Saturday, 16 May 2009
A keen eye on driving clients costs down
My week ended with Markus Higham and myself on a conference call with 40 sales and key management staff from 11 countries across Asia. Markus is the YRCL EU internal focal point to support our staff and clients with the best solutions to improve their supply chain with a keen eye to drive their costs down. Sometimes, actually often, this includes questioning how and when they move their cargo (or rather should I say their livelihood) around the world. In difficult economic times, calls like this remind me what a difference we can make to our clients by (forgive the cliche) acting global but thinking local.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Have you read our News Feed? Petrol from 111.9 pence
We like to find extra ways to add value for our clients, we recently found a great website called www.petrolprices.com that shows the cheapest fuel prices in the area of your choice. We hope that by showing the cheapest fuel within 10 miles of our offices in the UK you will also be able to benefit from cheaper fuel. to find ut the prices within 10 miles of our offices go to www.yrclogistics-rss.info/
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Have you read the latest headline in our news feed?
China Scrambles on Construction and Pollution to Meet Olympic Deadlines
Just one month before the Aug. 8 opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics at the citys new National Stadium, numerous hurdles remain for organizers. Among the biggest: Worries about persistent pollution cloud the horizon, prompting the closing of scores of factories. www.yrclogistics-rss.info
Just one month before the Aug. 8 opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics at the citys new National Stadium, numerous hurdles remain for organizers. Among the biggest: Worries about persistent pollution cloud the horizon, prompting the closing of scores of factories. www.yrclogistics-rss.info
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Truckers unite in mass fuel protest www.yrclogistics-rss.info
Have you looked at our News Feed? The latest story may be of interest as it is about the fuel protest in London today.
Truckers unite in mass fuel protest
Hundreds of hauliers will try to put more pressure on MPs over record-high fuel prices on Wednesday when they bring lorries to London in a mass protest.
02 July 2008, 08:35:29 www.yrclogistics-rss.info
Truckers unite in mass fuel protest
Hundreds of hauliers will try to put more pressure on MPs over record-high fuel prices on Wednesday when they bring lorries to London in a mass protest.
02 July 2008, 08:35:29 www.yrclogistics-rss.info
Labels: Economy, Fuel, Hauliers
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Assessing Your Business
Sorry for not writing for the last couple of days but I have been very busy spending most of my time in mid year reviews with the different parts of the business, last week was the national sales meeting, this week was with the operations and financial teams. During the midyear reviews, each part of the business had prepared a SWOT analysis which allows me to see at a glance where we need to prioritise our efforts and helps us with our strategic planning.
I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts that I have total respect for those who look to start a logistics company in this day and age, so considering that it is generally accepted that around half of new businesses have packed up within the first three years, usually for reasons ranging from poor financial planning to weak market research and lack of a growth strategy.
But weaknesses such as these can be damaging to a business at any stage of its development - particularly when market conditions change and businesses need to adapt to survive. Knowing your weak points is crucial to developing a robust business. But how do you work out what they are? I believe that a SWOT analysis is perhaps the best way to identify issues you need to address systematically but remember that this is not the only tool you can use to help you and by just completing a SWOT will not ensure you have carried out an adequate job, you need to ensure you still continue to do the sensible things such as define the companies objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies.
SWOT stands for (S)trengths, (W)eaknesses, (O)pportunities and (T)hreats. Conducting a SWOT analysis involves creating a list of each for different aspects of your business; then considering what you need to change in order to make your business stronger. In general, strengths and weaknesses would apply to the way you run your business - your administrative systems, your workplace policies, your premises, your financial processes, staff, sales channels, and so on. Under opportunities and threats, you are more likely to look at external factors that affect your business - your competitors, your customers' expectations, regulatory changes, and so forth.
Start by assessing your business plan and then use that as the basis for a more detailed analysis. Does your plan cover the key areas of your business? It should contain information about your offer, your marketplace, marketing and sales strategies, management team, operations, financial forecasts and growth strategy.
Does this information realistically reflect where your business is and where it's heading? Now look at each area in more detail and list strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as appropriate. In particular, it's worth noting the areas where small businesses most commonly fall down:
Selling a product for which there is no demand
Paying bills promptly, but allowing customers to pay late
Planning based on unachievable sales targets
No growth strategy
Ignoring competitors
Poor recruitment and staff management
Unfavorable contracts with suppliers, landlords, etc.
