Why start a blog called the Profit Prophet?

Wow, this is a question we all ask, but are not sure why we do it. I am starting this blog for two reasons: 1) Is to impart some (albeit small) amount of wisdom that I learned during my 20 odd years as an engineer, marketeer, salesman, in operations, and business development; 2) To attract other liked-minded individuals to this blog to ask questions on how to improve their business by eliminating the friction most companies have in selling their products or services. This friction is caused mostly by a total lack of strategy. As the saying goes, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Hopefully, my one eye can help some people out there.

OK, why the profit prophet? Back when I first stared out at Texas Instruments some 25 years ago, I got the reputation of only looking at deals that involved profit margins, not gross revenues. This was so contrary to the prevailing mindset at TI, that people soon thought I would be terminated. But my boss (Jim Watson, who went on to run TwinStar Semiconductor) had faith in me. Eventually, my focus on profits rather that filling fabs got me the label as the Profit Prophet. I did not think much about it then, but actually it was a good name, and one I will continue to use in my blog.

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The Moldy Middle

While taking statistics during my quest to get an MBA and while earning my engineering degree, the professors always emphasized the importance of finding the statistical mean of any population by using the Central Mean Theorem (a.k.a the highest point of the Bell Curve). As an engineer, this was essential in order to maximize throughput, minimize cost and waste, and ultimately make a better, faster, cheaper widget. A funny thing happened on the way to the dark side of marketing. I discovered that the only thing in the middle of the road was quite literally dead road kill. I do not know if you remember stores like Bradlees, Ames and Service Merchandise (just to name a few), but they all folded because the environment changed and they were caught trying to service the mythological “average customer.” Part of that change came when Wal-Mart began its juggernaut with the discount department store. Wal-Mart did two things right: 1) Focused on “mobile” consumers, and 2) Fo

The Rush to Bottom

I cannot take credit for these words of wisdom, and sadly I do not know who wrote it originally. So, I cannot acknowledge them by name but I can acknowledge their exceptional talent to get a message across with clarity and hard-hitting truths. Whomever this author is, I thank and admire you and take pleasure in sharing this with others! I have also included a video if anyone is interested in sharing it. “When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great...but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.” An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one wi

The Saleman's Litmus Test

If your goal is to become a great company or even improve your existing one, every employee in you company should be able to “sell” the product or service that you are merchandising. Since that is usually not the case, you are forced to hire sales people to help implement the objectives laid out by upper management. A national study indicated that less than 3% of the population has an inherent penchant for sales, and as much as 50% of all salespeople really do not know how to sell. During my 20 odd years in sales, I have hired, worked with, and observed great sales people (yes, both men and women). Being the observant type and believing in best practices, I have complied a listing of questions you should ask any salesperson before you hire them, and should use this Litmus Test to review of your existing sales force to determine whether to keep them or cut them loose. I hope you find it useful. Psyching Out the Test : People always try to answer questions the way they think yo

The Profit Prophet

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