Uncommon Common Sense ? Know What is the Most Important Thing in Your Business

Over 3 of my meetings with 3 business owners last week, what really shocked me was how uncommon common sense was. 2 out of 3 I spoke to do not know what is the most important thing in their business. They keep on trying on other things that are not important. As we know, every business has ONE most important thing in their particular industry. You need to do well in your most important thing and the rest will take care of itself.

For Manufacturing: Most important is your quality consistency and how low is your unit cost. It doesn't matter if you have a proprietary technology but if you can't produce the goods in a consistent manner, nobody will buy it. Look at the failed air purifier industry and you'll know what I mean.

For Trading: As you are a pure middle man (like CAO), you need to be cash rich or have access to cash at very low funding cost. This will allow you to buy goods in bulk at substantially lower price than the rest. It' doesn't matter what goods you sell, high or low tech. As a trader, you make money from buying and selling, nothing else. Not putting your faith in the latest high tech products, you must sell what moves or you will be moved out of the industry.

For Retail: (service or goods, including food & beverage): Most important is location, location, location. Next is engagement with the customers, for retail is an experience, and it can only be experienced through passionate retail service staff. If your retail staff is not passionate about their work, change their passion or change them! If your location is good and the rental is high, capitalize on it by getting your customers to buy at higher dollar value, or do more 'pay first and collect goods now' business. Like one Chinese dim sum restaurant in Tanjong Pagar (one of the busies town with expensive rental in Singapore) did, they added one take-away counter outside their restaurant and see their sales increased by 27%.

For Professional Service, including IT: How many good people do you have? Since highly skilled people are also highly paid, are they loyal to your firm or are they just loyal to their salary? It doesn't matter what service you are providing, from legal to advertising or web-services. You need to get the really good skilled people that will not leave, like what the Big Four Audit firms do in grooming their high flyers into partners.

For Start-ups: Sorry, most start-ups haven't found a good business yet, so whatever you are doing, you just need to be persistent and you'll find your way there.

For Stockiest: The good days of bulk buys and offering bulk discounts are over: with Internet anyone can buy anything. Stockiest need to have a few products that nobody has, and the best way is to have your own brand and OEM it out. If you want to know about how to build your brand, follow the "Osim" model.

For Management: You need to have access to management tools, systems and manuals. Anyone can learn about leadership but all leaders need to have management tools or they will just be a leader without achieving anything. And most importantly, is to use the tools properly. Don't be like what CAO did; they have the best tools but nobody use them!

For Employees: The most important thing is to help to solve your boss' problems and your career will fly. What can you do today to make your employer happy?

For Everyone: It's all about DOING! NOT THEORY or 'should' or 'could'. For only when you do will you know if your theory is right or wrong. And the more you do , the less risk you have because you will be learning fast.

Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Simply Motivation offering quality useful tips for Motivation

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Google News Updated : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:49:35 GMT Paulson Indicates Need to Purchase Bank Equity `Soon as We Can' - Bloomberg Telegraph.co.uk Paulson Indicates Need to Purchase Bank Equity `Soon as We Can' Bloomberg - 1 hour ago By John Brinsley and Rebecca Christie Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson indicated that pumping government funds into banks is a priority and said financial markets will remain volatile. US planning to buy equity in financial institutions Reuters Treasury Weighs Investing In Banks Washington Post International Herald Tribune - MarketWatch - CNNMoney.com - Bizjournals.com all 1,783 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:21:05 GMT G-7 Commit to `All Necessary Steps' to Stem Global Meltdown - Bloomberg Voice of America G-7 Commit to `All Necessary Steps' to Stem Global Meltdown Bloomberg - 1 hour ago By Simon Kennedy Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Group of Seven finance chiefs, meeting after stocks plunged and as a global recession looms, vowed to prevent the failure of vital banks while failing to unveil new initiatives for thawing credit markets. Group of 7 Nations Seek Coordination in Rescue New York Times In latest bold step, Treasury will buy bank stakes The Miami Herald CNNMoney.com - The Associated Press - Boston Globe - FN Arena News all 890 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:03:42 GMT McCain Lauds and Attacks Obama in Same Day - New York Times CBS News McCain Lauds and Attacks Obama in Same Day New York Times - 41 minutes ago Senator John McCain of Arizona and his supporters at a rally on Friday in La Crosse, Wis. By ELISABETH BUMILLER LAKEVILLE, Minn. - After a week of trying to portray Senator Barack Obama as a friend of terrorists who would drive the country into ... McCain Moves to Soften the Tone at Rallies Washington Post John McCain, speaking to supporters, tries to defuse an anti ... Los Angeles Times Reuters - DetNews.com - Austin American-Statesman - The Miami Herald all 304 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:08:14 GMT US Near Changing Stance on North Korea as Terrorist - Wall Street Journal BBC News US Near Changing Stance on North Korea as Terrorist Wall Street Journal - 1 hour ago By JAY SOLOMON WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is hoping to announce as soon as Saturday that it is tentatively removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, in a bid to kick-start a stalled nuclear disarmament agreement, ... AP: US to remove North Korea from terror blacklist The Associated Press US May Remove North Korea From Terrorism List, AP Reports Bloomberg Los Angeles Times - Voice of America - Financial Times - The Miami Herald all 1,714 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:02:40 GMT Democrats Are Gaining, Registration Data Shows - New York Times Los Angeles Times Democrats Are Gaining, Registration Data Shows New York Times - 2 hours ago By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and GRIFF PALMER Some longtime Republican strongholds in New York are becoming increasingly Democratic, a striking change driven by demographic shifts, intense voter registration drives by Democrats and allied groups and sagging ... Campus registration drives in full swing KARE Ott, Hook face off for open county office St. Joseph News-Press The News-Press - Winston-Salem Journal - Tampabay.com - Beaufort Gazette all 739 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:20:33 GMT Genomics project unites four Wisconsin research institutions - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Genomics project unites four Wisconsin research institutions Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - 19 minutes ago By KATHLEEN GALLAGHER Wisconsin’s four biggest academic research institutions will collaborate on an initiative aimed at giving the state national stature in the fast-emerging field of individualized medicine, Gov. Marshfield Clinic gets biggest donation yet Chicago Tribune Wis. governor unveils gene research triangle Forbes Bizjournals.com - GenomeWeb News (subscription) - WJFW-TV - WISN.com all 51 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:29:44 GMT Bush: US authority able to solve financial crisis - People's Daily Online Telegraph.co.uk Bush: US authority able to solve financial crisis People's Daily Online - 1 hour ago US President George W. Bush arrives in the Rose Garden at the White House to makes a statement on the economy in Washington, October 10, 2008. President Bush vows action on financial crisis Los Angeles Times Bush's Lullaby to the Markets Washington Post Birmingham Star - Wall Street Journal - CNN - Bloomberg all 1,302 news articles Publ.Date : Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:12:49 GMT Add RSS Feeds To My Web Pages Increase Search Engine Traffic

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