I recently read a Harvard Business Review article about reinventing marketing, and I found it quite interesting (especially as it coincides with what I believe!). According to the article, to complete successfully in today’s business environment, companies must shift from pushing individual products to building long-term customer relationships.

In essence, this turns traditional marketing on its head as product and brand managers become subservient to customer managers. It also suggests that customer-focused functions including R&D, customer service, market research and CRM should be viewed as part of the “customer department”. I am not sure if I would have seen the genius of this in my prior work life; however, in working with many companies to accelerate performance (which often leads back to customers as #1) and in managing my consulting practice, I see the value of looking at these elements through the customer viewpoint. After all, creating products and hoping they satisfy customer needs is pointless. It must start in reverse.

I also recently wrote an article about how to thrive in the “new normal” business environment which was published by Industry Week. Customer service is one of the top 3 keys to success. Read the article in full: click here.

© Lisa Anderson 2010. All rights reserved.

I recently read an article in Industry Week that shows what I’ve seen to be true in my client engagements - leveraging business systems is key to succeeding in 2010’s “new normal”. Therefore, I.T. is vital to the post recession recovery because I.T. must partner with the business segments to leverage the business systems to deliver bottom line business results. Unfortunately, I.T. is understaffed and often underappreciated. According to Robert Half, 43% of around 1400 CIO’s believe their departments are deeply or somewhat understaffed for handling their current workloads. Yet Gartner says 62% of 190 senior business executives say I.T. will e a “key element” in their companies’ post-recession recovery.

I was recently quoted in an Industry Week article about leveraging business systems, as I have seen many, many examples of companies deliver significant profitibility and cash flow results solely through leveraging business systems in combination with business processes. As it costs almost nothing (except valuing your I.T. and business process folks!), who wouldn’t want to free up millions of dollars of cash or save 5% in cost in a key area? To read the full article to provide ideas on this topic: click here.

© Lisa Anderson 2010. All rights reserved.

Actually it could be quite the opposite, so long as you are paying for performance. I recently was interviewed for an article on pay for performance systems, and so I’ll provide the link when it comes out. In the interim, I wanted to comment on a recent article in CFO magazine which touched on this subject.

Costco was referred to as the anit-Wal-Mart because it pays its employees more and offers more generous benefits - and it does quite well. According to their CFO, they have a different business model which is based on high volumes and caters to businesses and more-affluent customers. They’ve figured out an efficient way to pay their people more and still drive down expenses as a percent of sales.

If you think creatively, innovate and focus on what’s important to your business (which, in Costco’s case, they obviously consider their employees to be valuable assets), it’s my experience that you’ll be far more likely to succeed.

© Lisa Anderson 2010. All rights reserved.

As the highlight/ introduction to an article I was quoted in inside Union Bank’s Business Focus newsletter about this topic says, “The silver lining of this economy is that businesses with fast access to cash may be able to take advantage of extraordinary opportunities.” In my experience, business and individuals should listen carefully to this statement, as it will undoubedly become true.

Almost every business I am aware of has significantly slowed down or curtailed capital spending, as it is typically one of the first areas to go when cash is tight. I am an advocate of aggressively managing cash in today’s economy, as those who have cash to invest will be those who succeed. Just think of this example - if your company has the cash to invest in new equipment that will help give you an advantage over the competition while your competitors do not have the cash to invest, who do you think will succeed in the long term? What an opportunity!

The article discusses cash management strategies from more of a personal perspective; however, the same concepts apply in a business. It discusses four tips: 1) Set up a rainy day fund. 2) Leverage your cash. 3) Watch for deals. 4) Schedule your outlays. To read the entire article, click here.

© Lisa Anderson 2010. All rights reserved.

Whether we are in a recovery or whether it will turn out to be short-lived, one way to ensure your business is successful is to incorporate lessons learned into business planning for the year ahead.

I was recently quoted in “Erosion Control” in an article on business planning for 2010 about this subject: Lisa Anderson, founder and president of LMA Consulting Group in Claremont, CA, says the 2010 business plan will be a pivotal turning point for companies. “All of the cushion is long gone—it is now essential to immediately focus on the most effective path forward,” she says. “Business plans for 2010 must include a continuous feedback-and-adjustment loop.”

There are several interesting insights in the article. To read the full article, click here.

© Lisa Anderson 2010. All rights reserved.

Optimize - - especially in today’s economy, it is vital to utilize already existing opportunities to leverage your supply chain systems. There are countless ways to leverage your supply chain management system to reduce inventory levels, improve service levels, reduce lead times etc.

In December’s issue of Industry Week magainze, I was interviewed about getting the most from your supply chain management system. Read the full article by clicking here.

