| Get Your Business to Work Part 3: Achieve Success in Any Economy |
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| Written by George Hedley | |
| Wednesday, 20 February 2008 | |
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Customer focus and project and market expertise must be the central theme and top priority of your business operation. You can’t try to do all things for all customers and expect to make a profit. At Hedley Construction, we experienced a constant struggle between what we sell and what our customers buy. Customers demanded first-class quality and top service but often made their buying decisions based on price. The challenge was how to deliver on all three (schedule, quality and price) and still make a profit. It’s difficult to be the low bid provider while delivering the best quality and superior service. Our company's bottom-line success dramatically improved when we narrowed our focus on the following:
We learned that you cannot be all things to all people. It doesn't work. A real benefit of getting focused is the ability to know when to say no. When you decide who and what you are, the opportunity to excel increases dramatically. You become laser-beam focused and don't get off track. This improves customer loyalty and bottom-line profit. To achieve our No. 1 priority of loyal repeat customers at a profit, we rewrote everyone's job description. Our goal was to create clear expectations in the area of customer loyalty and profit. We also changed our incentive plans based on keeping customers and making a profit. This change resulted in productive and focused people, lifetime customers and above-average profits. With continuous loyal customers, finding new opportunities became an easy task for our business development department. Define What You WantAn “on-purpose and on-target” business knows the real purpose for owning a business: to enjoy the benefits and rewards of business ownership. A great business is built to deliver what the owner wants. In a tough economy, it becomes very evident that a poorly designed business won’t ever deliver what the owner wants: freedom, profits and wealth. As the economy slows, competing on price against ten to fifteen other competitors won’t get it done. You can’t make any money, you can’t get rich, and you’ll have to work twice as many hours to stay even. Now you have a chance to start over. What can your company do to become what you want it to be? Define clearly why the business exists and what measurable results are expected to give you what you want. In most cases, the business owner has worked far too many hours for the financial return he or she receives. This is common in small- and medium-size entrepreneurial companies where the owner and business are one in the same. The owner doesn't own a company, he owns a job that doesn't pay very much. But he is busy doing what he knows best. With a clear purpose, the owner can stay focused on specific targets and the results he wants. In publicly traded companies, stockholders want two things: quarterly earnings or profits and increasing stock values. In private companies, the owner can want a variety of things. The purpose for my business is to accomplish three things: make a large profit, create wealth-building assets and give me freedom from day-to-day operations. I use my company to create opportunities that can reap fantastic returns. In order to do this, we strive to be the recognized expert in only a few project types, put heavy focus on loyal customers, offer more services than required by the contract minimum, maintain a great place to work that attracts and retains the best people in our industry and stand for impeccable integrity. What’s your business purpose and focus? The purpose for your company can be whatever the owner wants it to be: freedom, finances, fun, family, faith, image, prestige, community involvement, helping others, providing services or anything else you want. The purpose of a business is not to be low bidder, keep your crews busy, create stress, work hard, get out of the house, keep your kids working or barely break-even. Expect ResultsFor a business to work, expected measurable results must be clear. Some of the results we shoot for in our commercial construction business include the following:
The key to making it happen is to know what you’re striving for. Set clear measurable targets and then make people accountable and responsible to make them a reality. Now What?Your leadership decisions determine your everyday results. Weak and meandering actions will not get the results you want. Where are you now? Where do you wish you were? What do you want in the future? How can you make it happen? Be bold. Be brave. Be radical. Try something new. Set clear measurable goals and targets. Write out exactly what you want . Building a great business takes hard work, positive decisions and visionary determination. The choice is yours. Do or die a slow death. George Hedley owns Hedley Construction and Hardhat Presentations. He is the author of The Business Success Blueprint Series available in eight workbook and audio CD sets. He is available to speak on his proven system to build profits, people, customers and wealth. Call 800.851.8553 or visit his website at www.hardhatpresentations.com. Comments (0)
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