KPI and best practice provided by Jeff Smith

Businesses don’t go bust because they run out of profit, they go bust because they run out of cash Many used vehicle programmes fail to take the peaks and troughs of seasonality and depreciation into account. They work on a ‘one size fits all basis’ and the industry just does not work like that. Here [...]

If you can’t sell used vehicles, you won’t sell new vehicles Most new vehicle manufacturers have their own version of an ‘approved used vehicle programme’ and it’s not limited to cars either – trucks and bikes have their own versions.The question is, why do these programmes exist and do they make a difference to the [...]

The Credit Crunch and the implosion of the Stock Market has put a big squeeze on the global economy with customers thinking twice about spending their hard-earned cash. If people are not buying new vehicles, they must be keeping their existing ones for longer, which means that they need to get them serviced or repaired. [...]

It may seem slightly strange to start an article on motor industry marketing, with a direct reference to a Second World War battle in the Pacific, but here goes. After the battle on Okinawa, US army researchers realised that a tremendous amount of bullets had been used during the engagement. In an attempt to accurately [...]

I’ll get you started, you can add to the list 1. Don’t neglect sleep for the sake of productivity. 2. Customers First. Don’t look for more customers if you’re not keeping your existing ones happy! 3. Use other business peoples’ skills and knowledge – but thank them by referring them as you go. 4. Develop [...]

These are actual writings from various hospital charts.1.The patient refused an autopsy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. The patient has no previous history of suicides. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [...]

‘Off the Sick List!’ A new book that is a Tonic for People Managers ‘Off the Sick List! How to Turn Employee Absence into Attendance’, by Kate Russell, provides down to earth advice on how to tackle and reduce sickness absence at work? This is a practical, clear, and easily understandable book, with a light [...]

Jeff Smith is currently interviewing a number of prominent and influential people and recording the interviews on audio so that you can listen to them for free on the web. We have a number of interviews already complete and they will be available for you to listen to in October 2008. The people we are interviewing [...]

The Porsche Driving Experience Centre at Silverstone opened in September 2008 and on Wednesday 17 September, I was fortunate enough to be invited to put the new Porsche 911 Carrera S through its paces with tuition from a Porsche Driving Consultant. It’s the only Porsche owned track outside of Germany and it’s been designed without compromise. It’s [...]

The Automotive Management Conference on Financial Management is taking place on 18 November 2008 at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, Reading. Speakers at the conference include: John Madejski – Chairman of Reading FC David Owen-Smith – MD Lotsof.net James Bellini – Analyst and TV Broadcaster Nigel Ruddock – Grant Thornton Paul Burrows – Grant Thornton [...]