Podcast – Vantage Performance: Recent Episodes
Vantage Performance
It’s common for businesses to get so excited about landing a big deal that they gloss over the detail involved in delivering the work. In this week’s podcast Andrew Birch explains why you really need to spend a lot of time consuming the detail of that contract.
People are a vital part of any business. In this fourth podcast in our series looking at how to succeed in adversity we highlight the steps you need to take to ensure staff are involved in your transformation process.
This is the third of four podcasts looking at how businesses can position themselves for an uncertain economic future. This week Michael talks to Phil Dobbie about the need to manage your capital more effectively.
This podcast is the second in a series of four looking at how your business can succeed in the face of adversity. Michael Fingland talks to Phil Dobbie about the need to have a clear Business Strategy that focuses on your USP and R&D.
This is the first of four podcasts where Vantage Performance CEO Michael Fingland takes us through the process of taking advantage of an economic downturn.
In this edition he talks to Phil Dobbie about the need to be prepared. Those that aren’t prepared can easily collapse when there’s a financial downturn. Those that are ready don’t just survive, they can turn the failure of unprepared competitors to their own advantage.
If your business is going through a turnaround it is a time for complete transparency. More than ever before.
In this edition of the Vantage Performance podcast, Elizabeth Mawby says that you should be brutally honest when dealing with key stakeholders. That includes creditors, debtors and employees.
Often the directors of a business sense there is something afoot with their business operations, but they don’t have a sense of the magnitude of the issue. In this week’s podcast, Elizabeth Mawby says that it’s often a revelation when the turnaround specialists from Vantage Performance present the financial consequences of the problems a business faces. The good news is that normally actions can be taken to remedy the problem. But it takes straight talking and, often, some tough decisions. Listen in as Elizabeth describes to Phil Dobbie the first steps taken in the turnaround process. This vital initial investigation will determine whether a business can be saved and arrive at the best options to take it forward. Listen to the Podcast – Related blogs: What to Expect From a Turnaround Specialist Effective Corporate Turnaround Strategies.
Cash flow forecasting is the Achilles heel of many businesses, particularly in the SME sector. Elizabeth Mawby, a client director at Vantage Performance, has seen many companies outlining cash flows for only a week ahead. She says, to be of any use, companies need to be looking 13 weeks ahead. Putting a cash flow forecast together is straightforward. In this edition of the Vantage Performance podcast she takes Phil Dobbie through her five step process, which looks at: Assumptions Sales income Other cash inflows Expenses Building the spreadsheet. . Even if you produce a cash flow forecast regularly, it’s worth 10 minutes listening to Elizabeth’s suggestions, in case you’re missing out a vital ingredient. After all, an inaccurate forecast is next to useless. Listen to the Podcast – Related blogs: How Do I Create A Cash Flow Forecast? Focus on Cash Flow: Optimising Debt Collection Focus on Cash Flow (Part 2): Optimising Supplier Management
The CFO you have for the best of times is not necessarily the same person to carry you through tough times. It demands a very different skill set. Some CFOs will adapt, but not all.
Vantage director Richard Dunks wrote recently on the Business Strategy Blog about how to avoid the pitfalls when appointing an interim manager. That’s all fine, but our podcast host Phil Dobbie wondered why you’d want one in the first place – after all, isn’t the idea of a manager that they have a sense of continuity within the business? Well, not so, says Richard – increasingly they’re being hired to deal with shorter term projects where a specialist skillset is needed.
In this week’s podcast we look at what type of roles interim managers can fulfil and how you go about finding them...
It’s difficult to imagine that we could pick up any management practices from the horrific spate of bombings that took place in Mumbai on the 26th November 2008.
Yet, true heroes emerge in the face of disaster. Amongst them, were the staff at the Taj Palace Hotel...
The global financial crisis has had a lasting effect – it’s harder now than ever to get a bank loan. In fact, in certain regions the number of approved loans has fallen from 1 in 5 of all applications down to just 1 in 15.
In this edition of the Vantage Performance Podcast Series Michael Fingland explains to Phil Dobbie what you need to present if you want to avoid being knocked back...
The government-owned State Bank of India has been around for 200 years. It’s incumbency guaranteed it a market share of around 35 percent, until the middle of the last decade when their dominance halved in the space of just two years.
The turnaround was just as spectacular...
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was widely condemned when she sent an email to her 27,000 employees saying they couldn’t work from home any more. Her argument was that time spent at home was less productive than hours worked in the office.
Richard Branson called her decision “perplexing”, given how technology is making remote working easier and more effective than ever. Marissa Mayer raises an important point, though...
We know there is no magic formula to running a successful business, but there are some common practises that will point you in the right direction. Most of them can be implemented straight away, it’s just a matter of accepting the need for change.
In this week’s podcast Phil Dobbie talks to Michael Fingland, CEO of Vantage Performance about the ten things he thinks every business can do to improve the way they do business.
The first step in sorting out your brand positioning is realising that you need one. In this edition of the Vantage Performance Podcast Christine Moody, CEO of Vantage Brand, talks through what brand positioning is, who does it well, and what you can do today as a first step towards getting yours right.
In this week’s Vantage Performance podcast Andrew Birch, a director at Vantage Performance talks to Phil Dobbie about some of the easy ways you can bring cash forward. It’s all to do with how you structure your invoicing, accept payments and follow-up. As you’ll hear, a few simple changes to the way you operate can have an immense impact on the cash flow of your business.
Your business can be profitable but still hit the wall. Why? Because you run out of cash. That’s why you need to ensure you have a handle on your working capital. Andrew Birch, a director at Vantage Performance, says working capital management can provide the cheapest and easiest form of finance available to your business, but if you ignore it the consequences can be dire.
The holiday season is almost upon us: a time when many businesses struggle to stay afloat, with falling income, slow paying creditors and insufficient cash reserves to tide them over into the new year.
In this week’s podcast Vantage Performance principal advisor Ian Hall highlights the need to seek additional finance now, not wait until a few days before Christmas. This year banks will be particularly cautious about who they lend to. So, if you need cash, you need to approach them with a plan, highlighting why you need the cash and how and when you will pay it back.
Driving improvements in your organisational performance is crucial for your company to survive in the face of increased international competition. Yet many leaders are anxious about change – often using that unconstructive adage “if it ain't broke, don’t fix it”.
In this week’s podcast Phil Dobbie talks to Barbara Ould, a director at Vantage Performance, who has significant experience driving organisational performance across many top companies.
In this week’s podcast Phil Dobbie asks Michael Fingland, Director and CEO of Vantage Performance, if he can point to an example of a high performance team. He says the most visible display is the pit crew on a race track. They have to quickly evaluate a problem, find a solution, act on it and be aware of any external circumstances that could impact the execution. And they do it over and over again. That’s how businesses need to operate to succeed...
In last week's Vantage Performance podcast, Susan Morgan spoke about the importance of finding a mentor to act as a sounding board for your ideas.
This week Phil Dobbie talks to Andrew Birch, Director of Vantage Performance, who suggests you take it a step further by appointing a board to add some external influence on your business.
Andrew says the impact a board has is almost immediate, adding expertise and a fresh perspective on the business. It’s not unusual, he says, for a question to be asked, only to have the incumbent team respond, “yes, why do we do that?”
Andrew also talks about an appropriate mix of board members, where to find them and what their role is within the organisation.
If you think you wouldn’t benefit from the help of a mentor, perhaps you need to take a long hard look at yourself. Behind most successful business people you will find a mentor or two – Richard Branson has six!
Sue Morgan is a Director at Vantage Performance who specialises in executing coaching; working with boards, CEOs and business owners. Sue says it takes a big ego to believe that you can’t benefit from having your way of thinking challenged: the key is to ensure that your mentor is able to test your approach and act as an effective sounding board.
Last week on the Vantage Performance Podcast Series we spoke about the importance of ensuring that you have a watertight contract before embarking on a new project.
As a supplier to the mining industry – or any large infrastructure based company – the key is to limit your exposure by ensuring risks are considered and costed in your agreement. But, what if things do go wrong?
It’s a question we put to Matt Bradbury, a partner at McCullough Robertson – a lawyer specialising in infrastructure, construction and engineering.
Many suppliers in the Mining sector work on a handshake deal, without the support of a contract. It's a situation that's changing as the industry faces slower growth and a less certain future.
That means suppliers need to protect themselves by ensuring they have a watertight contract in place...
In this week’s podcast, David Osborne, part of the Vantage Performance leadership team, explains how many mining services contracts push ahead with a handshake and very little in the way of due diligence. Often the details of the contract are overlooked and issues are left unchallenged until it’s far too late. He says the situation is changing – the sector is facing challenges and with it comes the need for more accountability and reduced risk.
Every company has a business strategy, but not everyone has a brand strategy. Yet a focus on brand helps to position your business in the eyes of your customer or prospects.
In this week’s podcast Christine Moody, CEO of Vantage Brand, tells Phil Dobbie that the strategy involves determining your brand personality and what it promises to your customer. The outcome could be as simple as a word or phrase that differentiates your business from all others and provides an opportunity to secure future business.
Christine Moody heads up Vantage Brand, a new and vital element of the Vantage Group. In this edition of the Vantage Performance podcast Chris explains why understanding your brand position is vital to the success of any business.
In this week’s Vantage Performance podcast Michael Fingland says that typically only 5-10% of businesses will be planning ahead for an economic downturn. Those that do could easily come out on top when the economy recovers, simply by following a few simple rules on streamlining your business for maximum efficiency.
Michael talks to Phil Dobbie about the five steps you should take to secure your business.
A slowing growth rate in China, record levels of household debt and growing uncertainty in the world economy are all conspiring to create a tough year for Australian businesses in 2013.
In the first edition of the new Vantage Performance podcast Phil Dobbie talks to Vantage Performance’s Group Managing Director Michael Fingland about business prospects for next year. Michael says many businesses are not prepared for what’s ahead and he highlights the warning signs to look out for.