AboutChris Hawkes Expertise I can help people to understand whether or not market research might help them address the
business decisions that they are facing. I can also help them consider the different types of
research that might be appropriate in their situation, and can help them estimate the costs of
the different methdologies, and the pros and cons of each approach.
Experience I've worked in a Fortune 500 company, as a market researcher for the last 8 years. I've managed dozens of qualitative and quantitative market research. I've conducted extensive market research in the US, and in over 20 other countries around the world as well.
Organizations American Marketing Association
Publications MarketResearch101.com and EzineArticles.
Education/Credentials I have a degree in Finance, which I realy haven't ever used, except to try to understand how my mortgage payments were calculated.
Expert: Chris Hawkes Date: 3/14/2008 Subject: Information systems
Question QUESTION: Financial information systems can serve many functions in a business. How might you use them in your business?
ANSWER: Hello Leigh,
There are all levels and types of financial tracking systems available. My first question would be what type of business are you in (manufacturing, channel partner, product development...) Furthermore, have you identified an area where you think you may be wasting money? Financial tracking systems can be a curse or a blesssing depending on the situaion - you spend too much time tracking pennies and you forget about the bottom line, or you don't spend enough time tracking anything and at the end of the month you're not sure where you're making and losing money.
I would probably start at the high level stuff first - tracking income and expenses and watching the bottom line of profit and comparing it to total revenue. I would also like to know where my break-even point is for a day or a month - how many widgets do you have to sell before you exceed your fixed expenses. Those ratios should give you a pretty good idea of how your company is doing overall - especially if you have some industry ratios to compare it to.
If you'll give me some more details I'll try to be more helpful.
Chris
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hello Chris,
The business is special occasion gift baskets. Manufacturing. Also which do you think I need in the first months of my opening of business? Financial accounting information information or managerial accounting information?
Answer Hello Leigh,
I've been working on an e-book that walks a potential business owner or product manager through the steps of recruiting customers, pricing product and getting the word out. I intend to sell it for $35, but it's not quite finished, and I would be willing to send you a copy of it - just to get your thoughts and comments on it (and maybe if you like it a testimonial that I could put up on my web site). It's not huge only about 45 pages and it's a quick easy read with photos and graphics and good explanations. If you're interested, just send me your e-mail and I'll send you a copy for free just to get some real feedback on the direction that I'm going.
Your questions about which types of financial software to buy, seem like they might be just a little bit premature. And I think that it would be nice to be in business for a little while and then figure out which pieces of information would be most beneficial to you, rather than buying first and realizing that you might have wished that you'd gone another way, or put your money into another activity first. Profit analysis won't do you a lot of good until you start moving a reasonable number of products.
Chris Hawkes
chawkes@marketresearch101.com
208.871.5717
By the way, I also do a little bit of consulting on the side if you'd like an indpendant opinion on any of this.
