My name is Elvan. I own a business consultancy based in Sydney, Australia for the last 12 years. Since that time I have helped many existing businesses and start-ups. The materials I used, and still using, were researched, developed and written by me over the years since I retired from full-time employment. Among these are business planning, sales and marketing planning, marketing research, competitor analysis and new product introduction. They are for consulting, training, licensing and publishing.
Through my consulting and training I have often been told that what were available in the marketplace (either for free or paid) to busy business people were not quite good enough to relieve them of stress, time constraints and limited budgets.
For instance, many of you know or should know of business plans and how important they are to business. Business owners and consultants alike have a mindset that business planning is for short term, to address financial imperatives and not much else.
I am going to convince you of a paradigm shift. You most likely would have heard of continuous improvement in the production process that Japanese manufacturers had made into a fine art. Now you are going to be able to achieve…
So how did I come to develop this concept of continuous business improvement? I have worked with American, British and Australian companies for over 30 years in Australia, 25 of which with an American multinational conglomerate. It was very good experience and valuable knowledge acquisition. Although what I learned in the 30 odd years had been very useful in my business consultancy, I discovered along the way that most or all business plans are shortsighted, concentrating on short-term financial objectives or solving problems as they occur. This is being reactive, not proactive. Solving problems only when they arise could be a long and costly exercise.
We all know that small businesses do not have the time, inclination or resources to keep on spending money solving problems. Consequently, I developed the concept of going through the planning process only once, and implementing improvements and solutions in all the areas identified as critical issues during the planning process. This adds value for the client and makes for lifetime customer relationship. It also increases the value of the business over time, while sales revenue, profit, efficiency, competency and so on improve. For this to happen, the planning process must involve some pain and soul searching, be based on accurate information and objective thinking, be thorough and done with much care.
You see, a business is like a motor vehicle with many essential working parts. For it to function to peak performance, each part must work perfectly. As you fine-tune or make minor adjustments or improvements, over time your vehicle is perfect, problem-free and a joy to drive. The destination is not a concern, getting there trouble-free is.
Your business is a motor vehicle in a sense. If you look after all the main aspects of the business, such as customers, selling, products/services, customer service, marketing, production, systems, IT, resources, distribution and so forth, your financial and other objectives (destinations) will take care of themselves. It is pointless setting these objectives if some parts in your business are faulty, rendering it dysfunctional.
This same concept applies to sales and marketing as well. The planning process will produce very valuable information about your selling and marketing resources that you probably never had before. Such information can then be used to take your business to successive new heights to attain….
During my consultancy there was one other recurring issue raised by clients and potential clients regarding starting a new business. Most consultants, may they be accountants or business advisors, help would-be business owners to set up a new business only. The most common areas addressed are registrations, compliance issues, taxation, legal issues and financial forecasts. Perhaps products or services and target customers are considered. Crucial aspects of operating the new business are not looked at in-depth.
Starting a new business absolutely requires good research and thorough planning to avoid costly mistakes upfront and later on. The planning process should involve all essential areas of the new business, just like for an existing and successful business. It will invariably produce a lot of valuable information, not just for setting it up but also for operating it. Therefore, in one fell swoop you are planning to ….
Therefore, if you are running an existing business or thinking of starting a new one, you only need to go through the planning process once. You do not need to look elsewhere or hire anyone because you can do it all yourself!
To find out how the Workshop-in-a-Book® series of handbooks can make your life easier click a link of your choice below…..
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