ZingURbiz Home

"I increased the gross margin from 3% to 26% in three years without harsh cost-cutting or additional sales."

ABOUT ME

Hi, I am Michel Goedegebuure. I am also known as 'The 5x-Guy' because of the extraordinary profitability that I help clients achieve.

After many years in different industries, getting results for my employer, I followed my calling. I help manufacturing companies increase their margin by a factor of five or more.

What I enjoy most about these transitions is the team spirit and camaraderie in a winning team.

In the companies that I led, well being of employees and leaders surged.

Scroll down to learn more about me and how I can help you.

FIVE LITTLE KNOWNS SECRETS

Here are five little known secrets that I discovered in 20+ years of leading teams

If you focus on cost, your costs increase

It seems sensible to focus on cost if you strive to increase profitability. I have found this one of the gravest mistakes you can make!

The effect of focus on cost is that all departments try to achieve lower expenses locally. The result is that departments bicker about who bears a cost. If these costs are unavoidable, deciding who pays does not improve the company result. The discussion costs time introduces friction and animosity in the organisation, and indirectly increases costs.

Secondly, materials and parts are substituted by those with lower prices. Short term, the effect is lower cost. Over time, the materials and components are of lower quality with decreasing prices. These inferior products result in more repairs in production and increased warranty cost after delivery.

I propose removing all activities that do not add value.
Traditional management books and courses teach a subset of the knowledge you need for a successful transformation

Leadership books focus on what leaders must do to create an environment for teams to perform. These are on the strategical and tactical levels. The operational level is missing; How do you as a leader drive the efficiency of the production processes?

Operational excellence books describe the tip of the iceberg on achieving efficiency on the production floor. The readers learn the operational level of leadership.

Lastly, books about strategy execution describe how employees are engaged to drive the strategy.

A comprehensive combination of initiatives in leadership, operational excellence, and strategy execution increases the effectiveness of the transformation.
People do what they think you are expecting

Many managers conclude that their team members are incapable or lazy when they see these people are not doing as instructed.

Everyone wants to keep their job; it is their rice bowl. Therefore, people want to do what you tell them to do, provided it is legal, ethical, and reasonable.

Why would people risk losing their job by intentionally going against the management's wishes?

I have learned that misinterpretation causes misalignment without fail.

I propose that managers spend most of their time hands-on with their teams to ascertain the correct interpretation of the company objectives.
Company transitions are not an art but a learnable skill

Transforming a company is often portrayed as an art. Only skilled and experienced change managers can achieve the company's ambitions.
Since the knowledge is scarce, the costs of hiring an expert are high.

From experience, I know that culture change is a complex combination of manageable and straightforward initiatives. Each activity is easy to grasp and explain to employees. Leading teams through these steps merely takes time and effort.

You can achieve your organisation's ambitions if you know which actions to initiate and in what order.
Transforming a company to high performance is not a project

Often, a separate team is set up for change projects. The reason is, most likely, that the successful transition is critical for the company. By allowing a team to focus on only the strategic objectives, the managers think they maximise the success rate.

The opposite of the management's thinking is the reality. The operational departments lack ownership and involvement by establishing a parallel organisation for the change program. The separate department has an indirect influence on the operations.

If the transition is of strategic importance, the line managers must take responsibility.

MY STORY

Many people ask how I developed my quintuple gross margin framework. Here is a short run down.

Firstly, I love reading. I have read well over one hundred business books since I started as a university student. I tested what I read in a quest to find higher efficiency in the teams under my care.

These trails often failed at first, so I adapted my approach until I achieved the objective.

Next, my work is important to me; I love the challenge it presents. Because of this, I often discuss ideas and experiences with friends and colleagues. I learned a lot from these talks and the feedback I received.

I am also blessed with a creative mind and a persistent attitude. I take approaches that seem impossible to apply in my organisation and transform it into successful applications.

Lastly, I constantly challenge the status quo and strive for higher efficiency; for myself and my teams.

The combination of these personality traits and hobbies has helped me develop the Quintuple (5X) Margin Framework.

HERE'S WHY MANY INITIATIVES FAIL

It is not easy for leaders, such as you, to find the right combination of activities on a strategical, tactical, and operational level.

Management books often target one approach and give a model to improve that.

If you would read any book and only apply the models and methods, you improve your company's performance. The results are 10%, 20%, or even as much as 30%, assuming a perfect application of the author's teachings. These are excellent results, but not the 5X that my teams and I have achieved.

So what can you do?

You could follow the route that I traveled to discover how to improve your margins by a factor of five. As I shared in the previous section of this page, I read hundreds of books, had thousands of dialogues, and failed many times to succeed eventually.

If you take this journey, it will take you years, and the outcome is uncertain.

There is a shortcut that is much cheaper and faster. We can work together. I have developed a comprehensive framework to help you.

I offer different levels of support. Some clients do not want to spend too much and only acquire my book. The book contains everything you need to quintuple your margins successfully.

