Is now the right time to develop your
business?
Introduction
We have been in the grips of economic recession for longer
than most people care to remember; it feels like we have known nothing
else. Although key economic indicators
have previously suggested that the crisis situation we find ourselves in would
soon improve, so far there is no end in sight.
Although it has been a difficult time for many businesses,
it is worth asking the question; is now the time to reflect on what might have
been, or instead to seize the opportunities presenting themselves? Is your business prepared for growth and
success?
In this article we will examine why now is a great time to develop
your business, and give you five things that you can do right now to kick-start
your business growth programme.
Thinking about the thinking
If you are thinking about embarking upon any business
development activity, you should probably ask yourself the following questions:
·
What do I want to achieve from this activity?
·
How do I go about reaching my goal?
·
How do I measure the success of any business
development?
·
Good business and bad business – what is the
difference?
·
What will happen if I do not develop my
business?
·
Is this the moment to invest time in looking for
new business?
So, let’s consider each of these questions.
With business development, as with business itself, it is essential
to have a roadmap or plan to establish
a.
Where you are now
b.
Where you want to be (and how long you want to
spend getting there)
c.
How you are going to get there
Without this plan, how will you be able to identify what it
is that you want to achieve, and how will you measure how successful each of
the methods that you have used has been?
Start by writing down what you want to achieve (for example;
“I want to win one new customer in my chosen sector every week this year”). Once you have committed this target to paper,
consider HOW you will go about achieving this goal (for example, you might say “in
order to win a new customer every week I will need to undertake a television
advertising campaign”).
Using this example, if you were to undertake an advertising
campaign you would undoubtedly want to know how your investment would be repaid
and in what timeframe. In order to
understand this you will need some measurement of the success of your campaign;
but what do you use? How many calls you receive after the advert has been aired?
How many enquiries were converted into sales? How social media sentiment toward
your business has changed since airing?
Always remember that when deciding to undertake a business
development campaign you should make your objectives SMART (Specific,
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely)
Before you leap into a new campaign it would be wise to
first understand your ‘cost to serve’. A
common mistake businesses make is to accept all of the work that is offered to
them without calculating the AMOUNT that each piece of work will make them, but
only when you understand this can you make a decision as to whether the piece
of work is likely to be profitable or not.
There are many reasons why businesses take work that is
unprofitable, and there are often good arguments for doing so; but the
difference between knowing that a
piece of work is unprofitable before you start it, as opposed to starting it
without understanding the margin implications is considerable. Making this
distinction will help you to distinguish between good business and bad business
without learning the hard way.
Many businesses abandoned business development when the
current financial situation started to take hold, in the belief that if the
business ‘tightened its belt’ it would be able to ride out the storm. We know that whilst this has been a
successful strategy for some companies (generally those with huge cash
reserves) it has been the undoing of many others.
All businesses have to develop to survive and all companies
need to assess their customer base to ensure that the risk of losing any one
customer is mitigated and will not have a devastating effect upon the business
as a whole.
In our opinion there is no time like the present to start
developing your business and to start gaining an advantage over your
competitors for the following reasons:
·
Many companies are ceasing trading; their
customers will be looking for new suppliers
·
There is a wealth of experienced staff available
on either permanent or interim contracts; it is an employers’ market!
·
Although funding is scarce, development funding
is still available for businesses with high growth potential
·
You need (and want) to be in the best possible
shape to move forward as the recession ends
Remember; if you don’t win new customers, your competitors
will.
So, be encouraged by what we have said above. Take heart in
the fact that now is the time to move forward. To get you started, here are 5
things that you should do right now to start your business development.
1.
Don’t be caught snoozing
Act now while you are still motivated to do something! Be a
company that does, not thinks, and become one that not only survives, but
thrives in the recession! Start by
writing down what you are going to do and by when. Share it with your team and get them to buy
in to your plans. Understand what your
unique selling points are and why they are attractive, identify your customer
base, and develop a strategy for winning new customers.
Sooner or later we are going to come out of this economic
crisis. Where do you want your business to be? At the front of the pack and
ready to go, or still snoozing?
2.
Snap up a
bargain
Businesses are not the only casualties of the recession –
people are too. Many fantastically
talented people have found themselves unexpectedly out of work. Now is a great time to bag yourself one of
these great talents before someone else does.
Many senior executives are looking for opportunities on either a part
time or interim basis, so think about taking on a non-executive Director who
has the skills that you are looking for.
If you are a sole trader, why not think about taking a partner; someone
who has skills that will complement your own (and someone to cover for you when
you’re on holiday!).
3.
Failing to plan is planning to fail
Have a business plan and develop it into a clear strategy. Without a business plan you will never know
where you are going or even where you have been. Will you know why and whether your business
has grown, or whether your efforts have been a success? You don’t have to be a slave to your plan,
but you do need one. Your business plan
should take a 5 year view, with the most detail and emphasis being placed on
the first 12 months. And don’t think it
ends there; review your plan and strategic goals at least every 12 months and
refresh it for the coming year. In this way you can ensure that you have a long-term
view out but without commitment to the detail beyond 12 months.
4.
Get your house in order
Most businesses are not successful by accident, but because
they do the right things, they do them first, and they do them right. In simple terms successful businesses develop
themselves (doing the right things), get ahead of their competitors (doing them
first) and have the processes and procedures in place to ensure that they can
replicate their success over and over again (doing things right). As a starting point, try reviewing your
business processes from the point of view of your customers to see how easy you
are to do business with. Sometimes
something as simple as this can be quite revealing (obviously doing the review
is only the first part of this work – changing and adapting your processes
comes next!). Be ready for success!
5.
Don’t be shy
There is no room for modesty in business. As we say in the
North East, ‘shy bairns get nowt’! If
you don’t tell your customers and potential customers about your products and services
then who will? (clue: probably no-one).
Don’t be afraid of some self-publicity – use your website to tell people
about the successful piece of work that you have just finished, use social
media like Twitter and Facebook to promote your company, and ask your customers
to endorse the work that you have done .
Use all of the resources at your disposal to tell the world
about your business; tell the world just why your product is better than the
rest, or even just “why we are awesome”.
Create a social media strategy, to understand which channels are right
for your business and your customers, and don’t be afraid to try something new. Once you have embarked on the use of social
media you must keep it up (like any marketing or PR, you only start to see
benefits when you use it well!).
Conclusion
Businesses that fail to develop will ultimately fail. Businesses that don’t just survive but thrive
in difficult economic climates are those that constantly develop and win new,
profitable work.
These are the businesses that will be ready for when the
economic climate changes.
So do whatever you can to be a business that thrives. And if
you need a bit of help, never be afraid to ask.
About Blue Box;
We are a team of Management Consultants and Business Advisors
who specialise in helping business of all sizes, across all sectors to become
and remain more profitable, to find and win more work and to delight and retain
more customers.
Learn
more about Blue Box and meet our team at www.blueboxconsultancy.com
