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Excel Training Offer for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

We are delighted to tell you about the Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer from <a href="https://www.mothresource.com/377-22-3-23.html" target="_blank">My Online Training Hub</a>. From November 16th through 30th they are taking 20% off ALL courses to coincide with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.You can check out the full list of all courses here:<a href="https://www.mothresource.com/377-22-3-23.html">Excel Dashboards, Power BI, Power Query, Power Pivot Courses </a>You may also like to check out the hugely popular Excel Dashboards in Under 15 Minutes tutorial. <a href="https://www.mothresource.com/377-52-3-23.html" target="_blank">Excel Dashboards in Under 15 Minutes</a>
Developing expertise to build comprehensive Business Solutions

For over 10 years we have provided a portfolio of business tools to address everyday business tasks and problems, covering all the business functions. We appreciate that busy executives do not have the skills or time to develop comprehensive tools and want to spend their time addressing the business problem rather than developing a suitable tool. To respond to that need all our solutions can be used straight out of the box (10-minute learning curve) and provide clear user information, via a simple user guide. While addressing an explicit business problem, use only standard features of Excel, PowerPoint, etc with no fancy macros, passwords, etc. so that they can be fully customised by any executive with basic skills in the relevant platform. Platforms, such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint are continuously enhanced and now provide features, including AI, to form a very powerful basis for comprehensive business solutions. For those executives, who wish to enhance their expertise in these platforms, we are delighted to have teamed up with <a href="http://www.mothresource.com/377-22-3-23.html">My Online Training Hub</a> to provide a portfolio of online training and skills to enable those executives to develop an extensive portfolio of solutions tailor-made for their business. We will continue to offer you a comprehensive portfolio of products/templates that provide business solutions that can be used straight out of the box using only standard features of the relevant platform. However, if you wish to enhance your skills, pop over to <a href="http://www.mothresource.com/377-22-3-23.html">My Online Training Hub</a> and check out the large collection of skill enhancement opportunities not just via the excellent online courses but also via superb <a href="https://www.mothresource.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=377&url=61" target="_blank">webinars</a> and informative <a href="http://www.mothresource.com/377-15-3-17.html">Excel Blog</a> postings to enhance your expertise by sharing quick tips, and showing you short cuts, and insider tricks.
Which tools are in your Strategic Planning portfolio?

Strategic planning is an essential process for organizations to stay competitive and achieve their goals. To effectively navigate the complexities of strategic planning, it is crucial to have the right tools in place. For some the array of tools can be confusing. Questions arise such as which tools should I use? Which ones are appropriate for which situations? Should I use them separately or in unison? In this section, we will explore some of the best practice strategic planning tools that can enhance your strategic planning portfolio. One widely used tool is the SWOT matrix, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This tool helps organizations assess their internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats. The SWOT matrix provides a comprehensive overview of the current situation and serves as a foundation for developing forward looking strategies.Another valuable complementary tool the TOWS matrix, which builds upon the SWOT analysis. It seeks to address criticisms of the SWOT Analysis regarding its inability to show relationships between the various categories. While the SWOT Analysis identifies Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, it does not show or make any links between them.The TOWS matrix on the other hand seeks to identify links between the various elements identified in the SWOT analysis. Internal strengths and weaknesses are compared to external opportunities and threats. Every link between the four individual factors can influence and impact each other and contribute to the overall strategic plan.It takes the identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from the SWOT analysis and helps generate specific strategies by matching internal strengths with external opportunities (SO strategies), internal weaknesses with external opportunities (WO strategies), internal