If you want or need results faster, you can follow my online courses or enroll in a program with more intensive support.

THE FRAMEWORK

The quintuple (5X) gross margin framework consists of seven parts to align all strategic, tactical, and operational activities.

COMPANY DIRECTION

The company's direction is critical to aiming all energy on the same goal. People need to understand the goals, know why achieving this direction is vital to the company and them, and grasp their role in achieving the objectives.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Peter Drucker is credited for saying that every system is perfectly designed for the outcome it achieves. With this logic, you must be prepared to lead your organisation through a complete transformation if you aim to achieve the current gross margin five times.

Knowledge of how to manage change is vital to successful change.

LEADERSHIP

The organisation's leader sets the standard.

A simple statement. The difficulty is in setting the standard and which is the right one to put to drive the company's performance to such heights.

TRUST

Trust is vital to the performance of teams. Without trust, information is kept quiet by team members to leverage for their advantage. This is one of many examples of how lack of confidence introduces friction in processes.

Understanding the building blocks of trust is critical to your work and building a high-performance team.

EFFECTIVITY

It would help if you had time to execute the steps in this framework. In this part of the system, you are handed tips and tricks to lead effectively while spending less time. The time you make available you can use to guide the pivot of your company.

ENGAGE STAFF WITH GAMIFICATION

If your staff is highly engaged in the transformation, you unleash all power and energy available in your enterprise. The challenge is how to raise engagement.

By introducing a winnable game, your teams' commitment will surge.

CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

Nothing happens if you do not upgrade your processes. Eliminating waste -activities that do not add value to the product- from your operations is critical to achieving higher margins.

These improvements are based on the company direction and led by you.

RESULTS

In the end, all that matters are the results. Here are some of the results that my teams have achieved under my leadership:

MARITIME

Increased use of Personal Protection Equipment from 60% to 100%
Product defect frequency reduced by 90%
Production hours/product reduced by >40%
Increase of gross margins from 3% to 26%

AEROSTRUCTURES & INDUSTRY

Reduction in total cost per product of 25%
Over 100 improvements implemented by production workers without management intervention or involvement
Introduced an innovative business model for automated manufacturing to the industry

PRODUCTS

FREE CHECKLIST

Users answer seventy-six questions in six sections. Each section is closed with generic pieces of advice based on the total score in that section.

After the self-assessment portion of the document, an approach to start developing your company is given.

Not to worry about sharing sensitive information; you perform the assessment when and where you want. You decide if you share the outcome and, if so, with whom you share.

GET THE CHECKLIST

E-BOOK

I set out my entire framework in my new eBook, How to quintuple -5x- your gross margin. The approach is firmly rooted in models that I share with their source. I also share numerous practical tips, tricks, and examples of my application.

The book has 190+ pages, of which 172 pages are about the theory and application of the framework.

You will be surprised by the price that I charge for this book.

I take a tremendous risk by sharing everything for such a low price.

I WANT TO KNOW MORE

ONLINE COURSE (coming soon)

Teachings come to life when explained face to face. I present one topic of my system per session. You take the (planning) steps to execute the teachings between the sessions.

You can opt for online training in two forms:

1) PRE-RECORDED COURSE

Following a pre-recorded course has the advantage that you can view it when it fits your schedule. You can later revisit the session; multiple viewings raise the understanding.

2) VIP COURSE - DELIVERED LIVE

Live sessions have the advantage that you can ask questions when topics are unclear. You also learn from the questions of other participants.

At the start of each workshop, the attendees can ask for a review of their work.

15-MONTHS GUIDED PROGRAM

I offer a step-by-step 15-month program. Each quarter, your team and you take steps to implement a performance culture and drive the increase of the margins.

Two times in the 15 months, you measure your organisation's maturity using a self-assessment.

I offer the 15 months program in two variants:

1) DO IT YOURSELF

In this version, you work primarily independently. At critical moments, I review the work you and your team have done. I give feedback to sharpen the plans and methods.

2) DONE WITH YOU

In this version, I guide you through every step. I join each session with you and your team to coach you. My support is intense at the start of the process and tapers off when you are ready.

I am selecting beta test clients

To further develop these programs, I am taking on beta clients.
As a beta client, you receive the full value of these programs, and I give you a discount to thank you for your trust in me and for giving me feedback on the product and process.

If you are interested in joining this select group, please book a strategy call.

▼

EXECUTIVE COACHING

I can also work with you in a one-on-one coaching setting.

"You ask the right questions to make me reflect on how I can be a better leader. I have worked with multiple coaches, but none of them have delivered the value you have."

Source: one of my regular coaching clients.

If you want to learn more, please book a call to investigate if I can help you and our fit. Naturally, you will not be charged for this call.

SCHEDULE A CALL

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL

If you are unsure what is the best product for you or want to speak to me on any other matter that I can help you with, you can book a free, no obligations half-hour strategy call via the button below.

BOOK A STRATEGY CALL