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When Was The Last Time You Measured The Effectiveness Of Your Small Business

Guest post by: Gary Silverman

Article Overview: YOUR PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY In today’s complex business environment there are too many demands on our time. New technology is available to streamline procedures and information gathering yet we have become a slave to this technology. As we become familiar with the new hardware and software, we rely on the information they make available and consider it the best approach to analyzing our business. Less and less time is dedicated to hands on, real world analysis of our business. Although the technology provides us with quantitative information and trend analysis, it cannot sense a decline in the way we are actually conducting business. We have a snapshot of today’s reality with no looking glass into the future. Is your VISION of the company being diluted once it reaches the frontline of your company?

When Was The Last Time You Measured The Effectiveness Of Your Small Business

Are the qualified, motivated and talented individuals you hired initially performing up to their ability or have they gotten
stale? Is your MISSION STATEMENT supported with the same degree of enthusiasm that it was designed to create? The health of your business cannot be diagnosed through reports and financial statements. The reality of today will be reflected in future performance or lack thereof. Will it be too late to take action to correct your course once the problems rise to the surface? What will be the ultimate cost?
WHAT ARE YOU SELLING?
Are you selling every minute of everyday? We must sell ourselves, either individually or as a business through reputation, word of mouth, repeat business, location or the exclusivity and uniqueness of our product or service. We then sell the value in doing business with our company. We sell through knowledge, enthusiasm, and confidence. We transfer these concepts to our customer allowing them to make an informed and intelligent decision based on a high degree of confidence. We then produce or deliver what we represent by under-promising and over delivering. Is your company performing to these standards 100% of the time? If not, you need to know why.
PASSION
Is the passion you have for your business being adequately communicated to your team members? Are your top managers carrying the torch or does the passion stop with them? Are you wasting thousands of dollars and man hours on Powerpoint meetings and conference calls? What percentage of productive time is spent in these meetings and preparing for them? What is the effect on sales productivity? Although we feel our message is making an impact it can be met with suspicion and cynicism if it bears no resemblance to reality. We must insure that we are not sending mixed signals. Take the time to solicit the opinions of your staff to determine where your company is positioned and where it is heading.

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Article Tags: business location, carrying the torch, cynicism, doing business, ected, exclusivity, intelligent decision, man hours, mission statement, mixed signals, productive time, repeat business, resemblance, sales productivity, talented individuals, team members, thousands of dollars, top managers, uniqueness, word of mouth



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