In Business Two Heads are Better than One
In Business Two Heads are Better than One
When you’re tackling the daily challenges of running a small business it’s easy to think a spare pair of hands or a lottery win might be the answer to your problems. But for lasting solutions and not just a quick fix, you need more brainpower not more manpower.
Regularly meeting your accountant or financial advisor to review the performance of your business, and really understand what’s behind the issues you face as well as how to tackle them, will keep your business afloat long after the lottery win has been spent.
The benefits of a periodic business review with your accountant
Running a small business means being hands-on, but it’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day that you never see the big picture.
Business review meetings with your accountant are a great opportunity for a regular look at the big picture. They’re a chance to nut out issues with someone who knows your business goals and has the expertise to help you reach them.
People are creatures of habit, in how we think and what we do; it can be hard to change the way we tackle issues and problems. A trusted adviser can help you look at things differently and come up with new solutions.
Just having someone to talk to who will offer advice and guidance with no other agenda than the success of your business can really help.
If your goal is business growth then regular reviews can help you manage that growth so it moves at your pace, and help you quickly spot and deal with any obstacles.
Regular business reviews lead to more sales, bigger profits, more cash in your pocket, satisfied customers, less waste, a happier team, better work life balance, and job satisfaction.
Digging a bit deeper into a business review
We’ve talked in other blogs about the financial reports you should be reviewing regularly and you can check out more detail here.
But there’s more to a strategic business review than just crunching the numbers. That said, it’s not a free for all and the best business reviews follow an agreed agenda so all the issues are covered. The objective is to get behind the numbers and answer the real business questions.
I’m always busy but I never seem to have enough cash?
A recent Suncorp report said a third of small businesses used personal money to manage their cashflow, and a quarter had not been paid by their business in the last 12 months.
One of the biggest issues for Aussie businesses is unpaid invoices; the 2 million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia are owed over $70 billion by their customers. Staying on top of unpaid bills is critical.
Your accountant can help you nut out a strategy to get customers to pay the right amount on time. Whether it’s having someone on the team dedicated to debt collection, coming up with a payment plan proposal for a customer, or just making sure you’ve got the right credit terms in the first place.
Follow up meetings will help you monitor and modify any measures you put in place. They will also help you find out if your cashflow problems come from other issues such overspending, mispriced goods or services, high customer turnover due to quality or performance issues, and identify which one to tackle first for the quickest result.
I’m always busy but can’t seem to keep up with customer demand
It sounds like a dream come true, more business than you can handle, but it’s usually a sign that something’s wrong. It could be your prices are too low, or your business is growing too fast, maybe your systems aren’t up to the job, or you need a bigger team.
Chances are it’s a combination of things. The risk is you lose customers because you can’t meet their needs, or you try to do too much and compromise the level of service and quality to existing customers.
Your accountant can advise on things like a decent accounting and IT system, training and development needs for your team, and work out the balance between back office and service delivery to increase productivity now and in the future.
Regular meetings with a trusted adviser to plan, manage and monitor sustainable growth means you can scale up to absorb new business, avoid waste, and keep your team and your customers happy.
I’ve advertised but I can’t seem to get any new customers
Selling more is pretty much the number one priority of most small businesses. But getting new customers on board can be tough, especially if you’ve got competition.
A decent business plan usually comes with a sales and marketing strategy but if it fails to translate into more sales then getting together regularly with your accountant to pick apart the reasons why will help you get to the bottom of it.
It’s a chance to brainstorm solutions to issues such as whether your pricing is set at the right level, if you’re advertising in the right place, and what the competition is doing. Maybe it’s an issue with your product or service. Like most of the challenges faced by small business there is never a single culprit.
A Strategic Business Review with Wilson Teis
It’s never too early or too late to start thinking strategically about your business and Wilson Teis can help; we’ve been doing it for small businesses for over 30 years.
Our first meeting is a chance to get to know you and your business and we’ll start the conversation with a look at past financial performance.
This will give us a chance to see how your business looks on paper, and spot any stand out financial issues that might need immediate attention.
Then we’ll chat with you a bit more about your business and personal goals for the future.
From there we’ll initiate a deep dive into some of the specific challenges faced by your business and why you think they are a problem.
Then we’ll brainstorm to dig a little deeper on other possible reasons for the challenges you face followed by a discussion on solutions to tackle them. This will generate a list of identifiable action items with a timeframe and clear allocation of responsibility.
We’ll discuss a bit more about how those action items will help, any challenges you might face putting them into practice, how to track progress and the next steps.
Even simple solutions can be effective, sometimes you just need help to identify them.
To set up your first strategic business meeting with the team at Wilson Teis call Mike or Coral today on 07 3255 1455.
| Tel: 07 3255 1455 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Fax: 07 3255 1466 |
Address: 2 Maynard Street Woolloongabba Qld 4102 |
