Tactics to Improve Bottom Line: 1st Improve ROI

What do investors want? They actively pursue three key strategies; 1) improve profit (most over used strategy), 2) reduce investment (an under used strategy), and 3) reduce risk (a much-neglected strategy). In this the first of three sessions, see 1) above, we will explore successful strategies to improve pricing, increase volume, and reduce risk. We will discuss proven techniques to help your organization thrive. Topics Discussed

 Introduction to the three levers – Income, Asset Utilization, and Risk.

• Cost control
  • Waste elimination 
    • Lean, Total Quality Management, and Six Sigma
  • Simplification – A case study in how complexity is an insidious profit killer
  • Activity based costing 
    • Understanding what drives cost and how to control cost
  • Accounting practices that are antithetical to good cost control
  • Getting the message across and generating action
  • Where are the good ideas buried?
• Increasing volume
  • How effective is your advertising and promotion?
  • What is your unique selling proposition?
  • Are you stifling innovation?
• Pricing
  • Pricing for value not cost recovery
  • Understanding competition
  • Looking for the ‘blue ocean’ opportunity

Objectives: Understanding the issues that drive the bottom line and discovering ways to make improvement happen. Learn more about pricing for profitability, cost control and increasing throughput.

Tactics to Reduce Investment: 2nd Strategy ROI

What do investors want? They actively pursue three key strategies; 1) improve profit (most over used strategy), 2) reduce investment (an under used strategy), and 3) reduce risk (a much-neglected strategy). In this second of three sessions, see 2) above, we will explore strategies to improve asset utilization and reduce investment. We will discuss proven techniques to help your organization thrive.

Topics Discussed

• Cost of capital
  • What do investors want?
  • What does my capital really cost?
  • How can we approximate the cost?
  • Utilizing the Du Pont Formula in a discounted cash flow world
• Increasing asset utilization
  • What should we do, and what should we allow others to do?
  • Buying the right equipment at the right price
  • Increasing throughput
  • Complexity – the capacity thief
• Process choices
  • Should we automate? 
    • Lease or purchase
  • Impact of automation on risk and return

Objectives: Understanding the issues that drive asset utilization and discovering ways to make improvement happen. Learn more about the cost of capital, asset utilization, and choosing an appropriate process.

Tactics to Reduce Risk: 3rd Strategy to Help ROI

What do investors want? They actively pursue three key strategies; 1) improve profit (most over used strategy), 2) reduce investment (an under used strategy), and 3) reduce risk (a much-neglected strategy). In this third of three sessions, see 3) above, we will explore strategies to reduce risk. When risks are exhibited on the income statement – it is too late. Risk is silent and insidious. We must plan, as we have seen what happens when risk becomes real and reduces net income. We will discuss proven techniques to help your organization plan for risk before the next miscalculation. Be prepared!

Topics Discussed:

• Why is risk relevant?
  • What do investors want? 
  • How do statisticians look at risk?
  • How do economists look at risk?
  • Prospect theory
• Your risk profile
  • Risk appetite
  • Risk tolerance
  • How do you monitor risk?
  • Heat maps
  • Risk is everyone’s job.
• Managing risk
  • Avoid,
  • Transfer,
  • Mitigate, or
  • Accept.

Objectives: Understanding the issues that drive risk, why it matters, and discovering ways to make improvement happen.

Bridging the Gap with Marketing Management: The Four Ps

What should we know about marketing and what are the four ‘P’s of marketing? Many financial leaders are not sufficiently knowledgeable about the marketing function, marketing management, and measuring marketing results. When we know more, both functions can work collaboratively to help drive a superior bottom line. We can more accurately measure success, for example, in order to approve a cost-effective strategy to maintain and grow the business organically. We will discuss proven techniques to help your organization grow and thrive. Finance and marketing can and should help each other – we will show you how.

Topics Discussed:

• What is the function of Marketing?
  • Creating demand, building reputation
  • Inform and educate customers and potential customers.
• Marketing plans
  • What must be in a top-quality plan?
  • Coordination with strategy and financial ability
• 1 – Products and services
  • Why do customers buy, or not buy, your offerings? 
  • Core products, actual products, augmented products
• 2 – Price
  • Pricing is market driven, not cost driven!
  • Cost leaders vs differentiators
  • When to increase price when to reduce price
• 3 – Place or channels
  • Effective and efficient channels
  • Alternative channels
• 4 – Promotion
  • Promotion alternatives and cost effectiveness
• Coordinating the 4Ps to gain maximum results

Objectives: Understanding four components of marketing. How finance and marketing can work collaboratively to drive superior financial performance.