How Do You Define Success
Not too many businesses succeed without looking at how their operations perform. This may be as simple as looking at the books at the end of the month to see whether there is any money left or not. That won’t get you too far along the success ladder.
Maybe you compare yourself to the other guy, larger business. He may look like he is successful, but is he really? Size of business doesn’t always dictate success, in fact most often the guy is swimming in more debt than your own business is worth.
As with most business owners, you often get lost in the day to day operations and forget what is really important until after it is too late. I see far too many business owners without understanding their financial condition. It becomes a crisis when they not only realize they aren’t making a profit, but they are also broke.
What Does It Take To Really Succeed?
The businesses that really succeed are those businesses that take measuring performance very seriously. As I have personally witnessed in hundreds of businesses, those who measure performance have nearly unlimited growth and in turn unlimited profit.
Businesses that see unlimited growth and profit achieve this feat by REALLY measuring their businesses performance and acting upon what they learn.
The Key To Profits Is Metrics and Measurements
Every action or process your business has should have a means to measure or gather some type of metrics data from it. Large companies do this all the time. The system that has grabbed a hold of big business is the Six Sigma quality process developed by Motorola in the 1980’s.
If you don’t know, Six Sigma is basically metrics and measurements. The largest company who has found success is GE with a touted $12 billion in savings their first five years of use.* Impressive stuff. While you may not be able to get $12 billion out of your business, but you can save a huge amount for your company by looking at your own results in everything your business does!
What Would A 5% Reduction In Cost Of Production Equal In Profit?
Think what it would be like to take your production data, for example, and realize that you could save money by making process efficiency changes and tracking the results to make sure you attain that goal. Could you save 5%?
A 5% cost reduction or efficiency improvement should be worthwhile in any category of your business. What about 15%? What about more?
The key is you need to gather accurate data, analyze, keep tracking, and make informed decisions on how to make changes.
Its All About The Score
The best way to track progress and data, especially if employees have any direct input and maybe even a benefit by seeing success, is by having a scorecard.
Scorecards are the visual tracking elements that you put your results in and watch how the process and changes track. It’s a great visual tool to share progress and get others involved in reaching success.
Scorecards Created For Your Business
If you have questions about how best to put together a metrics plan or a scorecard or how to make your business come to life by capturing process data and releasing the power it contains book a meeting with me, Gary Holt.
If You Want A Headstart Ahead Of Our Meeting….
Check out my new book, Unlimited Profit. In it, I define the 10 steps to unlimited profit.
*Appreciation to Discovery for GE Six Sigma facts- http://money.howstuffworks.com/six-sigma.htm
