Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/205815
Strategy ("In the Physics of Business Don't Succumb to Biznertia™" continued from page 35) Biznertia Assessment Test Monitoring/Assessment What are the major trends/changes happening in your marketplace and how well are you positioned for them? How often and aggressively do you monitor and debate what's happening around you? Did you attend the AED Executive Forum? Did you hear Eli Lustgarten, Jim Huntzinger and others discussing trends? Are you a member of a 20 Group? Do you have an outside Board of Directors? Do you regularly engage in benchmarking? How truly engaged are you with your customers. Do you have conversations regarding what's happening in their world, what needs are not being met, what you can do to help them improve their performance? How often do you survey customers? (Not about a just-completed repair order or delivery, but about their total experience with your organization.) Do you know how you can add more value to your customers? List the Top 3 technology/regulatory/ marketplace trends and their likely impact on your business. List your Top 3 competitors, and how well you stack up against them. What are your competitive advantages? Who are the new entrants you need to keep an eye on? List your Top 3 organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Planning/Culture What do you do with your monitoring/assessment observations from above? Is your annual strategic planning process really just a budgeting exercise for the next year, or do you have detailed conversations about objectives, goals, and specific strategies that are going to be pursued. How has your business strategy changed in the past 18-24 months? How open is your culture to challenging one another? Does everyone agree with the boss? How often do you hear "that is how we've always done it" or something similar when trying to implement a change. How many new "things"/projects have you experimented with in the last 12 months? (adjustments to service process, new lead sources, changed sales pitch). What is the reaction to failure on an experiment? Is it tolerated? Are pay increases based upon performance or tenure? And speaking of performance, what does your dealership do with underperforming staff? Do you ignore the situation and bury the person in a position where they will do little damage, or do you address the situation with coaching/mentoring/training? And if that doesn't work – termination? Action (Speed & Agility)/ Measurements What percentage of your revenue in the last 24 months is coming from new customers/products/services? What are some of your new skills and competencies that were not present in your business three years ago? When the Great Recession hit, how long did it take you to respond? 54 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | November 2013 Have you begun to outsource noncritical business processes (HR, IT, marketing)? What tools/training are you providing your employees to stay ahead of changes in technology, products, and processes? How quickly do you respond to new opportunities (rent-to-rent versus clinging to rent-to-sell; customer relationship management (CRM); search engine optimization; social media). *Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, July 2012 **This assessment test was Cloudsourced with Northwestern University's Master of Engineering Management LinkedIn Group and contributed to by Garry Bartecki, AED staff vice president of Finance. JEFF LEFEBVRE, PH.D. ithe founder and president of PriSim Business War Games, which created AED's "Test Drive" dealer simulation business course. He is also a faculty member at Northwestern University, Harley-Davidson University and a member of the master faculty at the Mortgage Bankers Association's School of Mortgage Banking. Jeff will speak at the AED Leadership Academy later this month in Orlando on the lifetime value of customers – visit aed-leadership. com for details. Jeff can be reached at jlefebvre@prisim.com, 847-548-7888.