Balancing the disciplines of Business Success

Whatever the business you own or manage (or both), the path to success is precariously balanced on the efficiencies of three pivotal disciplines: your Goals; the quality of The Plan to achieve those goals; and the Resources available to support and deliver that Plan.

Carefully considered and balanced realistically, these components create a steady base from which to reach that pot of gold. But is it really possible to unlock the profitable opportunities that hide behind the dramas of day to day business leadership?

 How do you set your goals and how do you measure your achievements?

If we sit around the table at an intime PROFIT Business Builder Boardroom Event to discuss goals, we would probably find that our personal objectives are similar - to build a sustainable wealth that will take us into a comfortable, healthy and enjoyable retirement. But if we compare corporate goals or at least the plans needed to achieve them, they may well be very different.

Here are some thoughts: 
Start with pragmatic goals and make them SMART:

Specific – It is likely that, to some degree, your business goals will reflect your personal goals and vice versa. The statement of intention should include specifics such as what, why, who, where and when. If the goals are vague they’ll be difficult to achieve by virtue of definition.

Measurable – you must be able to track progress and measure effectiveness, which follows on from specifics. Include values in your goals such as quantities, values and deadlines.

Agreed – whether or not you are the sole decision maker in the business, your decisions affect others either in the organisation or at home. Consider and include others for agreement in and of the planning process.

Realistic – goals should stretch current and past expectations. Such goal statements are broader than budgets and perhaps more strategic than targets. Is the goal achievable within the constraints of assets and skills within your control?

Time-bound – your goal(s) should have deadlines … by when will the goal be achieved? As well as the core deadline, key points should be included to help evaluate progress along the journey to success.

Well-considered goals deserve an equally well-considered Plan detailing the marketing, sales and operational processes needed to achieve success.

Business growth planning takes on many forms. The simpler, more specifically you detail your Plan, the more likely you’ll be to stick to it. Keep your planning relevant to the now. Rather than a strategic overview with SWOT appraisals of market positioning (we assume you already know pretty much where you are in competitive terms and your product, price, brand, customer balance have already been considered), this is a tactical Plan.

Your Plan should budget and schedule the additional sales and marketing activity needed to lift your product / service exposure to your core or fresh prospect base, sufficiently to achieve your Goal.

Very simply and generically – what might you consider?

Who / where / what is your market. Do you know your audience and how to reach them? Take a look at your sales in the light of the 80:20 rule and loosely model the 20% of your clients who deliver that 80% of your sales - you want more of them.

Image / message / presentation. Review your USPs and tighten the corporate proposition in a language your audience (that 20% model above) understands. Then think about its visual and physical presentation in a letter; on an e-mail; a postcard; banner advertisement; Google Ad lineage etc.

Consider the media opportunities to put your revitalised message on your audience’s desks, laps, screens, breakfast tables. Price the options and prioritise the activity. Then tweak the message to suit the platform / reader environment – one size does not fit all.

With audience, message and media sorted, schedule the invigorated activity ensuring that you have operational procedures in place to track the response and measure the effects. Employ Google ads with tracking through AdWords. Drive a Squeeze Page to build your database and ‘follow’ web visitors with a highly targeted Re-Marketing campaign.

ANYONE can employ such techniques. This is not highbrow jargon-driven marketing for the Big Boys (and Girls). It’s real, it’s sensitive … and it works.

Activity / activity / activity. The bad news - it doesn’t do it by itself. More sleepless nights? The Goal, The Plan, The Resources. Two out of three does not really work and without the Resources to effectively action The Plan…

Effective Planning is just one of the essential business development tools covered as part of the 7 Step Business Builder programme from intime PROFIT.

Through a series of Boardroom Events and One-to-One meetings over a period of 90 days, Business Builder members learn and apply valuable techniques designed to help them grow the businesses they own and manage.

The One-to-One meetings tailor the techniques covered in group sessions in the Boardroom, to your own business, its status, market, resources and goals using intime PROFIT's proven Three Step Process ... to Review, Plan and Action:

Review - We look at the current picture and agree on your aims and objectives.

Plan - Then we identify the specific activities needed to move you closer to those objectives.

