The Manager's Resource Handbook
Tools, Resources and Guides for Managers and Business Leaders. Real Advice from Real Bosses.
10 Core Components of Thinking Strategically In management and leaderships ranks, we often talk about the need to think and act strategically. We even tell our employees to do the same thing. But many managers struggle to explain what this really means or how employees can improve their strategic thinking skills. In truth, you can’t just tell your employees to
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When to Outsource? 8 Questions To Ask Yourself if You Are Thinking About Outsourcing To many business leaders, outsourcing may seem like a great solution to just about any problem. Indeed, leveraging outside resources and expertise can certainly enable you to fix issues and to keep your business thriving. However, outsourcing and offshoring typically require a lot of up-front planning, coordination and analysis on your part to
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Before the RFP: Key Messages That Position You for Success Winning a contract comes down to finding mutual value between you and the client. The concept of value goes beyond the financial numbers, though, and is really a combination of price, product, services and trust. When you receive a Request for Proposal (RFP) from a client, how do you demonstrate the value you can
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How To Create and Implement Organizational Vision Last week, my friend Charlie was telling me about his job. He described how he felt directionless and was not sure how he fit into the big picture. High up in his organization, Charlie has been a tremendous asset to his organization over the years. I found it strange: how can someone with
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The 4P Marketing Model: A Case Study On a recent business trip to China, tired of taxis, elevators, conference rooms and hotels, I went out for a walk one night. My translator, whose chosen English name was Martin, elected to stay at the hotel to do some work. Always wanting to try something different, my walk coincided with my secret
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How Great Businesses Fail and What We Can Learn From Them We all know that there is one constant in the business world: things are always changing. Every day, there are new technologies, legislative decisions and geopolitical events that shape the world around us. The pace of such change continues to accelerate, and throughout it all we see businesses come and go. How, in such
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A little while back we posted an article about writing a reply to an RFP (Request for Proposal), which provided a basic outline for responding to potential clients. Since then, we have received a lot of questions from the MRH community asking for details on formats to use as well as what sort of sections and content to include. So, we wanted
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Isn’t the Customer Always Right? Actually, no, they aren’t! In the B2B space, we often find ourselves working with clients and customers to develop and sell our products and services. And yet, sometimes, things do not always go as planned. I recently paid a visit to one customer who has started to change the rules as they go. Despite the contractual commitments
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15 REAL Tips for Working in China Having returned from a trip to China earlier this week, I wanted to take a few minutes to share some learnings about how to conduct meetings and work with your customer in the People’s Republic. Despite some concerns and disagreements before our arrival, my team was made up of several veterans when
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How to Save Your Small Company’s Hard Earned Cash As all business leaders know, when a company becomes strained and pressed for cash, we need to look for ways to reduce our costs and expenses. While cost control is always important, we naturally spend more during periods of growth to support the increasing size and momentum of the organization. The
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Navigate the Challenges of Contract Negotiations in the People’s Republic A Fortune 200 executive once told me “No CEO wants it on his or her watch that they missed out on China.” It goes without saying that the world’s largest marketplace is a force to be reckoned with. As anyone who has worked with Chinese companies knows, doing business and negotiating in
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Understanding the Business Benefits of Airline Alliances We often hear about partnerships in business, but what does this actually mean? How do they work? Regardless of the form they may take, be it a licensing deal, a revenue sharing arrangement, or a full blow Joint Venture, partnerships are designed to maximize the expertise and strengths of each partner and can make good business
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How Can Technology Help (Or Hurt) Your Customers? As I waited for my flight to Amsterdam today, I grabbed a bite to eat at the nearby café. It was a late afternoon flight that would get me in around 7PM – just enough time to get dinner with an old friend, who was to pick me up at the
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How to Manage Change in Business Everyday, our industry and market changes. Our staff will change. And leaders of our organizations move on, and new ones take their place. All of this forces us as business leaders to constantly keep tabs on our organization to make sure things run smoothly. Unfortunately, with such dynamics many businesses
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“Unlike pizza toppings, more marketing is not always better.” I heard this phrase on a radio show not too long ago, and thought it was a stroke of genius. There are a myriad of marketing channels out there, some free, some expensive. Marketing exists in a variety of forms such as radio ads, clever roadside billboards, or simply the printed
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I recently sat through a regional meeting for a large corporation, during which a series of presentations were made. At the conclusion of the meeting, the regional manager got up to share a short set of slides that were presented at the annual corporate summit she had recently attended. The company has been undergoing a series of transformations
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I recently read a newspaper article about World Cup football, which was great because it listed all the funny pairings of nations in various matches. The article went into detail about various styles of play, which got me thinking about how such different countries work together. Having spent most of my career working overseas with clients and colleagues, I have witnessed
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How to Create Business Metrics Our world revolves metrics. Businesses track financial investments to see how they grow. Professional and weekend runners alike continually push themselves to shave seconds of the time it takes them to run a mile. And some people monitor their vehicle’s gas mileage to help determine when they need an oil change. Metrics, after all, are used to measure
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A recent article by Professor Karan Girotra at INSEAD University discusses 4 myths to a technology growth strategy. The entire article is a great read, but Myth 1 “It’s about a BIG idea” caught my attention. Having spent my career in the technology and engineering fields, I’ve seen several different approaches to technology growth. In some instances, the growth strategy could be described
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How to Grow With Current Customers: A Case Example In Sales and Marketing, we spend a lot of time pursuing new customers and new channels of growth. But we frequently lose sight of the sales potential right in front of us. Our best customers are often our current customers. And for this reason, we should always treat our current buyers with
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