“Michael Lewis's bestseller, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” is the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their general manager, Billy Beane. Beane assembles a winning team on a shoestring budget, by using an analytical and scientific approach to evaluate each player's contributions. They excelled in understanding the 3 P's: 1. Picking the right people/players, 2. Redefining their process, which was dismissed by baseball traditionalists. This enables Beane to deliver a winning team, 3.( The product) by getting maximum efficiency from his team, earning wins at a fraction of the price paid by the rest of the league.”
Here is how the 3 P's affect company success
Without good people in the right roles, your small/mid-sized business will struggle to serve customers, dampening potential revenue. If you do not put effective processes in place for customer engagement, operations, development, quality, finance, and development, then costs will go up, and the business will fail to thrive.
People
Recruit, hire, and retain the best people from diverse backgrounds who fit into your organization
Put them into the right roles
Offer your people opportunities to learn new skills and advance their careers
Create a positive work environment that encourages people to do their best
Insist on accountability and monitor individual and team performance
Provide clear transparent feedback and build an accountability culture
Process
Business is a race. Your teams must work in the most efficient and productive manner. That means gauging your operational processes carefully to understand every step from receiving an order to delivering the finished product or service.
Know your costs for labor and materials
Track product waste and employee downtime to identify bottlenecks
Talk with your sales team about improving the customer relationship management (CRM) process
Pay attention to your daily cash flow, and do not let any dollars disappear
Encourage your front-line employees to offer suggestions for improving your processes, as they are closest to the inefficiencies that you may not see
Product
Whether you serve consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B), your business needs to offer the right products for your customers. Your product line should be practical, purposeful, and profitable. However, some businesses develop their products and services in a casual or haphazard manner without listening to customer feedback. Having a strong product line opens the door to other new business opportunities.
Sell to new markets, through sales representatives or e-commerce
Consider licensing opportunities that could generate income from fees
Conduct surveys and hold focus groups to identify customer trends
Innovate product development
Monitor customer rating and review sites to see how your products are received
Look for ways to offer "new and improved" products to your current customers
Create cross-selling and up-selling opportunities by expanding your product line
Onpoint now offers all three of the P's. We not only coach and develop your people, we have added the capability to help you build better product strategies and smarter processes. Onpoint provides hands-on consulting and coaching to the companies' founders, investors, and employees. Contact us to examine your 3 P's.
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> Contact Susan Shapiro at sshapiro@onpoint-leadership.com if you want help with strategies to improve your leadership.
> Contact Jon at jon@onpoint-leadership.com if you are looking for growth through consulting
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