Employee Productivity

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Employee productivity is the measure of an employee’s output in relation to the time, resources, and effort invested in the work. In simpler terms, it is the ability of an employee to produce a desired output in a given time frame. The productivity of an employee can be measured in various ways, depending on the industry, company, or department. In this blog post, we will explore the different types of employee productivity and the top measures of productivity.

Types of Employee Productivity

Output Productivity: Output productivity refers to the amount of output that an employee produces in a given time frame. This type of productivity is commonly used in manufacturing and production industries where the number of units produced is the key performance indicator.

Input Productivity: Input productivity is the measure of the resources used by an employee to produce a given output. This type of productivity is commonly used in service industries where the quality of service provided is more important than the quantity.

Efficiency Productivity: Efficiency productivity is the measure of how efficiently an employee uses the resources to produce the desired output. This type of productivity is commonly used in industries where time management is critical.

Quality Productivity: Quality productivity is the measure of the quality of work produced by an employee. This type of productivity is commonly used in industries where the quality of work is more important than the quantity.

Top Measures of Productivity

Sales Revenue: Sales revenue is the amount of money generated by an employee’s sales efforts. This measure of productivity is commonly used in sales departments.

Number of Sales: The number of sales made by an employee in a given time frame is another measure of productivity commonly used in sales departments.

Time Management: Time management is the ability of an employee to complete tasks within the given time frame. This measure of productivity is commonly used in industries where time management is critical.

Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is the level of satisfaction of the customers with the services or products provided by an employee. This measure of productivity is commonly used in service industries.

Quality of Work: The quality of work produced by an employee is another measure of productivity that is commonly used in industries where the quality of work is more important than the quantity.

Employee Engagement: Employee engagement is the level of involvement and commitment of an employee towards their work. This measure of productivity is commonly used in HR departments.

Innovation: Innovation is the ability of an employee to come up with new ideas and solutions that can improve the performance of the company. This measure of productivity is commonly used in research and development departments.

Issues with measuring productivity

Conflict of interest can arise between top management and employees with respect to employee productivity measures. This conflict can occur when the productivity measures used by the management are not aligned with the interests of the employees. Top management may have a different set of priorities and goals than the employees, and this can lead to a conflict of interest.

For example, if the productivity measures used by the management focus solely on output productivity, employees may feel pressured to work longer hours or skip breaks to meet their targets. This can lead to burnout, low morale, and reduced job satisfaction, which can ultimately impact productivity negatively.

To address this conflict of interest, it is important to ensure that productivity measures are fair, transparent, and aligned with the interests of both top management and employees. Here are some insights on how to achieve this:

Involve employees in the process: Employees should be involved in the process of defining and setting productivity measures. This will help ensure that the measures are fair and take into account the interests of the employees. It can also help improve employee engagement and buy-in.

Use multiple measures: Instead of relying solely on output productivity measures, it is important to use a combination of measures that also focus on quality, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and other factors that are important to both top management and employees.

Provide incentives: Incentives can be used to motivate employees to improve productivity. However, the incentives should be aligned with the interests of both top management and employees. For example, incentives could be tied to a combination of output productivity and quality productivity measures.

Provide regular feedback: Regular feedback can help employees understand how their performance is being measured and how they can improve. This can help reduce the conflict of interest between top management and employees by ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

Avoid excessive pressure: Excessive pressure can lead to a conflict of interest between top management and employees. It is important to set realistic targets and provide employees with the resources they need to meet those targets without sacrificing their health, safety, or well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on employee productivity across the world. The shift to remote work, coupled with the stress and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, has led to a number of challenges for both employers and employees.

One of the most notable changes has been the widespread adoption of remote work. Many companies shifted to work-from-home arrangements to comply with social distancing guidelines and ensure the safety of their employees. While remote work offers many benefits, such as flexibility and reduced commute time, it has also created new challenges for productivity.

Here are some of the ways the pandemic has affected employee productivity:

Distractions: Working from home can present a number of distractions that employees may not experience in a traditional office setting, such as family members, pets, or household chores. This can make it difficult to stay focused and productive.

Isolation: Remote work can also lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection from colleagues, which can impact motivation and productivity.

Technology challenges: Employees may face challenges with technology, such as poor internet connectivity or difficulty accessing company resources remotely. This can lead to frustration and lost productivity.

Mental health: The pandemic has caused widespread stress and anxiety, which can negatively impact mental health and, in turn, employee productivity.

Despite these challenges, some studies have shown that remote work can actually increase employee productivity in certain situations. For example, a study conducted by Stanford University found that remote workers were more productive than their office-based counterparts, likely due to fewer distractions and interruptions.

