Valhalla Business Solutions - Business Management Consultants

Sales Management Consulting Specializing In... Sales and service Systems, Managing younger generations, Management protocols Coaching effectiveness

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

What Organizational Issues Do You Have?

Management Consulting Companies today can add so much value to a corporation, small business and teams within an organization. Some of the biggest issues in management today stifle companies from growing and furthermore attracting the right talent to their organization. This only translates into poor product to the customer.

Here are some of the issues that exist in businesses today...

Wasted expense
Improper Pricing
Goals
Communicated Vision
Values
Expectations
Consistency
Complicated Vision and Values
Infrequent Communication
Development

Management consulting companies take these issues head on, specifically Valhalla. The issues listed are problems Valhalla addresses head on.

Wasted expense- as a business owner or leader in your department, when was the last time you spend time auditing your credit card processing bills, telecoms, employee time sheets, insurance premiums, 401k, etc. Often when reviewing these monthly fixed expenses there is an opportunity to save as much as 30 percent on their monthly expenses. As important as this is, leaders accept it as an acceptable ongoing expense. Those opportunities to increase capital are critical, especially during economic downturns.

Improper Pricing- this is a direct result of not understanding competitor pricing and not managing your fixed costs appropriately. Management consulting companies work with thousands of companies and often can add immediate value to pricing based on revenue goals and reducing your fixed costs.

Goals- If you don't know where your going, how do you build a plan to get there? Truth is your can't. Organizations usually do one of two things. They don't establish goals or establish too many goals. When there are know revenue goals, strategy goals, timeline goals, etc. Your team has no chance of meeting the expectations that so frequently fill a leaders mind. On the other hand some companies establish too many priorities or goals and handicap growth and productivity because each employee is an expert nowhere.

Communicated Vision- Many times a company will have a vision, mission statement or sometimes both. Countless times as management consultants we walk into an organization and ask an employee the company vision and no one knows what their company cares about.

Values- Have a core to how you do business, something that sets expectations for your team without saying a word.

Expectations- many companies have too much room for discretion amongst their team. They often call it empowerment, etc. However this never seems to be the result. So often each and every issue that comes up in a organization requires the person handling it to make a educated decision. While this sounds great and often they take care of an issue appropriately, the door to inconsistency has been let in the door. Meaning every time the same problem arises it requires a new solution and worse yet the customer gets a different solution from the time before.

Consistency- this falls hand in hand with expectations. Management consulting companies help establish the proper systems to deliver what your customer deserves.

Complicated Vision and Values- So often companies will have a well thought out way of doing business, lists of ideals, etc. Yet if you were to ask anyone in the company what they are, would they know? The answer is no, the lists can be so long that employees don't read it or recall any of the information. Management consulting drives home the most important ideals, keeps it simple and helps managers cement it into a way of life with their groups.

Infrequent Communication- Management does not communicate with their people enough. Why? There is no expectations for managers on how to manage. So often a manager is put into a role and asked to do it his/her way. Which is great, however you may have 200 managers and they are all doing it different. Can you guess how consistent of a product your people are delivering in all 200 locations? Management consulting companies assist organizations on implementing management communication standards. This keeps messages flowing consistently to all levels of companies.

Development- How often as an organization do you have to recruit talent outside your organization? Organically developing your staff can be the most beneficial revenue producing strategy you can have. The more educated your team members are, obviously the better asset they are. What is your strategy for developing your people?

Management consulting companies provide a unique niche in today's business world. They address entire organizational problems such as the issues listed above or can address specific areas for development. As a leader, if you care about your organization and your people, hire help. Before you even hire your next employee, take the time and analyze what revenue opportunities am I missing short term and long term by not hiring a management consulting company?

Labels: Coaching Teams, development, economic crisis, effective manager, knowing your customer, making money, management, management expectations, Restaurant Management, revenue, Sales Coaching, team goals

posted by Valhalla Business Solutions at 6:49 PM 0 comments

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Profiling Your Customer

Understand Your Customer

Analyze your products and services
Work backwards assessing needs for your products and services
Develop an open ended questioning system

The first step is to categorize and write down all of your products and services. In this case lets use a cleaning services company.

Products

Environmentally safe cleaning aids
Carpet cleaner
Super Vac

Services

Commercial cleaning
Emergency event cleaning and set up
Cooking prep and clean up

2nd step take each product and assess the potential needs for each product and service

Carpet cleaner needs

Unexpected stain
Large party
Allergy issues
Pets in home

Cooking prep and clean up

Large wedding
House party
Graduation
Christmas party

3rd step establish an open ended questioning system uncovering current needs and potential future needs.

Current Needs

What is the reason for your call?
What type of party are you having?
What kind of allergy issues are you having?
How many pets do you have in the home?
What are your thoughts for the wedding?

Future Needs

What do you do when you have an unexpected stain?
What types of hosting events do you have in the next six to twelve months?
What months are your allergies the most intense?
What other life events are you anticipating in the upcoming future?

i.e., pet purchase, new child, Christmas party, etc.

Developing a detailed questioning process will set you up to be very successful at cross selling and scheduling future contact points. Taking this step in your business, not only helps you understand your customer better it creates an easy sales process. Discovering what is important to your customer sets you up to be a solution oriented business. Consumers by solutions, not products.

Labels: economy, knowing your customer, making money, profiling, Sales Coaching, Small Business CEO, teleconsulting

posted by Valhalla Business Solutions at 11:10 AM 0 comments

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Make Your International Company Thrive in the United States

Your international company must do the following...

Analyze your value to a U.S. company
Develop a tele-consulting strategy
Hire someone in the U.S.
Ensure their experience is the same every time

Truth is more money is spent in the United States by businesses and consumers, compared to every other country. As an international business what can you bring to a U.S. customer? U.S. businesses have value in mind when it comes to any big decision. Most importantly is how convenient and consistent is what they are buying and secondly will they save money. For example if your a printing company in India, how can you save a corporation money? More importantly how can you deliver consistency and simple process to your customer? For a printing company they could do the following...

Establish a 800 number
Create an exact time line for every product you offer from start to delivery
Authenticate a profiling process to know your customer (i.e., their wants, needs, promotions, hobbies, family, etc.)
Develop a consistent follow up process (hold your customers hand)

Generate a outbound call strategy to the United States. Most U.S. businesses will do anything to save money, especially during our current economic cycle.

Use google to narrow down business genres you will target
Identify how you are going to add value to the company before you call
Use your authentic profile process
Have an effective script

Greeting
Relationship Connector
Transition to profile
Profile
Recommendation
Set Expectations
Request a follow up call

When possible hire a sales representative within the United States. They can really act as a liaison for your company. Their is a culture to how we do business in the United States and someone local will add significant results to your business.

Ensure you make the experience the same every time for your U.S. customers.

Create order forms
Establish response times on inquiries, never deviate
Keep your logo the same
Use the same sales rep, when possible
Encourage your customer to ask questions

These steps may seem simple, but are required for success. Everyone around the world knows the business McDonald's. There is a reason why this business is so successful in the United States. McDonald's provides the same thing every time a customer walks through the door. No confusion, only fulfilled expectations. People don't go there for the great food. Their product is consistency in service, time frames, food taste, cleanliness, order process, ease of payment, speed, etc.

Labels: economy, internationa companies, making money, management, sales process, Small Business CEO, tele-consulting, United States

posted by Valhalla Business Solutions at 9:54 PM 0 comments