Posts Tagged ‘small business consulting’
Friday, January 13th, 2012
SUMMARY: Aim high. Encourage risk taking and support failure. Hold people accountable for results. Provide constant feedback. Banish excuses. Pay for performance.
If you want to achieve success, you have to aim for success. That means that you need a marketing plan and a budget that push your people to achieve more. You won’t replicate last year’s success because the market keeps changing so don’t aim for yesterday. You need to aim higher and then innovate and implement your way to success.
Never tolerate a break-even scenario. There’s no such thing in the entrepreneurial world. If you’re not gaining, you’re losing.
Employees think and act differently from entrepreneurs and owners, as we all know. They are scared to fail. Give them permission to fail! They will learn that failure isn’t fatal and that you will support them. This is how they learn and how they will eventually start hitting home runs for you.
Constantly challenge your people to perform more, better and faster. They’re not motivated by a paycheque (but some can be, see below for more). They need challenges and feedback on their progress in order to raise the bar.
Listen for excuses and then observe your own behaviour. Are you tolerating, or even encouraging, excuses? Your business value, profit and performance are all your responsibility. No excuses!
Once you’ve got them focused on raising performance, as determined by measurable outputs and business results, then align this behaviour with performance based compensation. Don’t give them an annual raise because the price of eggs and milk went up, start adding performance compensation to their base. If they are in sales, most if not all of their compensation should be variable. After all, as a business owner, all of your compensation is ultimately variable, based on your business performance.
You will achieve more success by trying to win instead of trying not to lose.
Copyright 2012. Phil Symchych. All rights reserved.
Tags: Business Growth, business owners, Business Success For Life, Customer Service, don't tolerate excuses, entrepreneurs, leadership, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Business Growth | No Comments »
Monday, January 9th, 2012
There are two kinds of business start-ups: sprinters and marathoners.
Both have courage. Both want to control their destinies and both want to be successful. However, there are some key differences.
Sprinters
- Have experience and expertise in their business and industry
- Have learned the ropes on someone else’s dime
- Have good relationships with customers or prospects
- Generate sales and cash flow quickly
- Develop their operating policies and procedures on the fly, but get them on paper
- Focus on their core strengths and competencies, in other words, their ’sweet spot’
- Are comfortable saying “No” to requests or opportunities that don’t fit their sweet spot
- Have a culture of performance, accountability and success
- Attract great people and customers because of their positive attitude
- Are focused on a couple of key strategic goals; especially generating revenues and providing a great customer experience (quality, service, consistency, breadth, convenience)
- Can generate positive cash flow from zero to 60 days
Marathoners
- Have diverse experience but don’t have expertise in their new venture
- Are learning the ropes on their savings, investor’s or banker’s dime
- Think that their management skills are transferable to any industry or business
- Have good relationships with referral sources or prospects
- Generate sales slowly and steadily
- Are too busy marketing and selling to develop operating policies and procedures
- Try to keep everyone happy and will do just about anything for cash flow
- Have a culture of sales and customer focus
- Try to minimize their wage expense until they can afford to hire great talent
- Are focused on growth for growth’s sake
I’ve played lots of sports including hockey, tennis, golf (well, some people think golf is a sport, especially golfers), and participated in endurance sports such as triathlons. As soon as I was in a triathlon race, I was figuring out how to conserve my energy so that I could finish the race. My strength in cycling didn’t make-up for my swimming and running.
It’s the same in a start-up. You can’t think about endurance, the long-term or trying to do everything yourself. You have to focus your team on creating short-term success, like a hockey shift or a tennis rally or a hundred yard (meter) dash, in order to grow your business.
The critical success factor in start-up success is speed: attracting customers, generating sales, converting sales to positive cash flow, reinvesting in your business, achieving profitable growth. These are a series of sprints. If it feels like a marathon, something is wrong.
Can you see the finish line or are you climbing yet another hill with no end in sight?
Copyright 2012. Phil Symchych. All rights reserved.
Tags: Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, business wealth accumulator, Cash flow, create your own wealth, Customer Service, entrepreneurs, leadership, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, small business growth, Start-up, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Start-up | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
A friend of mine who consults to non-profit organizations asked me for advice on their financial situation. I realized that non-profits, who are designated as such because of their social nature and special tax status, require the same business basics as for-profit organizations.
To help a non-profit reduce it’s short-term financial stress, do these things:
- Ask their banker to advise on options regarding potential refinancing to reduce monthly payments.
- Have their accountant to advise the entire board and management team on financial matters.
- Analyze the gross profit of all major products and services to identify which ones are making them money and losing them money.
- They can’t shrink their way to greatness. Don’t cut staff or salaries any further.
- Find a major customer, supplier or sponsor who has a strategic fit with the client’s business and see if they can support or sponsor the client financially, through marketing promotions, purchasing, etc.
- Leverage public relations and social media to increase awareness and accessibility.
Running a non-profit has the same management and financial challenges of running a business. You need to use the social position and value to connect emotionally with your customers. You may even need to develop a low-cost or free sample service so that people can experience the value and benefits without any financial risk. Then, formalize the sales process to convert them to customers, clients and regulars.
Copyright 2011 Phil Symchych. All rights reserved.
