If You Don’t Have A Plan or Measure Your Numbers, Do You Really Know Where You Are, Or Where You Are Going?
Next Level Strategies just completed our 2011 2nd Quarter GrowthCLUB with 25 business owners. It was a great seminar with an emphasis on metrics and marketing.
During our seminar we focused on some interesting statistics through our research on 6 Fortune 500 companies. Some of the companies researched included: Boeing, Pfizer, Microsoft and IBM.
Of these Six Fortune 500 companies we found that they spent approximately a $100 million dollars in total annual compensation (base salary, stock, bonuses, etc.) on six key employees. These six employees don’t do marketing, they’re not in manufacturing and they don’t do sales. They’re not even the CEO!
It might amaze many small business owners to learn that these six people focus on just two things:
- Planning or
- Finance
In short, METRICS!
Not only that, but these six people employ about 3,850 people in planning and finance who earn an estimated combined income of $385 million dollars annually and spend about 7.5 MILLION HOURS PER YEAR just analyzing the businesses they work for.
So before one product gets launched, one manufacturing plant light is turned on, or one sales rep calls on a client, these six companies are spending almost a HALF BILLION DOLLARS on… planning and finance… ON METRICS!
So the real question is, if major corporations put so much emphasis on planning and finance – just how much time per week ARE YOU INVESTING IN STUDYING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN AND YOUR BUSINESS’ FINANCIALS?
Too often when I ask small business owners if they have a written business plan, I’m told:“My plan is in my head”, which is a great place for it to compete with day-to-day activities like customer calls, marketing activities, networking, family issues and friends.
Too often these same business owners tell me they only look at their financials at tax time when they meet with their accountant. So once a year they take a nostalgic look at their numbers… Because after your books close, you can’t go back and rewrite history.
So are you spending all your time working IN your business and not ON your business.
We all want to do better for ourselves, our families and our employees. The question is better than what? If you are not routinely tracking your businesses activities through a plan, or your company’s financials – at least on a weekly basis – you probably have no idea just how your business is really running and you are undoubtedly leaving money on the table somewhere.
I know one thing: On March 25, 2011, 25 business owners came together because they made a commitment to develop a business plan process and learn more about the numbers they need to track to determine if their business will be as successful as they want it to be.
If you are really ready to get serious about your business, when will you make that commitment? Contact one of our business coaches and take the next step today.
