the venture can’t deliver significant returns, it may not be worth the risk, and you have to ask yourself if it is worth continuing with your business. In this scenario you complete a reverse income statement. You start by defining how much profit you want to see at the end of a certain time period, and then determine the amount of revenues needed to generate that profit and the costs to deliver that profit. Do the numbers add up and make sense? The goal here is to be objective, if the expected revenue is not sufficient to generate your required profit at the end based on an estimate of costs, don’t simply fudge the numbers and assume you can reduce costs or increase revenue. Be diligent in your assessment.

      2. Understand the industry and competition

      In step 2 you are going to assess your industry and the competition. This basically comes down to assessing 5 factors:

      1. Understanding who your competition is including factors such as competitor strengths and weaknesses, market position, pricing, new product development, advertising, marketing and branding. You should determine how you compare to your competitors.

      2. Assessing the threat of new entrants into the industry (which may include you) and any potential reactions from existing companies. There are basically 6 barriers to entry you can evaluate: economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, cost disadvantages, access to distribution channels, government policy.

      3. Assessing the threat of substitute products (existing or future) that can place a ceiling on pricing.

      4. Assessing the bargaining power of suppliers who can increase prices, lower the quality of products or limit the quantity of supplies one can purchase. This all has an impact on profitability.

      5. Assessing the bargaining power of customers who can force down prices or demand better quality, more services and play you off versus a competitor.

      3. Understand the Customer Perspective

      In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

      Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

      Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

      1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

      2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

      3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relati
         The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Electronic Medical Records In A Computerized Age
         In order to standardize and make all medical records available to hospital staff, colleagues and officials many health care institutions are computerizing their records and switching to an electronic medical records system. However, these systems are not universally accepted and the advantages and disadvantages are under debate by the medical community.The idea behind electronic health records is to have a computer-based history of a patient's clinical and administrative details. This will include every document made by each doctor that was ever involved with the patient's medical history.The big benefit of this computerization is that it is easy for a new doctor to pull a patient's history, even from one hospital to another. On the flipside is the ever-present possibility of invasion of privacy.Different care providers in the medical community may have different protocols in treating some conditions, and these differences may not be able to reflect in a shared medical record.The iss
         entrepreneurs assume or guess their target market and often glaze over a competitive strategy, usually to the detriment of the business.

         So what are the steps to laying out a competitive business strategy? While there are different methods you can follow, I have laid a series of 6 basic steps to help you.

         1. Financial perspective

         This step may not seem to have much to do with strategy, but it is important to determine the value of success quickly. Why? Because, in simple terms if the venture can’t deliver significant returns, it may not be worth the risk, and you have to ask yourself if it is worth continuing with your business. In this scenario you complete a reverse income statement. You start by defining how much profit you want to see at the end of a certain time period, and then determine the amount of revenues needed to generate that profit and the costs to deliver that profit. Do the numbers add up and make sense? The goal here is to be objective, if the expected revenue is not sufficient to generate your required profit at the end based on an estimate of costs, don’t simply fudge the numbers and assume you can reduce costs or increase revenue. Be diligent in your assessment.

         2. Understand the industry and competition

         In step 2 you are going to assess your industry and the competition. This basically comes down to assessing 5 factors:

         1. Understanding who your competition is including factors such as competitor strengths and weaknesses, market position, pricing, new product development, advertising, marketing and branding. You should determine how you compare to your competitors.

         2. Assessing the threat of new entrants into the industry (which may include you) and any potential reactions from existing companies. There are basically 6 barriers to entry you can evaluate: economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, cost disadvantages, access to distribution channels, government policy.

         3. Assessing the threat of substitute products (existing or future) that can place a ceiling on pricing.

         4. Assessing the bargaining power of suppliers who can increase prices, lower the quality of products or limit the quantity of supplies one can purchase. This all has an impact on profitability.

         5. Assessing the bargaining power of customers who can force down prices or demand better quality, more services and play you off versus a competitor.

         3. Understand the Customer Perspective

         In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

         Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

         Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

         1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

         2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

         3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relati
            How To Increase Sales By Using Just One Word
            Increase sales is the business goal of every business from the single office/home office to Fortune 1000 companies. Every one is looking for better ways to enhance the sales process, to gain successful selling skills and to secure more revenue to the bottom line. Maybe, they are failing to use this one word.So what is that one word? Agreement This word has truly almost magical power when used during the sales process.According to Webster, one of my favorite friends, agreement means to being in harmony and understanding between individuals or a contract. The key word is contract. By having agreement means having a verbal contract. Through the articulation of this word by the sales person to the prospect and the prospect positively acknowledging agreement provides permission to go to the next step of the sales process. Fairly simple and straight forward isn't it?Without agreement, you, the sales person, may be wasting a lot of your time from additional meetings to writing proposals.
            sment.

