Happy Halloween from all of us at Affirm Consulting! Be Safe & Have Fun.
Affirm Consulting: Experts at tackling business ghouls & ghosts 365 days a year.
#Halloween2017 #TrickorTreat #BusinessCoaching #smallbusiness
#BusinessConsulting #businessgrowth #CentralFlorida #LoveFL #Orlando #Florida
Many times companies view their business operations as a necessary evil to deliver their products or services. This mindset towards your company’s day-to-day operations leads to inefficiencies, mistakes, late shipments or delivery of services, unhappy customers or worse, unhappy and unmotivated employees, all of which are driving up costs, reducing profitability and making it more and more difficult to grow your business.
So, if it’s such a critical element of the business, why do so many companies neglect their business operations?
There’s a multitude of reasons, the first and most common is operations are prioritized by whoever or whatever screams the loudest or causes the biggest problems (you know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease). This mindset is most commonly referred to as the ‘firefighter’ approach to business operations, where you run from fire to fire trying to douse the flames before getting pulled away to go fight another fire. This approach to running your business is both exhausting and extremely costly to your company.
The second most common reason is usually tied to not having the actual time or resources to evaluate and develop an actual long-term solution. Small and mid-sized businesses are usually strapped for resources, so the idea of devoting someone full time to developing long-term solutions to problems that arise is difficult, if not impossible. So unfortunately without the necessary resources, companies have a tendency to implement short-term, cosmetic fixes and hope the problem resolves itself.
Lastly, it’s a matter of know-how: does the business know how to apply the science and methodology of efficient business operations, in conjunction with all the intricacies of your specific business to refine or re-engineer the processes and develop true long-term solutions to the challenges affecting day-to-day operations? The answer to this question is almost always ‘no’ but not having the know-how and not involving someone that does are two very different things. So, utilizing business operations experts like those on the Affirm Consulting team is really the missing link to streamlining your business operations, gaining efficiencies, reducing mistakes and ultimately increasing profitability within your company.
If ineffective or inefficient business operations are robbing your business of profits, or if you are exhausted from continually fighting fires, then isn’t it time to take action?
Schedule an appointment or contact us today and let’s get started. 407-287-4219 or hello@affirm.consulting
Dennis E. Hough
Founder – Affirm Consulting
________________
What are Business Operations? Business Operations are everything that has to occur from the time your company receives an order until the time that product or service is delivered. In instances where product support, installation, warranty or customer follow-up occurs, then these too are part of your company’s business operations. Another way to look at business operations is they are the integrated systems of people, processes and information necessary to operate your business.
As a business owner, I’m always perplexed by fellow business leaders who want a full-proof solution with all the bells & whistles, yet will haggle for rock-bottom pricing. My first thought usually is, I wonder if they give away their company’s premium products and services at break-even prices, and if so I’m confident that profitability is one of the challenges their company faces because inevitably premium products and services come with a price.
Secondly, if price (not value) is the only factor being considered, then the cheapest [ $0 ] option for their company is to do nothing, although one shouldn’t be surprised by the lack of results. (Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.)
However, if resolving your company’s challenge(s) or achieving its goals has a positive impact on your business, then value not price is what’s truly important in deciding to move forward. The fact is, our clients typically value overcoming their business challenges and growing their company with an ROI and/or positive financial impact in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Where else in business today can one find 5 or 6-digit returns on your investment?
So why do business leaders get hung up on price, because many times ‘price’ is just an excuse to not change. Although we understand change can be uncomfortable or sometimes difficult, it is still far better than the alternative of remaining in the status quo [Again, I refer you to the definition of Insanity].
So I leave you this week with the following question to consider: What would a 20% increase in total revenue or 10% increase in net profits mean to your business?
If just the thought of that puts a smile on your face, then doesn’t the decision to utilize a proven solution like Affirm Consulting become a no-brainer. If so, contact us today to schedule an appointment and let’s get started.
(407) 287-4219 or hello@affirm.consulting
Have a great week!
Dennis E. Hough, Founder – Affirm Consulting
___________________________________________
If you do not understand the value, then any price sounds expensive.
Oct. 13, 2017 – I would like to use today’s blog post to (1) emphasize the importance of staying true to who you are as a company and (2) address some positive criticism that we have received about our company’s new website.
Here we are mid-October and 2017 is quickly expiring on all of us, as the weeks seem to pick up momentum this time of year. As I reflect on the year, it seems like only yesterday that we launched the Affirm Consulting 2.0 website, which was our largest internal project for this year, and yet it’s been four months since the official launch of the website (My how times flies when you’re having fun). Since its launch on June 1st, we continually received compliments about our website and its content, however as every business leader knows, it’s a never-ending process to continually update and add new content to keep one’s website fresh and ranking high in all the search engine results.
Amidst all the compliments and positive feedback, we often get asked why we don’t show more pictures/images of our actual work to allow potential new clients see our team in action, working with clients. The short answer is, most everything we do with our clients is related to developing and implementing their company’s growth strategy, which typically includes business confidential information, so why would we want to put our partnered clients information for others to see just to promote our business.
That’s just not how we do business at Affirm Consulting, as confidentiality and trust are core values to our firm [Click here to learn more about ‘Our Values’]. We take a partnership approach to each and every client because we understand that our success can only be achieved by first helping our clients be successful.
Sure, there’s also the option of staging photos to ensure no client information is shared, but ‘staged photos’ do not convey authentic and transparent and thus does not represent our company’s values or fit with who we are as a company.
Although we appreciate those clients who have allowed us to share their company names and testimonials in our client portfolio, we have other clients who have opted not to be listed. Sometimes this request to remain unnamed is based on the competitive nature of their industry and other times it’s based on personal preference by the business owner or company’s leadership team. Again, we fully respect those requests and always give new clients the same option.
In closing, I’ll remind each business leader that as you grow your company, always stay anchored in your company’s core values and remain laser-focused on your customers and employees.
Hopefully you found this insight to be beneficial to you and your business. Please know if you ever have questions specific to your business, or would like more information about engaging Affirm to assist you in growing your company, please contact me and let’s schedule a time for us to meet. We would welcome the opportunity to buy you a cup of coffee and discuss ways to grow your business.
Remember: ‘Dream Big’, ‘Embrace the Process’ and ‘Affirm the Way’.
All the best,
Dennis E. Hough, Founder – Affirm Consulting, LLC
BREAKING NEWS: (June 1, 2017) Affirm Consulting 2.0 has officially launched – www.affirm.consulting
Thanks to everyone who supported this project and its successful launch.
We are enjoying watching the tough competition of the #PGATour and reminded that everyone faces challenges and success is earned, not guaranteed. #EnjoytheJourney
Enjoying a wonderful evening at a community event to collect Christmas toys for underprivileged children. #PayItForward
