Robert Lavery - Building Margin Into Your Business & life
1. Building Margin into
your Business & Life
Presented by
Orchid Systems
Robert Lavery & Associates Inc.
2. Building Margin Into Your Business
Capacity Utilization
1) Revenue
2) Production
3) Service
Cost of Increasing Capacity
1) Mktg & Sales
2) Capital Investment Sales
3) Salaries & Wages (Hire People)
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
3. Building Margin Into Your Business
Increasing Business Value
• Value = Capacity Contribution
• Capacity Contribution - Cost of Capacity =
Contribution Margin
• Productivity Goal is to increase capacity at a
little or no cost OR at least lower than cost of
capacity.
• 2 Drivers: Ideas and Technology
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
4. Building Margin Into Your Business
Influence of Ideas & Technology
• The 3 P’s of Business: Principles, Processes
and People.
• All 3 must be in harmony.
• Technology is a tool to support business
objectives.
• The goal is to aggregate data into intelligence
• The outcome is ……?
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
5. Building Margin Into Your Business
Outcome of Ideas & Technology
1) Gain Competitive Advantage
2) Improved Customer Service
3) Increased Productivity
4) Reduced Costs
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
6. Building Margin Into Your Business
Increasing Margin = Business Value
• Key is Execution
• Cost of doing nothing = Opportunity Cost
• Cost of doing something = time and
money
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
7. Lack of Focus = Confusion
• "I have always wanted to be somebody, but I
see now I should have been more specific."
Comedienne Lily Tomlin
8. Understand What Drives Margin
• Identify Key/Critical Success Factors
- What drives good performance in our organization?
• Focus on activities that bring greatest margin
to the business
“Focus on the Few”
• Measure Price Sensitivity
• Measure Cost to deliver product or service
9. Seeking Customer Feedback
With Provocative Questions
• What attracted you to us originally?
Shows how you are viewed in the market
• What would you do if we weren’t here?
Provides insight into the value of your offering.
• Can you name one person in our
organization who has impressed you?
Speaks to the relationships you have with your
customers.
10. Seeking Customer Feedback
With Provocative Questions
• What one thing could we do better?
Delves into their priorities.
• Why do you buy from us?
Highlights your strengths.
• Name one thing we do or don’t do that
irritates you? (AND one thing we should
never stop doing.)
Speaks for itself. Must do something about it.
(This is your opportunity to shine!!)
13. Customer Segmentation
Profit
Margin Clients
Increases We Want
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t
Increases Want
14. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients
Increases We Want
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t
Increases Want
15. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients
Increases We Want
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t
Increases Want
Who Has The Power?
16. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients
Increases We Want
Invest
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t
Increases Want
Who Has The Power?
17. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients Be Easy To
Invest
Increases We Want Deal With
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t
Increases Want
Who Has The Power?
18. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients Be Easy To
Invest
Increases We Want Deal With
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t Coach
Increases Want
Who Has The Power?
19. Customer Segmentation
Clients Clients
Who Who Don’t
Want You Want You
Profit
Margin Clients Be Easy To
Invest
Increases We Want Deal With
Price Clients
Sensitivity We Don’t Coach Monitor
Increases Want
Who Has The Power?
20. Building Margin Into Your Business
Increasing Value of Data for Decisions
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom
(Formatted) (Trends) (Relevant)
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
21. A Few Questions
• How many Managers/Executives do you
help to manage the future?
• Do your Managers/Executives appreciate
what you do for them?
• What can you leverage to monitor & build
positive margins in your business?
• OLAP!
23. Building Margin Into Your Business
• Online distribution of Data/Reports
OLAP – Online Analytical Processing
• Save time (personal margin) and
money (business margin)
• Avoid creating multiple custom reports
Key Technology Solution
• Orchid’s NEW Info Explorer
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
24. Building Margin Into Your Business
Info Explorer Addresses Pain Points Like:
• Lack of accurate and timely reporting resulting
in guesswork and poor decision making
• Key operational data not available for reporting
• Time consuming & inefficient report preparation
• Over reliance on spreadsheets for reporting
• Business and productivity monitored using
intuition and not operational metrics
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
25. Building Margin Into Your Business
The Problem with Custom Crystal Reports:
• Hard/costly to implement
• Hard to modify (static)
• Not scalable
• No process for upgrading
• Out of an accountant’s comfort zone
• Managers have to ask for them
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
29. Building Margin Into Your Business
Becoming an Online Business
• Electronic File Transfer (EFT)
• Electronic Data Interchange
• Electronic Workflow
• Web Self Service
• Electronic Commerce
• Web Procurement
• & OLAP!
