Metrics: Regular maintenance of your company’s condition

Hallelujah! This month, I paid off my Mercedes ML350. And I couldn’t be happier. However, something I must continue doing if I want to keep driving my baby is maintain it. This applies to business as well. If you want to maintain your company’s health, you need to do the work to keep it healthy. Here is an easy maintenance checklist you can use to make sure your business is tuned up and streamlined for long-term health.

  1. Lead funnel
  2. Sales process
  3. Cash flow
  4. Budget check
  5. Customer relationship management
  6. Team structure
  7. Team culture
  8. Technology
  9. Infrastructure
  10. Legal structure

Let’s break this down.

Lead funnel and sales process: How do customers get introduced to your company? What path do you walk your customers down to guide them to a sale? This is your lead funnel. You service your lead funnel with a well put together sales process. This may include a combination of tactics such as social media, article marketing, newsletters, personal calls, gifts and value added incentives, and bundling, among others. A review of your process on your business maintenance checklist, whether it be annual or multiple times a year, will keep your sales machine humming.

Cash flow and budget check: Cash is king in business and cash flow, along with budget control, is important. Cash flow is created by a good lead funnel and sales process. To monitor your cash flow in relation to sales, you will want to keep an eye on overhead, conversion rates, and cost of team, partners, or employees. Marketing costs should have a conversion rate associated with it so you can tell what is working and what isn’t. Cash flow and budget management is the oil on a business maintenance checklist that keeps a business moving along smoothly.

Customer relationship management: Once you have a customer, you will need a system to manage that relationship. This covers the way customers are communicated to, inside or outside of a sales process. It also relates to how they are invoiced, how issues are resolved, and if you have a mechanism in place for referral. Customer relationship management is the steering wheel that keeps everything on track. Be sure its on your business maintenance checklist.

Team structure and team culture: Your team carries the vibe of your organization. They can either take you higher or shoot you in the foot. Do you have the right players on your team? Do you have the right roles in place? Do those roles actively add to the bottom line of your company? Additionally, you need to do a pulse check on how everyone works together. Does your team buy in to the company culture? Is your work place one of harmony? These are some questions to consider for your business maintenance checklist. Good team structure and team culture will propel your business forward.

Technology, infrastructure, and legal structure: This is the frame of your organization and something you should never leave off your business maintenance checklist. Review your technology. Are you using the best software for your needs? How about hardware? An equipment failure at the last minute could put you behind. How are you doing with plant and equipment? Does your infrastructure support what you need? Is it too much? Is it too little? How are you doing legally? If you are a sole proprietor, have you grown to the point where you need to consider becoming an LLC? What legal structure suits your needs?

If you need help with your business maintenance checklist, you can also hire a coach once a year to check out all the moving parts. A coach will give you outside perspective which is necessary to avoid driving with dim lights or a tail light out. A different point of view could make all the difference in the ongoing maintenance of your business.

Contact What Works Coaching if you need help. 

Facing the contractor’s dilemma

contractor

Have you heard the story about the contractor? He builds, makes additions to, and repairs homes and he’s amazing at it. In fact, he’s the best in his area. But, he has a problem, his own house has leaky faucets, a few wall cracks, and his patio needs refinishing. Still, he pushes forward, convinced other people’s homes were more important than his. Suddenly, his faucets hit a constant stream. His wall crack affects the ceiling and his patio starts to lose boards. Still, he pushes forward. His pipe breaks. His ceiling starts flaking. Part of his patio gives way when someone steps on it. He has to stop helping others to help himself.

As people who serve others, in whatever capacity, as employees, business owners, husbands, wives, mothers, we are susceptible to the contractor’s dilemma. Yesterday, I wrote about trying to give from an empty vessel. The contractor’s dilemma is similar. Only, in this dilemma, it is others who can serve you. There is no shame in asking for help. There’s a reason we weren’t born superheroes. We may perform small acts of heroism throughout the day, but we can’t do it all.

Daily Exercise: Where are the cracks in your walls? What can be patched? Who can help you patch it? Do you need more help around the office or home? Do you need to set clear boundaries? How can you head that dilemma off at the pass or stop ignoring yourself or your business?

Our contractor has a happy ending. By hiring a plumber, he was able to fix his faucets. That plumber, in turn, sent him more business by referral. By setting boundaries with his clients, he was able to free up a weekend to patch the cracks in his wall and ceiling. With the extra business from the plumber’s referrals, he got someone to come look at his foundation to make sure it was OK. He engaged his family, after he fixed the broken boards, to pick a new stain and paint the patio as a family activity.

What is your dilemma today? Comment below.