I’m looking forward to your feedback and debate. I can’t tell you how many times this topic has resulted in debate in my work experience and with clients; however, I’ve found it to be quite achievable to accomplish significant results by leveraging current supply chain systems (FYI, there are several different systems included so the exact system is not important).

© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.

I was interviewed on a radio talk show, Lantz on Leadership, on practical approaches to creating profit through people and processes: click here to listen.

In addition to discussing how to create profit through people and processes, I also discussed discussed current trends. Based on my current client experiences, we talked about the following:

• Biggest problems they’re facing
• Largest mistakes they’ve made
• Opportunities
• Best practices
• How leaders can help in the current economy

© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.

It has recently occurred to me that businesses are missing a huge opportunity to leverage the transferability of best practices. Although as a business consultant, leveraging best practices has been an “assumed” part of the value I provide clients, even I missed the boat and forgot to leverage this value in my marketing process. After realizing this personal miss, I started to think further about the topic in relation to my clients, and I realized that it has been one of my top 3 paths to success in driving bottom line business results. So, what do I mean by transferability of best practices, and how does one go about doing this?

Leveraging the transferability of best practices involves the following: 1) searching for even seemingly unrelated best practices for your top / core business processes; 2) evaluate and trial best practices that seem as though they might have something to offer in your business; 3) modify and change as appropriate for your business (leverage the best and adjust the rest); 4) implement and monitor progress. I’ve found countless examples where leveraging the transferability of best practices has proven effective. So, what are some of the ways to achieve it? 1) Different sized businesses; 2) Different industries; 3) Across countries & continents; 4) A word of caution… If you are interested in reading more about these ways of leveraging best practices, please read my latest newsletter - click here.

© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.

In my experience in working with multiple companies ranging from a 1-person inventor to multi-billion dollar international companies across multiple industries and working internationally, it’s noticed that one common denominator is that trends are critical. Noticing trends has been some of the most significant value I’ve provided to clients - after all, more than half the battle is “being ahead of the puck” instead of always playing catch-up.

If you are able to find a hidden opportunitiy by the virtue of noticing trends in the marketplace, industry, economic environment and even your people prior to your competition, you’ll be able to create an opportunity to leapfrog your competition and/or propel your results. Of course, noticing trends alone is useless, as taking action is key. For example, if you notice markeplace trends and see an unfilled need emerging, whether it is a $10,000 observation or a $1 million observation doesn’t matter unless you take action on the trend - bring the appropriate experts together, develop a way to fill the need and launch it to your marketplace. Typically I find that execution is the critical component in most businesses; however, in this case, it can be equally important to notice the trend. Otherwise, the opportunity wouldn’t exist. This concept is just as appropriate to your career and your personal life as it is to business success. There is no doubt that if you become expert at spotting trends and tie it together with solid execution, you’ll be successful.

With that said, do not despair if your expertise is not in identifying trends. If you own a business, hire this expertise. If you are focused on your career, hire this expertise (in a mentor) or create a group where everyone has a skill that can be shared (where you are able to in essence trade your expertise for someone else’s trend-spotting expertise). And, in your personal environment, collaborate with your family and friends. Again, relationships are key. No one is expert in everything. Lastly, develop this skillset.

There are many ways to develop this skill. First, just by paying attention to potential trends, you’ll be practicing this skill. Second, several of the options described above can also help you refine this skill. For example, a mentor will not only help you identify trends but will also help you learn how to develop this skill on your own. Third, start by collecting the data. You might not be an expert at identifying trends seemingly “out of the blue”; however, you could be an expert at analyzing data. Once you have put a set of metrics in a trend line (such as year-over-year performance or a monthly trend), it becomes much easier to identify trends.

What’s the harm in putting additional thought into paying attention to trends? Give it a try.

© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.

It might sound outrageous but it can work. In this week’s LA Business Journal, there is an article about just this topic………the Orange County Register will soon by distributed by their #1 competitor, the LA Times, which will result in a savings of $1 million per year. It sounds outrageous but partnering and/or brainstorming with competitors can yield results - not just in terms of operational efficiencies but in terms of new business opportunities, etc. Be creative and think outside the box in terms of what types of deals are possible when considering your business and a competitor’s business - are there areas where there are potential synergies which are not a competitive advantage? Become extremely familiar with your competition. Not only it is a common sense, good business practice to know your competitors intimately but there also could be an opportunity if you consider options. Instead of thinking of “yes but’s”, think about “how can we utilize this idea?”. It might just yield significant savings and/ or leverage opportunities.

© Lisa Anderson 2009. All rights reserved.