BUSINESS FOCUS

Identifying Winning

Retaining Growing

a simulation exploring how to allocate effort to maximize business success

Introduction

You manage the development of customers in a portfolio. You must:

• Make effective use of time

• Make efficient use of time

• Ensure business success

• Manage a portfolio of customers & products

• Identify and develop opportunities

Process

You will be divided into small teams each of which must:

• Analyze the situation

• Run the portfolio for several periods– Making Decisions (about allocation of effort)

– Submitting them

– Receiving and Analyzing Results

– Replanning and Reacting

• Combine with the other teams to discuss and compare results and strategies

The Situation

• Taking over an existing portfolio

• Part of group that has several portfolios

• Must maintain and develop a range of– four client groups

– three products

• Have total autonomy to run the portfolio

The Customers & Products

• Products imaginatively called A, B & C– Product A very roughly equates to money transmission

– Product B very roughly equates to credit balances

– Product C very roughly equates to debit balances

• Customers Groups are 1, 2, 3 & 4– Group 1 comprises a few medium sized companies

– Group 2 comprises many small companies

– Group 3 comprises several medium sized companies that are difficult to sell to.

– Group 4 comprises a few organizations (such as charities and schools) that it is felt should be served.

Cost & Income• To keep numbers relatively small, all income and

costs are deliberately small

• Fixed Costs are $1000 each period

• It costs $4 to service each customer/period

• Income varies as follows: Product A Product B Product C

Customer Group 1 25 60 45

Customer Group 2 4 10 6

Customer Group 3 20 50 40

Customer Group 4 7 25 15

The Buying Cycle

• You lose some existing customers– naturally

– through poor servicing

– through inadequate selling

• You obtain new customers– based on your prospecting effort

• You grow sales– by directing your selling effort

The Business Tasks

Each period you allocate effort to:

• Identifying new business– through timely market research

• Winning new business– through spending the right time on prospecting

• Retaining the business– through having enough time free to service customers

• Growing the business– through allocating effort to customer/product selling

Decisions

• decide a team name (up to six letters)

• for each product/customer group allocate selling effort

• for each customer group allocate prospecting effort

• for each customer group decide whether to research or not

• allow time for servicing customer requests

• total effort cannot exceed 100 (%)

Results

• Decisions

• Actual Effort Allocation

• Customer Summary

• Product Summary

• Customer Research

• For each customer group detail product results

• Results Summary

Observations

• it takes time to understand• but the business still must be run• so your decisions will not be perfect• time will be a constraint• but, by the end you should be just in

command of your business!• your business competencies will be

challenged• make sure you use the talents of your fellow

team members• ensure that you allow time to reflect

Your Objectives

• run the portfolio for at least eight periods

• make the portfolio succesful

• while maintaining a presence in all areas

• explore the best ways to direct effort

• practice your decision-making skills

• work as a team sharing understanding

• HAVE FUN!