Chapter 2. Knowing WHERE You’re Going

I begin with this Chapter 2. from 'Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur' to honour the voluntary contibutors to http://nardep.blogspot.com/ .

This from the book:

GROWTH Profit-Driver No.2. Your BUSINESS STRATEGY

Can you show me YOUR Business Strategy outlined on just ONE PAGE?

Does it describe your long-term VISION for the business?

Does it have a clear AIM or MISSION STATEMENT that explains to your customers what service the business aims to deliver?

Does it describe the medium-term OBJECTIVES of the business... and detail the short-term TARGETS with project completion dates?

Does it describe your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for your business and its services?

Is this USP incorporated in every bit of POSITIONING, BRANDING and MARKETING you employ?

Do you carry this ONE PAGE document around with you and refer to it every day?

Do your STAKEHOLDERS understand your Business Strategy?

Do you share it with your CLIENTS?

Do you share it with your internal TEAM in your business?

Do your SUPPLIERS and SERVICE PROVIDERS know what you do… and do they actively work with you to help you achieve your aims?

Do your Shareholders, including your Creditors and Funding Partners, know what you do... and how they can actively CONTRIBUTE to your success?

Answer these simple questions, apply the obvious suggestions, and your business will be miles ahead of most.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Where To Find Your UNTAPPED Profit Potential

In 'Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur' I point to the fact that UNTAPPED Profit Potential almost always lies right under the nose of the business entrepreneur in his/her own business.

The reality is that most business entrepreneurs have their noses so closely buried under the hood of their own business problems that they can't see the opportunities and solutions.

As I wrote this introduction chapter to highlight my opinion that tons of business profit potential goes wasted in almost every business I see, I found this article in the local papers:

Survey Finds South Africans Average Only Three Productive Days per Week:

‘15 March 2005 — South Africans say that 38% of the time they spend at work is unproductive. In addition, ineffective meetings, lack of team communication and procrastination are among the top South African time wasters, according to results of an online Microsoft Office survey.’

http://www.microsoft.com/southafrica/office/ppc.mspx

There's a clue... and here's where, in the book, I introduce where to find those untapped profit drivers in every business:

'Well, let’s get this clear, it is not just one solution that works, but more a number of simple solutions (let’s call them PROFIT-DRIVERS) that can be applied throughout many areas of your business, to work in combination, and to drive and MULTIPLY your bottom-line profits.'

The reader is introduced to the concept of employing 'GROWTH Profit Drivers' - derived from my consulting business GROWTH Holdings (pty) Ltd. - in the many different areas of their business.

Each profit driver becomes a NEW chapter in the book:

The GROWTH Profit-Driver Series

GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 1. Your PHILOSOPHY
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 2. Your BUSINESS STRATEGY
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 3. Your BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 4. Your BUSINESS OPERATING SYSTEM
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 5. Your USP - UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 6. Your MARKETING STRATEGY
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 7. Your PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
GROWTH Profit-Driver No. 8. Your SELLING PROCESS
GROWTH Profit-Driver No .9. Your PEOPLE PROCESS
GROWTH Profit-Driver No.10. Your CAPITAL RESOURCES

We'll touch on some profit-drivers from each chapter in future posts.

Regards
Trevor Nel - (int. 2711) 705-2790 - growth@global.co.za
Developer: INNER Circle Business Forum

What's The BIGGEST Problem In Business?

Trevor writes:

From the book you might find a writing style that really irritates the 'experts'. For instance I write:

For me, the biggest problem in business today is... just staying in business!

Regardless of the 'experts' views, whether they be economic soothsayers or doomsayers, we have to make our businesses work - no matter what the economic conditions!

And, some of us want to do better than just survive from day to day.

We want to make GOOD money!

So here’s the simple reality:

The prospects for a business to survive and prosper are determined by its ability to generate a profit.

Profit, in simplicity, is a function of a business' ability to generate more income than expenses whilst managing the astute growth and development of the business.

Nothing smart here... very simple!

I go on to discuss how I disagree with most 'experts' views that business should increase costs to increase business... here's why:

My experience is that most businesses in South Africa NEVER operate at, or anywhere near, their maximum sales, production or profit potential.

In my opinion, I conservatively believe that most South African businesses are WASTING at least 45% to 60% of their easily available profit potential.

Meaning, I believe, that it is highly likely that you can easily double your current bottom-line profits.

In many cases I believe that businesses could be increasing their profits by factors of up to FIVE and TEN times... and more.

And, it is important to recognise that each month that this wasted profit potential is ignored... it is lost forever.

Wasted profit potential can never be recovered.

To me, this is a shameful waste of good, easy money!

So where does the simple solution lie to uncovering these untapped profits?

I'll touch on that in my next post.

Regards
Trevor Nel - (int. 2711) 705-2790 - growth@global.co.za
Developer: INNER Circle Business Forum