As business owners and managers we find ourselves
thrust into our position through what is commonly referred to as
"Promotion into Incompetence". We move up through the ranks or start
our own businesses based on our technical skills. Little consideration is given
to the actual (non technical) skills and mindset required to manage people and
run a business effectively.
If you are having difficulty with something in
your life (either personal or in business) it can generally be solved by learning
new skills.
A business coach will assist you to build these
essential skills that you need to lead and manage a successful business. They
will help you in setting your business development goals and ensure you become
more accountable for what should be your most important work, the work of
developing your business.
Business Coaches provide you with objective
feedback about what you need to do to get your business on track. A healthy
business coaching relationship will provide an honest ongoing assessment of
your Business Development Activities, assisting you to focus your efforts on
the areas that will have the greatest long term positive impact on your
business.
Innovations in technology allow you to be
involved with coaches from locations around the world. Do some research into
the various Business Coaching options available to you. The internet is a great
place to start your research.
I am a Business Coaching Client with the E-Myth
Mastery course developed around the teachings of Michael Gerber. I can
personally recommend the E-Myth Mastery Course and their associated products.
The ongoing business development work completed as part of their courses
continues to have a massive positive impact on the businesses that I am
involved with.
The Four Top Secrets of Business Development and Risk Management
Everyone loves a winner! In the business world,
the more money you make, the more effective and successful you and your business
become. This truism is consistently born out by top business owners who take
their ideas to market. But what are their secrets? Invariably, their success is
the natural outcome of effective business development and risk management. They
accomplish this by following the four steps outlined below.
1. Think About It!
All business activity begins with having an idea.
Successful business people are thinking all the time about their business and
how they can take it to the next level of development. In his classic book,
"Think and Grow Rich," Napoleon Hill starts at this very point when
divulging his findings about successful businessmen, such as Andrew Carnegie.
In fact, his book title starts with the word "THINK."
In business however, thinking is never divorced
from knowing and doing. These three processes of thinking, knowing and doing
feed on and fold back on each other in a never-ending cycle of focusing energy
and productivity.
2. Focus on Customer Needs
Successful business people take their ideas to
the next stage of satisfying a customer need or want. All of their thinking is
channeled into supplying a product or service that will address a problem that
people are experiencing. Customers will pay money for a product if it solves a
problem and therefore helps them to achieve their goals.
In the 1870's gold rush era, the entrepreneurs
who often made the most money were not the gold miners, but the business people
who supplied the shovels and mining equipment. These enterprising individuals
did not rely on building wealth by merely striking it lucky. They thought about
their opportunities and then applied their knowledge in a manner that ensured
that they would become very rich indeed.
3. Develop Your Reputation by Consistently
Delivering Value for Money
Successful business people think, apply that
knowledge and deliver a product or service that they know customers actually
want and benefit from. Obviously, there is no use in having the world's
greatest idea if nobody wants it. There have been countless stories told of the
follies of individuals who had what they thought was a brilliant solution to a
problem that nobody else appreciated. Great amounts of time and energy, as well
as investment capital, have gone into whacky inventions that nobody wanted.
Business development and risk management are addressed by focusing on what the
customer wants and needs.
4. Develop Your Character
This character building is achieved by developing
yourself in and around the steps mentioned above, ie, thinking, doing and
knowing. This element of character building in successful people seems to occur
as a direct result of the activities that they engage in and the endeavours
that they pursue.
The characteristics of successful business people
include; courage and audacity, persistence, resolve, determination, building
relationships with others, thinking team and believing that they are not alone
in the world, curiosity, always learning, "street smarts" (seeing the
angles), being responsible and being responsive.
So, in summary, the four steps followed by top
business owners and leaders to ensure effective business development and risk
management are:
- They think - this thinking is never divorced
from action
- They are customer-need focused - what does the
customer really need?
- They deliver value for money - the investment
made fixes the problem
- They build their reputation - happens as a
byproduct of being constantly involved in the first three endeavours.
