Archives / 144 post/s found
The importance of good leadership in a crisis
When the going gets tough, your role as leader becomes even more important to the future survival, recovery and success of the business. As we’ve seen during the recent coronavirus pandemic, the 2008 economic crash and many previous downturns, having a strong leader at the helm serves to give your people and strategy some real purpose – allowing you to make the right decisions, weather the storm and guide the business along the correct course. So, what does good leadership in a crisis look like? And what steps can you take to become the role model, strategic thinker and leader [...]
How to safeguard your team’s mental health
The coronavirus pandemic has forced a significant amount of change and upheaval onto you and your team – in a very short amount of time. We’ve gone from ‘business as usual’ to closed offices, working from home and the full reality of isolation during an emergency lockdown. To combat this change, it’s important to take steps to care for your employees. Key ways to take care your teams wellbeing There’s no single solution when it comes to taking care of your employees’ wellbeing. For your people to cope with their new enforced remote working life, they’ll need to consider everything [...]
6 Reasons To Look at Your Financial Reports
Making time to look over your financial reports each month is an important task for any business owner. If you are not taking the time to do this, either because you’re too busy, or perhaps you don’t really understand what you’re looking at and it doesn’t make sense to you, then here are 6 reasons we recommend that you should start to. But before we get our 6 reasons, let’s talk very quickly about which reports to look at. At a bare minimum, and depending on the complexity of your business, you should be looking at the following: The Profit [...]
Surround yourself with champions
It’s human nature to be influenced by the people in your inner circle. In fact, the odds of being successful are a lot higher if you’re surrounding yourself with people who are also successful. In a business context, consider very carefully the people and friends you associate with. Who plays a role in influencing your life? Who are your role models, mentors, and supporters? “You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with”. It really pays to think about who your top five are. These people play a part in determining how you think, how [...]
Increasing stock turn in a slow-moving economy
If you sell stock or inventory, it’s essential you understand stock turn and how to increase it. Obsolete, or ‘dead’ stock will harm your cashflow and your ability to increase profit, particularly in a slower-moving economy. The longer stock takes to sell, the longer you have your cash tied up in the stock before it can be sold for a profit. The older the stock, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to sell it for its original retail price. Use the below formulas to calculate your stock turn: Stock turn = cost of sales / average stock [...]
Understanding your working capital to maintain business success
If cashflow is the lifeblood of your business, then working capital is the health check you should regularly undertake to keep your business alive. Regularly checking working capital will play an essential part in maintaining business success during these times of greater economic insecurity.
Create a one-page business plan
To make a success of your business, you’re going to need a robust business plan - particularly as we face challenging times. With a one-page business plan behind you, the company has a real sense of strategic direction and a set of core goals to refer to and track against. But what are the key elements to include in your one-pager business plan? We’ve listed some of the foundational areas to cover, so there’s real purpose behind your return to trading. What to include in your business plan Lots of online resources will suggest that a business plan is an [...]
Understanding your revenue drivers
For your business to make money, you need to generate revenue. You produce revenue through your usual business activity, by making sales, getting your invoices paid, or taking cash from paying customers. So, the better you are at selling your products/services and bringing money into the business, the higher your revenue levels will be. But what actually drives these revenue levels? And how do you get in control of these drivers? Knowing where your cash is coming from is more crucial than ever As a trading company, you face the multiple challenges of a global recession, an increase in online [...]
Reinventing your product and service offering post-Covid
During times of crisis, we’re forced to reinvent the way we work and what we work on to remain sustainable. From technology adoption to product innovation and blowing up stale processes, a crisis forces us to start with a fresh page and plan for a better, more resilient business. Four ways to reinvent your business post-Covid: 1. Innovate. Defined as ‘the introduction of new things, ideas or ways of doing something’. What new behaviours or needs exist in your target market and how can you create a new product or service to meet these needs?2. Re-engineer. How can you change and improve [...]
Selling with empathy
Recovering from a major economic downturn requires increased business activity and sales. Naturally, as a result of Covid-19, many people are fearful of spending or simply don’t have the cash to buy. So, how do we trade out of an economic downturn while being mindful of our customers’ struggles? How do we avoid coming across as opportunistic or pushy in our sales process? And how do we address these questions while making sure that our own business remains profitable? The answer lies in how well we are able to dial up our empathy. Empathy vs sympathyTo understand how to sell [...]