To mitigate the impact of remote work on productivity, employers can take several steps, such as:

  • Providing employees with the necessary equipment and resources to work from home effectively.
  • Encouraging regular check-ins and communication between team members to combat isolation and maintain team cohesion.
  • Setting clear expectations and goals for remote work, including deadlines and deliverables.
  • Offering flexibility to employees, such as adjusting work schedules or providing mental health resources.

Conclusion

Employee productivity is an essential aspect of any business or organisation. It helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the employees and can be used to improve the overall performance of the company. The productivity of an employee can be measured in various ways, depending on the industry, company, or department. By using the appropriate measures of productivity, companies can improve the performance of their employees and achieve their business objectives.
Keep in mind that conflict of interest can arise between top management and employees with respect to employee productivity measures. To address this conflict, it is important to involve employees in the process, use multiple measures, provide incentives, provide regular feedback, and avoid excessive pressure. By doing so, organisations can improve employee engagement, productivity, and overall performance.
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges for employee productivity, particularly in the shift to remote work. However, with the right support and strategies, employers can help employees maintain productivity and achieve their goals in this new working environment.

How the Theory of Constraints can be applied in a business

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The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy that focuses on identifying and removing bottlenecks or constraints in a business process to improve overall performance. The theory suggests that optimizing non-bottleneck parts of a process will not significantly improve the overall throughput of the system, whereas focusing on the bottleneck will improve the system’s performance.

Some examples in business

Manufacturing:

In a manufacturing process, the bottleneck could be a specific machine or process that limits the production output. By identifying the bottleneck and addressing it, the entire production process can be optimized. For example, a company that produces cars might find that the painting process is the bottleneck in the assembly line, causing delays in the production schedule. By optimizing the painting process, the company can improve overall production and meet demand more efficiently.

Supply Chain:

In a supply chain, the bottleneck could be a supplier who is unable to provide materials on time or a logistics process that is slowing down delivery times. By identifying the bottleneck and addressing it, the supply chain can be optimized. For example, a company that sells electronics might find that their shipping process is the bottleneck, causing delays in delivering products to customers. By optimizing their shipping process, the company can improve overall customer satisfaction and increase revenue.

Service Industry:

In a service industry, the bottleneck could be a specific task or activity that is taking too much time and preventing the business from serving more customers. By identifying the bottleneck and addressing it, the business can improve its efficiency and profitability. For example, a restaurant might find that the time it takes to prepare food is the bottleneck in its operations, causing long wait times for customers. By optimizing its food preparation process, the restaurant can serve more customers and increase its revenue.

Issues with TOC

There are some business principles that go against the Theory of Constraints (TOC), or at least, may not be in line with its principles. Here are some examples:

Cost-cutting:

In some cases, businesses may focus solely on cutting costs to improve profitability. However, this may lead to neglecting the identification and removal of bottlenecks that are limiting the performance of the system. Cost-cutting may also reduce the resources available to address bottlenecks, which can further impede performance.

Maximizing resource utilization:

Some businesses may believe that maximizing resource utilization, such as machines, labor, or inventory, is the key to improving efficiency. However, this may not necessarily lead to optimal performance, as it may not address the bottleneck that is limiting overall throughput.

Traditional accounting methods:

Traditional accounting methods, such as absorption costing, may allocate overhead costs to products based on the volume of output. This may lead to misallocation of costs and incorrect assumptions about the profitability of products, which may not align with the TOC principle of focusing on bottlenecks and improving overall throughput.

Short-term focus:

Some businesses may focus solely on short-term gains, such as meeting quarterly targets or increasing stock prices. This may lead to neglecting the identification and removal of bottlenecks that are limiting the long-term performance of the system.

In summary, the Theory of Constraints can be applied to any business process to identify and address bottlenecks that are limiting the performance of the system. By focusing on the bottleneck, businesses can optimize their operations and improve their overall performance. However, business principles that focus solely on cost-cutting, maximizing resource utilization, traditional accounting methods, and short-term gains may not align with the principles of the Theory of Constraints. To improve overall performance, businesses need to identify and address bottlenecks that limit the throughput of the system, even if it requires investing resources in the short-term.

Analysing Loyalty Programs

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The Situation

A large home appliance manufacturing client, having numerous own retail stores and franchise owned stores had an extensive loyalty program into which they had invested over the last 5 years. However, as a manufacturing firm, our client was primarily focused on building new products for homes. Their customers ranged from lower middle income to the very affluent class. The top management felt that the loyalty program was a failure and was looking to understand why their loyalty programs were not a major part of their revenue stream.

The Business Need

The loyalty program had significant investment done over the last 5 years and a large part of it was done to ensure a smooth and seamless customer experience. The ROI of the loyalty program was expected to show within a five-year period. There was negligible “repeat sales” through the loyalty program.

