Is Your Trade Exchange Missing Out On Valuable New Business?

If your barter company�s listing on BarterNews.com isn�t current, you are definitely missing out on new business. The web site BarterNews.com receives heavy traffic � with over 150,000 page-views every month. Entrepreneurs and corporate executives check the thousands of articles, the weekly �Tuesday Report,� and the �Contacts Section� of our site. They use the latter to find barter companies with which to do business.

Is your barter company�s listing up-to-date?

To keep your listing current is very easy. See the links below to (A) update any changes to your company�s listing, such as new location, phone number, web site or other information, and (B) if your company has not been listed.

Here�s how to get on board:

To make changes to your listing click here.

For new listings click here.

By Rob Prinzo

The end of August marks the end of summer vacation and the beginning of a planning and budgeting season. Developing a strategy does not have to be a major event requiring an off-site retreat, consultants, breakout sessions and flip charts. The following is a simple five-step process that can be conducted in one to two sixty-minute sessions resulting in an effective, prioritized plan for your projects. You may even surprise yourself and find that there are a number of initiatives that you can move forward without additional resources.

Step 1 >

Make a list of all your projects, big and small.

By developing a comprehensive list, you feel more organized, though perhaps temporarily overwhelmed.

Step 2 >

Categorize the projects in a spreadsheet using the following criteria:

• Size (big or small)
• Function (business process or technology)
• Type (new project or part of existing operations)
• Funding required (yes or no)
• Level of effort (high, medium or low)
• Resources (either requires additional resources or can be absorbed by existing staff)
• Organizational impact (high, medium or low)

Step 3 >

Determine which projects are dependent on the following factors:

• Other projects
• Funding
• Resources
• Business decisions

Highlight projects without dependencies, and rate the team�s ability to influence the dependencies. 

Step 4 >

Prioritize the projects based on the categories and dependencies, according to the following:

Low Hanging Fruit

These are small projects, with few or no dependencies that have an immediate impact and can be achieved with no additional resources.

Examples include implementing existing systems functionality requested by end users, cleaning up customer lists, or developing new ways to analyze data to make better decisions. 
 

Intermediate Projects

Theses are small- to medium-size projects that make a measurable impact with dependencies that can be influenced by team. Consider breaking up long-term initiatives into smaller projects, or breakout the upfront requirements� definition into separate projects. 

Examples include rolling out additional system functionality, gathering business requirements, documenting processes, or evaluating vendors in preparation of a larger project that is inevitable but unlikely to happen this budget cycle due to the economy. 
 

Long Term Initiatives

These are medium- to large-size projects that have a significant impact, but have significant dependencies outside the influence of the projects team.

Examples include business process transformation projects, new system implementations, or new strategic initiatives.

Step 5 >

Put it all together:

Based on your categorized list, start by developing a plan to knock out the low hanging fruit. Hopefully, this will clear your plate of some nagging initiatives and make room for larger projects when funding is available.

If you are unable to secure funding for inevitable long-term initiatives this year, try to get a head start by working on the intermediate projects that are considered pre-work for the long term initiatives. This strategy will prepare the organization for the larger projects, reduce the overall project timeframe for the bulk of the work, and spread the cost over a longer time period.

If you are ready to move forward on the long term-initiatives, make sure that your requirements analysis is complete. Most project failures are attributed to poor upfront requirements-analysis.

In reality you can't escape the inevitable, nor can you ignore the economic environment. However, having a realistic strategy developed through methodical planning will help keep your organization moving forward towards its long-term goals.

Rob Prinzo is founder and CEO of The Prinzo Group, an innovative firm that provides performance management expertise through project-assurance solutions for enterprise transformation and technology projects, as well as performance-measurement research, publications, workshops and training. His new book, No Wishing Required: The Business Case for Project Assurance, is available at nowishingrequired.com and Amazon.com.