BUSINESS ISSUES KEEPING YOU AWAKE? 2008 is clearly turning out to be a tough year with issues such as rising interest rates, stock market uncertainty, financial institutions at risk, property prices declining and the hottest, current topic of all, fuel prices are out of control – effecting every business either directly or indirectly through delivery costs or increases in airfares. So what do you contemplate at 3am while lying in bed - awake pondering the uncertain future of your business?
$ What makes us money?
$ What costs us money?
$ What is our long-term vision?
$ Where will we be in a year’s time?
$ What will I be doing in five years time? $ What are our key strategies?
$ How are we really performing?
$ Have we improved compared to this time last year? $ Have we made progress over the last six months?
$ What about the last month – did we really perform better than usual?
$ If I had another “me” in the business what could I achieve extra?
$ If money wasn’t a restriction, what things would we do differently? Then, make a mental assessment of each of your individual resources – and a resource could be a person, a piece of equipment or technology or a system. On each resource answer the following questions the same for people or non-people resources.
# Does it require upgrading or replacing? 
# Is it costing us money?
# Does it save us money?
# Does it save us time?
# Is it costing us time?
# Does it recognise opportunities?
# Does it reduce double-handling?
# Does it prevent wastage and re-work?
# Does it speed up your business cycle?
# What can I do immediately to make this resource more valuable?
# Would the top performer in our industry be happy to have this resource? In summary, rather than become despondent at the potential issues, now is the time to analyse your business and its many components to ensure that you are still in business when the good times return!! The Perfect Golfing Husband?Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A mobile phone on a bench rings and one of the men turns on the hands-free speaker function as he was drying himself after a shower, and says, “Hello?” Everyone else in the locker room stops to listen. Woman: “Hi darling, it’s me. Are you at the club?” Man: “Yes.” Woman: “I’m at Westfield and I’ve found this beautiful leather coat. It’s only $1,000. Is it OK to buy it?” Man: “Sure. Go ahead if you like it that much.” Woman: “I also stopped by the Mercedes dealer and saw the new 2008 range and saw one I really liked.”
Man: “How much?” Woman: “Only $90,000.” Man: “OK, but for that price I want it with all available options.” Woman: “Great! Oh, and one more thing. The house I wanted last year is back on the market. They are only asking $950,000.” Man: “Well, go ahead and make them an offer of $900,000 – they’ll probably take it. If not, we can afford to go the extra $50,000.” Woman: “Oooh, wonderful! I love you so much!!” Man: “I love you too.” The man turns off the mobile – the other guys in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment. He smiles and asks, “Anyone know who this phone belongs to?” The Harvard Reading Test This was developed as an age test by an R&D department at Harvard University. Take your time and see if you can read each line aloud without a mistake. The average person over 30 years of age cannot do it! 1. This is this cat
2. This is is cat
3. This is how cat
4. This is to cat
5. This is keep cat
6. This is an cat
7. This is old cat
8. This is fart cat
9. This is busy cat
10. This is for cat
11. This is forty cat
12. This is seconds cat Now go back and read aloud the third word in each line from the top down. Gotcha!!! | After All The Business Analysis – You May Need This Super Sales Person?A keen country lad applied for a salesman’s job at a city department store. It was a huge store that has every department imaginable – the ultimate super store – you could buy everything! The boss asked him “ Have you ever been a salesman before?” “Yes, I was a salesman in the country,” said the lad. The boss liked his style and said “You can start tomorrow morning. I’ll come and see how you are going when we close tomorrow afternoon.” When the boss checked up with the young man the next day at closing time, he saw him shaking hands with a beaming customer. After they parted, he walked over and asked, “Well that looked good! How many sales did you make today?” “That was the only one,” said the young salesman. “Only one!?!” blurted the boss. “Most of my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. You’ll have to do better than that! Well, how much was the sale worth?” “Two hundred and twenty-seven thousand, three hundred and fifteen dollars,” said the young man. The boss paused for a moment, blinking a few times. “H… H… How did you manage that???” “Well, he came in this morning and I sold him a small fish hook. Then, I sold him a medium hook and then a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one and then a big one. I then sold him a spear gun, a wetsuit, scuba gear, nets, bait, cooler and a keg of beer. I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast. We decided he would need a new boat, so I took him to the boat department and sold him that 20 foot cruiser with the twin engines. His Volkswagen probably wouldn’t be able to pull it, so I took him to the car department and sold him a four wheel drive with a winch, storage rack, rust proofing and a built-in refrigerator. Oh, and floor mats.” The boss took two steps back ands asked - amazed, “You sold all that to a guy who wanted a fish hoo k?!” “No,” answered the young salesman. “He came in to buy a blanket.” “A Blanket?” “An extra blanket – he had just had a fight with his wife and was sleeping on the couch. I suggested his weekend was ruined so he might as well go fishing.” 
June 2008 Quiz – More Logic Test 1. “HOROBOD” – is the clue to the identity of whom? _________________________________
_________________________________ 2. There is a room with no doors, no windows no furniture – nothing A man is hung from the ceiling and a puddle of water is on the floor. How did the man die? __________________________________
__________________________________ 3. The maker doesn’t need it, the owner doesn’t want it, the user doesn’t know he is using it. What is it? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 
Email answers to editor@focusofficesupplies.com.au or fax to (02)95534077. This month’s prize – 8 x Civic Video rental vouchers. Your details:- Name: ………………………………………………………………… Organisation: ………………………………………………….. Phone or Email: ………………………………………………. April Quiz Answers – how did you go? 1. Incorrectly is the one word in the English language that is always pronounced incorrectly 2. Because a boat floats on the tide and will rise as the tide rises – no rungs will be under the water 3. The only place where all walls of a house face south is at the North Pole, therefore the bear is a polar bear and is white. Congratulations to Allie Hurrell of Central West Pumps who was the April quiz winner. Opt out? If you find this newsletter of little or no value please let us know by calling on (02)95534255 and ask to be removed from the distribution list. |
