What's It Worth To You?

You work incredibly hard in your business. You put in long hours. You stress about your customer service and your profitability. You strive to create a quality team to support you. You sell, do the bookkeeping, sweep the floor, fix the printer, make the product and deliver the service. You wouldn't have it any other way.

You've invested your money and your time to create your business, and you yearn for it to give you the lifestyle you'd like to live, if not right now, in the foreseeable future. You also dream of being able to sell the business, and harvest the value that you have invested your life in creating.

But the question is, will you be able to do that? Will the value of your business support the rest of your life? Finding the answer to that question really isn't as hard as it may seem. But if the answer is no, what can you do about it? If you've waited until you are ready to retire, you may not be able to do much about it at all, except continue owning and working in the business awhile longer. That is why all the experts recommend starting early to work on the value of your business. In fact, there is nothing wrong with starting the day you launch your business to create value for the next owner of your enterprise.

One easy place to start is to take a short, 13 minute survey called the Sellability Score. It is free, confidential, and understandable. You can take the survey HERE, and we will contact you to help you learn where you might start in building value in your business.

Why is the Sellability Score so important?  Surveys have shown that companies who score 80 or higher on their Sellability Score typically receive offers for their business that are 71% more valuable than the average company. Thus finding out where you stand is the perfect place to start working to raise your score. Want to learn more about this Sellability Score concept? Check out THIS SHORT VIDEO from the author of the book that started it all, "Built to Sell", by John Warrillow.

All Systems Go!

If you are like a lot of small business owners, you probably have a business that does a great job at the product or service you sell.  You may have had some good success with it, or maybe you are still striving for that elusive set of conditions that will catapult your business to the proverbial “next level of success”.  Without a doubt, that combination of factors can and does occur.  But the odds are not in your favor.  More businesses fail than succeed by a wide margin, and many simply limp along in survival mode for years.

The folks at AdviCoach coined a word a few years ago that makes a lot of sense.  The word is Franchisitize®.  The idea comes from the observation that franchise businesses succeed at higher rates, in general, than non-franchised businesses.  One of the reasons for that success is that franchises usually have a well-developed set of business systems that the franchise recommends or requires.  Regardless of who the business owner (franchisee) is, they should be able to follow the systems of the franchise, and if they do, their odds of success increase.

So think about your business!  How extensive are your business systems?  Are they documented?  Do you and your employees follow them?  What are these systems anyway?  Well, in simple terms they are just the way your business performs the various functions of the business.  If we’re talking marketing, for example, it is the type of marketing performed; the message, brand, placement, frequency, cost and more that define how your business generates leads and ultimately, revenue.  If we’re talking accounting, it consists of the accounting software used, the way invoices, bills, payroll, taxes and other transactions are handled and reported.  If you haven’t thought through the systems that support the way you do business, how could you ever expect to explain it to someone else you may one day hire to do that work?  Or how could you sell your business to a new owner who would like to have even more success in the business than you achieved?

Give some thought to how you perform the critical functions of your business.  Before you can define them, you have to think about whether the way you do things is the most appropriate for your business.  What details of your systems will give you the most efficiency, sales, profit, exposure and value?  If your current methods aren’t getting you the results you’d like, perhaps it’s time to revamp certain systems to fine tune your performance.  To help you consider the systems you need, here is a list of the ten common systems most businesses operate with:

• Market & Competitive Intelligence
• Branding
• Marketing/Lead Generation
• Sales
• Finance/Accounting
• Customer Service or Customer Experience
• Operations
• Team & Culture
• Technology
• Leadership

This last one starts with you, and it requires the most important consideration.  What kind of leader do you want to be?  What kind of leader does your business need you to be?  This is also a system of your business, and it deserves your thought and attention.

Please let us know if you’d like some help defining the systems of your business so that you can build a franchisitized® business of value.

Catch More Customers with a Marketing Array

It is all too common for small business owners to operate without a marketing plan.  We all know we should have a plan (that’s what the experts tell us) but it always seems to get put off in favor of the more urgent (but less important) demands of the business.  As a result, marketing tends to be limited to just a few things that are supposed to suffice in telling the world about your business and attracting customers.  Ironically, the biggest complaint among small business owners is that there are not enough leads, and thus not enough customers to achieve the level of success we desire.

