Are you going up or are you going down?

 

The Business Confidence Index has started to deteriorate again.

The number of businesses, partnerships and individuals sunk in 2011 has reduced but the trend line shows that it will increase. 

IT’S A FACT

Only a small percentage of businesses will attain their full strategic potential!!!

 

How do you become one of the few? 

 

There are relatively simple rules to follow which are found in the process

called

“The War Room”

 

 If:

• You have a business with a turnover up to R25m
• You believe that an unbiased, outside perspective is a good thing for your business –

 

Then please invest 10 minutes of your time to read this Report and either call in or call out.

  

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”

John Foster Dulles – Secretary of State to President Eisenhower.

Research shows that the biggest differentiators between successful companies, of the same size and industry, and those that will fail are:

1. Planning – Successful companies tend to develop more specific plans  
2. Successful owners or executives used the services of professional advisors and consultants more than those companies that would fail

This research was done on small to medium sizes businesses and covered 15 non financial parameters which rated successful companies against known failures.

What is quite obvious from this research and the many other researched statistics on business failure is that the issue of planning is the most important aspect in the strategic development of a business.

This is confirmed by many research papers into why some companies are successful and some fail.

People know that planning is vitally important but they do not always have all the tools and resources. In many cases it is partially done but not carried to its successful conclusion.

Whereas the CEO of a large corporation has probably had training and mentoring and is able to conduct a thorough process, the entrepreneur, who is trying to get ahead is probably too busy keeping the engine going to be able to effectively steer the ship at the same time.

To do this effectively:

1. Planning  

“No one plans to fail, they fail to plan.” Sun Tsu

A strategic plan is a statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals.

 Goals:

If you want to stay ahead of the pack then goals are essential. Goals must be attainable and measurable and must relate to the strategy of the company. There are many “experts” on “Goal Setting” but none who can set your goals for you. Goals must therefore not be done in isolation, but as part of the strategic process.

 Credibility:

For your goals to be credible, all the people involved must be part of the process. Teaching and dictating do not produce effective results, only buy-in does. Speeches are soon forgotten but hands-on development by an unbiased facilitator will ensure results.

Plan:

The last step of the process is to draw up a scorecard which will:

• Enumerate the various goals and projects,
• Designate who is responsible for them,
• Establish the mile stones and completion dates.
• Begin to establish a performance culture

Most plans fail in the implementation and the energy spent does not achieve the desired results. This can be weathered by large companies but is suicidal for smaller companies. Our secret is to have ongoing relationship with clients where we facilitate this culture.

2. Professional advisors and Consultants

Some companies don’t use Professional Advisors or Consultants because they feel that they are expensive and the owner or CEO knows what to do anyway. That may be so, but the fact remains that statistically, those that use them have a better chance of success.

If you had a major heart problem would you expect a Paramedic to fix it or would you go to the Heart Surgeon?

The most effective way is to have a regular, scheduled review meeting every month or quarter or whatever suites. This will prevent the crisis situations where both the consultant and the company must squeeze the meeting in to busy schedules. Apart from the inconvenience, there is no continuity and a lot of time is wasted in “getting up to speed”

 

How do you achieve your full strategic potential?

“The War Room” has the following modules:

1. Understand the core components of your business

Research shows that owners and or CEO’s who are not completely clear on what their business is about, drive the business to failure or prevent potential growth. Many businesses, both large and small are not clear on this issue. They may have been at one stage, but the fact of having to run a business in a very competitive world very often prevents them from standing back and re-evaluating.

Some of the issues are:

• How do you produce client satisfaction? – Is your offering standardised? – Is it internal / outsourcing/ licensing/ reselling? – There are many types of offering and if you are to understand the dynamics of your product or offering in terms of you customer, you need to have defined how you create value for your client.
• Who do you produce this value for? – It is important to understand who your market is. If you do, you will be able sell them what they need as opposed to what you think they need.
• What makes you good at what you do? – Is it production or selling or one of the other specified fundamentals? – This is why you can do what you do well. Doing a good job is no longer good enough, it is expected. It is important therefore to know what your internal strengths are to be able maximise them.
• The other components will ensure that you remain competitive, sustainable, and that you have an exit strategy.

