Is 2008 really the time to bring in a consultant?

An Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of 600 business leaders shows that more than half of companies plan to engage in more change programs and increase spending on each in the coming year. “The focus is on increasing efficiency in companies, reminiscent of many of the change initiatives of the early 1980's. Over the coming year, companies will replace the current emphasis on cost reduction with an emphasis on adaptability and organizational efficiency.”

This should be good news for consulting companies like OBCOM Consulting who’s greatest talent is finding underperforming resources, hidden possibilities, and overlooked assets. Because of our customized solution concept, we stay around for the effective implementation of the change initiatives we recommend. This alleviates the disturbingly low success rate of change initiatives companies have possibly experienced in the past.

EIU reports that, "the element of change management that companies have the most difficulty with is 'winning hearts and minds' (51%). This was followed, in second place, by 'lack of management buy-in' (31%)." Blame for failure seems to largely fall on communication, intent and people rather than money or technology.

With a slowdown in the economy it becomes even more critical to be efficient, productive and profitable. It also positions a company better for when the economy heads up later. The result is invariably a greater market share as other companies don’t invest during the slow economy period.

How to Manage Price Inflation

Oil futures went up a historic 9 percent on June 6th. You and your customers will continue to see the effect every time you hit the gas pump. Your customers will be more concerned than ever before about prices. You are concerned about prices for the goods you buy and the ones you sell.

What can you do to manage your business through the deepening economic challenge that we are facing?

According to John Quelch, a professor at Harvard Business School, there are seven things to keep in mind.

1. Understand Your Customers. What are they doing as prices rise?

2. Invest in Market Research. You must get out into the marketplace yourself and talk to consumers directly to understand their pain points and how they are changing attitudes and behaviors in response to price inflation.

3. Redefine Value. To motivate cash-poor consumers, marketers must reverse engineer products and packaging to hit key retail price points. This may mean downsizing package sizes, something the candy industry always does in response to inflation.

4. Use Promotions. More customers than usual will be looking out for price promotions, but don’t give away the store to those who don’t need the discount, and cut prices not across the board but only on items selected as your inflation-busters.

5. Unbundle. Customers who previously welcomed the convenience of buying product, options, and services rolled into one may now ask for a detailed price breakdown. Make it easy for your more price-sensitive customers to better cherry-pick the options and services that they truly need by giving them an unbundled menu of options.

6. Monitor Trade Terms. Manage your inventory on a last-in, first-out basis to insure that increases in your realized selling prices do not trail the increases in your input costs.

7. Increase Relevance. You need to persuade customers to cut back their expenditures on other products, not on yours. Strong brands can hold consumer loyalty while increasing retail price points. Weaker brands risk private label and generic substitution.

During this challenging time you need to educate your customers and give them some pricing options. And remember to emphasize your product’s benefits.

Can money buy you happiness?

According to an article I found in the Harvard Business School website the answer is YES! What happened to the old adage that money can’t buy happiness?

Michael Norton, from the HBS, and two colleagues from the University of British Columbia found that giving other people as little as $5 can make the giver happier. It is interesting that spending the money on someone else can make us happy.

"Intentional activities—practices in which people actively and effortfully choose to engage—may represent a promising route to lasting happiness. Supporting this premise, our work demonstrates that how people choose to spend their money is at least as important as how much money they make," the researchers explain. "Our findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations—as little as $5 in our final study—may be sufficient to produce non-trivial gains in happiness on a given day."

There were three studies involved. Norton explained, “One of the most puzzling paradoxes in social science is that though people spend so much of their time trying to make more money, having more money doesn't seem to make them that much happier. My colleagues Liz Dunn and Lara Aknin—both at the University of British Columbia—and I wondered if the issue was not that money couldn't buy happiness but that people simply weren't spending it in the right way to make themselves happier.”

They showed that spending as little as $5 over the course of a day on another person led to demonstrable increases in happiness.

They are now looking to work with companies to be creative with how they encourage their employees to spend their bonuses, and companies that are willing to be creative in how they engage in their own charitable giving. “For instance, many companies donate a lump sum to charities each year. Our research suggests that companies might think about splitting that money up among their employees and empowering them to choose the recipient of those donations. We refer to such initiatives as creating a "prosocial workplace," which we believe has benefits both for companies, in the form of happier employees, and for society, through increases in charitable giving.”

A MUST READ Book

I have read many books by and about John Wooden and I met the man once (thanks Daniel Herrmann).

I just finished reading The Essential Wooden.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It had me thinking and reflecting about places I have worked, people I have worked for, businesses I have worked with, and mistakes I made with people that worked for me.

I highly recommend that you get and read this book. The challenge I make to you is to try to apply his thoughts, approaches, character, and techniques to your life and business. Think of each nugget not in basketball terms, but in terms of how you can apply it to your life - how you can ‘Connect the Dots’ to your life. Greater ‘success’ will be yours.

If you read only a page or two a day, it will be like getting a couple longer ‘thoughts for the day’ each of those days. The format is such that you can read a page or so and not having to worry about where you left off for when you pick it up again.

I even made it easy for you to find it!!!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071484353/?tag=obcomconsulti-20

Let me know what you think after you read it.