Monday, March 28, 2011

New KLG Consultants, LLC Client

KLG Consultants, LLC is proud to announce Shapiro Family Chiropractic has become a new client.

Shapiro Family Chiropractic has taken advantage of KLG's new small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, they only pay KLG Consultants, LLC when they see measurable improvement in top line revenues.

Contact KLG Consultants, LLC if you think your business qualifies for our small business or small practice development program. Other than assessment costs, you only pay us when your firm or practice sees improvement to an agreed upon result.



To learn more about Shapiro Family Chiropractic click here: SHAPIRO

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Stress TEST

Success breeds complacency!

Services, strategies and products have to have a place to safely fail. If we don’t test what we do to the point of failure, we won’t know what works or doesn’t. When it comes to people, businesses do not have to let the failure happen real time on the job. Stress testing can happen safely using cutting edge tools.

Assessments and teamwork sessions can allow people a safe place to expose their weaknesses, and allow managers and organizational leaders the time to take corrective steps. We suggest using whole person assessments and 360s as early warning signals, and not waiting until a workplace failure occurs.

Products, strategies and services need to be tested as well. Certainly surveys, focus groups and other customer response tools can be useful in testing all three. However, we suggest using team strategy sessions that are well informed by data, and that are open and stimulate debate, as internal laboratories to test until failure. Yes, we suggest: test until failure.

Know what doesn’t work, so you don’t waste time on it.

Strategic Planning in Turbulent Times

 
The Strategic Edge 
— A process that helps leadership teams create a new focus and strategy for employees to align team and individual goals and activities with overall organizational performance expectations.

The Strategic Edge process includes:
  • Assess the leadership team and employees in key positions to identify natural strengths, performance weaknesses, culture-fit, development needs, and job expectations.
  • Identify opportunities for reducing overhead expenses.
  • Conduct a 2 day training program to assess the business model, the annual goals, and build leadership team trust, communication, accountability, planning, and results.
  • Conduct a 1 day follow-up session 1 month later which includes presentations from participants on how they will accomplish their goals using the proven KLG planning process and Strategic Edge Dashboard.
  • Follow-up quarterly team accountability meetings around the strategic plans and goals.
  • Individual coaching for improved individual performance.

Strategic Planning Program
— Strategic planning enables an organization to shape and guide its overall business objectives. Through effective strategic planning, an organization creates a framework for developing, adapting and aligning organizational vision, mission and goals to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Through the process of a SWOT process (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), companies will reassess their vision, mission, long and short term goals, and strategies.

Our Strategic Planning Program includes:

  • Formulating strategic plans to help your organization advance and grow.
  • Creating/Revisiting the vision, mission, goals, and values that will move your company forward.
  • Identifying the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats (SWOT) that drive strategy.
  • Identifing strategies to better position your organization for long-term competitive advantage.
  • Translating strategy into action.
  • Executing strategy and deliver results through people and processes.
  • Establishing strategic planning, monitoring and controlling mechanisms that ensure positive results.

Why hire a professional facilitator for strategic planning?

A professional facilitator brings an independent and open-minded perspective to your strategic planning process. He or she will keep the discussion focused, keep the process on track, and will encourage team members to act as equals in the process. KLG believes that there are 5 key reasons why an “outsider” may be more effective at leading your strategic planning process:

  • If you want to ensure a level playing field between the CEO and the team members. The outside facilitator has the skills to make sure the CEO does not take over and run the meeting. Also, It is extremely difficult if not impossible for the CEO or other inside person to effectively facilitate because the other people will still react to the CEO or inside person as their superior thus limiting open, honest, feedback and discussion.

  • If you want to complete the process in a timely manner and profit from the time a team spends in planning. The facilitator will comit to making sure you finish the process in the time allotted to do so.

  • When you need to address sensitive issues and conflicts. An outsider brings the benefit of a dispassionate perspective and can more effectively diffuse arguments and channel intense moments into a problem solving opportunity.

  • When your team is not making any progress. The outside facilitator will raise issues that you may try to avoid and will point out the dysfunctional behavior that are being denied.

  • When your group must address complex issues and diverging viewpoints. The experience of the facilitator will help to identify the issues, generate options to resolve issues, and make decisions.

Back to Consulting Services
Back to KLG Consultants, LLC

Monday, March 14, 2011

Interest Based Serving

So you think you can build a small business? Have you asked yourself, why some businesses thrive while other similar businesses barely break-even or worse?

In many cases, it is not about price anymore. Most small businesses are competing against DIY or “free.” Digitization has put many skill sets once left to paid professionals, at the finger tips of every consumer and business. Photographers, live music, DJ’s, web designers, journalists, even lawyers to some extent face an onset of on-line tools that are free or close to free. Social media and its tangential services, now make advertising and marketing almost free. While a cottage industry of social media “experts” has cropped up, most people and companies can navigate the social media universe on their own.

On the product front, China and Asia push prices lower for most consumer products. India pushes down the cost of technical talent. Programmers there are available for rent at a fraction of their cost here in the USA.

So how do you sell your goods and services for a profit in this environment?

There are numerous books out about this phenomenon. One is called The Experience Economy.  

You don’t have to read the book to “get it.” Just price and taste 7-11 coffee and then price and taste Starbucks coffee. Is there $2 to $3 in taste difference?  Now ask yourself, does Starbucks really sell coffee? Or does it sell experience, surroundings and image? There are many different types of coffee consumers to be sure. Hence, there is a niche for each price point. But the gross margins multiply when coffee is sold with ambiance, warm sitting space and an overall daily “must have” experience. These experience differentiators are like the difference between listening to the radio or i-tunes almost for free at home, and going to a concert for $35-$45 a ticket.
Here is another example: I was in an ice-cream store the other day, and the servers were singing. I don’t remember if the ice-cream was any good, but I can’t get the songs those kids were singing out of my head.

Starting to get the point? Its all about niche and giving more to your clients, customers or patients, then they thought they would receive when they first came to see you. It used to be called “The mint on the pillow” touch.  We believe, small businesses now have to be perceived as an indispensable part of routine. A “must have" for life’s journey.

We call it “interest based serving”. Not “selling” but serving! Think of it this way: You are in service to your clients, customers, or patients. Your mission is to make their life better; Better in a way that they won’t forget and can’t live without.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Poor planning and lack of planning are repeatedly cited among the top reasons for business failure. Attempting to perform the basic managerial functions of organizing and controlling your business in this economy can be difficult to impossible without a good plan. Corporate leaders must focus on strategies that will strengthen their companies and help them survive the economic downturn.





https://docs.google.com/View?id=df8gbhsr_56cx3wxqf7