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Do You Complete Projects on Time?

Do you complete your projects on time? Saying yes to this is much more complicated than meets the eye at first glance. A real, in-depth analysis, should show that you complete every element of a project on time. And by every element we mean every element from receiving the order on time through shipping the order on time. This in-depth analysis requires that the process be broken down to its most finite individual elements and that these elements are scheduled. From the 30,000 foot view this includes receiving the order on time, entering the order on time, accepting the order on ...
Does Your Engineering Department Engineer To the Budget?

In answering the above question many people would say “of course we do." However, how many companies have the metrics in place to be sure that they are in fact engineering to the budget established by the applications engineering group when quoting a project? To do this, engineering must have some input in the acceptance of the order prior to the order being entered. Does your company have this process in place? Does engineering have input into the acceptance of an order? If they do not, how can they be expected to be held to a budget they have not seen ...
Do You Design Exactly What Was Sold

This might seem like a ridiculous question but: do you design exactly what was sold? Is the communication between applications engineering and engineering detailed enough to allow engineering to understand exactly what was sold in a language that they can understand? That might be a better question. We find that in many companies this is not the case. Sales/Applications engineering speaks in one language and engineering speaks in another. I'm sure this is not a unique situation in that sales reports to one hierarchical structure and engineering reports to another and in these cases sales management communications and engineering communications can differ ...
Does Your Company Have the Org Structure, Processes, and Tools to Support an Active Product/Service Market Development Process

Last time we talked about having a “Driver” for product/service development process and how important this is to the profitability of your business. We can have a Driver for market development but without the proper org structure, processes, and tools to support this Driver the future of new products/services could get lost in the rush. An org structure to support the ideas and concepts that come from the Driver pursuing the market and its needs is necessary to analyze, develop and help define what is going to be sold and to whom. The actual processes and tools that are necessary to analyze ...
Who Drives Your Proactive Market Development Process

Last time we talked about having a” Proactive” product/service development process and how important this is to the profitability of your business. But here’s the “Rub”, who is the driver of this process? If it is pushed down to the sales or engineering management level and is not supported by top management, it is doomed to failure. In the ideal situation this process is owned and driven by the chief executive officer of the company or someone reporting directly to the chief executive officer and is an active, viable, financed and supported business process. As pointed out last time, allowing future business ...
Do You Have a Proactive Market Development Process

Last time we talked about having an active product/service development process. How do you know what products or services to develop? From our viewpoint this information flows from a proactive market development process, that is a living, breathing, financed, and an item that is on a monthly or quarterly executive committee and Board meeting agenda. Do you have relationships with key executives in your market? These are people that are well connected in their markets and know what the future is likely to bring for their companies so you can determine, through your relationship with them, how this impacts your company. ...
Do You Have an Active Product/Service Development Process

Does your company believe that it needs an active, supported, and financed product and or service development process? Is it an active line item in your monthly or quarterly management meetings? Are your salespeople actively involved in this process and do they look for new opportunities and report them in an organized fashion? Is your chief executive officer the driver of this function? If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, we suggest that you consider the questions, apply them to your organization and be aggressive in the pursuit of developing new products and or services. We believe this ...
Are There Walls Between Functional Groups in Your Company

Last newsletter we talked about cultural changes that may be necessary in a company and we highlighted some areas that are typically in need of culture analysis and change. In this newsletter we want to discuss walls that can be built between functional groups. Typically, these walls are built between sales and engineering and engineering and manufacturing. The fact that these walls exist has always baffled me. But nevertheless, these walls do exist and in some cases to the detriment of the company and its customers. It baffles me because engineering is sale’s customer in that engineering uses the work product ...
Does Your Company Culture Need to Change?

How do you know when your company’s culture requires a change? We suggest that there are some metrics that will act as indicators that something needs to change. These metrics are fundamental and are metrics that we all look at every month, every quarter, every year. Those metrics are sales volume, gross margin, operating profit and the ratios of expense to revenue. If your sales volume, gross margin and operating profit are not where they should be and if your SG&A expense is not the proper percentage of overall revenue then something needs to change. Many times, CFO's and CEO's believe it's ...
Presenting the Value Proposition

It's a new year and we at Strategen sincerely hope that you had a successful 2024 and wish you a prosperous 2025. In our last newsletter we talked about your ability to draft a “Value Proposition.” Assuming you and your sales team have a working knowledge of your customer's processes and/or business we presented the value of being able to develop a statement that demonstrates your company's ability to integrate its value into the customer's business. If your sales organization has this ability the next question is does the sales organization have the ability to present it in an intelligent and ...