Profitable Growth is Everyone’s Business by Ram Charan

This is by far one of the best books I have read in regards to my consulting practice.  Ram Charan is a masterful writer with a vault of information that is useable immediately.

His goal is “to improve the practice of business by people tools they can put to use immediately”

The book is built around the idea of producing constant revenue growth.  The medium he uses during the course of this book is centered around the game of baseball.  Many companies swing for the fences constantly, but never consider a single or double to be worthwhile. But those singles and doubles actually from the foundations on which to build a company through the basic’s.

A few great quotes…

“Every contact of every person with a customer is an opportunity for revenue growth”

“Marketing is about finding out what the customer wants, and designing products, services and programs that give it to them”

“But the reality is most ideas are generated when people exchange information”

“Does the management team come into contact with the user of your product”?

“How good are the upstream marketing skills-that is, the ability to segment markets and identify consumer attributes in your business”?

I highly recommend this book for your library.

Steven Hume

Hume Management & Consulting

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Is your technology current?

A recent study showed that businesses increase revenues 15% points faster by keeping up with the latest technologies for their companies.  Whether that be tech savvy or cloud savvy these businesses surveyed found that improving efficiencies, connecting with new customers and markets enabled them to compete with larger scale companies.  Customer realize the businesses that use newer technology often times provide better service, run more secure operations which translates into higher customer satisfaction.

Outdated technologies have an impact on employees as well.  They deal with the slower technologies first hand.  It can be a very frustrating situation with the employees are hand-cuffed because the owner doesn’t or won’t keep up with the best tools for them to use.  The cloud-based technology allows small businesses to work from anywhere.  Maybe the best employees for your operation are out of state.  The cloud can really help.  Colleagues can collaborate seamlessly even when working from different locations.

Security threats is not lost on customers.  Think of the recent flare-up within the Target situation.  Lots of unhappy people had their personal data compromised.  Technology changes very rapidly.  If your operating system is more than 5 years old take a hard look at upgrading.  Many business owners can’t be in the office 24-7.  They like to check in from a portable device or from home.  Technology makes this avenue a snap.  While working in Florida we had a client who installed tracking devices in all 13 of his employees trucks.  He found some very unusual happening when employees reported verbally they were at a clients location  when the GPS showed them somewhere different.  Lost productivity was tighten up immediately and employees knew they could no longer “snow” the boss.

A professional looking and functioning web site goes a long way when potential clients are looking for a business. 77% of customers surveyed expect that your web site be up-to-date, quick, functional & easy to understand.  Templates are going the way of the past as clean coded web sites that are responsive are quickly taking over.  If your web site is outdated it is like dealing with a run-down brick and mortar storefront.

Ask your employees what their thoughts are regarding the current technology.  Ask them how upgrading could make their lives better when at work and I am sure your eyes will be opened.  Employees generally have a pulse on the business sometimes more than the owner.  Upgrading technologies in the end can save lots of time, money and headaches.