Develop a debt management process

On March 24, 2010, in crisis, debt, economy, finances, foreclosure, by admin
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In the early 1990s, I was consulting with a large telecommunications company. I was part of a team that developed a partnership between management and the union to improve the quality of work processes. When I asked the management and union representatives to describe the company’s culture, I heard: “It’s like living in the old Soviet Union.” The number of times I heard that analogy made an impact on me. Since I knew none of these people had lived in the Soviet Union, I asked them to elaborate. They gave me this list:

  • Autocratic management style
  • Dictatorial decision making
  • No meaningful input from employees
  • Closed access to information (secretive)
  • Mistrust among employees
  • Resistance to change
  • Motivation based only on self-interest
  • Favoritism

Now contrast that list with the list of positive components of interdependence given to me by Jack Stack, general manager of Springfield Remanufacturing:

  • Embracing change
  • Development of trust
  • Meaningful contributions to decision making by employees
  • Open management style
  • Fewer employee problems
  • Win-win conflict resolution
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Using customer credit data

On October 23, 2009, in bonds, business, business advice, business tips, personal finances, revenue, stock, stock exchange, by admin
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The value of detailed market and customer information is enormous. Common uses of customer data include the following:

Tracking purchasing habits. This can show how frequently customers buy, how much they spend, how they choose to make their purchases and, perhaps most importantly, what they are choosing to buy. Information about buying preferences enables organisations to start building genuine, practical relationships with their customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat business.

It also allows them to target products at the customers most likely to buy them.

Enhancing special offers. Analysis of special-offer promotions may reveal that the organisation does not need to discount prices. This in turn can remove the “wasted” margin that may occur when the price of a product is reduced to attract people that would be prepared to buy it at the higher price. Analysis may show that the people that would value the product are the ones hearing about it.

Maximising sales opportunities, leading to repeat business and increased revenue at marginal cost. Linked with the previous benefit is the ability to increase customer response rates through improved targeting. This occurs when a current or potential buyer of one product is targeted with another complementary one. So, for example, if a customer is viewing cars online, an advertisement for a financing package may appear.

Developing new sources of revenue. Detailed customer data may highlight new, unknown or previously difficult to exploit business opportunities. For example, an online travel agency may have previously avoided selling ancillary products, from insurance to sun-cream, but given the potential new scale of their business and the ability to sell ever more effectively to a wider range of people, new product offerings may prove worthwhile.

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Collecting credit information

On October 15, 2009, in foreclosure, get out of debt, income, income improvement, investments, loans, making money, by admin
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Computer systems are used widely to record and analyse every part of the transaction between businesses and their customers. In using technology in this way, the following principles should be followed.

Decide what information to collect. It is important to avoid drowning in information about customers that is of little or no real use. Work out what information is desirable and focus on collecting it in order of importance. For a shoe firm, shoe size will be crucial, whereas head size will be of no use at all unless the shoe firm is planning to diversify into hats. Work out where more than one set of data needs to be assessed before a conclusion can be drawn. This interrelation of information is important when analysing data that has been aggregated from a range of sources. The focus for information collection needs to be on building better one-to-one relationships with individual customers. With data mining, the objective is to provide an information engine that will drive the organisation so customers receive a continuously improving service.

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