I like to think of a good marketing plan in terms of an “array”.  It’s not enough to have 2 or 3 marketing tactics at work in your business (the norm for many).  Think instead of having 8 to 12 tactics arrayed to attract customers and compel them to check out your business.

I live near Lake Michigan, and the fishery on this great body of water is fantastic.  The charter boat captains know all about arrays and their importance in attracting fish.  It is common for them to have 8 to 12 lines in the water at any one time.  Some of the lures are set deep using downriggers.  Some are set at medium depth and some at the surface.  Some are immediately behind and under the boat, while others are trolled far out to the side using planer boards.  They use different lures with different colors.  Some are primarily for attracting the big trout and salmon, and others for triggering the bite.  But the point is that their array is multifaceted, and set out to attract the most fish to please the most clients aboard their boat.

Think of your marketing plan as an array.  You need a variety of tactics.  Some are physical, like brochures, ads, or articles.  Some are virtual, like your website, blog, or social media.  And some are personal, like networking or the cultivation of referral sources.  Your choice of tactics (your lure) will depend on what you know about your target customer, and what will trigger them to “bite” on your array.  But you will catch more with a multi-faceted approach to your marketing, so create an array and watch your business grow.

What Should You Expect in a Business Coach

For many business owners the concept of a business coach may seem attractive to help accelerate the performance and success of the business.  But in seeking a coach, what attributes should you look for?  What should you expect from a coach?  There may be a variety of opinions on this, but here is a list of qualities that the best coaches should strive to fulfill.  What others can you add?

• Interest in pushing you toward your goals.
• Acceptance of your vision for your business.
• Real suggestions or options related to your challenges.
• Ability to teach you new skills.
• Someone you can rely on and confide in.
• Confidentiality.
• Consistently nudge you forward. Make progress!
• Keep you accountable to your own goals and commitments.
• Help connect you with other professional resources.
• Present new ideas or considerations.
• Accessibility. Someone you can reach when needed.
• Knowledge and experience with a wide variety of businesses.
• Knowledge and experience in the various functions of a business.
• Ability to motivate you to reach higher.
• Can produce a return on your coaching investment.
• Helps you create new habits, or systems in your business.
• Gives you a new way of thinking about your business.

The Joy of Business

You might be doing a double-take on the title of this blog if you are a small business owner.  For most, the stress, work hours, and financial reward don’t seem to fit within the definition of “joy”.  If you find yourself spending large amounts of time dealing with employee conflict, quality issues or even getting your financials squared away, you may not be feeling the joy.

As a business coach and small business owner myself, I can relate.  But I can also tell you that as a business gets more “systematized”, the problems start to melt away, the rewards go up, and the business becomes joyful.  It is oh so gratifying when the efforts to build a well-run business start to pay off.

The idea of systematizing a business may seem understandable on a conceptual level, but what are these systems anyway?  Well, in simple terms, they are anything that the business does, or needs to do consistently that become like habits in the business such that they are duplicable by anyone performing those systems.  Here are just a few systems that are crucial in most businesses:

·        A tactical marketing plan that consistently generates leads you can turn into customers.

·        A set of Key Performance Indicators that act as a “dashboard” that helps you drive your business.

·        A team building strategy that keeps your employees aligned with the direction of the company and eliminates conflict.

·        A business efficiency strategy that improves profitability and builds a mindset of continuous improvement.

·        A financial recordkeeping system that accurately records the activities of the business and reflects its value.

Naturally, there are others, but the point is that the old adage of working ON your business, means building these kinds of systems or habits into the day-to-day operations such that the stress and worry start to disappear, while the financial and personal gratification rewards rise.  When that happens, a real sense of joy (and pride) takes over, and we become even more motivated to make our business better yet.

The greatest joy as a coach is the sharing of that great feeling with clients who experience the benefits of a systematized business.  It takes time, but helping business owners work ON their business is a journey worth taking in order to reach the joy of business!