How to move your business

to the next level – and succeed!

Tuesday 10th November 2015

Who are we & what do we do?

Business Coaching & Support specialists

Passionate about Results-focused Business Support…

We identify KEY and VITAL things to focus on for sustainable growth...

Our help leads to the Vital things being:

• Understood by the business

• Owned by the business

• Actioned by the business

We work collaboratively with major High Street Banks, Local

Authorities and a range of Professional Partners...

We have a shared vision…

• Supporting SME Businesses to grow 'profitably‘

• Creating jobs and wealth locally

• Sharing of knowledge

Session Objectives

• To understand some of the options for moving your business forward to the “next level”

• To familiarise you with some of the processes you will need to

adopt to reach the “critical lift off” • To introduce you to some “best practice” processes • To start to move you outside of your “comfort zone”!

What we see

• How many hats do you wear?….some may fit some may not!

• Its not a question of how well each process works, it’s a question of how well they all work together

Areas of focus

Systems

Team

Leadership

Time Management

Sales

Marketing Strategy Profit

Cash

Goals

So where next?

The Key Business Drivers (…in our experience!)

• Vision

• Business Plan

• Financial forecast

• Cash Flow forecast

• Raising finance

• Marketing

• Sales / sales process • Management accounts

• Developing your company

structure and your team

• Leadership & Management

• Managing your time

Vision – start with the end in mind

• What do you want out of life? • What do you want/ need the company to deliver

- Lifestyle? - High income? - Legacy?

• What will the company look like in 3 / 5 years time? - Home office? - Factory / business premises? - International? - Inter-galactic?

• When do you want to get there?

The Business Plan

• Why do you need one?

– “To fail to plan is to plan to fail”

– Consider the pro and cons – validates

your ideas

• What is it?

– A living document, reviewed every month

– Does it need changing in the light of experience?

• Often too optimistic instead of realistic

• Who is it produced for and why?

The Business Plan

Wishes

Plans are only plans if they

are WRITTEN. If they are

not written they are…?

Financial forecast

• Sales less Direct Costs (= Gross Profit) – Product pricing (and versus competition)

– Which products/services make what gross margin?

• Indirect costs, e.g. – Salaries, Office costs, Overheads, Marketing, Loan

repayments etc.

• Net profit = what is left over!

c

Financial forecast

• Rolling 12 month forecast

• Are you making enough sales, profit?

• Are your costs under control?

• Usually over optimistic

• What could possibly go wrong?

• Get someone to “play devil’s advocate”

Better to make mistakes on paper

c

Financial forecast

c

Cash flow forecasting

• Produce a cash flow forecast

– Should follow your financial forecast format

– What are your experiences so far?

– Assumptions you should make…….

• Longer debtor days )

• Longer sales cycle ) than you think

• Growth costs are higher )

c

Cash flow forecasting

What is a cash flow?

• Knowing what your bank account looks like today, tomorrow

and onwards

• The lifeblood of any business

Why it’s important

• Not having the cash to pay bills can bring down your business!

How often do I need to look at it?

• Plotted for the next Quarter

• Reviewed and managed Daily

• Actions reviewed Weekly

c

Cash flow management

• Ensures realism, highlights/avoids negative projections

• Should be constantly worked upon (the aim is to always improve the cash position)

• Built from the forecast/budget and looking back at trends

• Brings about actions each and every day based on the cash

needs of the business

• Allows you to look well ahead and manage within your facilities

• Will you need more working capital to fund growth ….?

c

Just because the bank balance is good doesn’t mean the future cash position will be!

Raising Finance

Having done the business plan, financial forecast and cash flow forecast….

– How much do you need to invest or borrow?

– What’s your lowest forecast cash amount?

– Approach your bank

– Consider increasing mortgage / equity release

– Look for investors / partners /crowd-funding / peer funding

– Family/friends

c

Management Accounting

Monthly management accounts

• Always know where you are vs. your forecasts

• Profitability by product

• Cost of sales

• Expenses

• P&L versus budget / financial forecast

• Cash in bank

• Enables you to revise forward cash flow forecast

– See problems before they develop!

Marketing

Marketing is about finding and keeping customers

• Identify your target market(s) / sector(s)

–What has /hasn’t worked for you so far?

• Understand who are your customers and what they want

• Know your competitors (and identify why are you different)

• Then (and only then) build your marketing message(s)

–Unique Selling Points (USP) / Perceived Benefits (UPB)

–Customer “wants and needs”

–Your differentiators

–Always focus on benefits not features

Marketing

Consider your marketing mix (activities)

• Social media - Cheap financially, can be expensive on time if not managed

• E-mail marketing - Needs good data and emailing systems

• Newsletters - Printed / E-mail / Video

• Advertising - Press/TV/radio/online

• Website - CMS / Search engine optimisation / Pay per click

• Video

• Blogs

• Networking / Speaking at events

• Leaflets/literature

Then schedule each activity with goals, timeframes, owner(s), budgets

Sales

• “I’m not a salesman!” – oh yes you are!

