Planning for Success
In the world of Business Consultancy, we speak to a lot of businesses and companies, in fact that’s pretty much all we do. Our role is to engage with the business owners and key management to understand what makes them tick. How is revenue generated, what factors impact margins, and what are the overheads? But most importantly, what are the obstacles that are hidden in a business that are preventing higher revenue, stronger margins, reduced overheads?
When a business truly engages with this process, magic happens. Sometimes simply having an outside perspective can reveal an unknown obstacle that’s easily removed, resulting in greater productivity and success. Sometimes the required change can be larger and involve a much more complex solution, but the key component is that we need to understand your business, and sometimes we can help you understand it a little better too.
This process of consultancy and planning is proven to have success, it’s been tested time and time again with established business.
However, there is a new trend that we are seeing in the market when engaging in discussions with small businesses. We are noticing that there is a lot of resistance and hesitation when we look at creating or investing in a five-year plan, and often we are told, “We don’t know what we’ll be doing in five years”.
It’s easy to react to this with confusion, I’ve been guilty of it. But we need to ask ourselves, who enters a business without planning to grow and be successful for at least five years? Surely, we plan to be in business for more than five years, or why start?
We think this short-term uncertainty is reflective of several market trends that might include:
• What is the economy like in our region right now?
• How long has this person been in business?
• The pace that technology and product demand changes in this modern, connected world.
• Is it not perfectly natural to have uncertainty?
There is a trend for people in today’s market to grab an idea and run with it, start up a business and do their best on a hope and a dream. This passion needs to be fostered, encouraged, developed! Not met with confusion!
We need to find ways to engage this new category of small business owner, help them feel secure in their choices, but also encourage some degree of future planning. Maybe five years is too long.
A 2018 report titled The Economy of Shopping Small by American Express and RFi Group found that almost one in three small business operators feared they will be insolvent in the next three to five years.
What if instead of pushing the “usual”, we plan for three years? And then we can review and adjust our course to meet the developing needs of the business.
If you are the person this editorial refers to, don’t be afraid to engage with a consultant and think a little bit ahead. Be open and tell us all about you and your business. We’re here to understand what you do from top to bottom and help you plan for success. Let’s consider if you have the right tools to maximise your margins, to improve your productivity, and to earn you the lifestyle and work/life balance that you dream about.
We can tailor the conversation to suit a shorter term. You can feel secure with us, because if you’re not successful, then we’re not successful. Call us today and we can work together to help you achieve the most you can and live the life you want.