strengths with external threats (ST strategies), and internal weaknesses with external threats (WT strategies).In addition to these matrices, another effective tool is PEST analysis. PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors. No business or organisation operates in a vacuum. This tool allows organizations to analyze the macro-environmental factors that may impact their business operations. By understanding these factors, organizations can identify potential risks or opportunities and adjust their strategies accordingly.Lastly, we have the SPACE matrix which stands for Strategic Position and ACtion Evaluation matrix. It is used to determine what type of strategy a company should undertake. The SPACE matrix consists of four quadrants where each quadrant suggests a different type or a nature of strategy: The two-dimension SPACE matrix axes are:Internal strategic dimensions derived from Financial strength (FS) and Competitive advantage (CA)The other axis is used to plot External strategic dimensions based on Environmental stability (ES) and Industry strength (IS)By plotting these dimensions on a graph, organizations can identify which quadrant their current position, relative to competitors, they occupy and determine appropriate actions moving forward. The two-dimension matrix suggests one of four strategies based on the four quadrants of the matrix. These are (a) aggressive, (b) conservative, (c) defensive and (d) competitive.While each of these tools can be used individually depending on specific needs or situations faced by an organization during strategic planning processes; collectively they provide a comprehensive framework for analyzing internal capabilities as well as external factors influencing the business environment.When deciding which tools to add to your strategic planning portfolio, it is essential to consider the specific needs and goals of your organization. By incorporating these best practice tools into your strategic planning processes, you can enhance decision-making, identify new opportunities, and effectively navigate the ever-changing business landscape.Templates for all the tools discussed here are available in our <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/strategic-planning-tools-templates/" style="background-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif;"> The Business Tools Store Strategic Planning</a> section.
Frameworks & Tools for a Long-term Strategic Planning Approach

In a <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/https://businesstoolsstore.com/blog/is-your-strategic-planning-focus-and-planning-time-horizon-appropriate-to-your-needs-/?_ga=2.158815164.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">previous post</a> we considered the need for different approaches and tools for strategic planning exercises that had different planning horizons and timeframes.Here we look at scenarios where enterprises, involved in fiercely competitive markets, may have to consider a paradigm shift to address long-term survival while others may wish to pursue exponential growth by creating/capturing new potential high growth opportunities. In such circumstances a major strategic shift may be based on a three year plus enterprise strategic planning horizon.A Blue Ocean Strategy and Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Framework are approaches that may be appropriate and useful in the analysis and strategy development process. A <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/strategic-planning-tools-templates/blue-ocean-strategy-ms-word-templates-portfolio/?_ga=2.264672905.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">Blue Ocean Strategy</a> is a marketing strategy in which a business makes a paradigm shift away from existing highly competitive saturated markets to creating and capturing new demand in a largely uncontested market where competition becomes irrelevant. This cannot be achieved overnight, and the focus is on the longer planning horizon.This contrasts with a red ocean strategy which focuses on beating the competition in saturated markets to gain an increased share of existing current demand and usually involves making a value/cost trade-off. This cut-throat competition turns the ocean blood red. On the other hand, the undefined and unexplored market resembles the vast and deep blue ocean.A blue ocean strategy is appropriate for enterprises that are fighting in a fiercely competitive market which contains major players, i.e., strong competitors. Typically, in such fiercely competitive saturated markets supply exceeds demand and companies struggle to survive over the long-term.Identifying these extremely attractive Blue Oceans can be particularly challenging.Structured brain storming can also form a valuable tool in identify such highly attractive markets, where competition is largely irrelevant.A portfolio of tools is available to assist development and implementation of a blue ocean strategy Tools such as:The Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create (ERRC GRID) The <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/104/788/Blue_Ocean_ERRC_Grid_Template-2__99279.1620734762.JPG?c=2?imbypass=on&_ga=2.166639288.