Here’s a list of 7 of the most common issues I see – read through and try to spot familiar signs in your own business…

1. You Are The Key Employee – if everything in your business revolves around you being there, at a certain point you will become the bottleneck that everybody has to go to for answers and to get things done. When your business is small, this is fine. When you get bigger, it will hold you back dramatically.
    
2. No Unique Selling Proposition – your business needs to stand out from the crowd, but most businesses just offer the same services as everybody else and compete solely on price. What makes your business special? How do you make sure people know about it?

3. Over-Rating Your Own Service – when your customers think about you, what do they say when you’re not listening? Ask yourself this question honestly and think about filling the gaps so that you create something special.

4. Lack of Leadership – Your team will respond to the way you lead them. If they turn up late and go home bang on time, look in the mirror for the reasons! Your job is to motivate and inspire them by creating a business that gives them a buzz.

5. Poor Marketing – there is a technique you can learn and apply to make sure that you get new leads every month. A great book to read on this is Tested Advertising Methods – a book I get all my clients to read as their starting point to learn how this works

6. Lack of Financial Control – most businesses don’t run using management accounts and as a consequence they are out of financial control. Having a good book-keeper is a brilliant start and reviewing your cashflow forecast and Profit & Loss on a monthly basis are fundamentals. Don’t know how to do this? You’re in good company, since most accountants never explain it in a way that makes clear sense. You can learn though, and it’s not complicated or difficult to understand – just takes a bit of effort.

7. No Clear Goals or Focus – where is your business going? Imagine jumping into a taxi and saying “take me anywhere”. The driver would be confused and probably just throw you out! If you don’t have a clear vision or big goal for your business, you’re doing the same thing and you’ll just go around in circles. Give yourself a direction.

Now, make a quick To-Do entry for today to start fixing your own top issue this week.

Need some help? Give me a call for a quick free telephone consultation to help you off to a flying start on 01480 370142