Too many companies settle for the profit they make instead of working for the profit goal they have set. If 20% net profit is your goal, then write a budget that gets you there. Don’t compromise until you have reviewed all your options. That is true budget discipline. › Continue reading…
Tag: audiovisual
Commission is an incentive to sell the right products, to the right customers, and profitably. We hope it will encourage our sales team to find new business too. Because we ask so much of commission, it makes sense to have multiple components. We will look at revenue, gross profit, and quotas.
Looking around the corner can help you choose a strategy that might succeed in many possible futures. On the other hand, if we chase predictions, we often settle on one possible future and choose narrower strategies. › Continue reading…
This will always be the InfoComm I remember the best – not for the obvious reason that this is my year as President of the association – but because the show got its mojo back. › Continue reading…
I just read today’s headline about the jump in jobless claims and immediately started to contrast that story with all the good news I am hearing on the street from AV folks. For the past month I have heard almost exclusively about better than expected revenue and revenue forecasts. › Continue reading…
I was thinking the other day about companies that I admire and enjoy working with the most. What do they have in common? At first I thought it was that they are friendly and open, but that knocked a couple of favorites out of the running. I also know some very nice companies that are not that fun to work with. They are stuck in a pattern that cannot be broken without extreme intervention. When you are in a role like mine that is designed to help people, and they won’t let themselves be helped – it’s frustrating. Still, it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy being with them. › Continue reading…
2008-09 has been a study in business defense. Adjusting staffing levels, hedging operating budgets, and rethinking strategies has consumed most small businesses – and it is getting kinda old. We all seem to be waiting for some sort of sign that will trigger us back into business offense. If defense is characterized by control and saving, then offense has to be the willingness to take some risks and bet that there is more available upside than downside. The past couple of months have proven to a lot of folks that recent upticks of activity have been just bursts and not trends. What will be the your true indicator to switch gears? › Continue reading…
Once upon a time, AV integrators made good money from equipment and labor with a healthy premium for engineering expertise. Today, equipment and labor have become commodities and engineering is the value-added service we don’t get to charge for anymore. The burden of profit is now placed upon project management and operations, which is still pretty much based on the 1990′s model. There have been vast improvements in making project management more professional and educating installers. These changes alone are not enough. We need to discover the service, product, or convenience that we can charge for today, above the commoditized time and materials we are so familiar with. › Continue reading…
If you still struggle daily with low price competitors, here are a couple of mantras for your wall:
1. At any given time, SOMEONE can do it for less.
This means that despite your best efforts, another bidder or rival for the project at hand could easily trump your low price. › Continue reading…
Is one bad month a trend? Compared to what? The month before? The same month a year ago?
Ask any manager “How’s business?” and you will likely get a response like, “Well, we are down for the year, but we just had a great month,” or “We’re having a great year, but next month looks really bad.” Why not use a week or a day? Our Wednesdays are way up this year… › Continue reading…
