Some Thoughts on Sales Management Considered
Posted by admin in Sales Management on May 14, 2012
So many companies blow it when it comes to sales management and there are a number of reasons for this. Often, the products or services sell themselves sell so well that the sale force becomes merely order takers, and pockets some hefty commissions. Other times, the sales department doesn’t know where it’s at, but as long as sales are up, no one bothers to give the group a second glance.
Look, whether your company is running away with the market share and sales are robust, or you are in dead last and left for dog meat, you still need to pay attention and manage your sales department, just as you would any other business unit. It’s amazing all the Six Sigma Strategies companies have for their supply chain, human resources, training, manufacturing, and how lax they can become with the sales department.
In fact, your sales department(s) can make or break your company regardless of your size. Perhaps you are a small to medium size business with only one, two, or a handful of salespeople, it still matters, indeed it could matter more – one bad month, or too many un-kept promises and your competition will be taking your best customers as their best prospects and sales soon enough.
Micro-Managing sales people can be a huge mistake, you don’t want to go there, still, the sales people must comply with the basic paperwork, or you need to streamline the process and get them some assistance. Their time should be out pressing the flesh, on the phone, and doing the relationship building they need to keep those sales coming in, propelling your quarterly profits, shareholder’s equity, and market share. Without a strong sales unit, your company is headed for rocky waters, like any cruise ship run aground. Read the rest of this entry »
What it Takes to Be a Manager
Posted by admin in Program Manager on May 13, 2012
Part of being a business owner is hiring quality managers and being a good manager yourself. However, many people do not truly understand the qualities of a good manager. In order to hire the best, you have to know what is the best. You also need to know what to look for.
Do you know what it takes to be a manager? Here, you will find information on the characteristics or traits that make up a good manager. You may want to evaluate yourself and your current managers by this information. That way, you can make any necessary changes to ensure that you and your managers exhibit quality and professionalism.
1. High standards. A manager should have a very strong idea with what is right and wrong in the business world. In order to be a good manager, a person must be able to look at any situation and then make decisions based on what is right.
These standards should have to do with business practices as well as the work of the employees who work below the manager. High standards should be very important in the management world.
2. Strong Work Ethics. Anyone with a weak work ethic may look at a management status as a chance to not work hard or goof off. This could be detrimental to your business, and it certainly will not project the right image to your customers and business peers.
Make sure to choose managers who have continually exhibited a strong work ethic no matter where they were working. These people will continue that ethic in their new jobs.
3. Professionalism. A manager has many responsibilities. They will need to be able to handle whatever may come their way in a calm and professional manner. This could include conflicts between employees, customer dissatisfaction, dealings with difficult vendors, and more. Professionalism is very important in managers. If you see any of your managers exhibit unprofessional behavior, make sure to address it immediately so that the behavior does not continue.
4. Understanding. A manager is in a precarious situation. In a way, they live in both worlds, working between the owner and the workers. A manager needs to be able to understand both of these worlds. While they should be able to see the ultimate goals and visions that the owner has for the business, they also need to be able to see things from the perspective of the employees. Read the rest of this entry »
Working Capital Management
Posted by admin in Capital Management on March 4, 2012
Financial management decisions are divided into the management of assets (investments) and liabilities (sources of financing), in the long-term and the short-term. It is common knowledge that a firm’s value cannot be maximized in the long run unless it survives the short run. Firms fail most often because they are unable to meet their working capital needs; consequently, sound working capital management is a requisite for firm survival.
About 60 percent of a financial manager’s time is devoted to working capital management, and many of the potential employees in finance-related fields will find out that their first assignment on the job will involve working capital. For these reasons, working capital policy and management is an essential topic of study. In many text books working capital refers to current assets, and net working capital is defined as current assets minus current liabilities. Working capital policy refers to decisions relating to the level of current assets and the way they are financed, while working capital management refers to all those decisions and activities a firm undertakes in order to manage efficiently the elements of current assets.
The term working capital originated with the old Yankee peddler, who would load up his wagon with goods and then go off on his route to peddle his wares. The merchandise was called working capital because it was what he actually sold, or “turned over”, to produce his profits. The wagon and horse were his fixed assets. He generally owned the horse and wagon, so they were financed with “equity” capital, but he borrowed the funds to buy the merchandise. These borrowings were called working capital loans, and they had to be repaid after each trip to demonstrate to the bank that the credit was sound. If the peddler was able to repay the loan, then the bank would issue another loan, and these were sound banking practices. The days of the Yankee peddler have long since pasted, but the importance of working capital remains. Current asset management and short-term financing are still the two basic elements of working capital and a daily headache for the financial managers.
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