Tags: Business Success For Life, Cash flow, improving cash flow, non-profit business, Phil Symchych, small business consulting, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Financial Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Podcast: Play in new window
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And now also on iTunes 
Tags: business, Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, Coaching, competition, continual learning, entrepreneurs, how to improve profit, leadership, Life Balance, medium business, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Phil's Profit Points, Podcast Series: Profit Points | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Podcast: Play in new window
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And now also on iTunes
Tags: business, Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, Cash flow, continual learning, entrepreneurs, how to improve profit, leadership, marketing, medium business, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, Sales, sales training, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Podcast Series: Profit Points | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Podcast: Play in new window
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Tags: business, Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, Cash flow, entrepreneurs, how to improve profit, leadership, medium business, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
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Monday, October 10th, 2011
I recently spoke to a business owner who wanted to maximize short-term profits and increase long-term capacity in the business. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to do both at the same time because they are in conflict. However, I hear the question often, and here’s why: The person isn’t thinking clearly, they are thinking like the owner/manager.
The worst job in the world, in fact, is ‘Owner/Manager’ because the two roles are always in conflict with each other.
Are you the owner, trying to achieve a return on investment from what should be a passive investment?
Or, are you the manager, trying to maximize revenues, profits and growth while consuming resources and spending money on training, advertising and other things that may not have an immediate payback-things that reduce short-term returns desired by owners?
Are you in conflict with yourself?
Just imagine what your role looks like to your employees? Are we maximizing profits today by cutting expenses because the owner is worried about a dividend or are we building for the long-term by increasing expenses and investments?
To help you sort out your roles, here are questions to think about.
Questions for owners:
- What is my return on investment?
- What is my return on equity?
- How can I build equity in the company?
- How can I protect my equity?
- How can I position my investment for eventual sale?
Questions for managers:
- How do we make our customers happier, improve our competitive position and grow revenues?
- How do we beat our budget and forecast (you have one, right?)?
- How do we allocate resources to increase our capacity and speed?
- How do I attract and retain key talent, regardless of what the economy is doing?
- How do I develop my people to replace me so that I can move up in the organization?
If you’re thinking about your wealth, you’re thinking like an owner. If you’re thinking about growing the company, you’re probably thinking like a manager.
Which hat are you wearing? Which hat should you be wearing?
If you’re not sure, here’s my recommendation: “You’re fired!”
Fire yourself as manager, build a management team, and give the team your performance targets that will meet your ownership returns of investment and equity. Then, get out of the managers’ way.
Copyright Phil Symchych 2011. All rights reserved.
Tags: business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, entrepreneurs, owner/manager in conflicting roles, Phil Symchych, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, small business leadership, small business management, small business owners, SME, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co., the roles of owner/manager
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Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Podcast: Play in new window
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And now also on iTunes
Tags: business, Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, Cash flow, contingency planning, entrepreneurs, how to improve profit, leadership, medium business, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Podcast Series: Profit Points | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
The phone rang and it was a former client that I hadn’t heard from in a few years. Instead of letting the call go to voice mail, I eagerly picked up the phone. That was my first mistake.
The person on the other end was not my former client but a new employee who had only been with the company for a couple of months and was in charge of a special project. He introduced himself and proceeded to tell me (he did not ask-strike one) to do something immediately because they had a deadline. The request just didn’t make sense which indicated the person didn’t know what they were talking about (strike two). He persevered to try to get me to do what he needed done immediately, aggressively and without regard for my schedule (strike three).
This was one of the fastest strike-outs that I had ever witnessed.
I informed the person that our conversation was over. If they had any further questions, the owner was to call me personally and I would be happy to help.
I sent an email to the owners advising them of the unprofessional behavior that their employee was displaying. If the employee was acting badly with me, they were doing it others, possibly their customers and probably their other business partners. The worst part is that this behavior reflected very negatively on my former clients, who probably cringed when they received my email.
Lessons:
- Your employees actions reflect on you, your business and your reputation.
- If an employee is acting badly or aggressively, it could be assumed that you – the owner – condone or even request this type of behavior.
- If an employee is ticking off your customers and suppliers, they’re probably ticking off your other employees, too.
- The first employees to leave will be your best ones…because they’re highly employable and usually won’t tolerate anyone else’s poor behavior.
- The last employees to leave will be the misbehaving one. You will probably have lost a few customers before this actually happens.
- Coaching can help improve behavior but the person needs to know the proper standards and be willing to change (that’s the hard part).
- You can train skills. You can’t train attitudes.
- As entrepreneurs, we all hire to0 fast and fire to0 slow.
- Never tolerate unprofessional, disrespectful or rude behavior.
As the baseball umpire yells, “STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT!”
Copyright 2011 Phil Symchych. All rights reserved.
Tags: how to get rid of lousy employees, lousy customer service, Phil Symchych, profitable growth, protect your reputation, rude employees, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co., you're fired
Posted in Leadership Growth | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Podcast: Play in new window
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And now also on iTunes
Tags: business, Business Growth, business owner, business owners, Business Success For Life, Cash flow, entrepreneurs, leadership, marketing, Phil Symchych, Phil's Profit Points, profit, profitable growth, Sales, small business, small business consulting, Strategy, Symchych, Symco, Symco & Co.
Posted in Podcast Series: Profit Points | No Comments »
