Have You Planned To Be Busy This Year?

You need to be able to deliver ...

POSTED BY JACKY SHERMAN ON 06/01/2016 @ 8:00AM

Being too busy is often seen as a nice problem to have, but you can believe me when I say it isn't. You've worked hard to build a solid client base and now you have to deliver what you promised to all of them, on time and to the standard you agreed ...

If you are planning on being busy this year, then you need to be able to deliver on your promises.

That's the difficult part! If you've overstretched yourself, sooner or later, your standards will drop and your working hours will get more punishing. Eventually, those hard won customers will start to get impatient, your referral partners will start to lose faith in you or decide unilaterally that you can't cope with more work.

"The chances are, like most people you didn't really believe you would get too busy so never planned for that day!"

So to help you think about what you can plan in advance, I'm handing over my blog post this week to Andy Mee from Business Doctors, who will share with you his three most common factors to consider as you plan to build your business to service all those customers generated by your referral network:

As the business grows and develops, you need to make sure your structure changes with it. Building an effective management team ensures the business becomes sustainable and therefore, isn't reliant entirely on you. Have you thought about how your own role will change as others come into the business with you?
A business that is reliant on you is largely valueless. If you think of it in terms of the classic 'hub and spoke' structure, it all works wonderfully well until you remove the hub!
As important as the structure, is the talent you have in the business. Often, such talent is not developed and are put into roles unprepared for it simply on the basis they were good at their previous role.
Likewise, you are often very loyal to employees who have supported you in the early days, however, and unfortunately, as the business grows sometimes the employees don't grow with it. You need to recognize this and over time bring individuals into the organisation that can help take the business onto the next level.
This does require tough decisions to be made that often don't get made due to misguided loyalty.
The old adage 'what gets measured gets done' is alive and well in any business. In the early stage of a business, the focus is on the bank account and how much money is in it and what is likely to come in and go out in the next few weeks.
As the business develops, it is important to measure key elements of the business that drive revenues and ultimately profitability. For example, what can you measure on a regular basis, say every week or even every day, that would be indicative of how your profitability will turn out?
The advantage of measuring on a much more frequent basis than monthly accounts are produced is that you can react quickly to changes in performance and put it right long before your accounts tell you that you have a problem!
Implementing and/or changing key performance indicators (KPIs) in your business to reflect what is important will help ensure the business focuses on the right measures. Linking these to reward and recognition mechanisms will re-enforce the focus and importance of them to the rest of your team.

Thanks for these important insights Andy!

To this I'd add the following tips:

Ensure right from the start that you have some key advisors in your network who can help you plan the next stage for your business.
Pay as much attention to your referral network as you always have. Now is the time when you can repay their confidence in you by delivering excellence to the people they have introduced to you. That way you generate your next group of clients.

If you want to get busy then call me on 07970 638857 or click here to send me an email enquiry and let's arrange a coffee and a chat to see how I can help you.

Until next time ...

JACKY SHERMAN