There were processes that tracked customer sales and sales associates were incentivised to enter data into their handheld and POS. Customers were sent messages on different platforms such as email, SMS and social media apps. To reinforce, the process and systems, there was training for all sales staff and regular intervals.

The question that was posed to us was whether the manufacturing client should discontinue the loyalty program initiative or recommend changes to the program.

Analysis

Our initial discussion with the client showed us that there was a significant disconnect between the different product lines with respect to the loyalty program. The rewards points that a customer could get did not match the cost of the appliance that they bought. Therefore, customers who bought two or more different appliances felt a bit awkward when the reward points were displayed on their invoice.

Another area that slowly revealed itself was that the “touch points” a customer can have with the manufacturer is not limited to the sale of a product. There is customer service “touch points” for installation, annual services, breakdown maintenance, and finally replacement with the same brand or another brand. All these “touch points” form an opportunity to interact with the customer and thereby build deeper relationships. We found that only a few service touch points had integrated with the loyalty program.

The Solution

Since the client had a siloed approach to the loyalty program, our first initiative was to look at the data each customer generated to understand whether there were any significant levels of interaction across all the different touch points. We were looking to ensure that a customer would receive the same level of attention, and satisfaction as they would at a sales interaction.

The loyalty program did have a monetary value to sales purchase for a customer, however, a majority of the customers did not feel they had the flexibility to use the value locked in their loyalty account. One of the customer’s we had a detailed interview mentioned, “So what if I have money in the loyalty account, the next time I buy a fridge will be 4-5 years from now. That’s too far off for me to even remember that I have a loyalty account”. Based on similar feedback, we recommended an aggressive education campaign for all loyalty program members to understand that there is a range of value that can be utilised. Small toasters, irons and many more products can be relevant to their needs. As part of the campaign, customers were guided to look for products that satisfy their wants through the loyalty program.

So what if I have money in the loyalty account, the next time I buy a fridge will be 4-5 years from now. That’s too far off for me to even remember that I have a loyalty account

Customer Interview

Another aspect of the loyalty program that was found lacking was the convenience of engagement by a customer. A customer had to produce the physical loyalty card to be tracked. Most customers forget they have a card or do not produce the card at all. We recommended to change the tracking from a card to a customer mobile number and using a physical address as a crosscheck to ensure the client is interacting with the right customer.
Overall, we recommended the client to continue with the loyalty program.

Results

Over a period of six months after the recommended changes were made, there was a significant increase in customer interactions across all the touch points.

The revenue increase was present and clearly showed an upward trend. The top management of the client was extremely confident that they are on the right path because of increased customer engagement. The client’s marketing team mentioned that there was an increased recall of the brand and therefore it was just a matter of time before revenues would show up.
The overall engagement took 6 months to complete.

10 ways Insurance Industry uses Data Analytics

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Insurance industry has been going through a sea change in the way it handles data. Data has always been at the forefront of the insurance industry from the time it started (see Insurance History). Now, insurance companies have a heightened understanding of how data needs to be perceived as a distinct asset.

Here are a few ways we have helped insurance companies use their data :

Triaging claims and improving the claims process

Claims processing is the most cumbersome part of any insurance provider’s operations. Some providers have information systems that are able to pull the data from vendors, process the data and push back relevant data. However, most providers are not able to do this end – to – end in an automated, “no-touch” way. Most insurance providers have disconnected systems that lead to significant human interventions to upload claims, download claims and for payments. These disconnected systems or islands of processing are coalescing into large end-to-end systems and will reach a stage where claims processing will require no people.

One key aspect for claims processing is the triage to ensure compliance, completeness and other requirements. Significant use of data analytics can reduce the triaging time by understanding the different types of claims and their characteristics.

Detecting Fraud

A classic use of data analytics in insurance is detecting fraud. Though this is easier said than done because a top down approach is like “finding a needle in a haystack”. To comb through massive amounts of data and look for specific patterns is a time consuming process. Significant changes to the IT infrastructure are needed to ensure data processing is capable of achieving high levels of throughput.

An alternative is to look for proxies in the data, which can be used for quick identification of fraud patterns. Data analytics is used to ensure that these proxies are reliable and valid. Using proxy parameters reduces processing time and can be used for near-real time by customer service agents.

Detecting epidemics and outbreaks for health insurance

Insurance companies dealing with health and medical are at a vantage point of understanding diseases from a population. This advantage provides the ability for an insurance company to detect epidemics and disease outbreaks faster and help in containing the situation by sharing this information.

