So Where Do You Go From Here?

You can’t get your business to a different place by following the same road or without direction. After identifying your core strengths and weaknesses through a Business Diagnostic, you need to develop Strategic and Operational Action Plans. The S.W.O.T. analysis that you perform on your business will help determine what needs to be done in your business, and in what order, to reach your goals.

You should begin by developing action plans based directly on the challenges you face. You must take into account the key stakeholders involved-you, your team, your customers and your suppliers. The result is a structured, step-by-step strategic and operational project plan that outlines what needs to be done, when it will happen, and who is responsible for each action step.

Ensuring that the action plans get underway and the work gets done is the most crucial stage in the process. You should set specific action steps required for each challenge and monitor the output. To ensure you stay on track, you will need a project workplan to monitor progress. It may sound a little overwhelming but it is the best way to realize the benefits of participating in a S.W.O.T. analysis and reach the goals you set for your business.

What Do You Want Your Business To Do For You?

When you first went into business, you had hopes and dreams about what your business should be like, how it should operate and where it should go in the future. Running a small to medium sized or family-owned business today means you are faced with an overwhelming array of daily challenges that can take your focus away from the future because you are simply trying to survive today.

Are your original dreams still alive?

If you are like most business owners, you have a good sense of how your business is doing right now. What is probably more difficult for you is determining where you should be going in the future and how to get there. A personalized and strategic operational review of your business, known as a business diagnostic, can help you determine if you are headed in the right direction.
The business diagnostic process starts with determining your objectives and reasons for being in business. Knowing what you want is very important. Next comes a review of the external factors that affect your business, such as customers, competitors, industry and technology. Finally, a diagnostic will review the internal factors that affect your business. These areas include, but are not limited to, your vision, your strategy, and your systems and processes.

A complete business analysis provides you with a detailed report that reviews the strategic position of your business and its operational performance. This “health check” will tell you how you are doing in each of the nine key areas of your business.

Tune in next week to find out where you go from there…

S.W.O.T. - Your Business Health Check

Business success does not come from luck or by accident. It comes from planning. I recently had lunch with a business banker who reiterated these same sentiments. He mentioned that he sees businesses fail, not because they are not profitable but because they don’t cash flow. Some simple analysis of your business can guide your strategy over the next year in a very focused way to avoid some of the cash flow challenges you might otherwise face.

You may be familiar with the term S.W.O.T. analysis-Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is essentially a technique for analyzing your business to come up with the most suitable strategies for success. A S.W.O.T. analysis provides an internal assessment of your organization as well as an external assessment of your business environment. It asks these questions:

STRENGTH: As an organization, what do we do well?
WEAKNESS: As an organization, what could we be doing better?
OPPORTUNITIES: What possibilities exist in the marketplace that can help our business realize our vision?
THREATS: What particular situation exists in the marketplace that could prevent us from realizing our vision?

Objective self analysis is difficult. A S.W.O.T. analysis keeps you focused and realistic. When you have answered the questions, you can then begin to build on your strengths to take advantage of opportunities and develop new strategies to neutralize weaknesses. This invaluable analysis can provide greater security and growth prospects in a constantly changing business environment.

Managing Your Accounts Receivable

Wouldn’t it be great if all customers paid promptly, in the full amount, and never had to be reminded about payment? Then you would never be worried about how to provide commercially attractive payment terms that did not end up threatening your cash flow.

Let’s think about how payment time affects your business. Remind yourself that invoices represent money that is actually yours. What would it mean to your business if you had that money on hand and you could use it for purposes such as investing in your business or paying the next installment on equipment or supplies recently purchased? Money outstanding is your money that you could be using profitably. Carrying too much in the way of receivables can endanger your cash flow and your business survival. It absolutely needs to be managed.

Below are some straightforward rules you could be operating by to prevent excessive receivables and reduce the amount of time receivables remain outstanding.

*Develop a credit policy.
*Send out invoices promptly.
*Be systematic about tracking accounts receivable.
*Measure the key performance indicators, such as average days to payment.
*Take action on accounts immediately that go past due date.
*Build good payment habits among your customers.

Find ways to help your customers meet their financial obligations. You will protect your client relationships while safeguarding your cash flow.