Problem Solvers

I was reading a magazine on my cab ride to work this morning, and I came across this piece of wisdom:

To succeed in business, observe the functional and emotional needs of humans…Also, it is critical to understand that you do not ask people for a solution to their problems. Very often, people do not know the solution that they are looking for. They also do not know the exact problem. They do know, however, that they are experiencing the irritating symptoms. That role of coming out with a solution lies with the creators. Businesses should aim to be creators, for successful businesses ARE creators. The rest just drops out along the way.

What a great piece of wisdom! Remember, if one starts discussing the solution with a client without first confirming the symptons and understanding the root problem(s), one is definitely going down the wrong path. What would you do if when you enter a doctor’s clinic, the very first thing the doctor asks you is, “Are you looking for aspirin?”

I will run out immediately!

Strategy-Led Business Guidance System

Having observed many companies over the last ten odd years, I have come to realise that successful companies have one thing in common – they all have what I call a Strategy-Led Business Guidance System.

Based on this realisation, I am to structure my own organisation in implementing and formalising our own Strategy-Led Business Guidance System – to a great level of success, I must say. In the next few blog entries, I will detail the components of a Strategy-Led Business Guidance System. Hopefully, you can also implement one in your own business. More on this later…

Objective – Cost Savings?

Is your business objective purely to achieve cost savings these days?

If it is, you are missing a very big point. In reality, costs can never go below what I call the minimum possible cost barrier (MPCB) – if you are in a real business, that is.

Organisations that are specialised and that have a very high level of skills and knowledge (i.e. experts) in their domain will have costs that approach the MPCB. In all my conversations with my business process consulting clients, I first strive to identify that particular industry’s MPCB. On that basis, we can then guage how much off is this particular client’s costs with regards to MPCB, and the reasons behind that gap. We then strive to propose steps to bring the client’s costs closer to the MPCB. There are many ways that costs can be brought to approach MPCB consistently, and such ways become obvious when we follow the process. More on this later…