Drug interactions and drug efficacy for the pharma industry

Most insurance firms collect data about the patient’s diagnosis, treatment and prescriptions. There are openly available standards, such as ICD and other copyright standards such as CPT. Using a combination of diagnosis, treatment and prescriptions, an insurance company can provide drug interaction and drug efficacy based on a large population. This information would be valuable to the pharmaceutical industry to increase the pace of drug development.

Reduce risk for underwriting

Insurance underwriting is a demanding process whether actuarial experts set the policy premiums. There is significant data that is required to estimate these values. Even though actuarial sciences are a matured field, the foundation is based on analysing data. Using new data analytic techniques, the risk and tolerance for underwriting can be reduced and to a large extent the process of reviewing can be automated.

Countries where there is no unique person or citizen identifier

When insurance companies operate in countries which do not have national identifiers such as Aadhar (India) or Social Security Number (US), the insurance company is left to create its own identifier. Data mashing of different types of identifiers from each person, for example, driving license, municipal card, passport, etc would be required to ensure unique identification. Data mashing at the scale of a country would require a lot of data cleansing to obtain reliable data of a person’s identity.

Identifying Customers at the risk of cancellation

As part of customer service and customer retention processes, insurance companies can leverage data analytics to understand when customers will churn. Using historical data of customers who have left or asked for reduction of insurance premiums, a data model can be built to predict if and when customers may cancel or approach the risk of cancellation. The next step would be to bring this model close to the sales and customer service personnel so that preemptive changes to the customer approach is made.

Generation of Leads

Along the same vein as identifying customers at the risk of cancellation, the generation of leads also requires a predictive model that would point to which leads are most optimal to follow up. Since it would not be possible to follow through with all the leads that are present, a predictive data analytic model would reduce the sales fatigue and increase the chance of converting a lead to a customer.

Customized Policy Offerings

With increased competition, insurance companies are jostling to find their space in the minds of a customer. One possible approach is to customise the policy for each customer so that all the needs are met at a viable price point. For this approach, data analytics is required to understand the different clusters of customers and the costs and profit margins that are possible with each cluster. Also, multiple data sources such as social media, may be required to understand certain customer behaviours to fine tune a customised policy.

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is closely related to customer service. Getting the right data of a customer, in front of a customer service agent is critical to ensure that the agent can respond appropriately and offer alternate solutions. Using data analytics, it is possible to recommend services that similar customers have opted for. Using text analytics, it is possible to understand customer sentiments on a social media channel and armed with this information, it would be possible to initiate a new customer campaign or create a new product that alleviates this issue.

There are many more ways that are possible to help insurance companies use their data and help look for opportunities!

Change in Business Strategy

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The Situation

The client was an industrial valve manufacturer that catered to large oil and gas firms in Asia. They specialised in custom designed valves that controlled a variety of fluids ranging from water to crude oils and gases. They had a committed and talented R&D facility to simulate and test fluid dynamics within the valves they built. 

The Business Need

The client’s valve manufacturing provided sufficient profit margins and they were comfortable with their market share. However, over the last few years, the top management has clearly noticed a steady decline in sales volume. One of the reasons for this was because of the top management’s adamant hold on profit margins. On one hand, if they had reduced margins to increase sales, the reality of declining sales volume would not be very evident in a few years. The sales volume would have been propped up by less profitable sales. On the other hand, since they held onto the profit margins, the increasing competition that was causing the loss of sales became quickly evident.

The question that was posed to our consultants was this: should the client change their stand on holding onto current profit margins or should they reduce profit margins to increase sales volume and therefore compensate for revenue loss.

Analysis

Our initial discussion with the client, showed us that their market awareness was quite limited. As a first step, we conducted a market study of the valve industry for the Asian region. The results of the market study presented the fact that the price of the custom designed valves had dropped in the region. Purchasers of these valves also had new manufacturers in the region to procure from. One obvious step was to get into a price war with the new entrants in the valves industry.

The other aspects that came out of our structured analysis of the client’s strengths was their maturity in tool and die manufacturing. Though the client did not have expertise in materials other than steels, their basic engineering capability for working with homogeneous and composite materials was evident. Our analysis also pointed to the client manufacturing process needing significant improvements that can be made, to reduce product costs. For example, advanced software simulations can be used to reduce or avoid physical testing to a large extent and improve quality related failures.

Our market study in India pointed to a burgeoning residential and commercial plumbing market for valves. This was an eye opener for the client’s management.

The Solution

The solution that was proposed was a two-pronged approach to change the overall business strategy. One was to look at the collapsing profit margins and the other was into new product development.

As a stop-gap, a revision of profit margins could be done, however a clear minimum was to be determined upfront by the management. Our consulting team guided the management through a pricing exercise to come up with these profit margins. 

