Risk Management - An Inescapable Part Of Doing Business

Risk is an acknowledged and inescapable part of business - which means that risk management should be an integral part of a successful enterprise. By employing professionals or training members of your team, you reduce the possibility of misfortune, financial or personal.

It works by highlighting the possibility of failures in your business enterprise, and giving you the information to weigh up what level of risk is acceptable.

A failure can mean something that endangers employees, a venture that will not achieve the desired result, or anything not considered to be carried out in a financially viable and wholly professional manner.

Once risks are identified, it is the responsibility of your specialist team to provide options on the minimizing or avoidance of the problem. They may also help to prioritize areas for action and to develop a risk management plan.

In effect, reducing risk is about aiding good judgments: in the interest of your business, your customers and your employees.

There are different ways to go about ensuring that your enterprise has a satisfactory plan to achieve a safe workplace.

For very large organizations, it is suggested that a team of 1-3 people be employed on-site. In general, though, using the services of an outside consulting business works better for most companies.

These professionals will have high-level qualifications in appropriate disciplines, and be able to provide you with a comprehensive risk assessment.

For enterprises that involve low levels of risk or have a very small budget, there are other options that can give you a sufficient degree of protection, for instance part-time courses for employees in risk assessment that are provided from centers nationwide.

These give participants enough skills to be able to deal with the basic ideas, which may be helpful for any size organization.

Additionally, some consultants will provide non-profit enterprises with risk management courses, plans and software at a discounted rate - this can be invaluable if your not-for-profit business is struggling to afford the extra expense involved in meeting your statutory obligations.

The Internet can provide all managers with an overview of the risk management services available, as well as useful tools such as downloadable worksheets and software.

Risk management is the best way available to ensure the continuing success of your business and safety of your workplace. Evidence of attention to this inspires faith in investors, customers and shareholders alike, and the benefits of increased safety and productivity will far outweigh the initial cost involved.

Risk Reduction For Crop Protection

Insurance policies, in general, are directed against specific risks. Agriculture insurance is no exception. Whether you opt for farm bureau insurance, farm insurance, farm auto insurance, or horse insurance, there are risks you must be sure to protect your property against. It is likely that most farm insurance companies cover these risks but it could never hurt anybody to be sure and know how losses posed by these risks are determined and prevented.

In choosing farm bureau insurance, farm insurance, farm auto insurance, or horse insurance, keep in mind these risks and how to prevent them. Production risks are generally considered as risks stemming from weather conditions, pests, crop diseases, technology malfunction, genetics, and the kind of the seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers used. To prevent losses due to production risks, crop variation is recommended. This could mean planting different crops in one season or raising livestock and crops together. This is an expensive risk reducing method because this would require greater capital and investment. However, in the long run, greater savings can be had from opting for this risk prevention method. An economical method is to use technology to your advantage. Use genetically altered crop seeds for a bigger crop yield. In addition, this method controls the growth of weeds and improves the crops' resistance to pests and diseases. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are to be used only as directed because they could strip your land off its nutrients. Crop insurance is also a good option though it is offered only at private insurance companies. Marketing risks are also to be thought of considering the increasingly competitive market. To develop an effective marketing plan, it is important to assess the demand and the supply of your crops. Research crop prices and price your crops competitively. This does not mean that you lower your price but to include production and transportation costs, and market price in placing value on your crops. An efficient marketing plan can ensure a consumer base for your crop, thereby reducing risks of crop rot and low income returns.

Traditionally, agriculture insurance is multi-peril, which means that it covers marketing and production risks. Multi-peril insurance basically involves compensation to the farmer for shortcomings like a lower yield than what the policy requires. In some cases, this spawned improper insurance use which led to unnecessary risk taking like planting crops in inappropriate locations. This increases the growers' risk of incurring losses. Farm bureau insurance, farm insurance, farm auto insurance, and crop insurance can save you from losses but no agency would offer you insurance if you are extremely high-risk. It is therefore important to undertake risk reduction methods such as those mentioned above to prevent losses in the future.

Safety In The Home Workplace: The Best Environment

One of the most ignored aspects of working at home is safety. Business offices go to all sorts of lengths to avoid any injury or harm to their workers (they don't want to get sued, after all). Meanwhile, you might not even know that it's possible to injure yourself with nothing more than office equipment. If you're going to avoid a lot of pain in your future, you need to read up on home office safety now.

Your Chair.

The chances are that you're going to be sitting on your chair for quite a long time each day. If you have a bad chair, or you haven't adjusted it properly, you could give yourself a back injury -- and they're painful, not to mention expensive to treat.

