Strategic Plan Execution

One of the realities of the business world is that if 
you're not winning the battles, you're loosing the war. 
Companies that see no need to change or are afraid of 
change and consequently, continue to do things the old 
way, almost always lose market share to their 
competition and end up with products that cannot 
produce healthy profit margins.

In the competitive business world of today, it is 
imperative that a company and their people continuously 
improve their ability to deliver value to their 
customers. We need to focus on the battles of speed, 
quality, costs and customer satisfaction. These battles 
can be won only through the strain of change.

At your company, it is important that your people never 
close their eyes or minds to new ideas and methods that 
could improve business processes. They must be ready 
and committed to trying out new ideas, tools, techniques 
and systems in the continuous improvement of their day-
to-day activities. On the job creativity is the most 
powerful resource that a company has in its pursuit of 
a sharper competitive edge.

Our lead article today "Maintaining Your Competitive 
Edge" identifies four activities that customers consider 
important in their selection of business partners. Be 
sure to share it with your people. 

Have a nice day, keep the faith, and stay connected.

Bill Gaw
Business Basics, LLC
Bg@bbasicsllc.com
760-945-5596

==========================================

MAINTAINING YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE

Visits from key customers usually provide some 
important insights into what is important in 
maintaining your company's competitive edge. Be sure 
that you not only communicate with your customers but 
encourage them to visit. In my experience, customers 
will discuss in detail the following activities that 
they consider important in their selection of and 
continued relationship with business partners.

TECHNOLOGY: Innovate or be made obsolete. In this day 
and age it is not possible to survive long on past 
inventions and patents. Innovation must be an on-going 
process and carried out in a time sensitive environment 
that is responsive to customer needs. Marketing windows 
open and close quickly in today's world, suppliers must 
pick opportunities wisely and execute product 
development programs effectively.

QUALITY: A supplier's ranking is determined to a large 
extent by the quality of its products and services as 
perceived by its customers. There is little opportunity 
for competitors to sell their products to a customer 
that is convinced he is currently buying from the best 
quality supplier. A sure way to maintain one's market 
share is to earn recognition as the best quality 
producer.

CUSTOMER SERVICE: Excellence in after the sales 
Service is the first step toward repeat sales and a 
key to closing the doors to competitors. Quality spare 
parts delivered on time, timely execution of upgrade 
programs, responsive maintenance and repair and 
providing product enhancements in line with customer 
requirements are crucial to new business development.

PRICE AND DELIVER: Manufacturing companies must 
continuously reduce their product costs to assure that 
products are price competitive. Only when pricing and 
quality are optimized does a company establish a 
foundation of healthy company growth and individual 
security.

An ever-present challenge in the manufacturing business 
is the necessity of being able to meet tough customer 
delivery requirements. The ability to produce quality 
products "inside of standard lead times" is a must---
if manufacturers focus only on the easy jobs, they'll 
lose their competitive edge and say good-bye to their 
leadership position in the marketplace.

Being the best when it comes to balancing speed, 
quality, cost and service is a challenge that each 
person in the company must address in the execution of 
their day-to-day activities. Actions carried out in 
daily work routines should promote team dynamics that 
optimize this crucial balance.

I think that most people are motivated by competition. 
Maintaining a competitive edge must be an important 
company, quantified objective---it must also be 
transformed into exciting team and personal goals. The 
future success of any company as well as its people 
will, to a large degree, be determined by how well 
they step up to the challenge of their competitors.

How can you contribute to improving your company's 
competitive edge? Why not review the 6-Change 
Initiatives presented at my Web site. Select the 
one that would best benefit your company’s pursuit 
of growth and profits and put it in the hands of 
someone that can champion an implementation program. 

To get their, go to:

http://bbasicsllc.com

=============================================

Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to 
educate and train their team members. 20-World 
Class Manufacturing, cost-effective, training 
modules are just a click away:

http://bbasicsllc.com/training-modules.htm

=============================================


You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with 
your manufacturing teams, peers, suppliers and upper 
management ... better yet, have them signup for their 
own copy at:

http://bbasicsllc.com/subscribe.htm

With the escalating spam-wars, it's also a good idea 
to WHITELIST our bulletin mailing domain via your 
filtering software or control panel: 

bizbasics@getresponse.com

This will help guarantee that your bulletin is never 
deleted unexpectedly.


Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596 

 

To preview twenty 1-2 hours PowerPoint® Training Presentations on CDs with expert commentary by Bill Gaw, click below: World Class Manufacturing Training .

COMPETITIVE KNOWLEDGE MENU
(Click on any subject below):

Your company can reach its full potential in all aspects of the business. All you need is the right knowledge and training. You will find much of it  it here, at the Business Basics' Website:

Competitive e-Knowledge for anyone ... anywhere ... anytime
Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596