Are you driven to take your business to higher levels of
success? If so, you probably read and
search for the wisdom of others who have built and sold successful
businesses. There seems to be no end to books,
articles and blogs about the keys to success.
Many of the popular topics today include such things as culture, hiring,
continuous improvement, social media marketing, technology utilization, and of
course, planning.
My own book shelves are filled with books from terrific authors
on all aspects of business that contain excellent advice to help us improve and
grow. And since I subscribe to various
online article feeds, my inbox always offers up new ideas and recommendations
to ponder for myself as well as offer to others.
The great thing about all of this material is that there is
so much of it on every topic we can imagine.
The bad thing about all of this material is that there is so much of it
on every topic we can imagine! What I
mean is, where do we start if we sincerely want to work on improving our
business? How do we begin to improve
profits, get more sales, build better teams, work less, have more fun, and
create a valuable asset that someone else could one day take over and take to
even greater heights? With all of this
business wisdom at our fingertips, why does it seem so hard to duplicate that success
for ourselves?
The answer, I think, is to go back to basics. As Vince Lombardi preached to his Green Bay
Packers, it’s all about blocking and tackling. He knew that if the Packers blocked better
and tackled better than their opponents, they would win championships. While others might chase the latest
razzle-dazzle plays in the National Football League, he focused on
fundamentals. Not that the Packers didn’t
come up with a few inventive plays here and there, but these were built off a
foundation of solid performance that stemmed from the basics.
In business, success also starts with the basics. Ask yourself, what fundamental areas of your
business could use improvement? Then go
to work on these. But what are the
fundamental areas to consider? Well, a
real simple answer is these three: 1)
What do we make or provide, and how; 2) How do we sell them; 3) How do we count
the money? Thinking about being
excellent in these three areas will improve your business. If you need a broader, “categorized” approach
to defining the basics, consider the “Seven Centers of Management Attention”
proposed by Michael Gerber in his book, “E-Myth Mastery”:
- Leadership – Vision, direction, and planning
- Marketing – Determining your target markets and customers and why they buy from you
- Lead Generation – Implementing the tactics that attract customers
- Lead Conversion – Turning prospects into customers
- Client Fulfillment – Delivering the product or service of your business
- Money – Measuring and tracking the results of your efforts
- Management – Building the team, systems and resources of the business.
Regardless of what list of “basics” you choose, put your
efforts into improvement of your business fundamentals. That strategy will help you cut through the
clutter of business advice, and put you on a track toward success.
