Why, why, why do we all put off the logical things in life? Going to the doctor’s for that checkup that’s overdue, starting the new gym routine, completing a retirement planning review… Logically these are good, positive actions that can improve our health and allow us to focus on the future of our families. However, despite the good logic, many people put off these simple things that can quickly improve their personal situation.
I believe this lack of action is often driven by a fear of facing the truth and the inevitable change that we’ll need to make.
The visit to the doctor’s will remind you that you should eat a little healthier, drink a little less, and try and lose some weight, and unfortunately sometimes will give you some news that requires a drastic change. The first time at the gym always hurts the most and reminds you that you’re not as fit and young as you once were. And when your financial review comes around, you need to work harder on saving more and staying focused on the changes in the market.
It’s easy to see these very same behaviors within companies, particularly at this time of year. Annual sales goals come into focus, productivity improvement targets are running out of time, year-end cash flow and inventory goals are looming. Once again, many businesses keep doing the same thing and hope these days of measurement never come, or even worse, start accepting their fate and, just like the gym, resolve to do better next year.
I firmly believe that the health of your inventory as a Distributor, Trader, Service Center, or Manufacturer is as important to your business health as your heart is to your personal health. It’s the lifeblood of your business and is often 60% – 85% of the cost of running your business. Are you doing a health check now? Are you working on improving it every day? Do you have the analytics and plans for longer term improvements?
Trust me that doing nothing different will never deliver a significantly different result, that acting too late just makes your chance of success even lower. Doing nothing means you are going backwards as your competition is getting fitter and healthier. Please do not wait, act now and improve your business health.
