Portrait of "Business Pilot".

Customer Satisfaction Surveys.

Business Pilot...

Client Satisfaction Surveys.

Client satisfaction reports from Business Pilot enable you to learn how effectively your company and teams (relationship management, product, QC, manufacturing, client service etc.,) are serving your customers.
* How the quality of the team’s products, reports and presentations are perceived.
* How well the team delivers what it promises.
* How pro-active the team is in identifying and solving client issues.
* How satisfied your clients are with the quality & quantity of your communications.
* What is the overall value that your clients perceive that they are receiving?
* The three things that your company must do to retain long-term client loyalty.
* Which factors are the most important to your clients.

Management benefits are clear.

* Define your employee’s performance expectations & rewards by linking customer satisfaction with competitive success.
* The relative strength of each manager and team can be measured.
* Customer satisfaction & loyalty will be positively impacted, especially where service variables are significant contributors to customer satisfaction.
* The extent to which each manager or team, really understands their customer needs will be clear to you.
* An accurate basis, will be provided for establishing relevant and measurable goals and measuring improvement.

Easy to use……

* Customize your own survey.
* Commission Business Pilot to design your survey.
* Or, use a combination of the two.

Clients will appreciate your interest in their level of satisfaction and the opportunity to provide candid feedback.

Contact Business Pilot at: buspilot@rogers.com

A short simple, yet concise, business plan is essential.

Business Pilot...

Fact: up to 90% of small and mid-sized company owners do not have any written strategic business plan, or a committment to a set of objectives.

Most entrepreneurs, like yourself, have much of the information needed to create a rudimentary business plan in their head. If you are like most business owners, you know what is happening in your business & industry. You probably attend national trade meetings and read most trade magazines. How much easier and less stressful would your life be, if you had a complete and competent business plan on hand that you have written? …….A process that will help transfer the information kept in your head, and the heads of your top management, to a written plan.

It is suggested that you might want to consider the 5 steps in the Business Pilot 'Business Leadership’ process. The strategic business plan that YOU develop for your business will not be a thesis. Quite the contrary! Working directly with the Business Pilot coach, face to face, over the phone, or on net cam through the internet, YOU are going to develop key elements that clearly express what is wanted for your business, without using a lot of words. In place of the usual lengthy and sometimes meaningless high priced consultant word documents, YOU and the Business Pilot coach, working together, will develop concise statements not exceeding 100 words.

If all the steps in the Business Pilot process are followed the results will be:

* A demystification of the strategic planning process for your management team, so as to increase understanding & reduce dread of the process.
* Build a very clear picture for the management team of where your business wants to go.
* Your company will have better focus. It will be able to direct resources, time and employee’s efforts in the desired direction & avoid fragmentation on lower priority issues.
* A strategic business plan that is the expression of everyone’s best thinking.
Commitment from management on all key points of each step.
* The development of a strategic plan that acts as a filter for all your operational plans, new products, services that you are considering.
* “Out of the box” thinking from your management team.
* Planning to sell your business? Buyers will be impressed that you can pass along your strategic ‘vision’ and will likely offer a premium price based on your excitement.

Working with your Business Pilot coach, your business plan will be updated regularly. One of the advantages of the 100 word statement concept, is to force you to keep only the most powerful elements, for easy update.

Your role as the strategic business leader will be challenging & not always pleasant. You may be frustrated by the procrastination & defensiveness of your managers, but you need to weed through the many good ideas that come up. Your Business Pilot coach will work closely with you through the monthly 2 hour coaching sessions, e-mails & phone conversations. If practical, you may wish to involve your coach as a facilitator for your internal planning team meetings.

This is a different strategic planning process than used by large public companies, being specifically designed to remove the stress on the business owner/general manager, using a longer time frame to develop the company plan. The business owner, working with his Business Pilot coach will complete a process of completing exercises covering five distinct steps BEFORE the management team, if there is one, gets involved.

The Business Pilot coach will be involved and assist at every stage of the process, starting off by working with you on the questions in the exercises. He will help you to keep focused, NOT on the problems facing your business, but on the solutions. Business Pilot will be there NOT to offer insight into your business, but rather to bring about actions.


Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please let Business Pilot know any of questions that you may have.

E-mail: businesspilot@rogers.com

Candidate selling style and behaviour assessment PRIOR to a hire decision.

Business Pilot...

Sales behaviour and attitude assessment

prior to the hiring decision.

Don't you agree that sales people are the most difficult to interview successfully!

Very quickly you are able to determine if they have the product knowledge and (hopefully) contacts, that you seek. They are likely to interview well....after all, they are just making another product presentation, except that the product is themselves. You hire, and then after a couple of months....... disappointment & reality sets in......sales do not materialize to cover the costs of your hire.

But did you really understand the sales behaviour & attitudes to enable the sales JOB to be most successfully filled?

Were you seeking a sales person skilled in:

• Kicking the door down & opening new accounts.
• Maintaining existing customers?
• Selling new exciting products?
• Servicing existing & proven products?
• Reducing your customer's buying risk OR:
• Selling a prestigious new product?
• Were you seeking a sales person happy with a cell phone in BOTH (!) ears, OR:
• Offering high quality sales service to one customer at a time?
• Strong on creative selling solutions, or selling "by the book'?
• Happy & proud to be part of a sales team, or a gun-slinger/loner?
• A 'relationship' sales person, or a bold, aggressive influencer?

Etc., Etc.......

Don't worry, help is at hand:

D-I-S-C Sales style assessment, completed by your candidate, on the internet 24/7, 10 minutes only for the candidate to complete. Basically answers the questions:

#1. Does your candidate have the selling style & attitude to be successful selling YOUR products? #2. Does the selling style of the candidate match the selling style required for the product to be most successfully sold?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

#1. Testimonial letter from a Mississauga distributor of engineering compounds, received March 2006.

Thanks, Business Pilot..., for your followup email!! I did not proceed any further with Dave G. after reviewing the work style & behaviour assessment results, as the associated risks were more than I was interested in taking. The assessment results certainly seemed to "hit the mark" as far as I was concerned. Thanks again, Business Pilot.., for your help and for your continued interest in our business. Regards, Peter W. (P.Eng. MBA).

#2. Letter from a Kitchener, ON. Environmental engineering consultancy, rec'd Nov. 2006:

Hi Business Pilot...

Thank you for your input. I think I dodged a (expensive) bullet on this one!!.

Regards, Mike T. (P. Eng.)

Career planning for your university bound student.

Business Pilot...

Career Planning assessments for students heading to college or university.

Parents:

With your university bills likely to run $10,000/year++, you are wise to seek a way to ensure that the university courses leading to a possible career, are the ones that will likely match :

1. Your child's behavioural style
2. Your child's own value system.

Fact #1. Over 70% of us are stuck in careers that we do not particularly enjoy.

Fact #2. About 30% of university students have to change their study major at the end of the first year. Study regime was not what they thought it would be! Possible loss of $10,000 of education expenses that parents have invested.

The 'Career Planning' Assessment provided by Business Pilot, includes 3 parts:

1. A behavioural & style assessment. Known as the D-I-S-C process, this will indicate your child's behaviour style in one (or a combination of the four areas). The 'HOW' of their behaviour. Each of the 4 styles has its own strengths & limitations----it is wise to be aware of these & be able to the recognize the areas of both the student's behavioural strengths AND weaknesses.

2. A values assessment . There are six human values, only six. Values are the 'WHY' of our actions. Know the student's WIIFM......What's in it for me! Is it learning, a social awareness, personal power, bottom line value, beauty, religious/traditional concerns, or the joy of learning??
All of us succeed so much better in a job when it matches/feeds into, our own value system.

3. A recommendation of types of careers that match most nearly the behavioural & values style of the student.

In addition to the 35 page, three part assessment, a detailed written overview e-mail report is also supplied and includes a listing of careers that fit the student's unique behavioural style & value system.

Assessment data input can be submitted by the student over the internet, 24/7, and takes a maximum of 30 minutes to complete.

Assessment offers career recommendations at the high school, undergrad., and post graduate levels.
Please contact Business Pilot at" buspilot@rogers.com for complete details.

The REAL cost of making a bad hiring decision....

Business Pilot...
Behaviour & Attitude Style Assessment.