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create (ERRC) Grid</a> is a matrix tool that drives companies to focus simultaneously on eliminating and reducing, as well as raising and creating which helps the enterprise to create a new value curve which enables it to address new blue ocean opportunities.It focuses the enterprise to systematically analyze every factor the current industry/market competes on. What new blue ocean type markets can be created by eliminating or reducing some of these factors or alternatively raising them or creating new factors. The factors that really impact the customer should be created or raised, while eliminating/reducing factors that do not. This creates a new product offering that does not currently exist, in a space without direct competitors.The Six Paths FrameworkThe <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/104/791/Blue_Ocean_Six_Path_Framework_Template__57531.1620734884.JPG?c=2?imbypass=on&_ga=2.96990105.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">Six Paths Framework </a>helps to successfully identify commercially attractive blue oceans by reconstructing market boundaries. It can be used to address the transition from red ocean to blue ocean under six classifications. These six classifications are (a) industry (b) strategic group (c) buyer group (d) scope of product/service (e) functional-emotional orientation and (f) timescale.Three tiers of noncustomers and Buyer Utility Map help to identify and/or create new blue markets. As with all significant change, implementation of the blue ocean strategy can be challenging. The Four Hurdles to Strategy Execution is appropriate to address the implementation issue.<h3>Three Tiers of Noncustomers</h3>The blue ocean strategy identifies <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/104/785/Blue_Ocean_Three_Tiers_of_Noncustomers_Template__41616.1620734368.JPG?c=2?imbypass=on&_ga=2.98369049.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">three tiers of noncustomers</a>. In a red ocean strategy, an enterprise seeks to retain and expand their existing customer base to grow their share of a saturated highly competitive market. This frequently involves a value/cost trade-off.The blue ocean strategy seeks to identify opportunities beyond the current market. To identify blue ocean opportunities is useful to segment noncustomers. The three tiers of noncustomers framework allow the enterprise to segment the noncustomers into three tiers. This provides a deeper understanding of the totality of noncustomers and helps to identify blue ocean new markets and latent demand within the entire noncustomer domain.The tier analysis, where the characteristics and needs of the particular tier is understood, helps to identify potential blue ocean opportunities that can be exploited by responding to and satisfying those identified needs.<h3>Buyer Utility Map </h3>The <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/products/104/images/789/Blue_Ocean_Buyer_Utility_Map_Template__52405.1620734790.1280.1280.JPG?c=2&_ga=2.267867912.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465">Buyer Utility Map</a> focuses on the six stages of the buyer experience cycle. It enables analysis of the appropriate levers to use at each stage of the buyer cycle.By identifying how the buyer experience is currently handled (red ocean) it focuses attention on other potential paths (blue ocean). Other paths of interest are where a product or service can potentially respond to the buyer needs or wishes at each stage of the buyer cycle. It further identifies which of the six utility levers, i.e., the ways in which companies provide benefits for their customers, are most suitable to use at each stage. By mapping a potential new offering on to the buyer utility map, one can see if, and how, the new path creates a different value proposition from existing offerings and if the value proposition is such that it should be incorporated into the blue ocean strategy.<h3>Four Hurdles to Strategy Execution</h3>As with all significant change, implementation of the blue ocean strategy can be challenging. To be valuable and relevant all strategies must be supported by a clear implementation action plan.The <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/104/792/Blue_Ocean_Four_Hurdles_to_Strategy_Execution_Template_1__35182.1620734914.JPG?c=2?imbypass=on&_ga=2.162509754.743226429.1623846977-1654047248.1500906465" target="_blank">Four Hurdles to Strategy Execution </a>template lays out four areas that must be addressed in implementing something that is a significant departure from the current model as a blue strategy implementation.These are:<ul> <li>The Cognitive Hurdle: The action to be undertaken convince/get the buy-in of key individuals of the need for a strategic shift.