When you're choosing your chair, make sure you sit on it for a while in the shop, giving yourself a chance to get used to the way it feels, and be prepared to walk away if it starts to get uncomfortable quickly. Don't pay a ridiculous amount, but don't get the cheapest and worst thing in the shop, either.

Your Mouse and Keyboard.

If you're using a computer mouse a lot for your work or doing a lot of typing, you can give yourself some pretty nasty injuries. This is because doing the same thing over and over again can give you a repetitive strain injury (RSI), such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis. This is one of the most common problems amongst office workers, home workers included.

You might have an RSI if you notice pain, weakness and fatigue in your muscles. One of the most common symptoms is pain when you're lying in bed. People tend to think that they must just be sleeping in an awkward position, or that they need a better bed or pillow, not realising that their office equipment is to blame. If you think you might be an RSI sufferer, go and see your doctor. Massages tend to be the most effective treatment, when given by a trained therapist.

To protect yourself against RSI, there are a number of things you can do. You should take regular breaks from using your computer, and stop immediately if you start to feel any kind of pain. You may also wish to invest in an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, which are laid out differently to normal keyboards and mice in an effort to make them more comfortable and less dangerous to use.

Clean and Tidy.

Silly as it might sound, the second most common problem amongst home office workers is that they make a mess. Your home office might become cluttered with wires, open drawers, and various objects all over the floor. It's quite possible to trip and fall over all of these things, and if you walk around enough in a confined space then eventually you will. Do as much as you can to keep your home office uncluttered: always close drawers, keep wires in one corner of the room and don't put anything on the floor.

Strangers in Your Home.

An aspect of safety that many people don't think of is the fact that you could be letting strangers into their home when you agree to meet clients there, and this can be risky for you and your family. You might be especially worried if there will be children at home with you while you're working.

The simple answer, of course, is to always meet new customers in a public place, until you know and trust them. Coffee places are good for this. As a bonus, you'll inevitably look more professional if they don't realise that you're a home business, and having a coffee each gives you something to do during any lulls in conversation other than just sitting there and looking awkward.

First Aid Kits.

Finally, one last note if you're doing manual work: you really ought to have a first aid kit in your workshop, as well as one that you carry around with you. You really shouldn't be doing anything physical as a business unless you've taken a first aid course -- they're quick, easy and inexpensive, so there's no excuse. It could save your life someday, after all.

Sales Management Strategies

Abstract

The paper discusses three sales management strategies that are currently used. Each of the strategy is analyzed in details. The entity advantages, disadvantages and practical application are discussed for each of the strategies.

Introduction

Nowadays the world economy becomes more and more complicated because it becomes more and more global. As a result this leads to the development of an unparalleled competitiveness. Naturally in such a situation it is extremely important for survival in the market to remain competitive that demands to use the most advanced technologies, including not only technical aspect but managerial as well. It means that a company that uses the most advanced and most effective management strategies can be more competitive and has more chances for success. It is especially important when the company deals with the sales management.
The sales management is one of the most significant part of any company’s work since it is due to sales management the company can finally sell its products or services to customers and the general success of the company greatly depends on the effectiveness of the sales management. Consequently, it is absolutely necessary to know well recent trends and strategies that are used nowadays by the most successful companies that would permit to realize what strategies are the most perspective what are their advantages and disadvantages and finally it would be possible to define what strategies may be used in the future or in what way the current strategies should be modified in order to be the most effective. In terms of this paper three sales management strategies would be basically analyzed and discussed. These strategies are: Establish a Never-Before Sales Quota, Establish and Build a Team Selling Program, Employ Advanced Prospecting

Technologies.

Establish a Never-Before Sales Quota
This sales management strategy deals with the market visibility problem since very often companies have problems at this respect and consequently they cannot afford competitiveness and their sales rates would gradually decrease, as the company is not well known or recognizable among the consumers. Traditionally it is said that if the company’s percentage rate of new equipment sales to customers who have never done business with this particular company and with its dealership is 20-23% or even lower than the company obviously has market visibility problems. As a result, in such a situation the circle of the company influence is not expanded as well as the rate of sales does and probably will not increase if certain measures are not undertaken. Basically such companies can work about three years than they have to retire.

However, if a company is planning to work in a long-term perspective than the company should set 30-35% rate as a ‘never-before’ goal for each of its equipment and product support sales reps. For instance, 30-35% should be with accounts that have never before done business with the company’s dealership and may even not know it exists. As a result such an increase of the company’s visibility in the market would proportionally increase its sales rate.