The REAL cost of a making a bad hire…..

Let's assume you hire a mid-level manager, annual salary $60,000 plus benefits+++
After 6 months it becomes obvious that the new hire is not going to be satisfactory…and you decide to terminate. What was the REAL cost of this unsuccessful hire?

Recruitment costs

Advertising in local newspaper $1000
Management time to interview: 6hrs x $150 $900
Checking references, due diligence, @ $100/hr. $150

After hire costs:
Orientation. Management time 8hrs @ $100. $ 800

Direct costs of hire:
6 months at $5000/mth. salary $30,000

6 months benefits 4% salary $1200

Termination costs:
1 months salary/benefits. $5200

Total cost of hire: $39,250

Assume profits at 8% of sales, loss of profitable sales for this failed hire is:

$490,625 !!!

ADD: cost of recruitment of replacement,
ADD: retraining expenses….
ADD: loss of productivity……. Etc., etc.,

Business Pilot. Areas of expertise.

Business Pilot…
Mississauga, ON. Canada. Contact: E-mail: buspilot@rogers.com


Areas of expertise.

* Candidate behavioural & attitude style analysis. As used in the pre-hire and in the performance review processes. 80% of hires that fail are likely as a result of behavioural & work attitude mis-alignment with the JOB's requirements. ie: 'If the JOB could talk, what would the JOB ask for, in terms of behaviour & attitude, to be most successfully completed?'

Assessments available:

- Executive version.
- Managers, supervisors & employee version.
- Sales version.
- Customer service version.

Ever stopped to calculate the REAL cost of making a bad hire?

* Executive/managerial search projects. We find you top candidates, currently available and highly motivated to commence work almost immediately. Personalized service. Attractive fee structure that includes, job benchmarking, work behaviour analysis and sales knowledge testing (for sales people).

* Strategic business plan coaching. A demystification of the strategic planning process with ease of use and understanding replacing dread of the process, so that the entire management team has a very clear picture of the company and its vision. SWOT analysis.

* Features, benefits & needs analysis. Are your sales people trying to solve THEIR problems, or to answer the need of your CUSTOMERS?

* Business S.M.A.R.T. goal & objective setting. Avoid those business crippling ‘wandering generalities’. Believe it or not, 93% of businesses operate without a set of written objectives.

* Employee & sales training seminars. The D.I.S.C language. ‘Birds of a feather flock together’. People respond best/ buy from, people they like, but what do they like?? Learn how to adjust YOUR sales behaviour style to match that of your client, for better sales results.

* Business problem diagnosis. Exactly what ails your company? 18 sections with several hundred ‘must be answered’ questions. Just like going to the doctor….you cannot remedy business problems until they are fully diagnosed.

* General business coaching. Identify the problems. What difference would it make if the problems are eradicated? Implement strategies in your business to improve results.

* Salary surveys. Are you offering/paying a salary that is both fair & competitive? Compare your structure with low, median & high offerings on hundreds of job titles across Canada.

* Effective employee job descriptions. Employee performance evaluations. If you are not leaving foot-prints in the sand—watch out for that 2 year salary settlement next time you are taken to labour court by a disgruntled ex employee.

* Customer retention strategies. Reduce the churn rate. New customers are 7 times more expensive to find than selling to existing clients. Look after what you already have!

* CEO performance evaluation. Critical in any owner operated business. Shouldn’t the most expensive employee be subject to evaluation?

* Customer satisfaction surveys. Employee opinion surveys. Show that you care & impress.

* Budgetary process, sales forecasting. Bottom up/top down. 7 strategies to cobble together a budget…..how many do methods do you employ?

* Unique selling proposition (USP) development. A statement, that if any of your competitors said it---it would be a LIE. Fail to have a USP and risk being an ‘also ran’.

* Trade shows. Strategies for a successful event. Too expensive to be a PR event--- ‘just because the competitors are there’!

* Key business indicator (BI) selection & management. Consider 5-8 BI that are actively monitored, what could they be, and if your employees should be aware of them?

* Your business ‘Strategic Driving Force’. What is your SDF & how to capitalize on it? Only 10 (ten) exist, and you can only have one. Any more, and you risk your business being unfocussed.