</li> <li>The Resource Hurdle: Identification of the additional resources required for the strategy implementation.</li> <li>The Motivational Hurdle: What actions are planned to motivate key players to drive the implementation and overcome obstacles?</li> <li>The Political Hurdle: Are there political issues to be overcome and, if so, how is this to be done. </li></ul>Porter’s Five Competitive Forces<a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/porters-five-5-competitive-forces-template-for-word/" target="_blank">Porter’s model of competitive forces</a> assumes that there are five generic competitive forces that influence the competitive power of the key players in the relevant business environment.As one considers strategic options, <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/78/368/Porters_Five_5_Forces_Template_Word__65354.1539178067.jpg?c=2?imbypass=on" target="_blank">Porter’s Five Forces model</a> helps to profile the broad competitive marketplace environment. It helps to identify where the real balance of power resides and where the real long term strategic competition is likely to come from.The analysis provides a strong input into any strategy to “play” in a particular market or market sector.The <a href="https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-61110/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/78/502/Porters-Five-Competitive-Forces-Radar-Chart__41756.1595514846.png?c=2?imbypass=on" target="_blank">five competitive forces identified by Michael Porter</a> are:<ol> <li>Intensity of rivalry among Existing Competitors</li> <li>Bargaining power of Suppliers</li> <li>Bargaining power of Buyers</li> <li>Threat of Substitute Products</li> <li>Threat of New Entrants</li></ol>By analyzing how each force affects the enterprise, and by identifying the strength and direction of each force, you can quickly assess the strength of your position and your ability to make a long-term sustained profit in a particular market or industry under consideration. Competitive Rivalry: Competitive rivalry can be intense, and it is difficult to establish a strong position, where there is a large number of equally sized competitors, and no one is able to establish a sustainable advantage. Value proposition, cost base, brand, breath of product/service offering, customer service can all provide a degree of competitive advantage in such highly competitive environments.Markets with few competitors can be attractive but short-lived. What is the strategy to be in a strong and sustainable competitive position as the market becomes more crowded with new entrants? What is the cost of switching for existing customers?Supplier Power: Where suppliers are in a strong position, they tend to drive up prices and make the sector less attractive. Are there a large number of suppliers available to you? What is the cost of stitching suppliers? Technology, regulatory/legal frameworks, cost base and supply chains can all influence the power of suppliers and their ability to drive up prices. Does a supplier input price to your product of service have a significant input into your total cost base and pricing to customers?Buyer Power: In situations where buyers exert power, they tend to drive prices down and make the market less attractive for new entrants. Do your customer buyers demand significant customization requirements? How do they define value? Is price the main driver or can you offer enhanced service at a competitive price?Threat of Substitution: Where the customer can substitute alternative products that can provide the same benefits and the cost of switching is low it will tend to weaken supplier’s position, drive down prices and make the sector less attractive. In sectors with high levels of technology innovation/change and low switching costs, the risk of product or service substitution is high. This can mean that the wishes and problems of the customer can be addressed in a way that offers better value (lower cost or enhanced offering). Is increased investment in technology internally or partnership with a technology supplier an appropriate strategy for you to consider?Threat of New Entrant: If the barriers to entry for new competitors are low, and there are no significant fixed costs and few economies of scale, then new competitors will tend to quickly enter the market and weaken your position. Can you protect your position by entering longer term supply contracts with your customers? Can your value proposition, brand, after sales service, ease of doing business with, and other options form components of your competitive strategy?
Is your strategic planning focus and planning time horizon appropriate to your needs ?