Action - And we help you to make the commitment, action the key elements of the plan, tracking results for further review.



Call, mail, view and start making a difference today:

Call intime PROFIT on 08456 437 497 or e-mail intime@intimeprofit.com

www.intimeprofit.com

Up to speed or just chugging along?

On a speed awareness course last week (46 in the 40 limited A14 road works at Kettering, 11.30 at night, quiet road…) the group of about 20 was asked … on a scale of 1 to 10 how good a driver do you think you are? Where 1 is ‘leave your keys and walk home’ and 5 is the average driver’.

Now, this was interesting for a number of reasons. When I have been asked the ‘on a scale of 1 – 10’ self-awareness question before to measure, for example, health, sporting activity, pensions adequacy, or just to feedback on the quality of hotel staff – I and I’m sure you have been told how poor the 1 is and how exemplary the 10 is.

But this course left its delegates to consider the values of 6 to 10 – just how good is 10 and how do you realistically measure it? Is excellence achievable?

This utterly mixed bag of social, age, sex, occupationally occupied and retired driving offenders answered 4, 5, 6 and a couple went as far as 7 – but nobody dared admit levels of perfection beyond that … and I’m an exemplary driver, it was just bad luck / one of those things / a lapse of concentration that I got caught.

In driving, the rules are clear and they even put signals and signs up all over the place to remind you and keep you on the straight and narrow…

…but in business management, there are no rules and signs, or if you see one (from the bank or solicitor) it’s probably too late.

Now try this question from the business driving seat:

On a scale of 1 -10 where 1 means you shouldn't be running a business and 5 means you’re just chugging along ‘but know you could do better – it’s just one of those things, but you haven’t been caught out … yet!’:

How well do you run your business?

Is it as profitable as it should / could be?

Are you generating enough qualified enquiries?

Are you converting the right type of client or customer?

Are you maximising the profitable returns on business turnover?

How good are you at stepping back to review the way you manage your affairs?

(And here’s a possible 10…) How much does business success equate to lifestyle achievement?

We can help you make a profitable difference to the business you run in exchange for a little of your time – time to work ON your business rather than just IN it.

We have the magic 7, aka the & Step Profit Multiplier

These are 7 determinable, manageable, changeable points each of which a relatively small change in business and marketing attitude / effort will increase the profitability of your business. Changing all 7 could (and we do mean could) increase your profits by 86%.

‘Hmmm’ – I hear you say (amongst other un-bloggable comments) and so did I when I first saw it. But it is very difficult to look at the platform without at least being intrigued and at best being inspired.

These are:

1. Number of leads
2. Conversion rate
3. Transactions per conversion
4. Transaction value
5. Profit margin
6. Number of referrals
7. Lifetime buying cycle.

The Profit Multiplier suggests that: ‘just a 10% increase in each of the 7 ‘Alchemy Keys’ would give an 86% overall increase in profit’.

Could this take my 5 score, to a 10 … well via the 7 it just might.

Well, we’re OK with the theory, but in practice every business (even within a sector) is different. We have different keys representing different pivotal opportunities where positive change equals growth.

It is precisely because of these differences that, in Kent, intime PROFIT are introducing a 7 Step Business Builder programme. This assumes / accepts that you are a business owner wanting to unlock the hidden profitability of the business you run.

The Business Builder then starts with an initial interview with an intime PROFIT (ITP) Partner at which ITP and the business owner / manager effectively vet each other’s suitability. The Business Builder member then joins a programme alternating a series of Boardroom events with One-to-One meetings.

Boardroom Events introduce members to innovative tools to develop business profitably. These are deliverable methods to help generate and convert increasing numbers of quality enquiries and to turn more of these to profitable business sales and / or relations.

One-to-Ones help tailor a Business Builder Plan to your specific business and objectives, to review your business activity and goals and help build a plan tailored to deliver these goals.

Great opportunities here for businesses in Kent.

Back to driving, but in tandem with driving your business. Just as Stopping Time is made up of Thinking Time and Braking Time, so Sustainable Profitability is a combination of Thinking Time and its affect on Profit.

If you want to take a little time out to think, click the image above, call us on 08456 437 497 or e-mail intime@intimeprofit.com. Start making the difference today.