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The Four Business Building Tools

The Four Business Building Tools By Mark Wardell

When was the last time you were so impressed by a business that

you just had to tell someone about it? Sadly, it's probably been

a while, but if you're an entrepreneur, this represents a

tremendous opportunity. Just think of the business potential

that's out there just waiting to be realized.

So what's the problem? Why are there so few outstanding

businesses?

Well, the problem isn't a shortage of dreams. Most entrepreneurs

have more of them than they can count. The problem is the

challenge of turning those dreams into reality. Oh sure, every

entrepreneur starts their business with the best of intentions,

but somewhere along the way they loose sight of their dreams as

they become more and more consumed with the daily grind of

running their business.

After years of helping people build their companies, I've come

to realize that growing a business comes down to two main

things... people and time. If you can learn to properly manage

both, you'll eventually be a success.

To do this properly, you must design your business to function

independently from you. It's the necessary goal of any

organization that wants to achieve success. Without this, you

are stuck. You are doomed to forever bump your head against what

we call the "glass ceiling" You'll recognize the symptoms if you

ever find yourself running out of time to get your work done,

complaining about your employees work ethic, or feeling

frustrated with your customers' seemingly unreasonable demands.

There are four basic tools you can use to confidently give your

business the independence it needs to grow.

1. Business Manual 2. Employee Manuals 3. Analysis Manual 4.

Business Calendar

Used properly, these tools will form a solid foundation for your

growth. They are designed to give your business its

independence, so you can focus your efforts on guiding it to the

next level. There's a little work involved, but I've never met a

lazy entrepreneur. And besides, owning a successful, thriving

business is more than worth the effort.

The first business tool is your Business Manual. It functions

much like an operations manual does for your car. It houses your

strategies, your policies, your systems, and other basic

information. Basically, everything you might need to run your

company is located here in one central location.

The value of a well documented Business Manual is significant,

to say the least. Not only does it help smooth out the daily

management of your operation, it gives tremendous confidence to

a potential investor or purchaser, helping to raise the value of

your business in the process. Why? Because a business that runs

on its own is a much more solid investment. In fact, it's a

critical factor in determining its market value.

The second business tool is really a group of tools. These are

your Employee Manuals. Employee Manuals are the most common of

the Four Business Building Tools, but rarely do they provide the

value they should. A good Employee Manual should serve double

duty as a Training Manual. This means it should contain not only

your important company policies and contact information, it

should also contain a detailed job description, complete with

applicable systems. In other words, it should show an employee

not only what is expected of them, but how to do it as well. The

goal is to make the process of bringing in a new employee as

smooth as possible and then empower them to take ownership of

their work.

The third business tool is your Analysis Manual. Think of this

as your "business dashboard". Here you will keep all the

relevant numbers that you want to review on a regular basis

concerning the status of your business.

Certainly this includes your financial statements, but those

aren't the only numbers that are important. For example, you may

want to track the amount of overtime your employees are putting

in per month, or the number of new prospects your salespeople

are meeting with each week. It doesn't need to be complicated,

but it does need to be useful, so take a little time to identify

the numbers that mean something to you. Then, share these

numbers with your employees.

Not only is an Analysis Manual a powerful goal setting tool

(helping to keep you on track), it can also warn you of

potential problems before they arise. For example, if you know

that you need sales of $200 thousand next month and you know

that your salespeople tend to convert 33% of their leads into

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sales, you'll want to be sure you've got at least $600 thousand

worth of quotes in place for next month. Now you'll know with

some certainty if you're on track for a great month, or if

you've got some work to do to reach your target. And you can do

this with all sorts of numbers from your business.

The final business tool is your Business Calendar. This is

simply a place for you to track the annual cycle of your

business.

For example, there may be times of the year when you want to run

various marketing campaigns... times of the year you want to

review your budgets... times of the year you want to have

employee reviews... and so forth.

It's not rocket science, but a good Business Calendar is an

essential tool for keeping things from falling through the

cracks. After all, when was the last time you had an employee

review? When is your next employee review? Do your employees

know this date? Can they count on it happening on a schedule,

year after year? If you implement a Business Calendar you'll be

able to confidently answer these questions and more.

Recently I met a fellow who grew his business from $10 thousand

to $100 thousand per month in just under 6 months. Know where he

was in month 7? He was bankrupt. He couldn't keep up with his

customers' demands and his business simply imploded on itself.

It's a sad story, but his problem wasn't new. The number one

killer of small business today is unmanaged rapid growth. That's

not to say that rapid growth is bad. Growth isn't the problem,

all businesses need to grow... it's the unmanaged part that can

kill a good business.

So take a little time to get your business in order and then

grow like crazy. Before you know it, you'll be well on your way

to building the business of your dreams.

About the author:

About the author:

Mark Wardell is President and Founder of Wardell Professional

Development, a business consulting firm, focused on the unique

needs of small/mid sized growth companies.

Wardell Professional Development http://www.wardell.biz Email:

info@wardell.biz Phone: (604) 733-4489