Mastermind Group Focus

Guest Contributor: George J. Sierchio
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I have to say that with the business coaching I do for technology business owners (IT consultants, engineering consultants, etc) the lean towards marketing and sales being just about the only important thing in a business from an operations standpoint is alarming.

Of course it's understandable as these are very important cogs in the wheel that many people are not very good at since they are completely different animals from the "technical" side of the business that they started the company for in the first place.

That being said, the operations side of a business has many facets that in some way tie into marketing and sales. These ties make marketing and sales easier to understand and more fruitful in the efforts taken to make them better. So it's a terrible mistake to not take into account things like client management, employees/subs, financials, metrics, revenue streams, exit planning and other pieces of the puzzle.

Why am I saying this? Because the mastermind group(s) you choose to be a part of need to address all business concerns. Whether that be one group for marketing and another for other facets or just one group that hits upon everything.

I hate to be the one that tells you this but a marketing or sales breakthrough that doubles your business from one year to the next can be more crippling than losing half of your business.

How? Let's take clients for an example. If you have 10 clients and you explode to 20 or 30 clients in say a month, can your business handle taking care of and managing this new load? Will your old 10 clients end up unattended to make way for the new ones eventually leaving you with 10 again in a never ending cycle? Do you have the in-house person-power and possible financial means to handle double the work load? Can you see where I'm going here?

Not hitting upon the whole big picture is truly doing a great disservice to your business, your personal well being, and your group members.

Please keep in mind that a business is a living, breathing entity that requires all parts to work together. So make sure your mastermind groups allow you to better and grow the entire business and yourself by focusing on the big picture.