A new product development was started to look at plastic and composite plastics-based valves for the retail market, especially for residential homes and commercial buildings. The client’s capability in tool and die manufacturing was quickly realised with plastic mold and plastic forming dies. 

Results

The client got a revenue boost by gently reducing the profit margins. This boost helped with the product development of retail plastic valves. The product development took a few months because the R&D in plastics had to be done. They initially released 3 valves into the market and achieved better market acceptance than the existing plastic valves because of their higher quality standards they brought to the manufacturing process. 

Our team had pointed out that the client sales teams were not capable of doing retail sales and an entire sales restructuring had to be done to approach the new retail market. 

The market research and strategy change for the client took 3 months to complete. The retail sales team creation and restructuring of the sales effort took another engagement of 6 months.

Sales Training Programs 101: A beginner’s guide to sales training

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The art of selling has evolved drastically over the years. To keep up with the market demands of the target audiences, a proper selling strategy needs to be in place. To do so, finding the right sales training programs are essential to keep any company afloat. Sales training should ideally cover a holistic 360-degree approach to sales, from approaching potential leads to the closing of the sale. This is the first step to building a robust sales capability.

What exactly is sales training?

Sales training is nothing but equipping and molding sales professionals in realizing sales success for the organization. From developing selling techniques to approaching customers in the right way, sales training is multi-faceted. Regardless of if the trainee is a rookie or a pro, adequate training benefits them in expanding their career and growing alongside the organization.

While sales could seem to have many layers to it, it has some clear-cut objectives too. The end result of a successful sale is to close deals, generate new leads that can be converted to sales, and build a fruitful working relationship with customers. 

This is where sales training programs come to play. By honing sales training techniques, according to the potential of the sales professional, sales training ideas and systems are rolled out. The sales training ideas are then translated into proper curriculums. These curriculums are dispersed among the employees in the form of sales training programs.

Why sales training?

Many a time, winging your sales approach according to the situation might have worked. However, it seldom does the trick. Having a proper sales training idea in place is crucial in really understanding the sale. From enriching the sales professional with confidence and high job satisfaction to creating a flow that converts to a sale, its benefits are umpteen. Here are some reasons as to why sales training is essential:

  1. Boosts customer loyalty: Sales training improves person-to-person connection which is vital in gaining loyal customers.
  2. Enhanced communication: Proper sales training streamlines processes and gets through to the customers via effective communication. Effective communication is crucial in getting the brand message across.
  3. Improved Revenue: Being the main revenue generating department, the process of conducting sales is essential. Sales training guides the sales employees in meeting these targets.
  4. Better brand image: Sales personnel represent the company/brand greatly. Hence, sales professionals, being the face of the company need proper training to represent the brand the right way.
  5. Assessing personnel: Sales training helps in identifying those who have the flair to sell, and those who don’t. This helps the brand in assessing the personnel and investing more in people who can increase sales revenue.

Due to the above reasons, proper sales training is a must. This can be done in the form of sales training programs which aim to boost selling techniques and this gives the salesmen a way to break into the market.

Sales training skills

Skills are essential to have and enhance in any kind of career. Honing certain skills and characteristics make a career in sales all the more enriching. The right essential skills can make or break your career.

While there are many kinds of skills that are a part of sales training, some of them are more common than the others. Here are some basic soft skills that are developed in most sales training programs:

  • Effective communication: Proper communication is the very essence of a sale. From your tone to your body language, every action speaks volumes. To add to that, proper clarity in thought, speech, and product information go a long way. Interestingly conveying a message, observing, and giving feedback are certain communication skills that aid sales.
  • Digital skills: With the world shifting online, being a digital ninja is essential in understanding sales. People buy and sell online, so building a virtual network, creating content, and implementing digital strategies are some skills a modern sales professional must-have.
  • Nurturing relationships: Establishing a transparent and trustworthy relationship with a customer is a sales training idea that never goes obsolete. Finding a common group and establishing meaningful relationships ensures returning customers and referrals.
  • The right presentation: From presenting the sales prospect, to persuading a customer, the right presentation of what is being sold is vital. From making a valid argument to appealing to certain emotions, the way you present could change according to the customer.
  • Time management: From arriving on time to keeping up with the sales appointment, time is a crucial part of any sales professional’s job. It is essential not to waste too much time on a small sale, or rush through a potentially big sale. Managing time is one major skill to hone.

How to build an ideal sales training program?

