Point of View
Retail
Winners and Losers...and Why
By Carla Zilka 12/7/09
Cautious optimism is opening the wallets of consumers again as we celebrate the slow rise out of a two year recession. November month end results were buoyed by Thanksgiving weekend sales, with surprise increases online both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, indications that early discounting and great offers by Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sears worked. Brick-and-mortar stores didn’t fare as well, with sharp declines for many teen and luxury retailers, while discounters like Costco, Wal-Mart and TJ Maxx had increases over last year, both in sales and foot traffic. The message was loud and clear from consumers, “Give me a large discount or lose me as a customer”. Traditional Black Friday sales were everywhere, but the retailers that won were discounting far beyond the standard 20%. Those that offered discounts in the 20-25%, like Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Target, paid dearly for not being more aggressive. Read More
Cautious optimism is opening the wallets of consumers again as we celebrate the slow rise out of a two year recession. November month end results were buoyed by Thanksgiving weekend sales, with surprise increases online both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, indications that early discounting and great offers by Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sears worked. Brick-and-mortar stores didn’t fare as well, with sharp declines for many teen and luxury retailers, while discounters like Costco, Wal-Mart and TJ Maxx had increases over last year, both in sales and foot traffic. The message was loud and clear from consumers, “Give me a large discount or lose me as a customer”. Traditional Black Friday sales were everywhere, but the retailers that won were discounting far beyond the standard 20%. Those that offered discounts in the 20-25%, like Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Target, paid dearly for not being more aggressive. Read More
How to Focus Sales People on Selling
By Carla Zilka, Founder & Principal Advisor, NexGen Advisors 11/11/09
Probably the worst thing a company can do to limit growth is to bog down their sales teams with non-selling administrative work. Whether paper or automated, a sales persons natural talent, and what you hired them to do, is to be customer facing and generating revenue. Yet in our experience conducting restructuring projects with clients, we find most sales people overloaded with non-selling work. In one recent survey we conducted with a client, we found that 56-69% of salespeople's time is spent doing non-customer facing work. As you can imagine, when we conveyed the results to the CEO and SVP of Sales, they were shocked. Their first question: "How do we minimize it?". The second question: "How much potential revenue are we losing?" Read More
Probably the worst thing a company can do to limit growth is to bog down their sales teams with non-selling administrative work. Whether paper or automated, a sales persons natural talent, and what you hired them to do, is to be customer facing and generating revenue. Yet in our experience conducting restructuring projects with clients, we find most sales people overloaded with non-selling work. In one recent survey we conducted with a client, we found that 56-69% of salespeople's time is spent doing non-customer facing work. As you can imagine, when we conveyed the results to the CEO and SVP of Sales, they were shocked. Their first question: "How do we minimize it?". The second question: "How much potential revenue are we losing?" Read More
Healthcare
By Carla Zilka 7/29/09
My doctor recently notified me that she will not be accepting my insurance carrier, due to the burdensome policies, processes and procedures it requires of doctors. My doctor is completely automated, with a website for making appointments, getting test results, etc. It seems to have become too labor intensive and expensive for her to accept its customers. The same thing occurred with my sister, who was being treated for Lyme Disease, and had to switch doctors midstream, because her doctor said her insurance was too cumbersome and difficult to deal with. Read More
Industry Goods - Small Goods Industry
By Carla Zilka 7/1/09
A broad range of industries are suffering through one of the worst economic crises America has ever seen and the Small Tools industry in the Industrial Goods Sector is no exception. But how these companies are performing today goes back to decisions they made in 4Q07 and 1Q08, many of which predate the official start of the recession. If they had a business strategy and plan that focused on innovation they may have had a better chance of survival without the need to take drastic measures like plant closings, headcount reductions, base pay cuts, 401K matching suspension and incentive pay cuts. Read More
A broad range of industries are suffering through one of the worst economic crises America has ever seen and the Small Tools industry in the Industrial Goods Sector is no exception. But how these companies are performing today goes back to decisions they made in 4Q07 and 1Q08, many of which predate the official start of the recession. If they had a business strategy and plan that focused on innovation they may have had a better chance of survival without the need to take drastic measures like plant closings, headcount reductions, base pay cuts, 401K matching suspension and incentive pay cuts. Read More
