Retrospective introspection
Remember that grade five teacher who said in front of the whole class that you’d never amount to anything? Or that time when you had to borrow money to fill your tank to get to work? Or the relentless colleague who took credit for every single one of your ideas? Was any one of those experiences when you decided that you would show them?
Think back to why you decided to take the leap and open your business:
- What motivated you to set up shop?
- What was your aim when starting out?
- How have your goals evolved?
- Would you say your efforts have been successful?
How do SME’s measure success?
While it’s true that success is defined as uniquely as the person, research conducted by Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain identified a criteria list that SMEs use for measuring business success. The top three were:
- Personal satisfaction - 49% of respondents placing it in the top three.
- Profitability - 43%.
- A good balance between work and private life - 34%.
Signs and symptoms
Let’s start with these three then.
1. Personal satisfaction
Are you pleased with the path on which your business is headed?
2. Profitability
This is probably the most obvious item on the list. Keeping an eagle eye on your bottom line is key. If you find that you’re continually in the red, it’s time to re-evaluate your finances.
3. Work-life balance
LOL!
What are your vital signs?
4. Leads Acquired
Take a look at the leads you’ve acquired. Are they up, or down? What can you do to increase them?
5. Customer Conversion
Your conversion rate directly related to the success of your business. Study your website, customer service, storefront appearance, and reputation if your conversion rate is lower than it ought to be. (Check out our Secret Service service)
6. Client Retention
Loyal customers are worth their weight in gold – as we discussed here.
7. Innovation
Business owners (like most of us) would rather play it safe than risk change. We tend to avoid a loss even if we could achieve a big gain. The old axiom that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a fallacy. What have you done to develop your:
- products and services
- customer service
- marketing efforts?
Prognosis
Let’s look at some external factors to better our business
8. Employee Satisfaction
Your employees are your greatest asset. Keep them happy to reduce the risk of liability and to foster better customer service within your business.
9. Competitive Stance
Personal coaching actively discourages comparing yourself to others. However, understanding how your product and/or service rates compared to your competition is vital to staying on top of trends.
10. What Your Customers are Saying
While it’s impossible to keep track of all customer mentions of your business, checking your online reputation is fundamental to measuring the success of your business.
Why not take the Business Health Check to get a better insight into the success of your business? Doing so before the end of June also gives you the opportunity to win a complimentary 2-hour strategy session, where I will help you pull things back on track.
For more information about business coaching and business consulting services, contact me:
083 256-0378 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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