Winter is a good time for builders to gather their dealers and manufacturers around to improve their communication. Recently I was invited to speak to one such group, and I decided to talk about DiSC. In my years of working with people, I now believe sales and management are[Read More…]
Thom Finn
Forecasting Demand
Wise shed builders are working less in their businesses and more on their businesses. This time of year, that means some deep thought focused on what they should produce for next year. When asked for advice, I answer a question with a question, which can be maddening. It’s one of[Read More…]
Four Tips for Execution
I have come to accept my own need to keep things simple. I have proven to myself repeatedly that when I start over-complicating things, my chances of success or reaching a goal decline. Both in college and in business school there was a lot of talk about the importance of[Read More…]
Managing Your Dealers
The Pareto Principle, sometimes referred to as the 80/20 rule, tells us that 20 percent of the items on your to-do list will bring 80 percent of your results. Or 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your products. Or 80 percent of your total sales[Read More…]
Training as Motivation
I was coaching a production foreman recently who believed he had a problem with employee motivation. I learned a trick from a respected doctor a while back where you don’t agree with a patient’s self-diagnosis until you have researched it a bit further yourself. I was glad I did, upon[Read More…]
Roadblock Root Causes
“Keep it simple, stupid” was one of the best pieces of advice ever given to me. I used to have a bad habit of overcomplicating things, even when the simple solution was right in front me. These days as a coach or business counselor, my vocation, simply put, is to[Read More…]
How to Plan
I expect to start hearing a lot of messages about planning and preparing for 2018. I don’t think December or January is any better time to create a plan than July or September. The season in which you plan for yourself or your business is much less important than planning[Read More…]
Where to Next?
One of my mentors once described the economy like seasons: Fall when things were looking dark, winter when things were bad, spring renewal, and then the bounty of summer. Unlike the natural world’s three month cycle for the four seasons, one season in the economy can last years. And unlike[Read More…]
Defining Success
We refer to shed companies as big or small, and usually we are referring to superficial levels of size: How big is their manufacturing facility? How many employees do they have? How many units do they produce each year? But I don’t think big should be the primary aim. Instead,[Read More…]
Profit Per Unit
Earlier this week a client asked for help sorting out and prioritizing a list of nearly 30 projects and tasks that were competing for his attention. The list of ideas, tasks, and actions to take was growing so large that anyone would get overwhelmed. He wisely used his investment in[Read More…]