Strategic Business Planning is a process undertaken by most enterprises on an annual basis. Most of us probably develop business strategy and implementation plans with a particular emphasis on the immediate 12 months<img src="https://store-61110.mybigcommerce.com/product_images/uploaded_images/strategic-planning-scope.png" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; width: 702px;">However there different areas of focus and timeframes, where a different strategy development approach may be appropriate.The planning focus can be:<ul> <li>Largely concentrating on the enterprise and typically having a focus on the immediate situation and next 12 months.</li><li>Medium term one to three years, focusing on the current and related market sector/segment growth, and centred on elements like competitive advantage, market coverage, development of expertise and reorganizing resources.</li><li>Enterprises involved in fiercely competitive markets may have to address long-term survival while others may wish to pursue exponential growth by creating/capturing new potential high growth opportunities. In such circumstances a major strategic shift may be based on a three year plus enterprise strategic planning horizon.</li></ul>Tools available to address the longer-term horizon of three years plus include a Blue Ocean strategy and Porter’s Five Competitive Forces framework. A Blue Ocean Strategy is a marketing strategy in which a business makes a paradigm shift away from existing highly competitive saturated markets to creating and capturing new demand in a largely uncontested market where competition becomes irrelevant.Porter’s model of competitive forces assumes that there are five generic competitive forces that influence the competitive power of the key players in the relevant business environment.By analyzing how each force affects the enterprise, and by identifying the strength and direction of each force, one can quickly assess the strength of your position and your ability to make a long-term sustained profit in a particular market or industry under consideration. The SPACE Matrix and Grand Strategy Matrix tools address the macro environment and provide a transition from the long term and offer a pathway to the more familiar one-to-three-year strategic business plan.The term SPACE matrix is derived from Strategic Position & ACtionEvaluation matrix and it focuses on strategy formulation as related to the competitive position of an organization. Should the overall strategy theme be aggressive or conservative? Other options include strategies focused on being defensive or competitive. The Grand Strategy Matrix is a useful framework to suggest alternative medium to long-term strategies. It allows the user review strategic options within a market framework where markets are defined in terms of market growth rates and the enterprise’s competitive position.There is a portfolio of familiar tools for the one-to-three-year planning process. The portfolio includes, PEST, PESTLE, SWOT, TOWS, BCG Matrix, GE-McKinsey Matrix, Ansoff Model, Perceptual/Market Mapping, and Competitive Analysis.The <a href="/strategic-planning-tools-templates/" target="_blank">Business Tools Store strategic planning portfolio</a> includes templates for most of the tools.<a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/https://businesstoolsstore.com/blog/frameworks-tools-for-a-longterm-strategic-planning-approach/" target="_blank">Subsequent blog posts</a> will address each of the sets of tools for the different planning horizons.
Is there a disconnect between your strategic plan and operational implementation plan?

Development or updating the organization’s strategic plan is frequently a key management exercise undertaken each year.There are many tools that support and facilitate the <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/strategic-planning/">strategic planning</a> process such as <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/swot-analysis-chart-templates/">SWOT</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/pest-analysis-template/">PEST</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/porters-five-5-competitive-forces-template-for-word/">Porter’s Five Forces</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/boston-consulting-group-bcg-templates/">Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/www.businesstoolsstore.com/space-matrix-template-excel/">SPACE Matrix</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/sales-and-marketing/competitor-competitive-analysis-template-excel-using-radar-chart/">competitive analysis</a>, etc. (Templates for these tools are available from the <a href="htpps://www.businesstoolsstore.com">Business Tools Store</a> )Strategic gap analysis is an excellent approach to developing a highly effective strategic plan. It identifies the gap between the current status and performance and the “better” performance one wants to achieve by the end of the planning period.However strategic planning becomes an annual academic exercise if it is not supported by a clear well-defined operational implementation plan.One needs a roadmap and bridge from an effective strategic plan to the all-important operational implementation action plan.A Checklist: Ensuring an effective framework and methodology is establishedWhat are the individual operational plans to close the gap?Has the percentage contribution to closing the gap of each been identified?Are there any “Quick Wins” that can be quickly/easily implemented that would make a significant contribution to closing the gap?Have the appropriate target KPIs been identified?Are there intermediate target milestones for the achievement of the KPI? Have the financial resources and human resources for successful implementation been identified?Has a SINGLE executive been identified, who is designated as being responsible for the successful execution of each complement of the Implementation Plan? Without a single executive being responsible one runs the risk of “everybody and nobody” being responsible.Addressing each item on the checklist will help to identify and document the various actions, timeframes and responsibilities that must be undertaken, and by whom, to ensure that the gap is closed within the desired timeframe and the strategic plan goals are met.The <a href="https://businesstoolsstore.com/">Business Tools Store</a> provides a <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/finance/strategic-gap-closure-implementation-plan-excel-template/" target="_blank">gap closure template</a> to support the successful closure of the strategic gap and as a result achievement the strategic plan goals.
