Why is the business not delivering the results I want?

When I first speak to a business owner, one of the first questions I ask them, is what are their aims and goals for the business?

As you can imagine at the moment you get a very broad range of answers, many around the short term challenges of the pandemic which is clearly an issue for virtually everyone.

In these instances, we use a simple process to understand the key drivers of the business and focus our time on these areas, working on the principle that focusing on 20% of the business will deliver 80% of the results.

This focus may be on the management of the supply chain, sales, developing your digital marketing activities, managing operational costs or working with a remote team. If any of these are particular challenge for you, then please click on the link below and book a free virtual coffee with one of our team who can help you.

Beyond the current challenges of the pandemic, the most common recurring response I hear is that “the business is not delivering the sales and profit I want”. 

The reasons for this vary from business to business, but if this is you, it is worth working through our quick 5 point “business diagnostics check”.

1. Sales Performance

Review your customer sales performance. It is a good idea to split customers into different segments.

These splits can be geographical, business size, way of purchasing and even length of time of being a customer. The objective is to identify patterns of behaviour and trends – once you have established these you can look at ways that you can influence them.

Most businesses do not spend enough time in this area and so don’t fully understand their customer needs.

2. Sales Pipeline

Creating a sales pipeline and reviewing it regularly is a simple way to grow your business.

A good way to start this is the Sales Performance check, this will enable you to identify your most successful customer segments, initially focus your sales development in these areas as clearly these customers like your product or service.

Measure this activity regularly, are you converting customers? If not, what are the recurring issues, there may be an issue somewhere else that is preventing successful conversion.

3. Margin erosion

Making sure you price correctly to your customer is always a challenge.

Margin erosion is a common factor in businesses that do not have a review process in place. This can be caused through purchase price increases and sales price reductions. It is important you understand what is happening here and to ensure you have a process that enables you evaluate the impact on these and on your business.

4. Product or Service offer

You also need to review and ensure that  your product or service offer is still what your customer wants.

This may seem an obvious statement, but it surprises me how many businesses don’t ask their customers what they could do better and how they could improve their customer experience.

Putting the customer’s needs at the heart of your activity in this area is vital for continued success.

5. Employee Engagement

We always stress the importance of getting your team “onboard”. They are your business ambassadors. Asking them for their ideas and observations is a simple way to get them engaged and creating new ideas.  Build this into your daily schedule and you will quickly realise what you need to improve.

This is not an exhaustive list, but if you work through it, this will provide you with some quick wins for your business.

We are offering a free one-hour virtual coffee and the chance to discuss any area of your business where you feel our help and support would be beneficial with a member of our team. All of the BHP consultants have successfully run and grown businesses and offer practical and pragmatic business solutions.

Please click here to book to your coffee.