Grow Your Business The Easy Way

Having worked with SME business owners for 15 years providing Business Coaching and Sales Development services helped prepare me for a new challenge I was about to face in 2017. 

In 2017 I was asked to save a small struggling manufacturing business, with 9 full-time employees on the brink of going into liquidation. This required a different approach from Business Coaching, I had become a consultant overseeing the development of the business and implementing a plan of action to steer the business to success.

The result was truly amazing. Not only was I able to save the business, I also guided the business to achieve a record Operating Profit, the greatest in its history.  The business did so well it was recognized with an award for its performance.

How did I achieve such a great result?

My first step was to develop a road map to follow that would save the business and turn it into a profitable enterprise.

We all understand the importance of knowing the numbers in business, over the years I found many SME business owners do not understand the importance of knowing their numbers, and those that did, invariably only relied on their Profit and Loss Statement (P & L) to gauge the company’s performance.  However, this is just one part of the puzzle, P & L Statements provide information from which a plan can be devised but offer very little to help guide a business to success. 

My usual approach as a Business Coach was to use a business calculator taking data from the P & L Statement and apply percentage goals such as increasing Sales by 5%, reducing the Cost of Sales by 5%, and reducing Expenses by 5% which will increase Operating Profit.  This is working top-down, and this approach was not going to work.

I required a solution that would work from the bottom up, that is provide exact numbers to include revenue targets (annual and monthly) and the activity required to achieve the revenue targets.  Sounds easy, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized how many factors needed to be considered to ensure my numbers were accurate and could be relied upon.

I then set about creating a new Business Calculator (BGA-Calculator) that would give me the exact numbers I needed to save this business. These were numbers I could easily monitor in real-time, and numbers from which I could easily establish a plan to achieve my business goals. 

The BGA-Calculator gave me the information I needed, I knew what was required to achieve Breakeven, this was my base point, and that included revenue and activity targets.  Plus, the program gave me revenue and activity targets for the next 12 months based on key business goals including owner income, plus I added key business drivers.

This system worked so well, I used it on other businesses with great results.

Based on this experience I put together a process that made business development so much easier, and for the business owner, will provide a huge return on investment. 

Since COVID the world economy has entered into tough times.  We are being told many businesses are struggling, with many going into liquidation.   

The formula to business success and increased business profitability through these tough times is simple.  It is the same process I used with the business mentioned earlier, and I have divided the process into 3 Steps. These steps are:

Step 1 – Calculate the exact numbers (via the BGA-Calculator) required to achieve owner income and business profit goals, these include revenue and activity targets.  The numbers will form the basis of a Business Plan (Action Plan) which is easy to follow and implement.

This tool is truly a game changer as it provides an exact formula setting out the activity required to not only stay in business but also increase income and business profitability.

There is a lot more to this program, which I will explain in Part 2 of this article.  The program provides an extensive Business Development Report.

Step 2 – Based on the Business Development Report, a Plan of Action can be developed and implemented.  Decisions are made as to what changes are required to achieve the goals set in the Business Development Report. 

Should you choose to make changes to Turnover Drivers, then you make a plan to implement the desired changes.

As an example.  A recent business I worked with set a goal to increase their Sales from Quotes ratio from 30% to 40% (they sell high ticket items ($42,000 ASV), this represented an increase in sales by 33%.  As part of their action plan, they evaluated the way they made sales, and implemented a program to make changes to their selling process (with my help).  The result was an increase in their Sales from Quotes ratio from 30% to 58% without compromising margins. 

The impact on the business was massive, and it was not difficult to achieve. It is all about implementing a selling system, plus training on how to use the system.

Step 3 – Monitoring Progress. The importance of monitoring KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in real-time cannot be overstated.  I also recommend to keep this process as simple as possible.

By monitoring KPIs a business owner/manager can make adjustments when required to ensure goals are achieved.

Finally

The 3-Step Process is easy to follow and provides amazing financial results to SME business owners, and it all starts with the BGA-Calculator.

My next article titled 'Easy To Use Business Planning Tool For Massive Results' will provide a more detailed explanation of the BGA-Calculator Business Planning Tool, which I consider as the most important step in the 3 Step process.

If you are a business owner and would like to know more, then let me know by sending me an email at fred.s@betterbusinessgroup.biz, I would be delighted to share what is involved in the 3-Step Program.