Below is a great Blog I read from DHM Partners external Chairman Andrew Geddes:
Every day I read about
vastly indebted governments, bloated bureaucracies, rampant addiction to
welfare, budget deficits, trade deficits, asset bubbles and global deflation!!!!
Resource prices have
tanked too.
And wars seem to keep
getting more entrenched in various parts of the world.
No wonder the stock
market is volatile!!!!
Then the politicians
keep their snouts in the short term troughs of getting re-elected.
And the baby boomers
are going to sell their businesses to fund their retirements in ever growing
numbers.
As a bloke who’s
worked all his life with business owners, it makes me worry about the future.
What can we do to
protect ourselves from this risk of not selling our businesses or no goodwill?
Here’s my 40 year’s
take on it…
*take some uninterrupted time to
think about how you can make yourself redundant
*list all the things you do and
who else might be able to do them
*list which things might be
automated
*list all the things to have
documented processes (quality management concept)
*get this done and delegate much
of what you do
*focus on creating quality
products or services and do it better than your competition
*focus on quality customers and
ask them what they want, like and need
*put examples of outcomes
achieved for your customers on your website and in your eNews
and in social media
*go on 6 weeks leave and see how
the team handle it
If you can’t find an
external buyer (big corporate or competitor), consider selling your business to
your senior management team (SMT).
If you haven’t got a
SMT, create one.
Have a planning day
with them.
Set budgets and report
monthly financial performance.
Identify three
critical areas to improve in the next quarter (your strategic imperatives).
Establish project
groups in your business to action these imperatives.
Exhibit contagious
enthusiasm for these projects.
You might have to
offer small percentages of equity to them at first and maybe vendor financed.
They have to sit
around the board room table to feel the heat of decision making.
Send them to our
“Leadership for Profitable Business” workshop Nov 24/25 in Brisbane so they are
further educated and their confidence builds.
Educate their spouses
too!!!!
Then maybe you can
create a succession solution for yourself in time.
Good luck with it.
Andrew Geddes
