Teik Oh

What would I do to your business if I took over?

Mar 16 2015

In response to an article I published earlier, I received an interesting query. Jim, who is the owner-manager of a wholefoods distribution business based in Denver, Colorado, and who employs 20 people across two states, asks what changes I might make to his business if I took it over, sight unseen.

Before I thought “sight unseen” was a bit unfair, Jim explained that he felt his business performance was starting to plateau and wondered if there were any common changes he could put into place in order to shake it up.

This question raised issues about business growth as well as about efficiency, so it made me think of the key aspects of a business that any business should think about changing today. So, sight unseen, here is what I might do.

First, I would spend some time every day seeing customers, suppliers, staff and other key stakeholders, either one on one or in groups, or at least talk to them on the telephone. I believe business today needs to maintain good relationships with key stakeholders, especially customers, staff and suppliers. If you do business with friends, it is hard for friends to stop doing business with you. As well, you can get great feedback to your face – that’s always a catalyst for change especially if the feedback is (constructive) criticism! The topics for discussion would be how we are doing business together, could I help them more, and how we might be supportive of each other if times got bad. Added to that would be more personal topics if you feel this is appropriate, such as how their businesses were syncing with their personal goals. This type of personal information can help you both in designing different business models.

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Cultivate surprise in your business!

Mar 13 2015

In business it is critical that you formulate and write down your plans. The old adage “businesses do not plan to fail, they fail to plan” is so true! Throughout the world the statistics is quite consistent – between 70% and 80% of startup businesses fail within the first three years, and when asked, most of these business owners say that they operated without a plan.

And yet, in my three decades of helping clients start and grow businesses, I can tell you, hand on heart, that your business plan is out of date as soon as it is written!

What? So why the heck am I spending this much time (and probably money) planning and documenting my plan?

Because you need to have an idea of what you are up against, what opportunities you can take advantage of, and how you will go about it. With a plan, as some of your assumptions change or circumstances change them, you will know the strategic direction you are heading, the steps you intended to take and how you can adjust them to suit the changed circumstances. Without a plan all you can do is react, follow events, rather than create them.

So how do you deal with changing circumstances? In this video I talk about expecting surprises to pop up. Cultivate the ability to look for surprises and the flexibility to take them on board as opportunities! Read More

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Metrics for better business

Mar 09 2015

In an earlier article, I wrote about how the measurement of your business success should include qualitative measures as well as quantitative benchmarks.

I received a lot of email to ask about what quantitative metrics I thought were important in business. Now, I repeat what I said earlier, first, that qualitative metrics such as customer satisfaction and service delivery times can be just as important as quantitative measures. Secondly, that you need to define what you mean by success before you can choose the appropriate measures.

Having said that however, I thought I should deal with all those emails and provide a discussion on the types of quantitative measurements you might want to employ.

Howard from Sydney asked what might be some warning signs to watch out for.

Here are some quantitative metrics from your profit and loss account that can show your business is needing attention:-

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How to create targeted Performance Measures in your business

Mar 06 2015

Have you ever felt that you need to check performance in your business against some yardstick?

It might be that you want to set some Key Performance Indicators for your staff, or you want to see how one branch is performing against another, or perhaps you just want to see how your business as a whole is performing against the bigger picture?

In trying to create Performance Measures for these reasons have you created a set of measures that you haven’t been too happy about? Perhaps you haven’t been sure that in achieving those Performance Measures you actually achieve an outcome!

Performance Measures are essential in your business. They are objective and quantitative, they should reflect your Vision and Mission so that they measure progress against “getting there”, and they create targets for people to work towards. However appropriate Performance Measures are crucial – don’t expect a Vision target of an empowered workforce if your Performance Measures are about ticking off procedures checklists!

This video explains how to create targeted Performance Measures that cascade from your Vision so that everything is measured against the desired outcomes, not just against outputs.

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Never mind the width, feel the quality!

Mar 02 2015

I hope that you are keeping an eye on your business performance. However, even if you are, you may be overlooking several critical factors about how your business is performing, and some of these could be the difference between success and failure.

Most business owners probably keep a good eye over quantitative measurements such as sales, average markup, salary costs and expenses. However some of the most useful measures can be qualitative rather than quantitative, for example staff and client turnover rates or average service-delivery times.

Overall, before you start measuring your business performance, you need to be very clear what “success” means to you so that you can measure and benchmark the measurements that really count toward that success. If you are not clear on what success means in your business, you may be measuring the wrong measurements. For example if you focus on profit, you may actually be driving away customer volumes if your success is based on low margin/high volume.

Having determined what success means to you, you can then choose the metrics, both quantitative and qualitative, that drive that success. As you choose them, always ask yourself: “If I improve this measure, will that improvement lead to success?”

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Increase your sales through a highly focused marketing plan!

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