Allegra Management Consulting offers broad-based experience with proven results. We want to share some helpful ideas that have proven successful in a variety of organizations. Feel free to contact Allegra Management Consulting for further information.

Build a Value-Added Supplier/Customer Partnership
Are you spending time haggling over prices, dealing with service and quality issues, expediting deliveries and replacing vendors? Then it’s time to find suppliers who are willing to partner with you and add greater value to your organization. The first step is to set quantifiable standards for quality, delivery, technology, safety, environmental compliance, and other elements that are important to your business (in addition to unit price and terms). Provide regular, objective feedback to all your suppliers. Then, ask your key vendors to broaden the array of products and services they provide to you in exchange for a larger piece of the pie. You will end up with fewer, better suppliers…each providing competitive prices and greater long-term value to your organization.

Open Communications and Build Employee Trust
Do you have the feeling that your employees don’t trust you? Do they tend to complain about every little thing? Well, perhaps you need to demonstrate that you will trust them with important (and useful) company information. You probably already share production and sales figures on a regular basis. If not, you should. Next on the list should be plant or company profit vs. plan. If you don’t share this information, your employees will decide for themselves how profitable you are. Benefit costs, particularly medical insurance expenses, should be communicated. In fact, an annual summary of employee benefits and their value should be provided to every employee. Tie no strings to the information…tell your people that the information is important for them to know, and that you trust them to have it. You will find some skepticism at first but, over time, employees will begin to return that trust, and communications and morale will improve.

Turn Customer Complaints into Compliments
Does your Quality Assurance or Customer Service representative cringe every time the phone rings, fearing a call from an irate customer? Are your employees spending too much time traveling to customer plants to deal with minor quality and service issues? It’s time for you to move from defense to offense. Establish a regular schedule of calls and visits to key customers when things are going well. Have your people get to know their people. Demonstrate an interest in your customer’s process and how your product or service affects their business. The improved communication with your customer will assist in reducing the number of calls to your company.  Communication builds trust. Customers will be more willing to share insightful competitor information, and less likely to complain about a quality occurrence or contact upper management if a significant problem does develop.