Focus, Focus, Focus | QSFP’s | Hand Sanitizer Dispensers for Every Need | Business News
Happy Thursday!
Welcome to the CablesAndKits CEO daily email. Read more about this email by scrolling to the very bottom.
Focus focus focus …. At CK we do a lot of things – Networking, servers, and even safety supplies. But at the end of the day, you can’t do everything in the world and be the best at it all too. Some things that we sell have a history that no ones knows. When we did the inventory liquidation sale a little while ago we were getting rid of oddball things that hadn’t sold in a decade. And I wondered – who added this to the site and inventory and why?? And why did it take us so long to realize it wasn’t selling?
That sort of thing can happen as a result of a lack of focus. I once heard Jim Collins ask an audience if they had a todo list, followed by asking if they had a stop doing list. He said that sometimes what you choose to stop doing is more important than what you choose to do. It declutters your mind, and in our case, our warehouse, so you can spend your energy on what matters the most to achieve the goals you have.
When the inventory reduction sale was in full swing we were talking about what we would do after it was over. Do we keep selling some of these products? For the most part, no. What about Ethernet? We have this random color in an odd length but it’s Ethernet! No. If it’s not selling, we don’t need it. We are not here to be a museum. So in many cases we made the decision to get out of the random obscure item business.
How did it happen? Lack of focus. Lack of accountability. The goal is to execute our strategy of Product Management and Product Marketing to solve for both.
By cleaning up the catalog a bit we cleared the way for all our effort to be put on what was remaining. Then, we took another look at what was left and decided where we wanted to focus our energy, and be “best in the world”.
Those items are fiber, Ethernet, transceivers, and switches. Basically, connectivity. We are good at those things. Maybe even great at them. We have a good supply chain and great operations and a loyal customer following. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, we are going to focus focus focus.
What about everything else? Some things we will say “no” to and get out of. Some things we will say yes to but without a lot of dedicated attention at first. Then later we will either hire and assign a product marketer to that group of products, or eliminate it.
You’ll hear about all this as it unfolds, and there are no immediate plans to kill anything off. In fact, we are building up new server offerings and are about to launch Yealink VOIP phones. It’s just that we will focus our brand, homepage, and marketing around the 4 major food groups mentioned above. By doing so, we believe we can get even better at those things than we are today. That will be good for us, and great for you.
Where are you spread too thin? Just because something is a good thing doesn’t mean it’s the right thing, or the best thing. What do you need to put on your stop doing list?
Interesting ……
“Umop apisdn” is “upside down” spelled upside down, but uses almost entirely different letters of the alphabet. How’s that for a brain twister?
Today’s Product Spotlight from Rerun (AKA Rebecca):
Happy Thursday everyone!! I can’t believe how fast this week is flying by! Today I want to point your attention to a cutting edge transceiver module, the QSFP-40G-SR! We have seen an increase in the popularity of these 40G modules and it’s easy to see why! The future of connectivity is FAST and this module is here for it! This incredible transceiver features speeds of up to 40G over a wavelength of 850nm using a MTP/MPO connector. This versatile transceiver can be utilized in a 4x10G breakout mode to allow for interoperability with 10GBASE-SR and SFP-10/25G-CSR-S (in 10G mode) interfaces up to 100 and 150 meters on OM3, and OM4/OM5 fibers, respectively. This high bandwidth module is hot-pluggable, and uses low power consumption!
If you are not yet familiar with QSFP modules, check out our Learning Center article “What are the differences between SFP, SPF+, QSFP, and QSFP+” to learn more! I think you’ll be impressed!
From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:
Do you plan on opening your business back up and allowing customers to come and go? Have you already? Well, it’s a very good idea to give customers an option to sanitize before entering. I know I’ve personally found myself in many situations where I either forget to bring my hand sanitizer or have run out and thought, “man I wish had some before going into this store”. Our Hand Sanitizer Dispensers are perfect for this! We even offer a bundle that includes the sanitizer! These are also perfect for when a customer wants to sanitize before leaving and going about their day!
We also have one of our popular dispensers on sale! Our Desktop Dispenser is perfect for keeping in the office or even the entrance to your home! These work with both gel and liquid hand sanitizer but we recommend liquid as some gels may clog the dispenser (easy fix by just running liquid through it).
We’re Hiring for our Product Department! We have an opening, as detailed by Rerun (AKA Rebecca), below. Is this you or someone you know?
Product Marketing Specialist – Fiber Cables
Have you been reading these CEO emails thinking “Wow, CK sure sounds like a fun place to work! Wish I could be a part of the team and contribute to the CEO daily email like Joe the friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer does!”? Do you love product marketing? Do you revel in the recurring nature of processes and relish accountability? If so, listen up! We are looking to expand our Product Team by bringing on a Product Marketer for Fiber Cables. This is a very process driven role in which the goal is to grow Gross Profit $ and increase inventory effectiveness by effectively marketing the products. We are looking for someone who is exactly like Joe… err… I mean, we are looking for someone who is hard-working, dedicated, diligent, organized, analytical, a great written communicator, and has a GREAT attitude and “can do” spirit! If you are still intrigued, please review the job post (and pay extra attention to the part about the CK Way – We take culture seriously here and are looking for team members who truly “fit”). If you think you do fit and are interested in the position, please send us your resume at [email protected] along with a written note telling us the character attributes, values, and interests that describe you and influence how you approach life and work. Who knows, you could be our next friendly Product Marketer!
As always, please let me know how I can be of service to you. If you need assistance with something, advice, or even if you just need someone to pray for you, I am here and listening.
Blessings,
Craig Haynie – CEO
CablesAndKits
P.S. Don’t forget to go follow us on Facebook here: CK Facebook Page.
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Tech / Business News to Start Your Day With:
- Right at 30,075,600 cases worldwide, with 21,827,500 people who have recovered, with 945,800 deaths AND 6,829,300 cases in the US with over 4,119,800 people have recovered, with 201,400 deaths.
- Hurricane Sally made landfall early on Wednesday near Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 2 storm, dumping feet of rain over the Gulf Coast cities. Sally is now moving through Georgia very slowly causing massive flooding, damage, and power outages.
- Five weeks after postponing its football season over safety concerns, the Big Ten Conference reversed course Wednesday, saying it would play this fall.
- The University of Georgia faced criticism for saying it would not have a voting site on campus this year because of safety concerns, but it will be allowing football games to take place with people in the stadium.
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 262 points or 0.9% and pointed to an opening loss of more than 200 points for the average. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures both lost 1%, mostly due to tech and airline stocks and the Fed giving no stimulus package indication.
- Apple agreed to hand over iCloud data belonging to a Seattle arson suspect believed to have used Molotov cocktails to set fire to a pair of police vehicles at the end of May – a change in tide from the tech behemoth’s unwillingness to do so in previous federal investigations, court papers show.