The sales training curriculum will always focus on equipping the sales team with the right techniques and strategies to sell. Every company has varying goals according to which a sales training strategy is implemented. Developing a generic sales training curriculum is a broad subject altogether. But some essential sales training strategies are in place, to make this process a whole lot simpler. Here are some things to be kept in mind while designing sales training programs:

  1. Training evaluation: The first and foremost question while designing sales training programs would be the final objective of the sale. Based on organizational goals, the next pertinent question to ask would be ‘who is being trained’? On what basis a trainee is being picked is vital to keep in mind. To top that off, it is required to understand exactly how much training will be needed to meet the said training needs and objectives. Understanding and assessing the exact requirements set a framework to operate within.
  2. Program design: A program design depicts the exact flow and structure of the training. From choosing the right medium to train, to picking the right trainer for your sales trainees, this step is where the learning takes place. With careful deliberation, choosing the right sales channel and teaching methodologies make up the program design. This is an essential part of crafting the sales training curriculum.
  3. Application: The next step is the actual reinforcement and application of the program design. It needs to cover and determine all how sales training will be reinforced to the trainees. A chance to refresh the training at regular intervals can help them stay on track. Plus frequent learning and updating always gives them room to grow.
  4. Evaluation: Evaluation simply refers to determine how much value sales training added to the company. Based on this the product design can be customized to reap maximum efficiency and benefits. From learning to behavior to results, professionals who have undergone sales training can help understand and craft the future of sales training curriculums within a company.

 While sales training programs depend on company to company, based on ideologies, methodologies, and budgets and so on, the basic essence of it remains the same. It is a people-centric activity that is training intensive. With the right training and strategies in place, anyone can sell. What is your take on sales training? Let us know by commenting below!

References

How to identify your customers

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The lifeline of any business is its customer. Hence, a loyal customer is like gold. In this contemporary age of widespread and extremely tough competition, businesses are vying with each other to get and retain the customer’s attention.

Even before setting up a business or releasing a new product, the first priority should be to identify your customer. Marketing and sales have some typical workflows. Once the business is up and running, then building a customer base would be the next priority. To identify the ideal customer we would need to ascertain the spending behaviors and needs of the customers. Here we would like to suggest techniques to identify business customers.

Conduct Surveys

Another very effective way to identify the target customers for your business is by conducting surveys relevant to the product you are offering. Surveys should be detailed, meticulous, and widespread, based upon every age, gender, and profession class. The data, in the aftermath of the survey, should be recorded and the product should be launched in the areas with a greater density of interested people in the survey; as a result, there are bright prospects of locating key customers of your business. In the survey, the phone numbers, location, and important contacts must be garnered. Furthermore, it would be help to find out the prevalent shopping methods of the customers: Do they prefer to shop by the store? Or, Are they inclined towards online shopping? In either or both cases, the appropriate provision of buying conduit is going to identify a large number of customers and also help them buy the service easily!

Advertise your services

Let people know about your product or service. How do you stand out from the crowd? What can you offer differently that would make their life easier?
You can take to social media marketing, which is a highly effective and popular channel. This may include: Facebook marketing carried out through creating pages, groups, making profiles of your products; you can also create a YouTube channel to promote your product as well as short ads. Furthermore, you can use physical advertising using banners on famous streets. You can also conduct seminars pertinent to your business that may be free or at a nominal cost. Customer interest can be easily developed by focused product marketing/promulgation. The proper advertisement that categorically addresses the requirements of buyers can only be effective.

Immaculate product/service description

To develop frequent and key customers, it is important that you be conversant with their needs and the quality of service they are looking for. During the advertisement or survey, notify the people about the great features and attributes of your product/service. Make the best endeavors to eliminate customers’ apprehensions relevant to your service if any; so that they may try your product, and even may become potential customers. The description of your product must have all the statutory information to help the customer to understand the components of what the product is made of. Product description can be tuned to attract customers of a particular age group, gender or social class. Underscore the core benefits of your service, and indicate how it is better than the other competitor’s services. In my perception, it is the key step to develop permanent clients in your business!

Product/Service quality and cost

When you advertise your service, it is necessary that you highlight all qualities of the product or service you are offering. In all probability, people of various classes may show an affinity towards different properties of the product. Similarly, when customers start contacting you, you must maintain the quality of the product you described to them. Improving and maintaining the quality of the product being delivered increases potential customers and strengthens the trust of key customers. In addition to maintaining the quality of the product, the price of the product should be appropriate to the market segment and social class that the product is aimed for. Fine quality and reasonable cost will fetch a deluge of key customers to your business, who will be frequently buying your product. On the other hand, if you have a high price, it will reduce the number of customers but will bring the concept of exclusivity and desirability towards the product. In a nutshell, accurate and successful product/service description will surely facilitate customer identification.

