admin, Author at IBANNZ

Getting Product Mix Right

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:38:57 +0000

The Importance of Product Mix

Has your Gross Margin declined but your sales / revenue remained constant? If the answer is Yes, then a good Business Advisor will have the answers to help you get back on track.

Product Mix

It is a fair guideline to state that approximately 50% of businesses are unaware of movements in their product mix.

The main issue here is that businesses are unaware of changes to their sales / revenue line and so don’t take the required actions to manage these changes. This can result in a combination of:

Reduced Gross Margin if a high margin product drops in popularity.
Not taking corrective action to improve the product mix.
Reduced cashflow from not reducing material order and inventory levels for the declining items.
Running out of stock of increasing product lines.
Falling behind competitor innovations.

If you want to stay on top, then you need to know what is happening in the marketplace and how it is affecting your sales / revenue lines.

Business Advisors can add significant additional Gross Profit to businesses of all sizes and in every type of industry, by identifying the reasons for, and then applying the remedies to correct the issue. Product mix changes can occur from:

Actions you have taken to increase another specific sales / revenue line.
Improved competitor marketing.
Competitor innovation.
A better alternative solution has become available on the market.

You need to be aware of the impacts of both your own and competitor initiatives on the market.

The post Getting Product Mix Right appeared first on IBANNZ.

The importance of Teams, Suppliers, and Customers

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:29:48 +0000

Teams, Suppliers and Customers

During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks put together a great team performance to beat the Pumas in the first of the semifinals.

In the second semifinal, Owen Farrell nagged and backchatted so much to the referee, that he was marched back 10 metres, making a difficult penalty kick just that much easier for Handre Pollard, who slotted the kick for a vital 3-points. South Africa then going on to beat England 16-15.

It is our experience that businesses that treat their Teams, Suppliers and Customers with respect fare better than those who use arrogance as their key management tool. Generally, if you look after your people, suppliers, and customers, they will also look after you.

The main advantages of looking after both your internal and external teams are:

Staff will go the extra mile when required to get out rush orders or make up production after a machine failure.
When stock is in short supply, Suppliers will supply their good clients first.
When cashflow is tight, Suppliers will often give their good clients extended turns for a period of time.
Looking after Customers often means a higher retention rate and a bigger share of the customer purchases.
When cashflow is tight, offering payment plans to customers who are struggling will often lead to increased sales to those customers when their cashflow and performance improves.

The key to retaining good relations with staff, Suppliers and Customers is good meaningful communication.

The post The importance of Teams, Suppliers, and Customers appeared first on IBANNZ.

How the Best Businesses stay ahead of the pack

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:23:11 +0000

How the Best Businesses Stay ahead of the Pack

They stay in front by having good, accurate and timely information including:

Balanced Scorecards – tailored to individual managers.
Key Performance Indicators – tailored to individual managers and team leaders.
Dashboards – tailored to individual managers and team leaders.
Customer Analysis – to understand and stay on top of any changes in the market.

How do they do this?

The bigger businesses achieve it by employing Analysts and Commercial Managers.

The smaller businesses engage Business Advisors / Consultants to develop and write these models. If they do not have the required staff available to update the models on a monthly basis, then they will also contract the Business Advisor / Consultant to update them for them. Depending on the quality of the financial information these monthly updates will generally take between 2 to 8 hours to update.

Why do they do this?

Because good, accurate and timely information is the key to running a good business. Any change in the analysed information can identify where both good and bad trends are developing and therefore where management needs to focus its attention.

It should be noted that that these reports do not only contain financial information. They also reveal key analytical indicators such as utilisation, breakdowns, capacity constraints, delays in producing customer invoices, staff absences, etc.

The post How the Best Businesses stay ahead of the pack appeared first on IBANNZ.

iBANNZ – Who we are and what we offer

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 02:08:54 +0000

Are You an Independent Business Advisor or Coach Who Would Like to Sometimes Meet and Chat with Other Independent Business Advisors and Coaches?

Independent Business Advisors Network of New Zealand (iBANNZ) is New Zealand’s first registered Independent Business Advisor Association supporting Business Advisors and Business Coaches to achieve their goals.

Officially registered in 2020 as New Zealand’s first creditable Business Advisor and Business Coaching support network, iBANNZ has since been nurtured by a group of like-minded and experienced individuals, so that, from its very inception, there has been an ongoing commitment to create an organisation that has its members at the centre of what it does.

iBANNZ was born from the need of those who may trade independently to have a network of trusted peers on whose support and counsel they can rely. We provide a forum to share ideas and advice, and a culture of collegiality and friendship.

The Four Pillars of iBANNZ are:

A network of fellow Independent Advisors
A forum to share ideas and advice
A culture of collegiality and friendship
A market perception that we are more than isolated one-man bands

Our stated mission is to create an environment for Independent Business Advisor professionals to network, collaborate, advocate, innovate and learn.

If you are an Independent Business Advisor or Business Coach who would like a support network of like-minded individuals, then why not have a look at the iBANNZ website https://ibannz.co.nz/ If you think that this may be something for you but would like more information please email contact@ibannz.co.nz

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