By the way it should be pointed out that if the company just starts some business in a new area the rate should be even higher. Basically specialists indicate that it should be about 45-50% (George 2002) only on such conditions the company sales and influence would gradually expand.
Nonetheless, it is only theory and the advantages of this strategy are obvious since the growing visibility is vitally important for increase of company sales but in real life the company that use this strategy may face certain problems that may be treated as disadvantages of the strategy. It should be mentioned that the Establish a Never-Before Sales Quota strategy is based on the never-before customer’s motivation and practically always the customers feel fear. They are fearful of the company’s reliability, its equipment, which, as they afraid, would not work as promised, and the list may be continued.
Naturally the question arises: how the company can best overcome the fear of customers in the never-before account? Basically specialists (Reilly 2000 and Goerge 2002) single out two main ways in overcoming this problem. So, the problem may be solved through short-term rentals and product support.
Obviously the two ways mentioned above are not the only one but they are probably the easiest ones. Using short-term rentals and product support it is relatively easy to penetrate never-before accounts for “by demonstrating strong dealer customer care capabilities with an aggressive, short-term rentals program and highly responsive parts and service programs, a company can quickly build a positive relationship in the new account” (Reilly 2001, p.184).

Furthermore, a very effective parts and service support tool is the planned maintenance contract. For instance, nowadays planned maintenance and full-maintenance leases are quickly gaining acceptance in North America in the construction equipment and heavy-duty truck industries.

Finally, among other advantages of this strategy may be named the fact that short-term rentals and product support capabilities eventually can eliminate fear and sales reluctance in the never before account. Thus, summarizing the Establish a Never-Before Sales Quota strategy it is possible to say that on the one hand, it may be quite effective and increasing the company’s visibility, on the other hand, there is still the risk that the customers’ fear won’t be overcome.

Establish and Build a Team Selling Program
This is another strategy that may enhance the company sales rate and its general position in the market. Traditionally dealers have three or four different employees working in the same territory. Traditionally they are: a capital equipment sales rep, a full-time customer parts and service sales rep, one or more field service technicians and, as a rule, a rental and used equipment sales rep.

However, the problem is that in some cases team selling does not work. But the root of the problems lies in the fact that the equipment sales rep is at odds with these other dealer representatives and does not consider them allies or partners in development activities. Nowadays such a situation is not affordable anymore and such type of reps should be eliminated, or, it would be better to say, changed.

Establish and Build a Team Selling Program strategy implies quite the contrary role of all representatives of the company. Nowadays this strategy becomes more and more widely used. This is why in some very successful dealer organizations prefer the thoughtful formation of territory sales teams but it should be pointed out that this is not just the assembly of field employees to grovel and provide the equipment sales rep with leads (McBride 2001, p.311). Team selling requires enlightened leadership. Consequently in order to unite all the reps as a team it is necessary to organize team activity.
Practically it means that sales team activity is a frequent meeting of specialists to share insights, establish strategies, set information gathering goals, etc that would eventually complement one another’s strengths and work together to foster the overall business development of the dealership in that given market area.

Also it should be said that this strategy demands to provide team selling recognition awards that would stimulate the work of the whole team but not its separate participants. It is also especially effective in account management and penetrating, new account development, problem solving success, market share gain.

A very important positive feature of team selling is the fact that it offers the possibility of utilizing of all of the resources. Team selling captures the mind and spirit of the company’s business and can present total solutions to customers (McBride 2001, p.349). An effective sales team is generating the highest possible revenue and profit for the business.
Summarizing the strategy, it is only should be pointed out that its main disadvantages are the problems of organizing all the reps in an effective sales team with a strong leader.

Employ Advanced Prospecting Technologies
This strategy implies the usage of the advanced and prospecting technologies as tools in achieving better results in sales rates. The most effective technology that can be used nowadays is teleprospecting. It is quite effective and inexpensive. The objective of teleprospecting program is to contact, profile and identify short-term needs, problems and opportunities of a large number of inactive and prospective customers.

To achieve such a goal it is necessary to train a teleprospector by having him/her update the company’s current customer mailing list for correct contacts for promo mailings. It is also important to train a teleprospector for ‘cold calling’ by having him/her first test a survey questionnaire or interview guide on five very friendly customers for constructive feedback. Furthermore, proper facilities and resources should be set up.
However, this strategy also has its own disadvantages. To be effective the prospecting program will require intensive administrative support to avoid wasted, non-productive time. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the program would be low.

Finally, it is necessary to provide challenging incentives. For instance, it is possible to set three completion level goals for the week and to offer a 20% base hourly rate increase for entire week if the goal is reached. It may be done as follows: