Only the name changes...

More and more general businesses are approaching us to assist them with sales coaching services. As a result, the name Sales Improvement Consultants Inc. will now be utilized to service the general business community. For more information about SIC, visit www.salesimprovement.net.

Radzik Professional Services Marketing will be utilized to provide sales coaching to professional firms.For more information about RPSM, visit www.radzikmarketing.com.

Our popular newsletter, received by approximately 5,000 subscribers, is now entitled The Radzik Report.

Cost reduction is rarely enough!
By Adam Radzik
Marketing & Sales Coach

Giancarlo Cakes was a successful commercial bakery in Bensonhurst , Brooklyn. This well - respected business supplied pound cakes, chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, and seven -layer cakes to hotels, restaurants, and catering services. The business was run by old man Giancarlo, his thirty- year - old nephew Dante, and eleven devoted employees.

The recession hit like a tsunami and sales began to drop. Giancarlo assured Dante and his wife, Katarina, that people would continue to eat his delicious cakes as they had been doing for close to fifty years.

Sales continued to plummet and there was not enough cash flow to cover the company’s expenses. Giancarlo roared, “I will show you how to save a business. We will trim off the excess fat. We will reduce our employees! We will do what corporate America is doing ; we will reduce expenses!”

With a heavy heart, the company let Primo the cake decorator and Vincenza the delivery man go. “Dante, you and I will do these jobs ourselves. We have been getting too fat and lazy anyway, kapische?” Giancarlo announced.

Dante was concerned. “Uncle, I know we need to cut expenses  – but shouldn’t we be looking at our sales? Isn’t that our bigger problem?” “I like a young man with a head on his shoulders,” replied Giancarlo. “ What do you have in mind?” “I went around to the other commercial bakeries and they seem to be selling other kinds of cakes, like Chocolate Mousse, Almond Apricot, and Irish Whiskey cakes. Maybe we should be thinking about changing our product mix?” “Dante, I am surprised at you. We have a successful formula here. Don’t be silly. Go back to making that pound cake dough and leave the thinking to me. There’s a good boy.”

The following month, sales dropped another 20 percent and savings had to be withdrawn from the bank. Giancarlo cried, “We need to cut, cut, cut! We need to let Tito and Mia go. It will be our salvation ; you will see!”

Dante was not convinced. “That will not be enough and besides, we can’t fire Mia ; she is our only salesperson. Maybe she needs to be trained better or maybe we need to hire yet another salesperson?” “Trained?” retorted his uncle. “ You don’t know what you are talking about. What training does one need to sell a fresh piece of cheesecake? You are talking like the village idiot!”

That night, Katarina, who also served as the bakery’s bookkeeper, said, “Giancarlo, the boy is right. We cannot go on like this anymore. There are only so many expenses we can trim. The customers have already started complaining that our service is deteriorating. Maybe we should be thinking about baking blueberry cupcakes. I see them everywhere!” “Woman, don’t mix in. What was good for the last forty-nine years will be good for the next forty-nine years! We will trim a few more expenses and that will bring us back to prosperity!”

Nine weeks later, Giancarlo Cakes baked its last seven - layer cake.

Moral of the story : Cost reduction by itself almost never saves a troubled business. Unless there are resourceful and sustained efforts to bolster sales, troubled businesses that rely on cost-cutting efforts alone will disappear into silent oblivion.

Comedy Corner

Illegitimate reasons that have gotten good employees fired for no reason:

Hello, Boss, I can’t come to work today because...

"This morning, the voices warned me to clean all my guns."

"I usually stalk my previous boss on Wednesdays because he fired me for not showing up for work."

"My psychiatrist said I had an excellent session and gave me this jaw restraint so I won’t bite things when I am startled, but he thinks it’s a bit early for me to go back to work."