• Is your “Elevator pitch” good enough?

− 30 seconds. What we do, where we do it, who we do it for and what are the benefits (to my markets)?

• Always Sell benefits, not features

• Build relationships, obligation, commitment

− First impressions count / People buy people and service

• Always know what the customer wants to buy

• What causes them pain / sleepless nights?

• Identify their timescales and buying process

• Does your product/service do what they want

or what you want?

Sales

– Objection handling

• Know the common objections and formulate answers

• Do you need to change your marketing?

– Talk less listen more

• 2 ears and 1 mouth – use them in that proportion!

– Body language

• What are you reading from their posture?

– Analyse your conversion ratios

• What could I have done better?

• Analyse by marketing campaign

• Why don’t people buy (it’s not always price driven)?

– Make sure you have a sales process!

Building the right structure and team

• As your business grows it needs a formal structure and

a great team

• But….. you do not build structures around teams you

build teams around structures

• Ensures clarity of roles - each team member can see

how and where they fit into the organisation

• And you need to be a good LEADER and MANAGER

Leadership and Management

We give people the title of ‘Manager’ but we expect

them to ‘Lead’ People – very confusing!

PEOPLE are LEAD

Management in business is getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively

THINGS are Managed

Your job as a Leader & Manager

• As a business leader you need to inspire and motivate your

teams to achieve your goals • Look after their welfare

• Promote empowerment and ideas culture

• Develop others

But leadership does involve some management

• As a manager you create efficiency and promote effectiveness

• Get your processes slick and systems developed to get the most

from your team

• Delegate tasks where required

But remember, NEVER expect a task to be carried out or completed as you would have done it

Building a successful team

• It starts with strong leadership!

− Followers are drawn to people who exhibit strength and can inspire belief in others

• It then needs a clear vision

• Set and communicate your objectives and sell the story

• Share responsibility and gain commitment

• Ensure you have a mix of blended skills

Remember - your people ARE (or will be) your business!

What brings it all together?

How you use your time!

Plan how you use your time

BETTER PLANNING + BETTER THINKING = BETTER RESULTS

Daily

Pressures

Long Term

Aims and

Goals

What

bridges

the

Gap?

Your ability to plan and manage your time

The time management quadrants

Plan for Q2, Q1 will happen, delegate Q3, avoid Q4

URGENT NOT URGENT

IMP

OR

TAN

T

1

CRISIS MANAGEMENT

2

QUALITY

CRISES PREVENTION

PRESSING PROBLEMS RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

DEADLINE DRIVEN PROJECTS NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

PUTTING OUT FIRES PLANNING

VALUES

TRUE RECREATION

NO

T IM

PO

RTA

NT

3

DECEPTION

4

WASTE

INTERRUPTIONS TRIVIA

SOME PHONE CALLS BUSY WORK

SOME MAIL IRRELEVANT EMAILS

SOME REPORTS SOME PHONE CALLS

SOME MEETINGS TIMEWASTERS

POPULAR ACTIVIES ESCAPE ACTIVITIES

GOSSIP

Big rocks and little rocks………

Always put the big rocks in first and keep the

most important thing the most important thing

Summary - 9 key things to Focus on

1. Strategy & Planning – Develop a winning strategy, clear

business goals and a powerful business plan

2. Marketing – How to get and keep the right customers !

3. Sales – Develop a winning sales process

4. Profit – This is where cash comes from!

5. Cash – Raise it, create it, manage it and USE it effectively!

6. Team – Biggest resource. Care for it, develop it

7. Systems – How will the business work when you are not there?

8. Leadership – What it takes to get people to follow you!

9. Time – Your biggest asset. Do the right things for the right reasons at the right time

And one more – KPIs

Key performance indicators (KPIs) might include….

• Number of leads generated

• By campaign

• How many have converted

• Number of sales per client per year

• Average sales value / profitability

• Sales by product / category

• Visitors to your website (Google analytics)

• Average debtor days

• Etc., etc.

Measure the results from all areas of your business

– and act on them!

How do Pro-actions help?

Retained Service

•1:1 relationship with a Business Improvement Specialist focussed on the areas which will make the biggest difference to your business and meeting on an agreed schedule that really works for you

Business Improvement Workshops

•Monthly, cost-effective, sessions with up to a maximum 9 other business owners, that support you through all the key aspects of maximising your business whilst learning from others. There is set work and review plus support in between

No contracts, tie-ins or minimum spends

•We are selective over who we work with long term as we are only able to work with a certain number of clients at any one time

Next steps

If you’re serious about wanting to move your business to

the next level…………..

• We’ll meet with you 1:1 (free of charge and with no obligation)

• Give you a steer on where / how you can improve your business

and what we can do to make a difference

• Talk to us today

It may be the one chance you get to

work ON your business not IN your business

Questions & Discussion

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Thank you for coming!

www.pro-actions.com