Fine Customer Support

Another important factor that is surely instrumental in generating a lot of buyer traffic to your business is brisk and readily-available customer service. To respond quickly to the queries of the buyer or the interested person indicates the quality of the service and also identifies your customers. Good customer support enables the customers to notify you about fruitful modifications and features they want you to add to the product. The quicker the customer service resolves the issues of the buyer; the greater will be the probability of key customers being driven to your product. So, make your business customer service available 24/7 with courteous and capable staff as it will be helpful in meeting the customers’ needs.

Conclusion

Plan well, advertise your product with full force. Deliver the product of your business by maintaining the quality at appropriate prices and expand your customer base. Using these proven tactics will surely drive a deluge of common as well as key customers to your service. Your business will thrive and the overwhelming performance of your business will definitely help you overtake the other competitors in the market!

Business Guide: How To Deal With Business Competition In 2020

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Considering the increasing number of companies that perform in different domains, staying above the floating line may be a tricky task. It is very important to know how to deal with business competition. Also, you must be able to keep your knowledge up to date and adapt to the 2020 business environment.

How to deal with business competition in 2020? There are various ways of dealing with business competitors in 2020. However, the most noteworthy are:

  • Analyze the market
  • Understand your competitors
  • Know your customers
  • Explain what makes you different
  • Improve your marketing
  • Take care of your customers
    • Customer service
    • Loyalty programs
    • Discounts

Now that you know what the most commonly used tactics are, let’s take an in-depth and find out what works best for you!

how to deal with business competition in 2020

Why You Need To Know How To Deal With Competition

The total number of businesses that appear on the market every day is very important. However, many of these companies cannot keep up with their senior competitors. This happens because of various reasons such as

  • Improper dealing with competition
  • Customers trust well-known companies
  • Lack of initial financing
  • Too rapid expanding pace
  • Lack of prior market investigation

Statistics state that up to 70% of small businesses fail in the first 10 years. This number is astonishing considering the enormous amount of companies that are founded every day.

As mentioned before, the incorrect dealing with business competition is one of the most common reasons a company fails. That’s why it is very important to know how to deal with business competition.

How To Deal With Business Competition In 2020

Now that you understand how important overcoming business competition is, let’s find out what the most efficient ways to deal with your competitors are. Keep in mind that to perform better than your opponents, corroborate all the methods explained below. It is definitely not a one-and-done job.

Analyze The Market

The market is your workplace. To achieve high proficiency in terms of sales, analyze the current market. You want to know as much information as possible about how things are going worldwide/locally, what problems other businesses encounter, what the nowadays trends are, etc.

Statistics are very relatable in business. Even if it may not fit perfectly to your situation, you may find yourself in a position that could have been predicted using statistics. However, analyze the latest statistics available as things change wildly. For example, you can learn more about the most important statistics in matters of small businesses in 2020 here.

Understand Your Competitors

You cannot possibly overcome an unknown obstacle. Conducting a market analysis is very important especially before starting a business. If you choose a domain that is already saturated you will definitely struggle to break the ice.

However, constantly analyzing your competition is very important too. You want to know their perks and drawbacks and what makes them perform better (or not) in the current market. This way, you will understand what you are doing wrong, what they are doing wrong, and what you should work on.

Being able to compare your business against your competitors will give you a better understanding of what the most important aspects of your company are.

Know Your Customers

Business imperatively involves two persons: the seller and the customer. Considering that you know what your pros and cons are, get to know your customer. An excellent idea is to create a customer persona.

A persona is basically a set of characteristics that represents your usual customer. When creating a customer persona, you consider different meaningful aspects, such as

  • Age, gender, location
  • Occupation, hobbies
  • Spending habits
  • And more.

After completing the persona, you will understand what you should improve to gain your buyers’ attention. Having a well-researched persona will help you make educated decisions that will positively affect your company’s sales.

Explain What Makes You Different

What makes you better than your competitors? This is a very important question that you must be capable of answering. You must have a crystal clear understanding of your advantages ahead of your competition. Your perks may be in terms of logistics, prices, quality, offers, and any other matters.

Also, it is a brilliant idea to emphasize why customers should choose you instead of your competitors. However, make sure not to exaggerate this type of marketing method. You may end up in a trial for denigrating your opponents if you go too far.

Improve Your Marketing

Marketing is the spine of a business. That’s why constantly improve your marketing content and adapt it to the 2020 trends. You can advertise your business in a lot of distinct ways, such as

  • Digital
  • Flyers
  • Television
  • Radio
  • And more.

It is very important to adjust your marketing strategy to the changing trends. For example, in 2019, 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly using the search results. This reveals that you should prioritize the digital environment for advertising your business.

Do your best to reach out as many customers as you can. However, make sure that all your ads are relevant. It is a commonly used tactic to bait clients on your website. Keep in mind that a customer that feels like cheated from the second he accessed your website will never invest trust in your company.