End-of-Year Leave Carried Forward Feature added to Annual Leave Management Excel Template

We have updated our <a href="https://businesstoolsstore.com/h-r-admin/annual-staff-leave-planner-excel-template-for-scheduling-management/" target="_blank">Staff/Employee Annual Leave Management Excel Template</a><a href="https://businesstoolsstore.com/h-r-admin/annual-staff-leave-planner-excel-template-for-scheduling-management/" target="_blank">Staff/Employee Annual Leave Management Excel Template</a> to include a feature that provides an option for enterprises to document, schedule and track leave carried over from one leave year to the next.Many enterprises have an employee leave policy that allows staff to carry forward unused leave to the following year. It is a feature than has been frequently requested and are delighted to now include it in the Leave Management template.As always we are pleased to hear of new features that our users may want.
Strategic Analysis: A Choice of Tools

We are all familiar with SWOT and PEST as strategic analysis tools. Many will be less familiar with the Strategic Position & ACtion Evaluation matrix, frequently referred to as SPACE Matrix tool.The SWOT and PEST tools are both environment (internal and external) analysis tools.PEST takes us through a process that scrutinizes the external environment within which the organization has got to plan and operate.The four factors Political, Economic, Social and Technical will all to a greater or lesser extent impact the organization. The PEST analysis helps to get clarity around these factors that will impact the planning horizon and get consensus among the members of the planning team.SWOT analysis focuses on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It helps to identify and clarify the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations as it seeks to develop a strategy and plan that can pursue and exploit the identified Opportunities while taking due cognizance of identified Threats, all within the external environment identified by the PEST analysis. <a href="http://www.businesstoolsstore.com/categories/Strategic-Business-Planning/">SWOT and PEST analysis templates </a>for Excel, Word and PowerPoint are available at<a href="http://www.businesstoolsstore.com/">The Business Tools Store</a>. Our <a href="http://www.businesstoolsstore.com/strategic-planning-workbook/">Strategic Planning Workbook </a>can be used to facilitate and record the PEST and SWOT analysis outcomes. The SPACE Matrix The SPACE matrix takes a slightly different approach to the analysis. It is used to determine what type of strategy a company should undertake. It focuses on strategy formulation especially as related to the competitive position of an organization. The matrix is broken down to four quadrants where each quadrant suggests a different strategy:<ul><li>Aggressive </li><li>Conservative </li><li>Defensive </li><li>Competitive</li></ul>The outcome of the analysis is plotted and the result depicted in one of the four quadrants to suggest the appropriate strategy. The SPACE Matrix AnalysisThe SPACE Matrix uses two internal and two external strategic dimensions in order to determine the organization's strategic posture in the industry. The four areas of analysis are:Internal strategic dimensions:<ul><li>Financial strength (FS)</li><li>Competitive advantage (CA)</li></ul>External strategic dimensions:<ul><li>Environmental stability (ES)</li><li>Industry strength (IS)</li></ul>Financial Strength (FS): This internal dimension can include return on investment, leverage, liquidity, capital, risk involved in business etc. as key factors.Competitive Advantage (CA): This internal dimension can include market share, product quality, product life cycles etc. as key factors.Industry Strength (IS): This external dimension can include growth and profit potential, financial stability, technological know-how etc. as key factors.Environmental Stability (ES): This external dimension can include technological change, rate of inflation, demand variability, price range of competing products etc. as key factors. Which Analysis Should Use?The SPACE matrix can be a useful initial analysis to identify a generic strategy. It can also be useful in assessing strategic alternatives suggested by the PEST or SWOT analysis.A <a href="http://www.businesstoolsstore.com/space-matrix-template-excel/" target="_blank">SPACE Matrix template</a> is available for Excel in the <a href="http://www.businesstoolsstore.com/">The Business Tools Store</a>.
