Critical
factors for business success
The
business landscape is going to change drastically in the next five years. Many
businesses are going to falter, even household names, and many little known
businesses are going to succeed. We are now seeing the powerful impact the
internet is having on any business. Here are 7 important factors for business
success in this new and tough world economy. Even during economic crisis
businesses that pay attention to the following will fundamentals will prosper.
1. Leadership,
vision, and deep knowledge of the business. Leadership has never been so critical like now. Everything rises and falls on leadership. It is during tough times
that the real leaders emerge. A clear vision is critical to avoid doing the unnecessary
or the wrong things. It is critical to keep both eyes on the horizon for the
waves of changes. It is critical to know what the core of the business is all
about. Everyone ought to know these things, not just the leadership and
management of the company. Transparency is an absolute must.
2. Deep knowledge
and control of finances. In a
difficult or unpredictable business environment it is critical to avoid
overleveraging the business. Excessive debt, even at low interest rates, works
against the ability to invest in the right things at the right time. Cash is
king during difficult economic environments.
3.
Development of people. This is probably where most businesses get a D or an F
grade. It is critical to recognize and reward the right talents and skills. In
businesses today there is a lot more talk
than do when it comes to succession planning. With many baby boomers
retiring, the next few years are going to be challenging for many businesses to
attract and retain top talent. It is critical to invest in people development,
not just in training. Training deals a lot more with learning the practices
from the past to the present. Development deals a lot more with preparing
people to lead into the future.
4.
Development of systems. The critical processes and components of what makes a
business succeed must be identified, documented, and understood by those
running the business. Stay away from documenting bureaucracies and faulty
processes in the business. Stick to the core and do it superbly well. Robust
systems can withstand tough economic environment.
5.
Service to clients and/or customers. There is no question that the quality of service in
many businesses has declined in the last decade. In the age of smart consumers
no one can afford to lose the precious consumer loyalty; it is costly or even
impossible to get it back once lost. Have you tried to connect with a business
consumer hotline lately? No wonder it is called a hotline! Either machines keep
you going from voice to voice or human to voice and voice to human before
anything can be resolved. At least some businesses are putting English speaking
people to answer the phones. I am not even going to get into the customer services
through websites.
6. Boost trust,
ethics, compliance, and culture. Yes,
a great business can still be built on character and integrity. It is common for businesses to fail because
of lack of leadership and vision and the common reasons are trust erosion, shady
practices, and lack of compliance to the fundamentals of running a great
business. Organizations talk a lot about their cultures but have done little to
make it better; it takes great leadership to do that.
7. Keep one eye
in the leading indicators and another on profitability. The eye on the bottom line is important. What is even
more important is the eye on the leading indicators, those that lead to new
products, new customers and new sales besides the existing customers and existing
sales. Keeping a watch on the budgets is important, but the great businessman never
forgets that sometimes a budget can be bad for business, especially during
times of change and great opportunities. A full understanding of risk is
critical during this amazing times we all live in now.
Thank
you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets. Please share with others.
Be blessed and be a
blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the
book Follow to Lead
"The future
belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are
obvious."
"Those that take
swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."
I would love to do a
podcast or a blog interview and share my Nuggets with your audience!