1. Define the high level thrust of your business

Is your business really different from other businesses in your industry? Does it have its own mantra or is it just one of the crowd? This high level view of your business is strategic and will define it. This is not your Unique Selling Proposition, it is much more important than that, it positions your business. Some of the key issues are:

• Why does your business exist?
• What do you do for your clients?
• How do you operate internally? 

1. Draw up your scorecard in the 6 pillars of performance

Much has been written about balanced scorecard. This is all very important but I believe that a more holistic approach is required. Businesses that have a client focus are about 3 things – attracting new clients, retaining existing clients and deepening the relationship with those clients. This has both an internal and external focus and is plotted over the following strategic business imperatives:

• Reputation

To build your business reputation

• Product

To enhance your company offering

• Value add

To enhance your companies value add to your clients

• Sustainability

To remain profitable and sustainable

• Processes

To run an effective and efficient business

• People

To be an employer/partner of choice

The programme is made up of pertinent questions that you, the business, answer. The experienced consultant does not tell you how your business should work but helps you craft the plan. He facilitates and scripts it.

The matrix of questions are really quite simple but they are thought provoking and lead to other more specific questions. These lead to deeper thought that generates the great ideas and specific strategies.

To establish these questions: 

Why is this planning process so important?

Most companies take this process for granted and only do it occasionally or when times are tough. Times are tough right now, but that is not a reason for strategic planning. The reason for strategic planning is to ensure that you are the company that is ahead. One of the biggest enemies of success is success. If your company has done “OK” it might be last time that this happens. But, just imagine what could happen if you had a working plan to move you to the next level. The sky could be your limit.

This process is not for sissies. It is for companies that are serious about achieving and it is for NOW.

The process is very simple, and we understand that many people feel this and would rather do it themselves. Our first clients felt that way, but they found that an objective outsider is able to make calls that a member of the executive team can not. The problem is that the person who needs to be answering the questions is generally the person who is asking them. This is where we come in, we ask and facilitate and you think and answer.

“Planning, properly conceived, deals with the use of today’s resources to meet tomorrows needs.” James K Galbraith – Economist.

SquarePeg Development

This process is run by Geoff Higgs who started SquarePeg Development after years in the Corporate world, the world of entrepreneurs, including starting Printer Solutions, and the world of consulting. He spent many years in Banking and then the Motor and Allied industry doing jobs from running warehouses and distribution networks to collecting money, Geoff then moved into more senior roles in the Medical Aid industry.

He took a position as general manager of operations of a large medical aid administrator and reduced the number of days claims outstanding from 33 to 5. He was head hunted to another medical aid where he reduced the assessing staff by 50 percent at the same time as reducing the number of days claims outstanding from 29 to 2. During this time they he also increased the reserves from R4 million to R15 million and the underlying systems and underwriting were done for what was to become known as the savings account system in medical aids.

All of these achievements were obtained through and by people who were coached, cajoled, and mentored into spectacular personal achievements. When he left these positions, he found that within months these achievements had reversed and some of the significant achievements had been lost.

This spurred him to seek out a way to change people’s lives and ensure they stayed changed. This has come together in a coaching and consulting practice called Squarepeg Development which uses training, mentoring and coaching with some internationally acclaimed models together with a new model just developed which looks at underlying problems which compete within the person against achievement.

These coaching methods have been used successfully from sales to retail store management to small business owners.

Geoff’s consulting experience spans para Statals to medium sized companies to small businesses.

What others have to say about SquarePeg Development: 

• I feel as though I have done this ALL on my own and yet know that your methods of challenging me, my thought patterns and my belief systems have made it possible for this change to take place – Ros – Sales Executive – Security company

• Geoff Higgs has been coaching me into successful ways of gaining clients and marketing myself and as a result many more clients have come my way. ……His knowledge and advice is presented in such a way that it cannot fail if you follow it conscientiously – Ken – Professional

What you will get: 

1. A facilitated programme to project your company into the future
2. A price that is fair for the market
3. A scorecard with milestones, dates and responsibilities
4. A consultant with experience in corporates at a very senior level who has started and run small businesses and consults in Strategy, Performance and Business Steroids.
5. We offer a money back guarantee if the process does not produce 5 times the investment in the first 12 months of implementation. This is not to appease the “money back guarantee” cult but we feel that if we encourage you to buy our product then we should at least have a policy of responsible refunding if the product is defective.