February 2011

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Boosting Morale – Part One

February 23, 2011 in Company Culture by Laura Thurston | No comments

Is your staff feeling the effects of today’s economy? Even if they are not showing the stress brought on by these tough times, it is safe to assume that the emotions and concerns are there. What can a company do to boost the morale of its workers yet have minimal or no cost to the company? Golden Pacific has found affordable and easy-to-implement solutions which are producing very positive results. A happy co-worker pays more attention to detail, is more productive and is less likely to crack under pressure.
This will be the first in a series of posts showcasing some of the ideas we have implemented here at Golden Pacific.

#1 – SLIPPERS

Implemented in December 2009
Cost to company: Less than $100
Yes, we gave our people an inexpensive pair of black slippers to keep at their work stations. Once they are at work, they are free to slip off their uncomfortable work shoes and slip into something fun and comfortable. If we have office visitors, they just slip back into their nice shoes and are ready for meetings, etc. It’s a simple idea that makes everyone feel cozy and special.

So get out there, get cozy, and get your “feet on”.

Laura Thurston
CPO – Chief People Officer

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Are You A Daredevil?

February 15, 2011 in Innovation by Gail ORoke | No comments

I learned a valuable lesson one summer from an unlikely source: A beautiful blonde in a bathing suit, frolicking at the shore of a peaceful mountain lake…Wait! Did I mention the beautiful blonde was my six-year old daughter? She was climbing a large rock by the shore when a young boy joined her. She turned to him to say, “Are you a daredevil? I’m a daredevil. I was born a daredevil. I’ll probably die a daredevil.” As I keep one eye on my daredevil, making sure that this particular day was not the day she was to “die a daredevil”, I start to think about what it means to be a daredevil.

A daredevil is a risk taker, someone willing to go out on a limb and take chances. Most of us in business have some daredevil in us. The most successful go out on a limb to meet our customers’ needs everyday. Those who are willing to take some risk are the ones who are likely to come safely out of the current economic doldrums. Those who are determined to play it safe, and to run their businesses as if nothing ever changes, are the people who are really in danger.

Are you a daredevil? Do you go looking for trouble at your top clients rather than hoping that no news is good news? Do you ask tough questions of your customers such as:

Are we losing business to a competitor?
What can we do to make our services and products more valuable to you?
Is your business slowing down?
What can we do to help you regain your top line?
What can we do to help you streamline your system?
How can we improve our billing system or our reports to give you more valuable information?

The simple act of asking such questions means taking a risk. Sometimes the customer asks for things that we had not considered providing. This is when the REAL daredevil action kicks in. But the truth is if you are not asking the questions today, your competitor is asking them tomorrow.

Take the risk – be a daredevil!

Gail O’Roke
Vice President, East Bay Division

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Collaboration is the New Business Environment

February 8, 2011 in Innovation by Kevin Austin | No comments

In the “olden days” your competitor was your enemy, both parties would fight over a shrinking market share. While healthy competition will remain, savvy companies are looking to utilize their strengths and expand services to increase value to their mutual client. Creating strategic partnerships to reach a larger portion of the market not only provides additional sales, it creates efficiencies and lowers overall costs.

Strategic partnerships can be based on cross endorsement or creation of a new market utilizing combined strengths. Any strategic partnership should outline responsibilities and expectations of each partner. It should also include timelines of what will happen, when, and by whom. Probably best to put it in writing outlining details of activities and roles. Open communication is critical for success, and regular business reviews should be included in the activities. It is very important to include a section on areas in which to work together and areas in which to compete. It would also make sense to include an arbitration process to safeguard the agreement.

Creative collaboration with competitors in the same industry or similar industries is vital today to capitalize on each others resources to survive and grow. Economies of scale have been replaced by technology solutions and market expertise. This creates a win for the client and wins for both strategic partners.

Kevin Austin
President and CEO

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When It Comes To Customer Service, The Truth Shall Set You Free

February 2, 2011 in Creative Marketing, In the News by Naomi Catalina | No comments

Below is an excerpt of Jon Sooy’s article as published in Franchise Times: When It Comes To Customer Service, The Truth Shall Set You Free

Two things:

1) In the restaurant business, the most powerful marketers are your employees.
2) Telling the truth can be difficult.

Wife to husband: “Does this dress make my butt look big?”
Boss to employee: “What do you think of my new necktie?”
Customer to server: “How are the crab cakes?”

I was blown away this past weekend when I asked a server that last question and she (let’s call her Julie) made a face of disgust and recommended that I go with the sweet potato fries! She told me the truth. It was quite clear to me that the crab cakes were not her favorite. At first I was astonished and thought perhaps training was not a high priority at this restaurant. The more I thought about it, I don’t recall this ever happening to me but I must say, I really appreciated being told the truth.

Read the rest of the article at franchisetimes.com…

Naomi Catalina
Designer at Large

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Don’t Interrupt Your Consumer; Engage Them

February 2, 2011 in Creative Marketing, In the News by Naomi Catalina | No comments

Below is an excerpt of Jon Sooy’s article as published in QSR Magazine: Don’t Interrupt Your Consumer; Engage Them

The average American is blasted with thousands of advertisements every day. Rather than try to shout above the noise, marketers must learn to converse with their biggest fans.

How many advertising messages is the average American exposed to every day? When you consider almost every surface we see during the course of our day is invariably plastered with advertising, the numbers are high. From newspapers, magazines, billboards, and product logos, the acceleration of marketing and advertising messages over the past 60 years is astounding. When you also factor in electronic media from television, radio, computers, to smartphones, you begin to realize what a staggering amount our senses deal with on a daily basis. Savvy marketers today are referring to this onslaught as “interruption-based” advertising.

Some experts claim that we are interrupted with close to 30,000 messages per day. It’s a bombardment that would make the most well drilled artillery unit throw up their hands in despair and start taking notes.

Read the rest of the article at qsrmagazine.com…

Naomi Catalina
Designer at Large

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What is Your Cost to Process a Purchase Order?

February 1, 2011 in Strategic Outsourcing by Cal Popken | 1 comment

Ask twenty different procurement ‘experts’ “what is the total cost to process a purchase order” and it is likely you will receive twenty different answers.

  • The Supply Chain Digest™ gives a range of $35.88 to $506.52 to execute a purchase order. This 2006 study compares top performers and bottom performers among many different companies (see figure 1).
  • Purchasing Today™ – “Experts estimate that it costs companies between $100 and $150 to process every paper-based purchase order, regardless of whether it for a $500,000 piece of operating machinery or $30 worth of paper clips.”
  • $96 – according to Ernst & Young.
  • $150 – according to Gunn Partners.
  • $190 – according to Deloitte & Touche study of 18 large companies.

See what I mean? If you truly want to know your procurement costs you must know everything involved with an order; salaries of all individuals involved, holding costs, management costs, benefits, telecommunications, paper costs and system costs.

You may arrive at a number that is surprisingly higher than what you thought! Managing the supply chain in most companies is labor intensive, time-consuming and very costly. GPnet™ will reduce costs, eliminate obsolescence and most importantly – automate supply chain transactions. One Purchase Order – One Bill!

Cal Popken
COO

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