We are all in the midst of the 'great recession' which hit us hard late last year and looks set to continue for some time to come. Although a very tough time for most businesses, it can also be a good time to focus one's attention on the key drivers within a business to ensure sustainability - although business owners have different goals for their businesses, most of them will probably agree that increasing the value of the operation over time is vital.
Some areas of the business to consider could be :
1) Revisit your business model - what are you offering your clients, how are you connecting with your clients, what are the revenue streams & associated costs etc ?
2) Is your business plan current or if you do not have one, set aside the time to put one together - it is a worthwhile exercise to focus on each aspect of the business.
3) How certain are you about where future business is going to come from - look closely at your existing clients, talk to them & try and establish what their plans are for the next 6-12 months. At the same time, how will you secure new clients ?
4) Should something unforeseen happen to you tomorrow, could the business survive without you ? Without getting to bogged down with paper, make sure you have the necessary systems, controls & processes in place so that your staff know how everything is interconnected. Do not assume that they know what 's going on in other areas of the business.
5) Following on from the above point, make sure that you have financial systems in place to produce management accounts very soon after the previous month end - make sure that you get the right information relating to the income statement, balance sheet & cashflow to monitor performance
6) Take time to think about what a buyer of your business would focus on & make sure you these are assessed regularly.
We spend so much time and effort on our businesses - it will pay dividends
to critically evaluate all the key aspects of your business on a regular basis so that we it comes to selling, you can derive the maximum return.
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