Attention Managers: What Questions Are You Asking Yourselves?
As you read this posting, the first quarter of 2008 is in the record books! Whatever you did or didn’t accomplish is over! You can’t get that time back! Here are nine questions that are going through my mind:
- Is our revenue/profit on budget for the year?
- Which new business development staff are ahead/behind on their goals?
- What accounts are behind year to date?
- What do our customer satisfaction scores look like?
- Are our fixed costs in line with our budget?
- How do our utilization rates look?
- How is morale in the company?
- How does our pipeline look for the next nine months?
- How is our new strategy doing compared to plan?
What questions are you searching for answers to?
What questions should we all be thinking about?
I look forward to reading your comments.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I am looking at the methodology mix over the past 4 months and looking at our staff to be sure we are positioned properly. Not sure, but I am feeling a shift.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Anne,
Interesting - I have noticed a little shift as well. We have a number of trackers that are going back to phone. What shifts are you seeing?
Thanks.
Merrill
April 25th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Some of my peers in other organizations have commented on a slow down in workload. Our workload, knock on wood, has been steady and actually slightly better than previous years for the same quarter. My concern is in the near future. When and if will the “recession” have an impact on our business. Or, should the question be is there really a recession or is the impact due to this being an election year?
April 25th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Mirjana,
Good question - not sure it is because of the election. The economy is very tight and people seem to be pretty nervous. I hate using the “r” word but I believe things could be soft for the rest of the year and into 2009 for sure.
With that said that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to shine - actually the opposite when times like this happen it makes senior managers work harder and smarter in evaluating their strategy and staff. So in the long run it will be a good thing.
thanks for your comment.
Merrill
April 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Merrill,
Trackers going back to phone..actually we have experienced more requirement for phone when results will be published. I was talking about more international online and strong interest in the BRIC countries.