Become a little more obsessed with what your customers want even before they know what they want to keep them your customers for a very long time. One of our clients has a healthy obsession for the customer! It might drive some of his employees a little mad but [...]
November 10, 2016 I am in Japan this week meeting with my global board of advisors group to discuss 2017 strategy and business trends. Since I have never been to Japan, I decided to take a few days in advance to see the sights. Following the advice of the [...]
September 28, 2016 Last weekend, I attended APICS 2016 in Washington DC, and one of the keynote speakers was Bill McDermott, SAP's CEO (pictured below with Abe, APICS's CEO). He gave a motivating talk about a variety of topics. One of the key themes is that customers (consumers) rule! [...]
Start with building a customer service culture with your employees to give your clients reason to come back and refer you to others. Although we work on many topics impacting manufacturers and distributors, we have found that the most popular - and vital - is customer service. Prior to [...]
August 24, 2016 Last week, I met with my marketing team on several topics. One of the key areas, stemming from the strategy session with my international advisory board in Sydney is "what is my unique differentiation and value proposition". I have always been passionate about providing exceptional service [...]
August 11, 2016 When I've needed customer service the most, Staples has been there! A while back, my house burned down. When that happened, the manager of the local Staples went WAY out of her way to help dig up old invoices to assist with the arduous accounting process. [...]
Your rate of success with customer service, increasing revenue, developing new products and gaining a competitive advantage all depends on people and who you have on your team. In real estate, almost everyone knows that location, location, location is the name of the game. The best house in the [...]
May 25, 2016 I just had a brainstorming session with one of my key clients about the integrated planning process - in essence, how demand and supply match up to ensure customer service (which is #1 for every client in today's environment), growth, and improved margins and cash flow. [...]
Though gratifying, periods of business growth can be the most challenging to manage. The keys to successfully manage growth are people, simple project timelines and follow-up. My clients across all manufacturing and distribution-related industries ranging from small, family-owned businesses to multi-billion dollar corporations have one item in common – [...]
Because your supply chain has a long and important reach from suppliers to customers, it is one of your key areas to strategize to ensure profitability. Only if you want to ensure results! My view of supply chain is from your suppliers’ supplier through your manufacturing processes (internal and [...]
