Is your company consistently getting the results you desire? By results, I mean both top line revenue results and bottom line profit results. It’s quite possible that you may be growing and doing well but still wonder if you’re reaching your full potential. If not, what’s holding you back? Chances are high that the answer to this question lies in one of four critical areas of your business.
Through years of consulting with hundreds of mid-market companies, all with the same goals to grow revenue and increase profitability, we’ve uncovered four critical areas in every business that must be constantly maintained and nurtured. These four areas are Employees, Customers, Processes, or Revenue, and in each area, you must develop strong strategies and excellent execution.
Employees: With all of the companies we’ve worked with over the years, one consistent pattern we’ve noticed is that payroll is almost always one of the top expenses any company will have. You can consider it an expense or an asset, but either way, it’s one of your biggest investments, and you owe it to yourself to make sure you’re doing everything you can to maximize your return on that investment. We call this your Return on Payroll.
Your goal here is to know that your employees are engaged, productive, delivering results, and excited about the future.
Customers: Keeping and growing existing customers is an excellent way to improve both your top line and your bottom line. I hope you all love working with your customers as much as we do ours, but how much you love them is not nearly as important as how much they love you. In order to be successful in this category, you must be very clear about who your Core Customer is, what they really need, and how they measure success.
Your goal here is to know that your customers love, appreciate, and refer you.
Processes: A culture of discipline and a focus on continuous improvement will help you maintain high levels of consistent service and quality as you grow. Without it, you are sure to experience chaos and confusion, wasted resources, and frustration as you reach new levels of complexity in your business. And all of this will ultimately limit your company’s ability to grow and reach its full potential.
Your goal here is to know that you have healthy operations and disciplines in place that you can scale for the future.
Revenue: You must continuously evaluate the needs of the market, new technology, the competitive landscape, and the specific sales and marketing strategies you’re using to tell your story. It’s not enough to just be hitting today’s sales numbers, you must also be focused on new innovations to sustain your revenue goals for the future. Unless you are constantly asking yourself “what’s next?” you may suddenly find yourself in decline, scrambling to catch up with the competition, and losing valuable market share.
Your goal here is to know that you have the right product/service offerings and marketing/sales strategies to support your current and future revenue goals.
How on earth can you wrap your arms around all of these moving parts and maintain good health in all four areas? Here are three steps to help you get started.
- Assess your current condition. Use our Company Health Check tool to assess your health in all four areas and understand where you’re strong and where you have some work to do.
- Monitor your health over time. Determine the right KPIs and success criteria, and create visual dashboards to help you keep a constant eye on your health in these four areas.
- Adjust your plan when needed. Everything in your business is constantly changing and what’s working today might not work tomorrow. Be ready to make adjustments early when you see that your health is declining in one of these four areas.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to complete the Company Health Check today then share your results below. We would love to know where you’re feeling strong and where you might want to focus some energy. And of course, we’re always here to help you with additional tools and resources when you’re ready to get started.
We’re wishing you all a very healthy and prosperous new year!
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