Planning is Profitable
(Continued)
What I’m suggesting is that if you have just two lists similar to these, you have the basis of a plan that can be used to help improve car counts, sales and controlling expenses, at key points over the course of the year. How? The items on these two lists can be scheduled out, tracked and planned for, on what might be referred to as an “Operations Planner.” By integrating the specific items on your lists with dates and time frames on your planner, and then highlighting those key periods, you will have an at-a-glance chart of profit improvement opportunities over the next 12 months. And very importantly, you won’t schedule upgrades or staff changes or marketing campaigns at inappropriate business cycles, like building upgrades during high volume months, which detracts from an opportunity to enhance profits.
Remember, profit improvement opportunities don’t just include periods when volume and sales can be maximized. Profit improvement must also include scheduled and planned-for cost control measures, on a weekly/monthly basis, as you consider potential expenditures, slow periods etc. Potential influences on the top line and line item expenses should be taken into account in your operations planner.
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A simple plan well executed is much better than a complex plan that sits on the shelf — even if that plan isn’t “perfect.” You can spend months trying to figure out the perfect plan when an “OK” plan would still move the needle and do it more quickly. |
Finally, you might consider an operations planner in a desktop calendar format, which can be constantly in front of you, so that important time frames and key events are not overlooked.
Enhanced Opportunity
In addition to having “profit influencers” planned for and scheduled, your plan provides a great opportunity to maximize results. Because by knowing when the variety of influences on profit occur, you also know when the timing is best to initiate incentive plans for staff members in order to drive their best performance at the most opportune times.
For example, since you know when the greatest potential for high customer volume is likely to occur, then you’re also aware of when it’s likely to be most effective to offer incentives for record volume, record sales, or highest incidence of positive customer response. It would also be wise for such incentive plans, or performance-improvement efforts, to be scheduled on your operations planner.
If your staff is given targets and objectives at various times, over short periods, they will respond. Let them know the plan, why it’s important, and the specific short-term objective. They want to perform and will give their best when incentives are obtainable, worthwhile and are constructive to the overall success of the business that supports their livelihood.
Too Simple?
Can focusing your efforts on such relatively short lists possibly produce any noteworthy results? You might be tempted to say, “That’s just too simple; it has to be more complicated than that!” Well, let me just say that when an outrageously successful hamburger chain, located in the western United States was told by “experts” who’d done very complex analysis that focusing their efforts on similar short lists of operational basics “wouldn’t produce profitable results,” they didn’t listen. Incidentally, in one of the chain’s recent grand openings, the local Department of Transportation had to reroute street access to accommodate the lines of customers. Seems to me, that is a profitable thought worth chewing on!
DAN KAUS is workshops brand manager for BP Lubricants USA, Inc. He may be reached at daniel.kaus@bp.com. To learn more about Castrol products and programs in general please call 888.CASTROL or visit: www.castrol.com/installers
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