Business plans are not only for those just setting out on their journey in the marketplace. They are useful when acquiring a new business, forecasting growth, introducing a new product or service, entering a new market, responding to changes in the market or changing a significant aspect of your business. And like any other map,
Category Archives: Advisory
03
Feb
Feb
The most effective way to manage receivables in your business is to put into place a system that allows management the ability to: Provide credit to eligible customers only Keep track of receivables in a timely manner Trigger follow-up calls/emails/letters for reminders/past due/legal action and Trigger when management intervention or legal recourse becomes the next
03
Feb
Feb
Many small business owners are entrepreneurs who are passionate creators that had an idea for a product or service, but they don’t always possess financial acumen. As a result, some business owners make financial mistakes which can jeopardize their dreams. Here are four of the most common mistakes and how business owners can avoid them.
03
Feb
Feb
What’s the difference between water and steam? At 99 degrees water is merely hot, at 100 degrees it turns to steam and can move locomotives. Just one degree—a one per cent change—makes the difference. This is a great metaphor for business. In this short article we look at the impact that small improvements in the
03
Feb
Feb
Strategic planning is important for your business because it provides a sense of direction and outlines measurable goals to keep you and your business on track. In order to make the most of strategic planning, your business should give careful thought to the goals it outlines and then back up these goals with realistic measures
Many business owners know that they need more sales, better cash flow and higher profits, but they don’t know what drives those results or necessarily the quickest path to get there. My assessment is that you need to know what matters in order to achieve you goals timely. Your sales typically come from two areas:
A while back, I listened to a leadership podcast and the topic of the episode was ‘Questions Good Leaders Ask’. The speaker stated “the questions we ask communicate our values and what is important to us.” This is true at work and at home. As the leader of a business, group, team, family, etc., you
03
Feb
Feb
How are you progressing toward the plans you set for your business this year? Most all business owners and management teams start each year with a set of goals/objectives they intend to achieve for the year. Those goals/objectives are supported by strategies, and those strategies are supported by action plans. Now that we’re about one-third of
03
Feb
Feb
A while back, I read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled A Radical Prescription for Sales, exploring the possibility that compensating salespeople with the traditional commission model is based more on tradition than logic, and the model can sometimes do more harm than good to a business by hindering growth and limiting profits.
03
Feb
Feb
I have studied Value Propositions in Michael Porter’s Five Forces framework and in Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy. In Blue Ocean Strategy, Kim and Mauborgne suggest moving beyond the bloody waters where the sharks are and developing core differentiators that the marketplace cannot compete with. In one of my all-time favorite books,
