Profit can fund solutions for almost every business challenge you’re wrestling with.
Here's how to find your profit in plain sight.
- Increase sales at healthier margins.
- Eliminate costs that shouldn't even BE in your business (instead of ruthless cost-cutting).
- Obliterate costly operational inefficiencies that impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Safely price for value in ways that are difficult for competitors to copy or undercut.
- Add low-risk, low-cost innovation to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in fast-changing markets.
That's the ProfitU learning roadmap.
With a Dashboard to track and manage implementation.
If your employees can surf the web, they’ll love this fun, bite-sized, cloud-based eLearning and Doing system, with no travel, no downtime!
Put the power of a proven curriculum and weekly learning routine to work generating rapid bottom line results as employees eagerly engage your customers and suppliers to help you grow healthy revenues and eliminate costs that shouldn’t even BE in your business.
Short, powerful weekly elearning modules embed the ProfitU principles, insights, and strategies into your business, quickly changing mindsets forever while shifting the everyday behaviors that create or destroy profit.
Say goodbye to herding cats - from the front line to the C-suite – when you show your team exactly how to win with the Profit in Plain Sight Dashboard, a one-stop shop for weekly accountability driven by a visual, color-coded Profit PLAYBOOK and To Dos (Profit PLAYS).
Comprehensive, powerful, visual scoreboards show your team exactly how to “Turn it Green” and celebrate every win, taking small everyday actions that significantly improve profits.
Which existing-yet-unproductive weekly meeting will YOU and your TEAM replace with the power of ProfitU?
Don't Just Learn. Implement. Don't Just Talk. Take Action. Don't Just Snooze. Succeed.
A weekly 90-minute committed Learn/Do timeslot transforms “busy work” into “biz e-work” that engages and focuses your team on applying what they learn directly to your business to generate results.
THE PROFIT IN PLAIN SIGHT BOOTCAMP
LEARN
Core Driver: Benchmark, then build pain-free profit disciplines for Take-it-to-the-Bank results that cover the cost of ProfitU many times over.
It’s not that your profit goals are too high and you miss them. It’s because you don’t know what’s really possible so you never get to where you could be.
84% of CEO’s polled are shocked to learn that they rate a D or an F on the Return on People Benchmark. The Benchmark changes mindsets forever and with their competitive instincts aroused, your team quickly sets the bar higher. The positive reinforcement of rapid, tangible results makes this a game they’ll love to win!
RESULTS
DO
What would be possible if you knew how to…
… Benchmark and completely reset your mindset (and that of your employees) regarding what your profitability should be? And then achieve results they never thought they could?
…Easily add a game-changing “profit” discipline you knew as a child but forgot as a business leader, that quickly creates Take it to the Bank results?
… Discover 14 ways to painlessly eliminate hidden costs that you’ll never miss, even if you think you’ve already cut costs to the bone?
…Creatively leverage 5 opportunities to optimize your supply-side expenses, instead of just “cutting costs”?
… Have ProfitU pay for itself many times over right from the start so that you never have to “find the budget” to say yes?
When you asked us to plot our “Return on People” our profit was ($9,995) per employee. While our management knew we were in a loss position, seeing ourselves “at the bottom of the class” was very impactful. We have just achieved $31,000 of profit per employee – the highest profitability level in the company’s history.
CFO, Major North American Roofing Manufacturer
The Quickstart Profit in Plain Sight Bootcamp: Ongoing strategies & tactics that keep ProfitU cash flow positive From Day 1
During the first 30 days of ProfitU this component is provided with no upfront fee, and is included as core practice through the remaining 12 months of Year 1. While results in this area is largely driven by the Accounting and/or Admin Team, all employees quickly engage when the powerful scoreboards showing savings and profit in the bank are deployed.
Benchmarking an unusual performance metric comparing world class and average performance in your industry is a jaw-dropper for most CEOs and their teams, immediately igniting a competitive spirit to be the best. That’s the first game-changer.
And it just gets better. By the end of the first 30 days the cash flow boost from the proven yet creative Bootcamp strategies is typically more than enough to cover the costs of Semester 1 and more, just from uncovering the profit that is hidden in plain sight in the business instead of draconian cost-cutting.
The Take-it-to-the-Bank structures crystallize your profit gains, creating the discipline to “pay your bottom line first”. This is absolutely transformative for your business and team on a go-forward basis.
In Year 2 of ProfitU, you’ll simply continue to embed the new behaviors you’ve adopted, with larger deposits that consistently grow Rainy Day and Growth Vault Accounts.
SEMESTER 1: POWERFUL CUSTOMER INSIGHTS
LEARN
Core Driver: The 5Rs of Customer Profitability that exponentially impact your bottom line.
Shift mindsets and the small, unnoticed and unmanaged everyday behaviors to impact profit, increase customer loyalty and grow high-margin sales.
Until now, there’s been no systematic way to spot and shift those behaviors for good but, once you learn how, it becomes as automatic as tying your shoes.
You’ll also learn how to conduct Value Creation Conversations (VCCs) with your customers to measure their level of loyalty (vs world class) and identify all the opportunities and issues that will drive ongoing activities and results in ProfitU that will increase loyalty.
RESULTS
DO
What is the cost of not knowing…
…Which of your largest customers are in the red zone… costing you more than they’re worth? Knowing your Customer Profitability Ratio is “CPR” for your bottom line.
Hint: every red square on the Dashboard is an opportunity to improve your customer relationships AND your profit!
… How to easily have your customers and employees effortlessly make the small behavioral changes every day that improve margins? Watch the graph turn green!
… Exactly which customers could and should be doing more business with you?
Hint: every blue square on the Dashboard is Sales opportunity and turning it Green is good!
… The 2 straightforward-but-overlooked strategies that jump start the deadwood in your database to increase profitable sales?
We took our Customer Profitability Ratio (CPR) from 2:1 to 5:1 within 1 year – a huge boost to profitability.
President, Privately Held North American
Custom Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer
Semester 1
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Yet make the horse thirsty or make the water sweeter and it will drink its fill! ProfitU helps your "horses" stay engaged and want more with 20 powerful and profitable strategies for Proactive Customer Profitability Management.
Your employees will feel parched when they complete an eye-opening ranking of key customers illustrating the profit-driving or destroying behaviors that are unique to your business. They’ll create a new Customer Profitability Ratio (CPR) goal, understand how they make a difference, and see the results of their efforts in a powerful visual in the Dashboard showing progress against one simple goal: “turn red to green.”
Make the water sweeter when your team creates your “Profit in Plain Sight Playbook” a simple yet powerful visual analytic to uncover hidden opportunities to drive sales at healthy margins. With one simple goal to “turn blue to green”, they’ll be hooked on delivering results.
Do both when you implement Value Creation Conversations (“VCCs”) with Key Customers to provide the market input far beyond what conventional surveys can ever deliver. What you learn will drive key strategic and tactical outcomes throughout ProfitU. Executives will find themselves reinvigorated about their business as they realize that all the fun is on the OTHER side of their desk, actively engaged with their employees and customers. CEOs tell us they love doing VCCs, which help them rediscover the fun in their business!
In Year 2, they’’ll hone their new skills into unbreakable habits as the number of customers is expanded on the Dashboard to accelerate results
SEMESTER 2: OBLITERATE OPERATIONAL SLUDGE
LEARN
Core Driver: Eliminate Profit Leaks to Reduce Costs and Improve Quality & Service.
Many great quality initiatives begin and end on the shop floor, yet that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Your customers and employees already know exactly where all the other costly work-arounds and do-overs, are hiding in your business, driving them crazy.
Until now there’s been no easy way to get it out for good. That sludge reduces profits and negatively impacts employee morale, engagement and customer loyalty.
RESULTS
DO
How quickly would your profits grow if you knew…
…Where re-work costs and profit leaks are creating costly sludge throughout your business, not just in operations? When your team creates a visual of all the sludge, they’ll be very motivated to fix it.
…What you need to do differently to stop band-aiding costly issues and eliminate hidden costs by solving them for good? Stopping the band-aiding eliminates a lot of day-to-day frustration for your employees and increases engagement.
… How to prioritize what to tackle first for maximum positive impact on your customers and bottom line, & stay out of overwhelm using the 90-90-90 Action Plan? Balancing rapid results with longer-term projects keeps motivation high.
I’ve looked to manufacturing to increase profits. ProfitU came at the issue from another angle and delivered results.
Founder & CEO, Leading Manufacturer Transport Trailers
Even if you’ve already “done Lean”, your team will spot eye-opening opportunities as they develop the “Obliterate Sludge Matrix” by combining your Customers’ Value Creation Conversation feedback from Semester 1 with your team’s knowledge of the inconvenient and costly workarounds staff face every day.
They’ll take ownership for implementing a surprisingly powerful 5-step process to resolve costly issues for good and send all those savings right to the bottom line.
Getting everything right the first time will delight your customers, and increase loyalty.
The powerful visuals and accountability practices embedded in the Profit in Plain Sight Dashboard keep them on track and “turning it green” every step of the way.
In Year 2 you’ll broaden your work to include every aspect of optimizing the Customer Experience, making it easier for your customers to find you, do business with you and remain loyal to you. These aspects are very difficult for competitors to copy, creating significant competitive advantage.
SEMESTER 3: PRICE FOR VALUE
LEARN
Core Driver: Improve Margins with 7 Creative Price-for-Value Strategies.
Even the best-managed businesses often use by-guess-and-by-golly pricing and discounts to fend off competitors or quickly close a deal, because academic pricing theory is too impractical to implement in dynamic changing markets.
Unfortunately, every 1% of margin left on the table, has an exponentially negative impact on your profitability. Getting it right has exactly the same exponential impact on your bottom line – only its positive!
RESULTS
DO
How much money are you leaving on the table because you don’t know…
… Who has the pricing power and how to safely test potential pricing changes to avoid mistakes, backlash, or lost business?
… How to use creative thinking to get your team unstuck from ‘we’ve always done it this way” practices, develop new pricing models that change the playing field on your competition and improve margins, yet customers love them?
