Mike Hill, President of Woodstock Gas

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

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Picture this…  You’ve just been hired as President of a company that sells propane gas primarily for heating homes and businesses.  The company has been declining and you’re expected to “fix it.”  Then you’re hit with the warmest weather in recorded history.  Crisis?  Nope!

Mike Hill of Mike Hill and Associates is a Business Advisor and Turnaround Specialist.  He stepped into the situation just described and succeeded.  And not only from a financial perspective.  In a recent survey, 80% of Woodstock Gas employees reported they are satisfied or very satisfied.  You want to listen to Mike’s insights!

Here’s a tidbit, I found particularly interesting:  “80% of business is the same,” he says.  “Whether it’s a huge corporation or a small business, it really is about blocking and tackling.”  In other words, Hill believes in applying fundamentals to cause a business to be successful.  It’s all about processes, metrics, documentation and technology to support each.

Technology, that is, to support all aspects of the business.  Inventory,  accounting, routing of trucks, …everything.

How to go about implementing all that?  Start with harvesting information from the best source there is, the employees.  As Mike put it, “They know what’s wrong with business.”  Follow that by measuring performance, using that data to verify what’s broken and then putting in a framework of systems to enable process change and improvement.

Common sources of problems?  Hill sees two fundamental categories.  Most businesses are started by either a sales whiz who’s not so good at operating a business or an ops whiz who struggles with sales.  Determining which it is determines the starting point for all that information harvesting.

Bottom line, Hill makes it all sound so simple.  Obviously though, a turnaround is anything BUT simple.  I’m guessing his ability to boil down complex issues to understandable, manageable chunks is the secret to his success.  Don’t miss this episode!

Filed Under: Turnaround Tagged With: , , ,

An IT services firm that “gets it”

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Business first; technology second.  That’s the mantra of Dave Poole, a partner with Velocity Technology Partners.  He views the role of his company as offloading the need to keep up with information technology for its clients, enabling a greater focus on their businesses.

Dave specifically talked about the legal practices they serve.  For a law firm, the word “time” really means “billable time,” and very clearly, billable time translates directly to money.  The focus for these clients is not technology, but freeing up professional time.

For their medical clients, it’s all about patient care.  Again, it’s not technology.  It’s information flow and clear, correct communication between medical professionals and patients.  Velocity concentrates on eliminating any “disconnects” in that communication.

“There are a lot of cool technologies that we could implement in a business that have no impact on revenue or profit, ” Dave points out.  He follows that comment with another statement and a pragmatic question:  “It will look cool and will never generate a penny for your business.  Is that where you want to invest your money?”

We also talked about the differences between an “invest intelligently” approach to technology vs. a “nickel and dime it” style.  Pay close attention to this part of the discussion!

Especially if you’re in a legal, medical or manufacturing business – or a start-up – you’ll want to hear from an IT services firm not afraid to say, “I don’t have enough knowledge about your business to be an effective partner.”  That’s the sort of IT partner I want!

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Eric Marjoram of Marjoram Creative

October 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

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Speaking of learning a thing or two…  Todd and I have been in the sales and marketing game for a long time, and continue to be amazed at how much more we have to learn.  Eric Marjoram, owner of Marjoram Creative provides a wealth of eye-opening insights in this episode.

For example, Eric’s baseline questions when getting to know a new client are terrific examples of getting to the heart of the matter quickly:

  • Who are you?
  • Who is your audience?
  • Do they think you are who you say you are?

That third question is the biggie.  The business exec’s opinion and the prospect’s opinion “…don’t always match up,” he says with a smile; indicating he really means “don’t match up too often.”  Maybe we should all be asking ourselves that question on a regular basis.

Eric’s take on “Identity” and “Brand” also gets you thinking creatively.  “An identity lives between our ears.  A brand lives the hearts of the people who use our products or services,” he says.  Chew on those statement for a while …and then consider this one:  “It’s their experience that creates a brand,” he asserts – referring to customers.  It really is NOT about our products or our services. It’s the whole start to finish experience of those who buy what we sell.

You’ll also want to hear his take on what’s coming down the road the next few years.  Yes, of course it’s more and more technology, but applied how?  Take a listen and let me know if you’re as intrigued with Marjoram’s perspective as we are!

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Sheldon Michaels of Southern Office Machines

September 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

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“It’s all about education,” says  Sheldon Michaels, Founder and President of Southern Office Machines.  In this interview, he goes on to explain how he always starts by educating himself about a customer’s business processes and only then applying his product and service knowledge.

Imagers, as today’s printer/scanner/copier/fax machines are called, are a mature product line and “there’s a race to the bottom” in terms of their price.  Michaels explains how a low price – free in some cases – can lead to an overly expensive decision.  He advises identifying the smallest, sturdiest machine that has the features and functions you need and then determining your total cost of ownership.  Think supplies, support and service.  The copier might be inexpensive, but the the ink cartridges might cost a small fortune.  The scanner might be inexpensive, but if its use is not intelligently integrated into your work flow, it might be the cause of lots and lots of wasted time.  The printer might be inexpensive, but when it breaks down, you need a dealer who will be there to fix it.

Michaels also talked about treating his customers, “the way I would want to be treated.”  Clearly he believes it’s not only easy to say, it’s also easy to do.  He’d rather get $200 a month in supplies business vs. $250 if that’s what’s better for his customer.  He’ll recommend scanning images to a free service like Google Docs, instead of selling someone a bigger, more expensive machine as long as it fulfills a customer’s requirements.  Beginning to see why his business is still thriving after 26 years?

Managed Print Services or MPS is another reason.  Whatever your business might be, you need to focus on it; not on your imagers.  Southern Office Machines is in the imager business and with MPS, can apply all it’s knowledge to totally managing your imagers for a small fee based on number of monthly images.  With that arrangement, everyone can stay focused on what they do best.

All sorts of other insights in this interview …like Sheldon’s view on the “paperless office.”  Give it a listen!

Filed Under: Customer Focus Tagged With: , ,