Management Secrets by Mary Elston

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Over the last few weeks as we all began the new decade and shifted our management mojo into gear, I’ve been sharing with you three major goals or high level priorities to keep in mind. Let’s recap the first two goals now – reduce costs and make money.

When it comes to keeping expenses in line, you’ll want to look at your first priority of managing cost reduction with strategic, short term and long range impacts in mind. Make sure cost cutting goals are pervasive, collaborative and timely by holding a brainstorming session for cost cutting with your trusted team leaders. Ask yourselves: What do we really need to keep the business running? Where can we shift gears that will help us achieve cost containment goals? As I mentioned in an earlier blog, look at costs line by line on your budget — particularly the big costs — consider common and uncommon options that will deliver measurable benefits from cost cutting decisions.

For our second high level management goal – make money – you’re going to make sure you keep your team in an energized, money making mode. This involves staying tuned into customer needs, aggressively marketing to a targeted client audience and reviewing your customer base to determine where your best opportunities reside and who are customers you want to keep vs. dis-engage. At the same time, keep on top of managing your team’s ability to consistently deliver high quality products and service.

Now we’re ready to shift into our third and final high level goal for this blog series – grow the business. “Grow?” — you might ask – “How can I do that when the market is punk and sales opportunities are shrinking??!!” That’s exactly the point. While others may be crying in their beer about the poor economy you’re the manager making the most of it by looking ahead now! Gearing up growth goals should include refreshing your marketing efforts; taking advantage of all skills and contacts your employees have and collaboratively building your ideas and actions to position yourself for business gains. Also think about markets you may have previously ignored that show growth potential. Do this now and when dollars start to loosen your company will be front and center as customers open their wallets and start spending again.

You can also influence business growth by checking out demographics for new, innovative products and finding out where pent up demand is waiting for the economy to improve. Evaluate these products now for potential inclusion in your list of offerings. Don’t wait. Think about what makes your customers want to buy and adjust your product line with suppliers who are doing exactly what you are – looking and managing ahead!

Before we leave the topic of growing the business,  you’lll want to make sure part of managing your efforts includes taking your team through a money-making “thought tune up” or “brain flexing for bucks”. As a group, flex your brain in various directions as to how you can grow and make more money by remembering to ask yourselves straight forward questions such as: What business is our competition getting that we’re not getting and why? Do our sales teams have superior product knowledge and do they know how to share it with prospective customers? How do our sales and service skills stack up to our competitors? What training may be needed to stay one step ahead of the other guy? Does our customer service encourage repeat sales?  Do we make customers feel valued and appreciated every time we interact with them?  Do we stay in touch with customer needs as opposed to just giving them what we “think” they want? And on and on …. flex your management brain and deliberately tune your thoughts toward customer needs to help hit your business growth goals.  Doing this will also give you a fresh view of your strengths and weaknesses and better position a shift into growth mode when market conditions are better aligned.  By the way — an essential part of managing your brain flexing efforts includes documenting the great ideas you and your team generate as you answer these questions!

When it comes to goals, no matter what you’re managing – whether it’s a family dinner party that requires shifting gears as the weather changes (and everyone leaves! — as mentioned in my first entry in this blog series), or driving a car and shifting gears to navigate snowy streets — changing conditions require a resilient and flexible approach to how you manage your business.

As you set or revisit your goals for the months ahead, make sure all your decisions contribute to reducing costs, making money and growing your business and you’ll be powering up a program for future success. Put muscle into your goals as well. This means you need to write goals down to strengthen commitment. Quantify your timing and results you are shooting for and review and measure your results at prescribed dates on the calendar. When goals are achieved, deliberately celebrate and keep pursuing newly updated goals. Shifting gears and goals doesn’t have to be difficult but it does have to be done. Make sure it’s you and not the other guy who makes smart goal shifts now. Those who shift will be those who win.

What are your top three, high level management goals for shifting gears and moving ahead in the new year? Let me know! Send in your comments, questions and challenges. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a new blog series …talk to you then.*

*excerpted in part and reprinted from Mary Elston management column with permission from Soundings Publications, LLC.