By Phillip Collinsworth Benchmarking for dollars is not just for Fortune 500 companies anymore, and it does not have to be a difficult or expensive process. A simple benchmark may be as straightforward as studying a competing website or auction to learn a few tricks you can apply to your own product or service offer. Benchmarking is a process any business or organization can use to compare itself with a competing firm. Ideally, the benchmarking process should focus on a specific area of your operations, such as customer service, pricing, marketing, etc. A limitation to this concept is of course your ability to access information about your competition. The first step in any benchmarking effort is to first assess where you are at today. For example, a company that wants to reduce shipping costs would start by reviewing its current shipping policies, developing costs per item shipped, and discussing product shipment options with various shippers, such as UPS, Fedex, and the USPS. Once you know exactly where you are at relevant to shipping costs, contact a benchmarking collaborative to assist you in collecting relevant data from other companies. Shipping is a fairly generic operation that most companies do, so it is possible to collect pertinent information from firms outside your industry. Search on Google for companies specializing in this service. A cursory search of the word "benchmark" retrieved over 24 million hits on Google. Benchmarking is all about closing the gaps between what you do and what your competitors do. In your analysis of shipping operations in other companies, if you find somebody shipping cheaper or better than you, implement a plan to adopt their procedures into your company. Benchmarking is a continuous process of observing what other companies are doing and tweaking there successful policies and procedures to fit your corporate culture, goals, and customer service policies. The benefits of deliberate benchmarking may help your company remain on the cutting edge regarding its company policy, processes, and procedures, and will create an atmosphere of continuous improvement essential to remaining competitive in today's marketplace. Phillip Collinsworth is the author of several books available on Amazon. He hosts a website offering free information on wealth building, and finding income opportunties through Internet marketing. Visit: http://www.wealthsearch.org Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phillip_Collinsworth http://EzineArticles.com/?Benchmarking-For-Dollars&id=574982 soma watson overnight
buying soma
