Make Business Planning Part Of Daily Tasks
Lots of books and articles tell you how to improve your business. They often present ideas for you to put into action, programs that are separate and in addition to your “regular work.”
To me, it sounds sort of insulting to tell you to “work smarter, not harder” and then compound the insult by suggesting you accomplish that by adding some “business improvement” projects to your already considerable workload.
Productivity gains will happen naturally when you make it a habit to approach more insightfully — look more deeply — into the work you are already doing. Start with some of the tasks already on your must-do list.
Take a moment and list three things you already have to do right now. Then come up with a couple of questions the answers to which would make your business better. To help you get started, here are some examples:
Use payroll preparation as a mini staff evaluation.
Look at each paycheck and the name on it. Imagine it was a week’s (or month’s) pay for work for that amount of time. What did your company and its clients get for the money? Would you hire that person for another week (month)? What would that associate have to do to increase the value? What can you do to help that associate give you that incremental value?
Leverage a hiring decision to generate ideas for business improvement
What is not happening now in your organization that you hope will happen by bringing this employee on board? What will you want to see and hear that will tell you this new employee is filling that need? Imagine you are giving this employee his/her first performance review. What would you want to be saying about the year in review?
Turn an upcoming sales call into an “Ideal Client Exercise.”
What do you know already about this company? Who do they already do business with? Are they already getting the products and services you offer from some other supplier? What will make doing business with you different? Think of your best client relationship: What makes it great? How can you determine whether this client has what it takes to be a client like that?
Expand your preparation for a discussion about an employee’s performance to include a re-evaluation of the position itself.
In what way has this employee failed to meet your expectations? Did you communicate these expectations clearly and did the employee appear to understand what you expected and agreed that he/she can and would perform accordingly? Did the employee have the tools and training he/she needed to perform? Did he/she ask for help? What steps have been taking to help the employee? What would you like to see and hear going forward that will tell you things are different?
Use the negotiations for renewal of a lease or vendor contract to rejuvenate the relationship.
In addition to the rights and obligations of each of the parties, does the lease document contain a short statement about the business goals of each party and what each party really wants and expects from the relationship?
Take on a new partner or renegotiate an agreement with a current partner.
Why would this person be important in accomplishing your business goals? What would she/he bring that is different from and complementary to what you intend to bring? What are the three most important compatibility issues you foresee in this relationship?
Use preparation of Schedule C for your tax return to identify client-building and cost-saving opportunities.
Look deeper into each line item, e.g., Gross Receipts – Where is your revenue coming from? What resources does it take from you? Cost of Goods Sold and Operating Expenses – What are you spending to produce what you’re selling and to run your business? What would you like these numbers to look like this time next year?
Improving your business doesn’t have to mean implementing some big, new initiative that drains your resources and distracts you and your team from your regular work. Instead, look inside your daily tasks for clues to make things better naturally.