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Further
Reading ...
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HI-Rel Corporation Selects EZ-MRP - Rocky Smolin
E-Z-MRP, the leading manufacturing software system for small manufacturers, announced a new pricing and product structure. According to Rocky Smolin, founder of Beach Access Software, makers of E-Z-MRP, “We see a distinction between those small...
10 Cool Ways To Attract People To Your Web Site - William Fredrick
1. Give people a free subscription to your e-zine. Almost everyone is publishing a e-zine nowadays so it's important to give something extra with the free subscription. You could offer a free gift or advertising when people subscribe. 2....
Lifetime Value Online? - David Bell
In "Big Time Banner Advertising," we discuss the importance of establishing an acceptable level of return for your promotional investments. This number becomes the criteria for what is deemed a success and what is deemed a failure. How you determine...
The Stock Market Explained! - John Kaka
Let’s briefly describe The Stock Market for those who are new to the financial world. What is The Stock Market? It is by definition a market in which shares of companies stocks are bought and sold. Let me explain this. When companies start growing...
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11 Secrets of Building a Great Business
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Written By:
Syd Stewart
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What makes a great business - longevity, contribution made to society, a happy place or exciting place to work? It is a difficult question but the answer lies mainly with the customers, owners and staff of the business.
Lets start with customers. From the research I have done with my own customers here are the four factors, which in the minds of customers would make your company great.
Compassion - approachable; dedicated; very personal; always helpful and responsive; committed always have time to discuss problem; and caring.
Communication - good at listening, express things in laymans terms, lucid, good at questioning, made it simple, and grasping real needs quickly
Integrity - gave fair answers to difficult questions, honest and straight, dependable, have integrity.
Delivering Stuff that Works - delivers what is really wanted or promised and that the solution really does the job, persistent, sticks with problem, practical, good at problem solving, identifying the real problem, technically competent, knowledgeable.
Now lets consider what employees would deem to be a great company. Again by enquiring of my own staff here are four factors I have identified. Note, that the above factors for customers also apply to your staff.
Challenge and Variety - constantly doing something new, always changing, constant challenge, and involvement in everything.
Doing Something Worthwhile - doing something good and worthwhile, feeling that we are really achieving something.
Gaining Skills and Experience - intellectually fulfilling, challenges all abilities and pushes comfort zones increases confidence, builds experience, and continuous education.
Influence - opinions valued, input on whats going on, have impact on success
Lastly, lets consider what the owners or shareholders would deem as being a great business.
Survival - Approximately 70% of businesses have failed by year 5, so the first thing is survival, to ensure their investment of money and time is protected.
Profits - a good steady, better than average return for the type of business
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/>Enjoyment - their happy with their investment, the customers and staff are happy. Theyre all smiling.
So how do you progress to fulfil all these measures? What strategy should you follow?
I would recommend using natures strategy - the fundamentals of evolution and genetics that can cope with an ever-changing business environment and yet create great species.
The only thing that is certain is change.
Here are the two factors you need to get on top of the measures that determine a great business
Control and stability - nature reproduces with great fidelity - only making one mistake in 1 billion, you need to learn how to do your work predictably and reliably, time and time again over the generations of staff that will move through your business.
Constantly adapt - nature has great diversity and variety. This diversity stems from these rare reproduction errors or mutations in the genetic building block structure. These new genes that lead to new traits or capabilities that sometimes give a better fit or have an advantage in the current environment and so flourish. Its the survival of the fittest.
Nature does not start all over again with a fresh start, it builds on the best it has today.
To mimic this process in business you must move slowly and in small steps, build everything in building blocks, and learn from your mistakes and that of others. To gain diversity you need to maximise outside influence, for example, by building a powerful contact network and hiring staff with different backgrounds to bring new capabilities and skills.
Your first move to becoming a great business by meeting the above customer and staff measures is to begin to adapt slowly, building on the best you have today to gain control and enhance your diversity or capability.
About the Author
Syd Stewart is the author of "Smiling Owner - How to Build a Great Small Business - An Evolutionary Approach". He has been an Business owner and manager for over 30 years.Visit his site to find out how you can Build a Great Small Business at http://www.smilingowner.com
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| _Additional Resources ... |
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Dot Bomb - Trend or Lesson? - Michael Bloch
In these days of the "dot bombs", there are a number of us who are getting nervous about the future of the WWW as a viable means deriving a living. We have been made very aware through different forms of media that some of the big names on the...
Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Earn a Profit - Steve Kaye
Most people treat meetings as a free resource that can be used to deal with any issue. As a result, huge amounts of time and money are wasted on trivia. A meeting is a business activity (not a social event) and should be designed to earn a profit....
"5 Explosive Marketing Strategies For Exponential Business Growth!" - Jo Han Mok Managing Director Midas Touch Marketing
Do you know the answer to this question? "What can you do now to INSTANTLY increase the profitability of your business?" Well, the answer is surprising simple. Change your strategy. Your strategy is the master purpose of your business. It's...
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