Banking on a New Future
I wanted to share with you an excerpt of an article written by marketing expert Seth Godin, simply because I believe it has a powerful message, one that could serve as a sound directive to get our industry and, more specifically, our businesses back on track in so many ways. I hope you enjoy his thoughts, which fit any industry:
“New polling out this week shows that Americans are frustrated with the world and pessimistic about the future. They’re losing patience with the economy, with their prospects, with their leaders (of both parties).
What’s actually happening is this: we’re realizing that the industrial revolution is fading. The 80 year long run that brought ever-increasing productivity (and along with it, well-paying jobs for an ever-expanding middle class) is ending.
It is one thing to read about the changes the internet brought, it’s another to experience them. People who thought they had a valuable skill or degree have discovered that being an anonymous middleman doesn’t guarantee job security. Individuals who were trained to comply and follow instructions have discovered that the deal is over… and it isn’t their fault, because they’ve always done what they were told.
This isn’t fair of course. It’s not fair to train for years, to pay your dues, to invest in a house or a career (or business) and then suddenly see it fade.
For a while, politicians and organizations promised that things would get back to normal. Those promises aren’t enough, though, and it’s clear to many that this might be the new normal. In fact, it is the new normal.”
As I said in my first book A Roadmap for Success written in 2005, “Welcome to the Age of Possibilities.” Just as Seth Godin points out in his article above, the rules have changed. Is it fair? No. Is it pleasant? Not really, but it’s all we’ve got. It truly is where we currently reside in the management of our businesses, amidst uncertainty with a number of moving parts and variables that can often surprise us. I would suggest that we can no longer depend on politicians to help us out. Some things they complete are helpful, but we need to become more refined in our approach to business.
My suggestion is that we all need to focus on achieving greater efficiencies. In a recent discussion with one dairy industry Client of mine, he suggested that our primary focus should be on achieving greater Feed Efficiency and Labor Efficiency. Are you maximizing how much milk you are producing for each pound of Dry Matter that you are feeding your herd? How efficient is your labor force? If they have less to accomplish on their shift, do they simply move slower to “fill in the rest of their 8 or 10 hours?
Consider that there is a reason that more and more fast food restaurants are going to a fully automated ordering process. Even at mid-price restaurants like Olive Garden, they are offering mini-computer terminals at their tables, so you can order & then pay for your meal without using a waiter or waitress… It is a prime example of those businesses attempting to achieve improved labor efficiencies, partly in response to rising minimum wage laws and maybe, at least in part, due to a reduced availability of workers. Can you relate to that recently developed challenge?
So, if I was to ask you about your present and future labor efficiencies, how would you respond? How many units of production does your work-force produce daily? Is it more than five years ago? Are there opportunities for automation in your processes? Can you use robotics to your advantage? Even in my own business, I have started to offer more “automated services” for Clients and Prospects. I believe it is the wave of the future.
On July 31, 2017, our completely redesigned website at Success Strategies, Inc. went live, so take a look at our new monthly Success Videos and Tele-Seminars, which will be listed under our Financial Techniques at www.success-strategies.com. Take a moment and view a free sample video within the Success Videos section today. This is all new material, and, in conjunction with our Financial Analysis Tools included there, it might just be what you need to evaluate your own efficiencies!