A SWOT analysis is a tool for change, not an end in itself. Once you have identified the vulnerable areas of your business, prioritise them and develop plans for dealing with them. Note these in your business plan if necessary. Ideally, you should carry out a SWOT analysis fairly regularly, I also think that it is more effective if combined with a PEST, which I will explain more about at a later date, it is also important to remember that you don't have to do it yourself, but can delegate the exercise to employees.
Even if you don't look at every aspect of your firm, a SWOT analysis will help you keep in touch with your operation and your marketplace, and give you a greater chance to adapt and prosper when confronted with challenges and new opportunities.
If you are interested in finding out more about analyses tools such as SWOT, PEST or SCAN, there are some good articles in www.iod.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts that I have total respect for those who look to start a logistics company in this day and age, so considering that it is generally accepted that around half of new businesses have packed up within the first three years, usually for reasons ranging from poor financial planning to weak market research and lack of a growth strategy.
But weaknesses such as these can be damaging to a business at any stage of its development - particularly when market conditions change and businesses need to adapt to survive. Knowing your weak points is crucial to developing a robust business. But how do you work out what they are? I believe that a SWOT analysis is perhaps the best way to identify issues you need to address systematically but remember that this is not the only tool you can use to help you and by just completing a SWOT will not ensure you have carried out an adequate job, you need to ensure you still continue to do the sensible things such as define the companies objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies.
SWOT stands for (S)trengths, (W)eaknesses, (O)pportunities and (T)hreats. Conducting a SWOT analysis involves creating a list of each for different aspects of your business; then considering what you need to change in order to make your business stronger. In general, strengths and weaknesses would apply to the way you run your business - your administrative systems, your workplace policies, your premises, your financial processes, staff, sales channels, and so on. Under opportunities and threats, you are more likely to look at external factors that affect your business - your competitors, your customers' expectations, regulatory changes, and so forth.
Start by assessing your business plan and then use that as the basis for a more detailed analysis. Does your plan cover the key areas of your business? It should contain information about your offer, your marketplace, marketing and sales strategies, management team, operations, financial forecasts and growth strategy.
Does this information realistically reflect where your business is and where it's heading? Now look at each area in more detail and list strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as appropriate. In particular, it's worth noting the areas where small businesses most commonly fall down:
Selling a product for which there is no demand
Paying bills promptly, but allowing customers to pay late
Planning based on unachievable sales targets
No growth strategy
Ignoring competitors
Poor recruitment and staff management
Unfavorable contracts with suppliers, landlords, etc.
A SWOT analysis is a tool for change, not an end in itself. Once you have identified the vulnerable areas of your business, prioritise them and develop plans for dealing with them. Note these in your business plan if necessary. Ideally, you should carry out a SWOT analysis fairly regularly, I also think that it is more effective if combined with a PEST, which I will explain more about at a later date, it is also important to remember that you don't have to do it yourself, but can delegate the exercise to employees.
Even if you don't look at every aspect of your firm, a SWOT analysis will help you keep in touch with your operation and your marketplace, and give you a greater chance to adapt and prosper when confronted with challenges and new opportunities.
If you are interested in finding out more about analyses tools such as SWOT, PEST or SCAN, there are some good articles in www.iod.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
Labels: Economy, New businesses, Strategy
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
I am just glad to have a job!
One of our sales team recently made contact with a prospect client. After the initial conversation the response to our request for a meeting was "I do not really care what you can do I am just happy to still have a job".
With 3210 companies forced into liquidation during Q1 2008 which is a 4% increase on 2007, retail sales down & fuel cost increasing, perhaps this is an understandable response. I was pleased that the story ended with us finding a way to interest the prospect that all we required was a little amount of his time so that we could see how we could analyse his supply chain and work together to see how we could help increase his company’s profit. In this time of uncertainty, we need to realise that our clients are not just looking to get their freight from A to B, or for nice to have value added services, they are looking for a partner that will work in collaboration to eliminate unnecessary cost whilst not compromising on service.
With 3210 companies forced into liquidation during Q1 2008 which is a 4% increase on 2007, retail sales down & fuel cost increasing, perhaps this is an understandable response. I was pleased that the story ended with us finding a way to interest the prospect that all we required was a little amount of his time so that we could see how we could analyse his supply chain and work together to see how we could help increase his company’s profit. In this time of uncertainty, we need to realise that our clients are not just looking to get their freight from A to B, or for nice to have value added services, they are looking for a partner that will work in collaboration to eliminate unnecessary cost whilst not compromising on service.
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