Bring in the sales and the business will look after itself.
Because it's all about the top line. Right?
But ... are you properly equipped to grow in line with your business plan?
Are you confident you're creating the best operational environment to retain the business you've already won?
Certainly in a fixed cost business, once your overheads are covered, then a sales focus will ensure that the bulk of revenue moves straight to the bottom line.
But that's only half the story.
Are your costs really fixed? Can your operation be structured differently, delivering a better overall result?
Most managers, whatever their role, spend countless hours in sales meetings. The year is punctuated with sales budgets, forecasts, re-forecasts and customer trends analyses.
Every week there is a forensic review of sales performance.
But the actions from these meetings are often tactical and rarely address the fact that the business is an ecosystem that needs its operation to function effectively to realise these sales targets.
We find our clients spend significantly less time spent on operational strategy than they spend reviewing sales results but it's vital to remember that any growth is dependent on a functional and effective operation to support it.
We believe that fine-tuning your operation will often be the smartest contribution you can make towards your overall business performance. There is little point in winning business if you can't retain it through a stable and sustainable service operation.
Strategy vs Operations
Are you regularly testing your strategy against the practical realities of the market place to ensure that your focus is in the right place?Do your projects and revenue initiatives align with your long term strategy or have you developed them organically?
We often see businesses polarised by those who have developed the strategy and don't know how to implement it and those who have an intimate understanding of the operation but aren't briefed on the company vision.
The result is inconsistency on where to apply the most effort and a disparity across the business on what can be achieved and how.
The solution is working with both sides to illuminate each of the contrasting viewpoints.
Realigning the focus here can be liberating. The solution is often to remove time-consuming projects that are proving difficult to implement which, in turn, frees up resource to concentrate on projects that will align with the strategy and deliver a greater benefit for the business as a whole.
Reporting
Is your reporting relevant to what you want to achieve and are you sure that it is accurate?
Reports can be interesting but not relevant. They can be creative but not instructive.
We once attended a 'party' that celebrated significant sales growth but their reporting had neglected to account for an earlier price rise. In reality, their market share was falling, their drop in volume was hidden. They would only have discovered this once they'd had the full year effect of the price rise. Perhaps too late.
If your business development plans include interstate and international markets, beware of transferring reporting data from one operational model to the next. Even within the same industry, operational requirements are likely to be different from market to market and it may take more resources and costs to handle the same type of customer.
We always recommend a dynamic reporting model that takes into account any variables that may impact the performance of the business and the operational support it will require. These reports both support and substantiate the ability to be nimble when changing market conditions require fast action and they make the best job of creating an environment where there are no surprises.
Structure
Is your structure working for you? Have you ever completed an assessment of your departments to determine their effectiveness? Are you wasting money on staff that are no longer required? Importantly, are you undermining your strategic goals with a lack of staff in critical operational roles?A successful business can outgrow its structure at least every six months and a successful structure can expire and become limiting for a business very quickly.
No one needs frequent upheaval but fine tuning of your structure is necessary on a regular basis.
The team and structure that got you where you are today, is unlikely to get you through to the next ten market share points. You need to be careful that your structure can scale to match your ambitions and doesn't simply meet this year's budget.
A regular structural review, if handled well, will future-proof your business in the face of rapid market change, motivate your team and give you good news stories to communicate to the market.
Resellers & Partners
You may have a network of resellers to represent your brand in regional or international markets but are they representing your brand appropriately and most effectively?They may be meeting your minimum budget expectations but can they do better?
We find that the remoteness of some resellers can lead to our clients underestimating the full opportunity that they represent.
Most businesses do not visit their partners regularly enough to test their performance and ensure that they are taking full advantage of every opportunity.
It's vital to check regularly that the deal that you originally struck is still valid. Perhaps market conditions have changed and you need to reassess the best partner for your business in remote markets. Furthermore, it's in your own interest to monitor your partners, ensuring that they adopt approaches that are consistent with your own operational best practice.
Products and Services
Do you consult regularly with your customers to find out what they think about your products and services? Do you do this formally and independently ... or anecdotally?If you invite feedback, how do you retain this information and process it into your operational plans and product development strategies?
Never be complacent that your products and services are still relevant to the market requirements today however unique they were when you launched. Wherever you are on your growth curve, you need to continually build on that success and ensure that you remain relevant.
We find that uncovering small pieces of customer feedback and implementing practical remedies can remove some of the limitations a business is experiencing in performance and can often deliver significant change for the business on the revenue side.
Sometimes the solution is as simple as ensuring that the delivery matches the 'pitch' and that everyone in the organisation is aware of the business strategy and that the whole organisation is communicating consistently with the market.
Competitive Review
A confident business will have a clear strategy that is focused on the future development of the business. You lose focus if you spend too much time looking over your shoulder at the competition but remember your competition exists because it's doing something interesting in the market place; things that may challenge you in time.You need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your competition and compare it honestly against your own business to be able to compete effectively.
This means at least an annual review of your competitors is essential. The review requires you to to be brutally honest with yourself, developing an external perspective on your business and focusing on what's genuinely good about your competition. Why do their clients buy from them in preference to you? It's not always about price. Often an independent review will help you develop these insights with most clarity.
Conclusion
In an established operation, it's important to challenge thoroughly all your existing operational processes to ensure you remain competitive and relevant. It's equally necessary during periods of change that you continually fine-tune your operation to ensure that it will fully support your organisation as it develops.Operations should never be defined as separate from sales, it is simply the other side of the same coin. Your business is a single ecosystem.
So whilst it's right to be focused on revenue, it's vital to understand that it's only through a well managed and effective operation that you can hope to achieve sustainable sales growth.
The Advisory Partnership assists its broadcast and creative services clients with operational strategy and review, delivering outputs that are sustainable and scalable to meet the challenges of technological change and international growth.
Post by James Douglas
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