Growth & Leadership Insights Archives - Page 51 of 55

Recognize these distracted listening habits?

January 22, 2014May 22, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Bob Schultek Last week, we discussed how active listeners get what they deserve: actionable information, profitable orders and enduring relationships. It takes commitment and practice to become an active listener, and we shared some tips to help develop your active listening skills. In response to those of you who asked for some examples of poor listening habits, I offer the following: Interrupting the speaker frequently Prematurely judging what is being said Saying little and providing …

Active Listeners Get What They Deserve

January 12, 2022May 13, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Listening is not a passive act. In our world of perpetual urgency, being an active listener makes you distinctive – it’s a competitive advantage. In fact, prospects cite engaged listening as a key reason they choose to work with one supplier versus another. Active listening communicates respect for the speaker, and his or her time. It maximizes the productivity of your interaction with your customers or your personnel.Learning to be an active listener starts …

Finding Capacity To Grow

January 22, 2014May 8, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Bob Schultek Keeping your operation synchronized with your growing business is an incessant challenge. While you focus on getting more orders and getting the work completed, your growth keeps nagging at you to ensure that your operations are keeping up with your progress.Various processes need refinement, but you can’t find time to get to this. You’re considering hiring more personnel but need flexibility and wonder how much additional support would be needed if your processes …

Happy Blog-day?

January 22, 2014May 1, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Bob Schultek Twelve months ago, my weekly Friday blogs were launched. Thank you to all who have commented on my posts. Your thoughts and suggestions have helped me learn while I strive to be a better writer…it’s a work in progress! Please continue to share your comments and ideas for blog topics. I will respond personally to each and work to continually improve the blog content. Happy Blog-day!Writing the blog is important to me. After earning 30+ years of …

Why Grolistic No-Excuses Growth?

January 23, 2014April 24, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Those of you who follow this blog know that I’m always preaching that your brand message should communicate your unique value. So now, you may get a kick out of knowing that my associates and I are taking a dose of our own medicine.Three years ago, our three growth businesses – GrowthPointe, DecisionPointe and PointeVierge – began collaborating under the umbrella name of TriPointe. You may have never noticed this since we did not follow …

Is Keeping Your Promise Obsolete?

January 22, 2014April 11, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Jerry is CEO of a manufacturing company. They have multiple facilities and he wonders how best to remain engaged with his employees at their various sites. He understands the value of keeping everyone on the team “lashed together” to produce value for customers and to achieve shared company and customer goals.They decide to initiate a new program based on quarterly roundtable meetings held with departments and at each facility. The personnel at each site choose …

Inspire Profitable Growth

January 24, 2018April 11, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Bill runs a $12 million manufacturing company. To sustain passion and engagement among his employees, he encourages them to share their new product concepts or process improvement ideas. Each quarter, he presents a small award for the idea that proves to generate its promised financial benefits for the company.Every development or process improvement proposal must include a projected quantifiable benefit for the company that either increases revenue (sales, throughput, productivity), or reduces costs or inventory …

Lash Together To Achieve Goals

February 7, 2018March 27, 2013 by Bob Schultek

Jerry is CEO of a manufacturing company. They have multiple facilities and he wonders how best to remain engaged with his employees at their various sites. He understands the value of keeping everyone on the team “lashed together” to produce value for customers and to achieve shared company and customer goals. They decide to initiate a new program based on quarterly roundtable meetings held with departments and at each facility. The personnel at each site …

Take It To The Street

June 27, 2013March 20, 2013 by Bob Schultek

“Take It To The Street” For Better Results Russ tells me that he would like to solicit feedback from his direct sales team regarding a new strategy, but he prefers to keep them focused on hitting their quotas. In another organization, Brad believes that the independent reps and distributors who report to him just want to sell. But even if they wanted to offer suggestions, there is no established forum available for them to do …

Pursuing Productive Preference

June 26, 2013March 7, 2013 by Bob Schultek

There are only three ways to increase sales, but one method is the most productive. You can grow by adding customers, and must do so. But adding each new customer costs about 5 times what it takes to preserve a relationship and requires a significant investment of valuable time as well.You can increase your prices, and must strategically do so to sustain profitability. But seeking growth by generically increasing unit prices is challenging in our …