Another Satisfied Customer

We set ourselves the highest standards in customer service and go the extra mile when necessary to ensure we have a satisfied customer. So it is really pleasing when we get a thank you message and genuine appreciation from our customers.We recently received message on Friday night at 10.00 PM (our time) from “Tom” who had placed an order earlier in the week for MS-Word and MS-Excel General Electric GE McKinsey Matrix Templates. Tom had “ a meeting on Monday morning where I need to make use of the MS-Word and MS-Excel General Electric GE McKinsey Matrix Templates and hope that I will be able to obtain them sometime early this weekend so I'll have the time to work with them.”He couldn’t find our email with the download link. As it was out of hours we picked the message up on a cell phone while having dinner with friends.On checked back we confirmed that the order had been received early in the week and an automatic email with the appropriate download link had been generated and sent to Tom. The most appropriate action was to generate the email again and to suggest to Tom that if he didn’t receive it to check his SPAM folder or other possible locations where it might be hiding.   Despite exhaustive searches he couldn’t find it, so time for plan B; we downloaded the files and user guide and sent them as an email attachment.We were delighted to receive an message from Tom shortly afterwards that confirmed that he had received them and the following comment “Please allow me to say that in handling this matter, you displayed a level of support and customer service that is rare these days and that which I've not seen in a long, long time. You went above and beyond making sure I received the files in time for me to make use of them. Your diligence in doing whatever it took to get these files to me is highly commendable and greatly appreciated.”Thank you Tom and we happily when back to our dinner friends in time for coffee and all before 11.00 PM
Useful under-utilized Excel Features

<h1> </h1><h1> </h1><h1>3D Analysis in Excel</h1>Excel has always been a very popular and powerful business tool.One of the features of Excel that is easy to use and is frequently under-utilized is the Excel Bubble chart.The power of the Bubble chart is that it allows us to present data analysis in three dimensions and can be significantly more informative than visually trying to aggregate multiple two-dimensional charts in the mind’s eye.By way of example, we are all familiar with customer surveys where we ask our customers to rate our performance under a number of headings such as quality, customer service, etc. The results are usually informative and useful. We can add a second dimension by asking to customer to also rate the factors in terms of their importance to him/her. By plotting the data in two dimensions we can now see how our performance is rated for the factors that are most important, are therefore most significant, to the customer.However, customers’ approach to rating can vary from those who give everybody a 5 out of 5 to those who are much conservative and only rate above 3 out of 5 in exceptional circumstances. “If I gave somebody a 5 there would be no room for improvement”Asking the customer to rate you on how you compare to competitors and other suppliers provides an additional insight into how to interpret the ratings he/she had given you.For most of us the goal would be to be rated very highly for those factors that are most important to the customer and to be perceived to be much better than our competitors.An Excel Bubble chart allows you to analyse the results in 3D; the X-axis being used for the rating you receive for the factor, Y-axis for the rating of the importance of the factor and the size of the Bubble indicating how you compare with the competition.A low X value, a high Y value and a small Bubble spells trouble and indicates that you have a lot of work to do on this factor as you are rating as being poor for a factor that the customer considers important and you are perceived to be much worse that your competitors.A “picture being worth a 1,000 words” the chart allows us to quickly hone in on the factors where we need to make improvement most urgently. There are many other examples where a Bubble chart can prove useful. In the case of a SWOT analysis the X-axis might indicate the size of the SWOT factor (Strength, Weakness, etc.) the Y-axis indicating the immediate or short-term importance/impact of the factor and the Bubble size indicating the more long-term strategic importance/impact of the factor.The <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/swot-analysis-template-excel-swot-matrix-template-excel/">SWOT analysis</a> example can be seen on the <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/">Business Tools Store</a> together with other examples for <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/ansoff-market-product-matrix-excel-template/">Ansoff matrix</a>, <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/bcg-matrix-template-excel/">Boston Consulting Group (BCG) chart</a> and <a href="https://www.businesstoolsstore.com/general-electric-ge-mckinsey-matrix-template-ms-excel/">GE/McKinsey 9-cell matrix</a>.