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1
Why write an Executive Summary?
2
Are YOU making your business too complex?
3
The Psychology of Business Success
4
Four Steps to make a Merger Work
5
Do you live up to your “Brand”?

Why write an Executive Summary?

An Executive Summary is a summary of the key items in your planning or other document that is full of facts and information.

The best planning documents, whether strategic plans, business plans, corporate plans, marketing plans, or implementation plans, contain compelling Executive Summaries.

Yet at first glance (or indeed in a badly written Executive Summary) it simply appears as if information has been duplicated. Why can’t the reader simply go into the body of the document to read the information there anyway? The answer is because these documents are meant to be read by busy people. Often, they are to attract investment or engagement from these busy people who would be a befit to your business. They may be investors, bank managers, or even your own busy managers or team members. I order to get past the gate of continuing interest, and to engage them, you need to first draw them in by creating excitement and interest.

The Executive Summary provides that tantalising glimpse into the document – it creates a sense of excitement and gets the document through the gate so that they continue reading the document or pass it on to people who will then go through the document in detail. Business plans written as enticements to invest rarely get past the first executive reading it to see if they will be interested – often because there is no quickly read Executive Summary to entice them in.

This video talks about why you should have an Executive Summary, and what it should contain.

If you want to know more about planning in your business, come on over to teikoh.com and get the planning templates, tools and resources available for free. While you are there sign up for our newsletter that will deliver more resources on developing strategy, providing leadership, and growing your business.

Are YOU making your business too complex?

Businessman Overwhelmed with Paperwork

 

Who said running a business was easy?

It’s a bit like learning to drive a car. You have to remember to look in the mirror; you have to press on the clutch and then change gears; don’t look down, you have to steer; and don’t forget which is the accelerator and which is the brake pedal – what, I have to do this all at once?
So, anything to reduce complexity would be a boon for business owners, right? A bit like driving an automatic, at least that’s ONE pedal and the gearshift out of the way!
A business has four areas that can attract layers of complexity:-
  1. The structure
  2. The products
  3. The processes
  4. Management behaviour.
The business structure can be complex. There is the legal entity, and each different one has different regulatory and reporting aspects, some more complex than others. You can review the legal entity and perhaps choose one that is more simple to operate (but be careful of tax ramifications in any change).

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The Psychology of Business Success

To be successful in business, you don’t just need to be skilful in what you do, you need the right psychology.

You may know your product well, you may have all the learning and skill to deliver it, you may have the experience of managing people, you may even have some training in all the subsidiary skill-sets like marketing and book-keeping; however without the right psychology, being in business could defeat you.

But I’m not a pessimist at heart. I believe that if your really set your mind to get something, you will find your way. And that is part of having the right psychology.

So what do you need to think and believe in to be successful in business? In this video I outline the characteristics you should cultivate.

As usual the fun is at the end – come on over to the website teikoh.com and let me know what you think. While you’re there subscribe to out email newsletter to be kept up to date with all the tools and resources you need to run a successful business.

Four Steps to make a Merger Work

project-2

 

One of the most difficult operational issues is the merger of two corporate cultures.

If you are running a micro-business or even a small business at the smaller end of SME’s, you might think this does not apply to you. I disagree.
From time to time small businesses will “merge” with another culture. You may buy a business that is already operational and with staff who have been there for some time. In this case you will need to “merge” your personal business culture with that of the business you just bought. If indeed you already run a business, you might buy a smaller one – that’s a merger of two cultures. Perhaps you are in a situation where one of your competitors or colleagues suggest you “get together” – that’s an obvious merger.
Whatever the situation, if you are faced with having to put together two people or two groups of people, it is not a simple equation of 1+1=2. Different organisations have different values, different processes, and different ways of doing things that are justifiable to each. The key is to get together and start working efficiently as soon as possible.
Mergers can be successfully managed if you understand some key success factors and there is actually a “formula” that you can apply.
The key success factors of a merger are:-
  • Effective planning and execution
  • An overall and well communicated vision of why this is taking place
  • Effective and quick alignment and integration
  • Fast and focused transition.
I summarise the implementation of these key success factors as “Plan well, Fit Quick, Work Quick, and Grow Quick”.

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Do you live up to your “Brand”?

DSC08272 Aug 2014What is your “Brand”? Do you live up to it?

Branding is not about your logo, or corporate colours, it is about the way your team behaves in front of customers and other stakeholders. Your brand emanates from your Vision. Your Vision should provide a clear and distinctive picture about what you aspire to be, and it should have inherent in it the types of values you uphold – this is what we do, this is how we do it, this is who we are.

Instilling your brand culture into your people is as much about leadership as it is about marketing. If your people believe in the vision, and behave in a way as if they are already there, then they will display to the inside and outside world what kind of business you are. If you talk about the “quality” of your business but your people can’t deal with customers in a quality way, you are being hypocritical about your brand. If you talk about “customer service” but your people don’t return phone calls, who will believe what you say?

I was facilitating a planning session for a Not-For-Profit recently when it struck me how similar “branding” is with For-Profit companies. Are you doing what you do best? Do you do it as if you were living your Vision?

As usual, the best comes after the viewing – come to the website https://teikoh.com and tell me what your brand is. Tell me how you live it (or not!).

While you’re there, sign up with your name and email address and I’ll make sure that these tips on growing your business get sent to you. Oh and don’t worry, we value our subscribers and we will never provide your information to any spammy people!

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