Take Care Of Your Customers

Whether they are new or repeated, customers are the key to dealing with competition. There are some important aspects you should take into consideration if you want to attract as many customers as possible. The most noteworthy aspects you should consider related to your clients are:

  • Customer service
  • Loyalty programs
  • Discounts

Customer Service

It is the most crucial part of keeping your customers happy. Let’s be serious: would you hire a company that does not care about your needs and only wants your money?

Whether we are talking about pieces of advice about future orders, technical support, or any other issue that your customer may encounter, it is very important to have a team of experts that are ready to satisfy your clients’ requirements.

Loyalty Programs

Existing customers are pure gold in business. It is easier, cheaper, and more proficient to keep an existing customer than to find and gain the interest of new customers.

One way you can attract the existing buyers to keep buying your services is to provide loyalty programs. There are lots of possibilities in terms of loyalty rewards, starting from discounts and loyalty cards to birthday gifts and priority for future orders. All you have to do is to be creative. Think for yourself: what would make you repeatedly buy one’s services?

Discounts

Even if discounts can be a part of the loyalty programs, why not include them in your everyday business routine? You can analyze the latest sales and offer a discount on the products/services that you are having trouble selling.

This may represent an impulse for the customers to try out and buy less demanded products. The same rule as before applies: be creative! But make sure you don’t exaggerate with the discounts. You don’t want to diminish your profit too much.

Expect Future Changes

The service market is volatile. That is a fact. You must take advantage of the changes that may occur in the future. For example, predicting a drop in the currency market will definitely help you minimize its effects on your business.

Always look to the future! You have to be ready to adapt your business to any changes that you may encounter during the following years. Make an imagination exercise: Where do you see your business in five/ten/twenty years? Answer this question and you will get a better understanding of what your expectations are about your future business timeline.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, dealing with business competition in 2020 may be a tricky task. However, now you know how to respond proficiently to your opponents in the business market.

Make sure you combine all the mentioned pieces of advice to get an effective competitive approach.

Introduction to After Sales (Webinar)

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A free webinar introducing Aftersales as an important process for customer retention and loyalty.

Join us at 4pm IST, Saturday 4th April 2020

In this introductory webinar on Aftersales, the topics that will be covered are:

  • What is after sales service?
  • Maintenance contracts
  • Costs associated with aftersales
  • Product improvements

Duration: 30 minutes
Time: 4pm IST
Date: 4th April, 2020
Location: Online link or paste this in browser https://meeting.zoho.in/meeting/register?sessionId=1372142262

Panel Speakers:

Dr John Mathew (Principal Consultant)

Jacob George (Principal Consultant)

Aligning IT Systems

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The Situation

The client was a food manufacturer based in Western Europe. They were a third generation, family owned business, that was very interested in expansion. With this focus they acquired a logistics company to scale up their capability to deliver to a larger geography.

The Business Need

One of the reasons for acquisition of the logistics company, was to cater to a larger geography. The other reason was to respond to changes in demand in a more flexible manner. After the acquisition of the logistics company, the parent manufacturing company, found that the market changes were more pronounced and therefore could not keep up with the rapid changes in demand. The demand changes caused more issues within the parent company than before the acquisition of the logistics company.

Analysis

The client mentioned that the systems of the logistics company were integrated to the parent company. However, a closer look at how the parent company had envisaged the workflow to serve the market was significantly different from what the systems in the logistics company was set up to do. The logistics company had a variety of controls in place to understand the flow of materials through its systems but there was no need for the company to understand actual market demand. Market demand and in turn, the rate of flow of materials through its systems was always determined by an external firm, such as the parent company. 

The demand measurement was added to the logistics firm and the parent company expected demand management to be met by the newly acquired logistics firm.

The Solution

The solution was a compromise between the decision making in the logistics company and the decision making in the manufacturing company. ACPL decided to segregate certain functions of demand management to the logistics firm and certain functions to the parent manufacturing firm. Based on this segregation the processes had to be slightly changed, and there were significant changes to the IT systems.

Some of the functions were automated and the upper and lower bounds of operations were set using historical data from the both the firms. This automation helped remove the pressure points between the two IT systems that had caused numerous errors and issues during rapid demand changes.

Results

The alignment of the two IT systems was the key to success for this client. Throughout the engagement, there were significant ups and downs because of the disparate systems of the two firms. The data flow could only be corrected once the workflow of how the materials moved through both the firms were understood, and how the decisions were supposed to be made were understood. Both the IT systems had to work as a cohesive system along with all the people who were responsible to ensure that demand changes were being catered to. Though our engagement took nearly 18 months, the end result was quite satisfying.