…How to prioritize which pricing opportunities to test and implement first to see rapid results on you bottom line?
The team was extremely nervous about changing pricing because the Pricing Matrix showed us that we did not have the pricing power. The creative ways to “change the playing field” that they learned in ProfitU and the safe way to test new pricing won them over. Our margins increased by over 6%
without any customer complaints or lost business – unbelievable impact on our bottom line.
National Sales Director, Computer Peripherals
Semester 3
Why simply “raise prices” in ways that may cause your customers to start looking for competitive bids when you can use the Pricing Power Matrix to learn how to safely and subtly improve your pricing practices in ways that add value to your customers and will be welcomed by them?
During the 3rd 90 Days your team will evaluate, safely test, and strategically implement up to 7 of the 21 uncommon yet highly effective price-for-value strategies in ProfitU. They’re different from conventional price increases and hard for your competitors to spot, copy or undercut.
Margins will increase safely and sustainably, dropping profit right to your bottom line. Getting this element delivers the powerful multiplier effect for every 1%, that you calculated for your firm during the Bootcamp, and can easily deliver rapid double-digit profit growth.
In Year 2 of ProfitU, your team will learn and implement up to 14 additional Price for Value strategies. Going forward and using the learning and Profit in Plain Sight Dashboard to manage implementation, you’ll continually find new ways to use all 21 strategies that may not have seemed applicable earlier.
SEMESTER 4: IGNITE THE INFINITE ROI OF INNOVATION
LEARN
Core Driver: Identify Commercially Successful Areas of Opportunity with the Innovation Matrix.
Innovation is essential because it’s no longer an option to continue flogging tired and outdated product lines at razor thin margins or at a loss – especially with unexpected competition often blindsiding you or making your offerings obsolete.
Until now there hasn’t been a straightforward roadmap for immediately differentiating commercially successful opportunities from those that will fail.
The good news is that you don’t need a large R&D budget to find your next generation of profitable products or services that will leave your competition saying ‘we should have thought of that!’
RESULTS
DO
Can you afford not to know…
… Which of your legacy products and services are in the Red Zone for growth and profit, even though they’re still selling well today? And how to give them a refresh that adds competitive advantage so they’ll keep selling for longer?
… How to use the fun Innovation Cocktail Methodology to find eight opportunities to innovate for immediate competitive advantage without requiring a large R&D budget?
… The best approach to safely and successfully expand your product or service lines into the Green Zones of profitable growth?
Our Team has not been able to stop talking about the new innovation opportunities they spotted in this week’s lesson.. Simple – easy – effective, it has them thinking differently! And the memory trick to keep spotting even more opportunities – truly powerful!
Chief Business Development Officer, Heat-treated and Forged Metal Components
Instead of simply trying new weird and wonderful ideas (80% of which will fail, leaving you with a large investment of time and money but no return), your team will learn the unique and proprietary Innovation Matrix and map each of your legacy products to it, often creating a massive wake-up call about the future viability of your business.
They’ll be guided to apply the Matrix to spot new innovative opportunities in a way that goes well beyond an unproductive “think outside the box, people!” approach, and then evaluate and determine how to move existing and new products or services into the 8 value-add sweet spots for profitable success while clearly spotting those in the 8 Zones of Failure, creating a prioritized roadmap for increased customer loyalty, differentiation and margins. It’s time to unleash the wildcard for profitable growth and enduring success in competitive markets.
In Year 2 of ProfitU, you’ll explore evaluate, and prioritize an additional 13 paths to low risk, low cost, profitable innovation and learn how to vet them to ensure a strong, growing business with sustainable competitive advantage.
Mindsets can change in an instant. Embedding the new behaviors to replace outdated “busyness as usual” takes time and practice.
Initially, you’ll only commit to the no-cost Bootcamp and the first year of ProfitU, which is cash-flow positive from Day 1.
Your next step to sustain your gains is to expand your scope and layer in advanced practices in Year 2. Details below.
Thereafter, accessing the Dashboard as a SaaS keeps the momentum going, so that you can easily continue to hold your team accountable to apply what they’ve learned and track results. Details below.
You have nothing to lose by getting started. And everything to gain by continuing to drive results.
2
Year 2
Achieve Profit Mastery…
By now you’ve celebrated a LOT of wins: Increased Sales, Improved Margins, Lower Costs, Higher Take-it-to-the-Bank Profits, Improved Operations and Efficiencies, Engaged Employees, Loyal Customers, Better Supplier Relationships, and you have redeployed cash from your Growth Vault to achieve your Profit Wish List. Wow!
Keep the momentum going as you lock in the learning and new behaviors you’ve already achieved, creating a robust culture of PROFIT: People. Results. Optimized.
You’ll continue to Take-it-to-the-Bank and increase the profit in your Growth Vault as you double the number of partnership-oriented customers on your Dashboard, optimize your Customer Experience to increase loyalty and decrease costs-to-serve, evaluate an additional 14 Price-for-Value strategies, and explore 8 more Uncommon Ways to Innovate in mature or stagnant markets.