Business survival and success 111115

Business Survival, Growth and Success

To Do List

• What’s my USP?

• Creativity =

Differentiation

• Plan It

• Drive Positive

Change

• Strive To

Improve

Part of Your Business Planning ToolkitIlkley Business Forum11th November 2015

About Phil Parramore Live with Stephanie and her son Three daughters of my own – one with a mentalhealth disorder; one with incurable physical disorder Makes reasonable attempts to provide guidance

Socially Inclusive / treat everyone fairly values Belief that being mentally or physically active

promotes positive wellbeing and improves quality of life

Phil’s World Of Skills and Work Masters Graduate of Leeds University

Business School Member of the Institute of Leadership and

Management Project Management Practitioner SFEDI qualified (skills for business growth) Equality and Diversity qualified and practise

(Well!) over 30 year of public, private and third sector experienceStarted GuideDotYou via Government’s New Enterprise Scheme and Wakefield Business Support Programme Approved Growth Mentor

Work Experience Civil Service – Operations; Consultancy; Policy and Projects

School Governor

Business Mentor – “I Know I Can”

Favourite Flavours CIC – Director

Condita Group – Interim Director

GuideDotYou Change Solutions

8 Business Networking Group Leader

Creative Communities Group

http://www.guidedotyou.co.uk/


http://www.8businessnetworking.co.uk/

http://www.ccguk.org/

Resilience and Determination Resilience – the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

Determination –the quality of being determined; firmness of purpose; resolute

How do you rate yourself for each of these (out of ten)?


Data courtesy of our partners, Business On, Ltd

50%

Are at risk of failure within the next 12 months.

80%

Could significantly improve the financial performance of their business

25%

Could radically improve the way the business works within the next 6 months


According to world class research there are a few common reasons why businesses do not survive or why they don't grow as quickly as they would hope.

This 15 minute session provides a whistle stop tour with some hints and tips about what organisations

can do to stimulate survival, growth and success.


9 Reasons Businesses Fail!1. Uncertainty about the long term2. Negative cashflow3. Failure to create long range plans4. No competitive edge5. Lack of a motivated team6. No clear lead generation strategy7. Weak sales8. Lack of focused leadership9. Not retaining customers


But firstly have a think……

For the next minute or so think about your own business and consider one thing you can

do differently in your business to help it survive, grow and succeed

Answers on a postcard


Research SourcesIncluding:• Management Today• U.S Chamber of Commerce• Institute of Directors• Small Biz Trends• Harvard Business School• Et al!


Uncertainty about the long term• Problems

• Global economy• Credit availability• Cashflow• Government Regulations

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Reduce short term thinking• Increase your long term planning• Live, breathe and encourage optimism throughout your

workforce about the future


Negative Cashflow• Problems

• Poor cashflow• Bad credit rating

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Stage your growth to protect valuable

resources• Visioning of your growth track to secure cash/

investment


Failure To Plan• Problems

• Failing to plan after start up• “Failing To Plan Is Planning To Fail”

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Do great strategic planning• Design your goals and objectives• Review and measure your progress / outcomes• Plan to implement, manage and realise your

targets


No Competitive Edge• Problems

• No competitive advantage• No Unique Value Proposition

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Have fantastic belief in your products and services• Creatively differentiate from the competition• Bring high quality products and services to market• Be wary of differentiation by low price alone


Lack of a Motivated Quality Team• Problems

• How to motivate your team• Poor or moderate performance

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Find the right talent, get them onboard and keep engaging them

from recruitment process onwards • Inspire and motivate your people - they produce competitive work

when committed and engaged• Trust and empower them to innovate and deliver great results• Ensure staff always understand the vision and plan, so they can

execute it brilliantly• Satisfied staff = great customer service = increased revenue


No clear lead generation strategy• Problems

• Products and services not being discovered• Low chance of stable revenue

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Rely on your direct marketing, not only referrals• Good choice of marketing funnels• Strong range of offers • Equals better conversion into paying customers


Weak Sales• Problems

• Failure to overcome many other challenges• Ultimately this is the problem likely to hurt most!

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Create your competitive edge• Design and implement your clear marketing funnels• Get yourself a superbly motivated sales team• With clear sales outcomes and targets• Which are well monitored and measured


Lack of focused leadership• Problems

• Loss of team direction and focus• No spearhead to the business

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Leaders with empathy, social awareness & emotional self

control• Leaders with character and with vision and the capability

and desire to implement well thought through strategies• Creating and embedding cultures that are performance

led and innovative


Not retaining customers• Problems

• Missed opportunities for new business

• To stimulate survival, growth and success• Follow up with your customers• Keep up and don’t let drop your levels of contact with

prospects and customers• Design and use great mechanisms for keeping customers• Always remember that only 2% of sales are made on first

contact; 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact.

• So that means persistence (in a non aggressive way)


I would like my networks to consider these hints and tips because, if they don’t….• They risk:

• Running out of cash before they open their doors because they haven’t anticipated their start-up costs

• Missing sales projections because they don’t really know who their customers are and what they want

• Losing customers because their quality or service falls short• Becoming overwhelmed by too many options because they

never took the time to focus on a mission and vision for their company

• Going bankrupt because they don’t have a rational business model or a plan for how to make money


And External Influences As Well!

Burke Litwin Causal Model Of Organisation Performance and Change

Handling the demands of business and the demands of our personal lives

Is a subject of life coaching

And is one for another day!


What Does This Mean For Your Business?

So for the next five minutes think about your own business and consider what else you can

do in your business to help it survive, grow and succeed


Now It's Your Turn!

http://www.guidedotyou.co.uk/documents/GDYpostcardQ.pdf


Obtain your FREE Business Fast Track Business Review when you register with Business-On

"Every MD should get the Review. It really helped me refocus and improve the business". Sue Goldberg Apollo Lighting

http://www.businesson.co/home

For workshops, mentoring and business plans to explore these issues in depth, tailored to your individual business, please contact:

Phillip Parramore

Business Growth AdvisorT: 07766 543356E: [email protected]: www.guidedotyou.co.uk : @PhilParramore

Thank youFrom GuideDotYou

Change Solutions


mailto:[email protected]


Business survival and success 111115

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Business survival and success 111115