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
35. Building Margin Into Your Business
Key Benefits of Utilizing Orchid’s Info Explorer
• Creates a process for consistent, high quality
delivery of value-added data.
• Effectively communicates an understanding
of trends / value in your organization.
• Very small investment of time and money to
create additional insights into the margin
possibilities in your business.
• Decision Makers love it!!
• It’s true OLAP
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
36. Streamlining and Automating Processes in
Sage Accpac ERP
Info Explorer
• Users define data format & report layouts
= Improved Customer Service
• Eliminate multiple Crystal Reports with 1
Data Cube = Reduced Costs
• Schedule & Distribute multiple Data Cubes
= Increased Productivity
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
38. Building Margin Into Your Business
NEW Info Explorer – Allows you to:
• Focus on what is important to measure
• Empower your people with the right information
at the right time
• Cater for individual reporting needs
• Automate generation and distribution of data
• Build Margin in your Business & your Life!
• How?
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
39. Building Margin Into Your Business
Info Explorer Lite (FREE Version)
• Download & Install for 30 Day Trial Period
• After 30 Days request a FREE Activation Code
• Comes with 5 pre-configured “Data Cubes”
• 3 Limitations for “Lite” Version of Info Explorer
1) Can’t print the cubes
2) Can’t modify or create queries
3) Can’t export data to Excel
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
40. Building Margin Into Your Life
• Based on a book by Richard A. Swenson, a
medical doctor. “Margin: How to Create the
Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time
Reserves You Need.
• Margin is "the space that once existed between
ourselves and our limits." When we reach the
limits of our resources and abilities, we are out
of margin. Limit – Load = Personal Margin
“Capacity to handle unplanned events in life.”
• The pace of modern life has increased because
the rate of change is exponential not linear.
• Progress and margin are often opposing forces.
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
41. Building Margin Into Your Life
• Progress provides positive gains in medicine,
technology, our standard of living and material
well being. Intellectual and educational
opportunities have expanded enormously, and
knowledge and information are increasing.
• At the same time progress can consume us:
More choices, Internet, business layoffs,
indebtedness, vulnerability to terrorism, media,
spiraling medical costs, divorce, AIDS, pollution.
• We live in a 7 X 24 world where boundaries
between work & play and home & the office are
blurred. Increases productivity, but at what cost?
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
42. Building Margin Into Your Life
• As a result, we encounter limits in our finances,
time, energy, health, ability to concentrate, to
care & to feel. Creates stress & burnout.
• Puts pressure on all relationships: family,
friendships, neighborhoods & community spirit.
• There are physical limits. Man has performance
limits, emotional limits, and mental limits.
• Having adequate emotional energy is the most
important because with emotional margin one
can work to gain the other margins.
• Emotional energy is finite and must not be
squandered. Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
43. Building Margin Into Your Life
• Restoring emotional margin is aided by
cultivating our social and family support
network. Serving others or doing volunteer
work is proven to enhance and lengthen life.
• Extending forgiveness and reconciling
relationships can stop the negative drain on our
emotional stores. Cultivate a spirit of gratitude.
• Physical Margin requires rest and sleep.
Aerobic exercise for the heart "will do more to
establish margin in physical energy" than
anything else.
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
44. Building Margin Into Your Life
• Creating time margin requires saying "No,"
turning off the television, practicing simplicity,
and getting less done but doing the right things.
Many of us need to make some thoughtful and
hard choices.
• Time is meant for Investing in people and
relationships.
• Must have balance in all areas of life. Avoid
striving for “Excellence” in just one area.
• Envy is the enemy of contentment and form of
self-inflicted torture. The practice of
contentment brings margin into our lives.
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
45. Building Margin Into Your Life
• The road to health and blessing is the path of
relationship. Love and relationships are hard
work, and sometimes costly because
superfluous, unimportant things may need to be
put aside, but the payoff is happiness,
contentment, peace, and personal margin.
• Applying some of these things can turn you
from the path of overload and start you down
the path of margin.
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates
46. Conclusion
Learn to leverage technology
Create Margin & Value in your business
Invest in your “A” clients
CREATE MARGIN IN YOUR LIFE
Takes Time, Effort, Focus, Patience & Discipline
Presented by Robert Lavery, Robert Lavery and Associates