Grocery Stores
By Carla Zilka 6/18/09
When the economy is good, grocery stores profit. When the economy is bad, grocery stores profit…well some of them that it is. Nothing is a better barometer of consumer spending than grocery stores. And nothing gives us a view into the average American household than the stores consumers flock to, in order to get something they cannot live without: Food. It is something we should pay close attention to when gauging the end of the recession. With the economy still an issue for most households, it’s not surprising that a recent survey by the National Grocers Association Consumer Survey Panel indicates that “low prices are considered a very important factor in choosing a supermarket”. Read More
When the economy is good, grocery stores profit. When the economy is bad, grocery stores profit…well some of them that it is. Nothing is a better barometer of consumer spending than grocery stores. And nothing gives us a view into the average American household than the stores consumers flock to, in order to get something they cannot live without: Food. It is something we should pay close attention to when gauging the end of the recession. With the economy still an issue for most households, it’s not surprising that a recent survey by the National Grocers Association Consumer Survey Panel indicates that “low prices are considered a very important factor in choosing a supermarket”. Read More
Automotive Industry
US Automakers Struggling to Survive
By Carla Zilka 5/28/09
As U.S. car companies continue to struggle, I can’t help but wonder why it appears so difficult to understand what went wrong, when it seems pretty straight forward to me. Either people are over complicating the situation or I am over simplifying the issues. If the saying is true, that the way to solve problems is to simplify the issues, then here is my best attempt. Some, not all, of the US automakers have a flawed innovation and R&D process that needs to be completely revamped. They can manipulate the numbers and conduct financial restructuring all they want, but until they change their process, they will continue to struggle. Read More
As U.S. car companies continue to struggle, I can’t help but wonder why it appears so difficult to understand what went wrong, when it seems pretty straight forward to me. Either people are over complicating the situation or I am over simplifying the issues. If the saying is true, that the way to solve problems is to simplify the issues, then here is my best attempt. Some, not all, of the US automakers have a flawed innovation and R&D process that needs to be completely revamped. They can manipulate the numbers and conduct financial restructuring all they want, but until they change their process, they will continue to struggle. Read More
Dressing Down the Business Model
By Carla Zilka, Founder & Principal Advisor, NexGen Advisors 4/17/09
Probably the worst thing a company can do to limit growth is to bog down their sales teams with non-selling administrative work. Whether paper or automated, a sales persons natural talent, and what you hired them to do, is to be customer facing and generating revenue. Yet in our experience conducting restructuring projects with clients, we find most sales people overloaded with non-selling work. In one recent survey we conducted with a client, we found that 56-69% of salespeople's time is spent doing non-customer facing work. As you can imagine, when we conveyed the results to the CEO and SVP of Sales, they were shocked. Their first question: "How do we minimize it?". The second question: "How much potential revenue are we losing?" Read More
The Best Bet for Unemployment: Infrastructure and Competency Hubs
By Carla Zilka, Founder & Principal Advisor, NexGen Advisors
With the recent purchase of Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) by Warren Buffet for $34B, it is a fact that the future of the United States is based on Infrastructure growth. Railroads are not glamorous, but they do what needs to get done for being the biggest distribution channel for the “biggest hauler” of food products, like corn, or energy, like coal for electricity. Read More
Probably the worst thing a company can do to limit growth is to bog down their sales teams with non-selling administrative work. Whether paper or automated, a sales persons natural talent, and what you hired them to do, is to be customer facing and generating revenue. Yet in our experience conducting restructuring projects with clients, we find most sales people overloaded with non-selling work. In one recent survey we conducted with a client, we found that 56-69% of salespeople's time is spent doing non-customer facing work. As you can imagine, when we conveyed the results to the CEO and SVP of Sales, they were shocked. Their first question: "How do we minimize it?". The second question: "How much potential revenue are we losing?" Read More
The Best Bet for Unemployment: Infrastructure and Competency Hubs
By Carla Zilka, Founder & Principal Advisor, NexGen Advisors
With the recent purchase of Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) by Warren Buffet for $34B, it is a fact that the future of the United States is based on Infrastructure growth. Railroads are not glamorous, but they do what needs to get done for being the biggest distribution channel for the “biggest hauler” of food products, like corn, or energy, like coal for electricity. Read More
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