            2. Understand the industry and competition

            In step 2 you are going to assess your industry and the competition. This basically comes down to assessing 5 factors:

            1. Understanding who your competition is including factors such as competitor strengths and weaknesses, market position, pricing, new product development, advertising, marketing and branding. You should determine how you compare to your competitors.

            2. Assessing the threat of new entrants into the industry (which may include you) and any potential reactions from existing companies. There are basically 6 barriers to entry you can evaluate: economies of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, cost disadvantages, access to distribution channels, government policy.

            3. Assessing the threat of substitute products (existing or future) that can place a ceiling on pricing.

            4. Assessing the bargaining power of suppliers who can increase prices, lower the quality of products or limit the quantity of supplies one can purchase. This all has an impact on profitability.

            5. Assessing the bargaining power of customers who can force down prices or demand better quality, more services and play you off versus a competitor.

            3. Understand the Customer Perspective

            In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

            Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

            Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

            1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

            2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

            3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relati
               Business Analysis: Giving Your Company the Edge
               Like all businessmen, you would want to make your business the best in the industry. You want to be on top of your competitors and also get the most clients in order to keep your business running smoothly. Besides, no businessman will want to see their business fail. You want it to succeed.Business analysis is one of the keys to keep your business competitive in today's business world. So, it is wise to get a business analyst for your business in order to know the different aspects of a particular project. The analyst's job is to plan, define and validate the project scope. He or she will also determine if a particular project is feasible.Business analysis will definitely help your business keep on running smoothly and/or improve the way your business works. The analysts will advice you on what you need to do in order to reduce cost, provide efficient use of your resources and also help you provide a better way to communicate with your customers.If you think your business is not really working the way it sh
               ervices and play you off versus a competitor.

            3. Understand the Customer Perspective

            In step 3 you assess your customer. This is a key step, get it wrong and you may not be able to recover. In fact, the customer value proposition and how it translates into growth and profitability for the company is the foundation of strategy.

            Start by asking your self a couple basic questions: To achieve my vision, how must my customers look? Who are the target customers that will generate growth and a profitable mix of products/services?

            Next, ask yourself what is the value proposition which defines how the company differentiates itself to attract, retain and deepen relationships with the targeted customers? There are basically 3 value propositions or disciplines that you can choose from:

            1. Cost leadership – In this discipline you choose to provide the best price with the least inconvenience to your customers.

            2. Product leadership – In this discipline you offer products that push the performance boundary (i.e. newer and better than competitors).

            3. Best total solution – In this discipline you deliver what the customer wants, cultivate relationships and satisfy unique needs. In this case, you may not be the cheapest or the newest, but the total package you deliver to the customer cannot be matched.

            In order to help you determine which of these value propositions you decide on, you may want to work through a value chain: 1. Determine your customer priorities 2. Determine the channels needed to satisfy those priorities 3. Determine the offering (products) that are best suited to flow through those channels 4. Determine the inputs (materials/knowledge etc) required to create the product 5. Determine the assets/core competencies essential to the inputs (ask yourself, in order to satisfy my customer at which processes must I excel? For example, product design, brand and market development, sales, service and operations and/or logistics).

            4. Finish the business model

            The business model shows how all the elements and activities of a business work together as a whole by outlining how the business generates revenue, how cash flows through the business and how the product flows through the business. By this time, you should understand the revenue capability of the business, how the industry works and your competition, who you customer is, what you are going to offer them and how you are going to offer it. By drawing a flow chart that shows how these activities are linked together you will understand how the business activities flow to generate projected profit, which you determined in step 1. This is also a good step to see if something is missing in your analysis.

            5. Construct the business plan

            By the time you get to this step most of your work is done. If you are looking for financing, a formalized plan will have to be completed. If you do not need financing, simply make sure the preceding tasks are documented so that they can be reviewed and changed as time progresses (strategy is an ongoing process, not a one time task).

            6. Learning and growth perspective

            In this last step, you ask yourself how/where the organization must learn and improve in order to become and remain successful. For example, determine the skills, capabilities and knowledge of employees needed, the technology needed and the climate and culture in which they work.