Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Focus TipT - Get Control of Your Business and Watch Your Bottom Line Grow

Focus Tip™ - Get Control of Your Business and Watch Your Bottom Line Grow

Author: Chrisitne Harvey, Co-Founder, WomenForWealth.com

 

Methods of success and failure in business have fascinated me more than anything in my consulting business over the years, with clients as big as Gillette and Sony, or as small as an individual entrepreneur.

 

The single most important thing is this - Whether the company is large or small, whether it is in the US or Europe or Asia, the success or failure lies largely in ‘Management Control.’ This is even more true for the entrepreneur!

 

Here’s what I mean by ‘Management Control’….

 

It’s simply knowing what your target is, then making sure it is completed!!!

 

Here are some examples. Targets can vary widely, depending on the department. For entrepreneurs, they cover the gambit, since they wear hats for most of the departments themselves!

 

So, a sales or network marketing target could be: ‘10 new prospect calls per day.’

A production target could be: ‘Quotes for CD reproduction from 5 suppliers by Friday.’

A property management target could be: ‘Financial reports received by the 10th of each month.’

A rehab target could be: ‘Pool fence in by the 12th of this month.’

 

You get the picture. That’s the target part.

 

Now what about the ‘control’ part of ‘Management Control?’ This is where most people fall down, be they managers or entrepreneurs. DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU. The reason most people fall down here is that they don’t keep a record of the target in order to check to see if it’s done – this applies to themselves and others accomplishing it.

 

So, what’s wrong with that, you might ask? Don’t people do the best they can? Why should I chase them if I’m their boss? Won’t that de-motivate them? Isn’t that micromanagement?

 

Let’s look at it this way… I was once interviewed in Asia by a journalist after a lecture I gave to a management group. The journalist said, ‘Mrs. Harvey, why so you put all this emphasis on management control. Isn’t it enough for people to just do their best without being monitored for results?”

 

Here’s what I asked her in return… “What if you were aiming to win an Olympic race? Do you think you would go out on the track every day and just ‘do your best?’ No you would find out what distance you should run and the time you had to beat in order to win the race.”

 

“Oh, I see,” she said. “I never thought of it like that!”

 

You see, the problem in business of not meeting targets, is that it pushes everything else back. So if you don’t get the 10 prospect calls done, you won’t get the 3 sales you expect – thus your income is down - which affects your bottom line. If you don’t get the 5 supplier quotes for the CD’s, you don’t get the CD’s ordered on time and your customers are let down and your reputation is affected - which affects your bottom line. If you don’t receive the financial reports by the 10th, you delay knowing where you stand financially and can’t fix potential problems - this impacts your bottom line. If the pool fence isn’t done by the 12th, your rehab schedule slips and you miss out on new tenants - which affects your bottom line.

 

So what can you do to keep track of expected results? The answer is simple – just record it as you would an appointment, or an action you want to take in the future. Use a system that’s familiar to you, be it a computerized calendar or a daily planner.

 

A few years ago I had the privilege of producing a film with the US Military in Europe called The Heart and Soul of Leadership. In it, I compared corporate management to military leadership. One of the great things I heard from a sergeant in the Air Force was a system they had of giving themselves heads up on a pending deadline. They simply made notations in their agendas of pending reports or actions due. So, if a report was due on Friday, they simply noted ‘xyz report due Friday’ on their Tuesday page, highlighted in yellow, giving them advance notice to chase it and be sure it would be done. They also noted it on their Friday page.

 

Simple things work best! YOU DON’T NEED A COMPLICATED SYSTEM!!! But, you DO NEED A SYSTEM.

 

3 SECOND FOCUS TIP  If YOU WANT TO IMPACT YOUR BOTTOM LINE, consider these simple questions, and decide what action to take:

 

1. What will your system be? Will it be simple like the Air Force one I quoted above? If so, get your daily planner out, or buy a suitable one. Or get your computerized calendar ready.

 

2. What will you track? – The answer is simple – track every action that affects the bottom line, or is personally important to you.

Now, get that system going today while it’s fresh in your mind. The RESULTS WILL AMAZE YOU!

 

Then write and let us know your results!!! We LOVE to hear from readers.

ChristineHarvey@WomenForWealth.com

LizUible@WomenForWealth.com

 

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