Monday, November 7, 2011

Keep warm by being active how to prune effectively.

Take a look out of the window.
Stark isn’t it; nothing growing, everything hunkering down and waiting for a downturn in temperature. You have two options to wrap up warm and sit by the fire or get active, get the blood running and keep really warm. I know which option I prefer so let’s get busy on the business for the coming spring – if the Arabs can have one so can we... it's just a turning point when things can only get better.
Pruning is a great way to ensure healthy growth.(Heads of Government may disagree)
It's always tough to decide which branches to trim right back to the earth to ensure their success in the next season. But in business we need to be just as tough there are clients who suck the very life out of you and your business – we all know who they are and have put up with them.
Some behave like spoilt children, demanding and complaining and even tantrums and blaming others. Unfortunately, they are using up resources that could be better used elsewhere.
This is known as "Lost Opportunity Costs" and raises the question every time we engage with these people “whatever else am I missing out on while I am being sucked dry by these clients” if the answer is “loads” then you know what to do if the answer is more worryingly “I don’t know” then you need some help identifying opportunities. I am not saying the pruning process is because they are bad people or run bad businesses it's just that it is a toxic relationship and to ensure that you both survive it is time to cut free.

If we keep in mind that we need to culture unfair advantage in everything we do then a great clearout will ensure that you maintain your unfair advantage by only keeping those who have good balanced relationships with your company.