We had a candidate in for an interview a while back.  Before the interview he went to his local retail unit, checked out all the clients and competitors product range, reviewed their strengths & weaknesses and fed it back at the interview.  Needless to say, he got the job!

Whether you are in Operations, Technical, Hr etc Commercial Awareness is an essential ingredient to successful promotion within the business.  However, it can be an area that holds a lot of people back…

Here is our take on Commercial Awareness
Understanding how businesses make their money, their customer requirements and the challenges.  It’s also knowing how decisions can impact the business profits and success.

Good commercial awareness helps make informed decisions, contributes to the company’s success,  strengthens the employees reputation within the business and increases their chances of promotion.  It also stands them out as an Expert.

Here’s a few simple steps that will help develop Commercial Awareness:

The Company

  1. Look at the annual report.  How profitable is the business?  What’s the key message from the leaders in the annual statement?
  2. Understand the Profit and Loss account (P&L) – Go through the P&L report.  What costs can you improve?
  3. The Media – What are they saying about the company?  You can do a simple check by typing in to google search the company name followed by news.

Resources

  1. What are the major resource costs to the business?
  2. Which of these costs can you impact? e.g. through usage, purchasing etc.
  3. Is the company getting the best service from the supplier?

Competitors

  1. Who are the main competitors?
  2. How are they performing?
  3. Can you take advantage of their weaknesses?

Customers

  1. Who’s the target market?
  2. What do they care about?
  3. What can you do to impact them positively?

Industry Development
Stay up to date on what’s happening in your industry.  You can do this by subscribing to trade journals, attending trade shows, keeping an eye on the national newspapers etc.

So there it is, a few simple steps to developing Commercial Awareness.  It’s a quality we look for in our Interim Managers.  Being able to see the bigger picture is key to the long term success of all companies.  To see how our Interims can support you give us a call.

Regards,

 

Denis
Corvin Fox Interims
01775 729590