In our last article we discussed the notion that, for many, more is being said than actually done. Lots of talking and not enough walking. To stay focussed and ‘doing’, the #1 imperative for every business is to have a current business plan. It provides the perfect platform but in itself, it is of course not enough.

Here are our top five strategies to keep momentum going and keep on ‘doing’, and as a bonus – with implementable actions for each…

  1. It’s your business, you must drive it

In small businesses in particular, there will be times when everyone (the owner included) needs to pitch in, jobs and responsibilities blur and everyone’s busy trying to get the job done. But this can’t become a permanent state of business. At the end of the day, ultimate responsibility must rest with the owner to clarify roles and objectives for every staff member (including themselves). These actions will help:

  1. The owner’s two-week challenge. Record what you do/where you spend your time over the next two weeks. Then review – is this delivering the best bang for your buck? Where do you add the most value?
  2. If it’s in the plan (and the diary) it gets done and if it isn’t, it doesn’t; take five before deferring something that is in your plan.
  3. Maintain a healthy perspective and balance between the business and the personal.
  4. Always remembering – what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. (Article: The victory of the urgent)
  5. Don’t assume, be sure of your business performance (compared to peers). See 5 following.                                                     
  1. Other people can see things you can’t

Why is it that less than one in two owners are currently working with someone external to their business (coach, PDM, advisory board) to provide input and advice, act as a sounding board and, most importantly to hold them accountable? In our ever-evolving world, with shifts in trends, challenges and changes at almost every turn, it remains a mystery to us. These actions will help to unravel the mystery, allowing you to maximise your gains from working with an external coach:

  1. The pre-requisites to working with an external adviser are having an up-to-date business plan and a mindset to listen, accept and action.
  2. Meet regularly (say quarterly) for an established arrangement.
  3. A coaching relationship is first and foremost a professional one which is focussed on helping the business. Every meeting pre-supposes this and, in our view, should be supported with a written agenda, established timeframes and goals.
  4. Coaches should be appropriately compensated.
  5. Failure to deliver on an agreed undertaking once is acceptable, but if it happens more than once, we will assume that the relationship isn’t working – more is being said than done, in which case, invoke the ‘three strikes’ policy and unwind the relationship.

 

  1. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together

Given that staff are perhaps a practice’s greatest strength, they are also its biggest expense/investment. Begging the question, are you doing enough for your people to nurture, develop and retain? Are you achieving an acceptable return on your investment?  These actions will help:

  1. Ensure the right person is doing the right job at the right time. Hiring the best-fit person will go a long way, but it’s not enough. Every staff member deserves an up-to-date job description, clear and achievable objectives and access to the training and resources they need to do their job properly.
  2. Train, support, entrust and delegate (in other words get out of the way).
  3. Regular, meaningful and honest communication sharing wins, losses and learnings along the way will help to develop a powerful, engaged team.
  4. Clients love your staff (we know, we ask them regularly!) – hope you show you do too!
  5. How do you answer the question – why should I work for you? What’s your Proposition?

 

  1. A fair and equitable exchange of value

For a b2b relationship to be mutually successful there needs to be an exchange of value which is recognised and appreciated by all parties – dollars for benefits. Practices receive support from any number of providers; platform/product, tech, outsourced admin, professional associations and of course their licensee. How would you answer these questions:

  1. Are you getting value for the fees you’re paying to each of these. In fact, do you actually know how much you’re paying your providers?
  2. Are you satisfied with their input into your ROI?
  3. When was the last time they surveyed you, asked for your feedback and suggestions, and thereafter actioned?

 

  1. What a business needs most for its decisions is data about what goes on outside it. Only outside a business are there results, opportunities and threats. – Peter Drucker

When was the last time you benchmarked your business performance against its peers? Here are our ten favourite ‘doing’ metrics (unless stated otherwise, percentages refer to Australian practices):

  • Have a clearly documented longer term (3-5 years) strategic plan, 25%
  • Regularly seek external advice (B/PDM, coach or board of advice for example), 45%
  • Effective plan for succession/transition is in place, 5%
  • Seek client feedback, 26%
  • Client meetings per week per adviser, 6.5
  • Marketing spend as % of revenue, 1%
  • 75%+ of staff have up to date job descriptions, 63%
  • 75%+ of staff are aware of the business’ goals, 54%
  • Technology/IT spend, 6.37%* of total expenses. (* Advisely Index analysis: https://www.advisely.com.au/ )
  • Practice notional profitability, 28.4%

 

We hope that these will help you in the ‘doing’.

For your consideration

Unless specifically stated otherwise, all statistics referred to have been derived from Business Health’s latest consolidated HealthCheck, Benchmarker and CATScan analysis.