It's time once again to KISS your business!

Oct 18

What the heck is happening to your business in 2024? Are you doing what you said you were going to do at the beginning of the year? Be honest. Yeah, I didn't think so. Now, I'm not saying that you blew it and your company is going out of business, but......was it the year you expected? My next question is did you monitor your success/failure throughout the year to do anything about it? Or, are you "smokin' hopeium" at the end of the year hoping you made a profit? It comes down to this: Did YOU RUN our business in 2024 or did your business RUN YOU?

As a business consultant and turn-around guy, there are 4 areas of any business that need looked at to ensure success EVERY year.

1. Employees.

Let's start with employees because after all, they are the literal heart and soul of any business. When it comes to people, ask yourself the following question. Did your employees do what you expected them to do or what you hired them to do? There are very few business that will answer yes to this question.
If you answered no (Like most people will), you have to look ate more than just the employee as the reason. Did you hire (interview process is OFTEN the issue) and place people in proper roles? Did the company set proper expectations, are they attainable, and did the employees understand them? Do you know each employees' "hot buttons"? Did you leave the companies success in their hands without and monitoring?

2. Finances.

The next area that I want you to examine is your finances. Is your company in the financial condition or position that you planned to be at this point in time? This area hurts the most when it's not as expected. I don't care if you're a billion dollar company or a start-up running under the iron fist of investors, you have to monitor your money.
If you are not where you expected to be, ask yourself, do you have a financial forecast and if so, how often do you monitor it? If it's not on track, what did you do to correct it? What are the problems causing you to fail at your forecast? Are you looking at your revenue as a % (vertical accounting) or just happy with huge sales numbers? I've seen several companies have the highest year of revenues and go out of business because their % of expenses is up side down. It's not just about increasing revenue.

3. Sales (my favorite because without sales, you have no business)

Now we get to discuss sales, my favorite topic to discuss. Take a look at what is required require to sell. This is not about the people themselves but the sales process which includes product performance, pricing, competition, value proposition, etc.
Do you know your nut numbers? The number process in general terms is as follows: One must have a certain number of potential customers in your queue. Make a certain number of calls/emails/contacts. From those, there is certain number of reaches/responses from those calls/emails/contacts. From those responses, there is a certain number of possible customers. And finally, from those possible customers, there is a certain number of closes/wins that will be made.
Now that you have your nut number, do you monitor it weekly, monthly, quarterly for correction?

4. Product/Service (what is it that you do)

Too often we forget it's the WHAT we sell rather than WHO is selling it that is an issue. When is the last time you compared your product or service to competition, to technology, or even to future trends? Does your product or service present a value proposition to your customer? Does it perform as designed and this includes a service oriented business model?

I suggest anyone in a position of authority or decision making take some time to look at their business in terms of product/service. Be honest and look at things from a supposed to be rather than a because they are perspective.
Is there still a need? Are your customers happy? Do you have a recurring revenue from retaining customers? Have costs increased but your prices haven't?

There are many areas of a business to look at during a year end review and as much as it seems overwhelming, it's just a process if you know what to do. If anything I wrote here today resonates with you and you would like help figuring it all out, reach out and let's talk!

YOU STILL HAVE TIME in 2024 to right the ship!