Return on People Benchmark

How Does This Year’s 25% Increase in the Return on People Benchmark Affect YOUR Business?

The 2017 Return on People Benchmark data has just been released, with important implications for your competitiveness.  The average Return on People has increased by 25% in the past year – has yours?  If not, you need a plan to improve profitability beyond what you are doing today AND you need a plan to leverage the wins others are seeing.  Can I help?

Download your copy of the Infographic and find out how YOUR industry has performed. In the meantime, I’ll give you a sense of what the Return on People Benchmark means for your business.

What’s Return on People?

First of all, let’s define Return on People – a rarely-used KPI based on calculating Profit per Employee that’s a direct measure of productivity AND competitive advantage because it measures how well you turn talent into value.  I’ve been tracking this metric for 10 years, and the insights are always invaluable.

Seeing just how high the bar has been raised by some of the largest companies in the world is a great catalyst for setting your own bar higher and building a proactive Profit Plan to achieve more.

Unless you’re exceeding the benchmark return for your industry, it’s time take a different look at the systems and processes you have in place to ensure you’re optimizing revenues (not all revenue is GOOD revenue) and eliminating all of the small, subtle profit leaks above AND below your gross margin line.  Profit leaks include:

  • Doing “bad” business with customers who cost you more than they’re worth (but no, you don’t have to fire them)
  • Leaving money on the table because you’re not sure how to price for value (there is a way to know how)
  • Incurring the costs of issue escalation, resolution, and subsequent reworks or compensation.
  • Profit leaks include the high costs of:
    • attracting new customers
    • losing business to a competitor
    • being leapfrogged by a competitor with a better idea
    • inefficient processes and procedures that slowly but surely drain the life-blood from your company.
    • and more!

Do these challenges sound familiar? The solution is having a systematic way to give you confidence that you’re:

  • doing profitable business with every customer
  • maximizing overlooked opportunities to do more good business (every business has them, including mine!)
  • eliminating unnecessary costs from your system (without dramatic cost-cutting)
  • pricing for value and not leaving a penny on the table
  • differentiating from your competitors AND staying ahead of them when it comes to new value-add products or services.

Think that’s impossible?  These profit leaks are exactly what I’ve learned (the hard way) to overcome in years of successful turnarounds, and in the profit work that I’ve done with clients for the past 17 years.  My approach is light years away from conventional accounting approaches (you’ve already got a competent CFO who helps you with those, right?), and takes a customer-focused, people-centric, and profit-powered approach using a proven system that delivers results.  My clients typically see a significant increase in Return on People within just a year or two, and that’s what I want for you – whether we work together or not…  Download your complimentary copy of the 2017 Return on People Benchmark and follow the instructions to understand where you are at today… and where you could be.

Because it’s not really about profit.  It’s about the possibilities and potential in your business that profit makes possible.

How Will the Sharp Uptick in this Year’s Return on People Benchmark Affect Your Business?

There are numerous ways, but let me just share 2 of them here:

  1. Effectively reach out to your customers for new opportunities – not just with sales pitches, but by finding new ways to serve them. If their profits are increasing, then they have money to invest with you in products and services that deliver value.   Last year there was a downtick in the ROP Benchmark – partly driven by oil, but as I dug deeper, I spotted a different interpretation – many companies were investing in gathering themselves for the next big leap.   It’s not unusual to see a sawtooth pattern in each company’s ROP as they invest in positioning for growth.  Many made BIG investments in 2015 and 2016 – in people, in technology, and in acquisitions.  If those were your customers, you may be well positioned for success as many of them will be ready to invest again when you focus your sales messages on driving growth.
  2. Reevaluate what your ROP should be, and build a plan to leap a grade within the next year, because if your competitors were the ones making the investments, there may be trouble on your horizon. Continuing to do what you’re doing today is unlikely to create a quantum leap.  The work that I do engages every employee to focus on profit within their span of control, in a way that’s highly engaging and rewarding for them.  We all like to win – when you show them how they can play a bigger role within your organization in less time per week than they’re spending on email per day, you trigger some pretty amazing leverage.

84% of companies will score a C, D, or F on the Return on People Benchmark, and low scores are a powerful catalyst for transformational change when your people decide they want to be the best.  The best companies are transparent with their scores, but if that’s not your corporate culture, simply reach out, I’ll show you the Plan B to engage them.

Where do you rank?

I want you to take the next two steps:

Step 1:  Download the Return on People Benchmark Infographic, benchmark your current state, and commit to achieving a higher grade in the coming year.

Step 2: Take action. On August 14, I’ll be opening the final 5 seats in ProfitU™ for the remainder of the year.  It’s the proven in-house, online learn-by-doing program that shows you AND your team exactly how to implement the P.R.O.F.I+T Roadmap, fully supported and mentored by me on a virtual basis after a live, game-changing workshop where you and your team you’re your customers on profitability (the easy way), and get everyone onside to improve profits in the blink of an eye.  It may or may not be the right fit for you, but let’s hop on a 30-minute call – not so I can give you a sales pitch, but to talk about your current ROP status and profit challenges.  Email me to book your 30-minute Profit Accelerator call.  I guarantee that whether we decide to work together or not, you will leave our call with at least 1 actionable strategy or tactic that will impact your bottom line.  If it makes sense for us to work together, I’ll send you further details – no obligation.

99% of business leaders have good intentions but fail to take action.  Will you break the mold and increase your Return on People?

#1 Bestselling Author, International Speaker, and Accelerator Anne C. Graham is on a mission to help 5 million business leaders and their teams double their profit per employee – or more – in less than one year, in less time per week than they’re spending on email per day. Her new book Profit in Plain Sight includes the 5-step proactive P.R.O.F.I+T Plan to do it.  Connect with Anne on Twitter and LinkedIn.