I’ve spent a lot of time making and thinking about decisions within organizations. One thing I’ve noticed is that the best decisions are those that are the best informed (obviously). However, collecting and analyzing enough data to make the “best” decision can be a significant investment. This typically results in leaders collecting some data and … Continue reading Organizational Decision Making
Author: Chad Albrecht
Many of us struggle with having a seemingly endless ToDo list. While prioritizing it can sometimes help, often writing the number 48 in front of an activity can just cause more frustration. Years ago I looked for ways to manage my list. I asked peers and mentors how they dealt with the things they had … Continue reading The Eisenhower Matrix
I posted a while back on Michael E. Porter's idea that either you can compete on cost or differentiation but not both. How should you make that decision? How will you know if your choice will be profitable? First of all my advice is to NEVER compete on cost as a small company. As Porter … Continue reading Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
As businesses go to market with a product or a service they are quickly confronted with the need to compete on price. The questions here is "Should we?" In 1985, Harvard Business economist Michael E. Porter gave the world some tools to answer this question in his book Competitive Advantage. In the book Porter postulates … Continue reading Strategy, Competition & The Porter Curve
As I talk to other business owners I'm often struck by the fact that investment decisions are made by the seat of the pants. "We just invested in a new company car." or "We just paid $5000 for an email list for marketing." While I've made quick decisions like this too (after all I am … Continue reading Tracking Investments in a Small Company
All business want to increase sales, profit and cash, but sometimes increasing sales doesn't seem to lead to more profit or cash. This may have something to do with the time it takes convert leads into cash. This is commonly referred to as the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC). It is formally defined as resources into … Continue reading Simplified Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)
Just picked up the new business framework book Scaling Up written by Verne Harnish over at Gazelles. It's a great book! The book breaks the challenges down into four areas. People, strategy, execution, cash. Very straightforward and includes concrete behaviors and practical examples. Verne and the team also give you plenty of room to experiment … Continue reading Scaling Up
As a small business owner or a sales manager for a small business you should be able to answer these questions: How big is our sales pipeline both in terms of opportunities and dollars? Given the size of our pipeline what are the chances we are going to hit our monthly sales target? How long … Continue reading Critical Sales Metrics for Small Business
I was again honored by having Steve Jagler of the Milwaukee Biz Times interview me on my customer philosophy. The idea that: ... the damage to our team and our company is too great to stay in relationships with abusive clients May seem absurd, but after you’ve tried everything you can to make thing … Continue reading Don’t be afraid to fire a customer
I’ve been using a variety of personality assesments on teams over the years and found them to be useful. The new Strengthse Finder 2.0 from Gallup and Tom Rath is definetely one I’m adding to the list. Throught tests similar to DiSC or MBTI is classifies your top strengths or themes. These themes can help … Continue reading Strengths Finder 2.0