Last week, I showed how to create a fun graphic with Einstein writing on a chalkboard. Unfortunately the link was down … but it’s back up now. Check it out and have a blast.
I’ve never been a big fan of Microsoft’s paperclip … but now I’m loving it. With the help of imagegenerator.net you can create your own clippy message to add fun to a presentation, or … play a trick on your IT folks.
Click here to create your very own Clippy.
Thanks to imagegenerator.net!
Tips from Samantha Samsel
Great desktop news/RSS reader - Outlook like pop up alerts, good interface, built in browser, auto feed detect, articles saved for offline viewing and maybe best of all, it’s free.
http://www.download.com/RSS-Bandit/3000-9227_4-10375933.html
1. Put your cursor on any cell in the data and Insert Chart
2. In the chart wizard, select “Custom Types”
3. Select Line-Column on 2 Axes
Then, click Next >
4. Select the data range (do not select the total in row 22)
5. Select – Series in Columns
Then, click Next >
6. Add the titles
7. Then, click the Legend Tab
8. Delete the legend, by unchecking the box
9. Then, click Data Labels
10. Click Value
11. Then, click Finish
Finally, we’ll make the Pareto Chart pretty. (Neatness counts)
1. Click the MRR data series
Then, click delete
2. Double click on the Cumulative % Series
3. Change the label position to Above
Then, click OK
Hint – if the labels are too big, or too small, go to the font tab and resize the font
Next - change the MRR Scale to thousands
4. Double click on the Y Axis
5. On the Scale tab, click Display units in Thousands
Then, Click OK
Change the Y Axes Scale to maximum of 100%
6. Double click on the second Y axis
7. Change the maximum to 1 (this is equal to 100%)
8. Then, Click Patterns
9. Click None on the Major Tick Mark Type
Then, click OK
Format the plot area (save toner by making the area white)
10. Double click the plot area by clicking on the little black box in the corner
11. Select None in Border and Area
Then, click OK
Change the color of the bars
12. Select all bars by double clicking on the series
13. On the patterns tab, select gray for the area.
Last step, format the chart area:
14. Double click on the chart area
15. On the patterns tab, click None for Border and None for Area
You now have a pareto chart that looks like this:
I saved this template in the BusinessToolsBlog Shared Files Google Group - become a member and download for free today.
On Monday, I will show you how to dynamically link this chart to a PowerPoint presentation.
Question from Rachelle Haid
We have a large order volume from a single customer this month. Some of these orders are adds and some are drops. The customer has a porting clause in their Service Agreement. Should I count the adds as new sales and the drops as disconnects, or should I net the amounts and only count the incremental dollar amount as a new sale?
Answer:
Simple answer - A sale is when we provide new service. A disconnect is when we stop providng service. A rate change is where we change the amount a customer is paying for the same service.
We pay commission on Net Installs not Sales, therefore there are no compensation issues with the above. The sales team is only compensated when the company earns more money.
The bad news is that these types of orders negatively impact our churn number. We need to make sure that we capture a reason code of “Porting Service” on these disconnects so that we can manage and forecast these appropriately.
Tips from Samantha Samsel
Check out Viggo’s free service to manage content via blackberry. You can even select custom feeds … like bearonbusiness.com or businesstoolsblog.com.
Just send this URL to your phone & open:
http://downloads.viigo.com/bb/vr/4.0/ViigoSE/ViigoSE.jad
This quick video explains how the service works:
Don’t panic. You don’t need to be an econ major to create this simple chart.
When we ask for a Pareto chart, we are asking you to provide a visual depiction of the most important information. A Pareto chart makes it easy to figure out the 20% that matters.
Example – This is a pareto chart of a Sales Funnel
When your team reviews this chart, everyone knows which opportunities are the biggest. This should provide a clear direction on the most important opportunities.
How do I create this chart in Excel?
Start by sorting the data from the highest dollar opportunities to the lowest dollar opportunities. Put your cursor somewhere in the data, then,
1. Click the toolbar and select Data
2. Then Sort
3. Select Revenue (this is the column that you want to sort)
4. Descending
5. “OK”
Next, you’ll need to calculate the cumulative percentage.
6. In Cell C2, divide Customer 1’s Revenue (B6) by the Total Revenue (B22)
Trick – by adding a $ sign before the B and before the 22 ($B$22) you will be able to copy this formula and it will always divide by the total in cell (B22).
7a. In cell C3, you will calculate Customer 2’s % of revenue (B3/$B$22) and add it to Cust. 1’s % of revenue (C2) (B3/$B$22+C2)
7b. Then you will copy the formula in cell (C3) to the remaining cells – thru C21. The total in C21 should equal 100%.
Trick: double click on the little black box in the bottom right corner of cell C3 and the formula will copy down to cell C21 in one step.
Now that your data is ready, I will show you how to build the graph. (check out tomorrow’s post)
If you can’t wait … here is a link to other sites with directions: Quality Toolbook.
At the Bear’s request … I am posting a few examples of pareto charts we use at Zayo.
(Customer names were hidden on purpose)
Stayed tuned for instructions on how to build these useful charts later this week.
1. Top 15 Customers from a MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) & Monthly Usage perspective.
2. Gross Sales Pareto for 1Q 2008 through May 8, 2008
3. Gross installs for March and April
4. Sales funnel - top opportunities
5. Top 15 customers by manager, by region and by product
I was writing a blog post last night and my 11 year old son - Billy Mays - asked:
How many hits do you get per day on your blog?
I told him … not that many yet, but it’s growing.
Always empathetic, Billy responded,
I know what you mean, I only get 2000 hits per day in my Neopets store.
I just rolled my eyes and laughed … this is the same kid who hacked into our wireless network with his PS2 to trade Pokemon with kids in Singapore.
Matt Erickson, Zayo Bandwidth’s snarky marketing guru, is very smart. One of the reasons I am impressed with Matt is that he always seems to have a good grasp of the details that really matter. A few years ago, Matt used to use the words “80:20 rule” a lot. Now, I think it’s so ingrained in his thinking that he just focuses on the 20 percent that produce 80 percent of the results as normal course of business.
Last week I was asked how I handled having so many priorities. She asked, “How do you keep your sanity when you have so many projects pulling you in so many directions.”
I incorporated what I learned from Matt in my answer, “Of course I try to get everything done. But, I apply the 80-20 rule and if anything has to slip, if something isn’t going to get done, I try to make sure it’s not part of that 20 percent.”
The reporting tool we use to understand the 80-20 rule is called a Pareto chart. These charts are among the most powerful tools you will use in business. Over the next few days, I will show you how to create these charts … with pizzazz!
Did you see the new “jobs” button on the top of the blog?
We will be posting Zayo jobs here. This is also a free service for any other reader who wants to post a job.
Thanks for looking!
Any advice given on this blog is my own opinion and not that of anybody else. That said - any advice taken from this blog is at your own risk. 
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