Small Business Today Magazine NOV 2014 EXHIBIT NETWORK | Page 40
EDITORIALFEATURE
Time to Review your
Business Plan, It’s Year End
By ALVIN E. TERRY
N
ow is the time to look back over the past 10 months of
your business activity and analyze the findings that you have
compiled. It’s time to see if your projected sales and expenses were anywhere close to the actual performance
that you experienced.
If you were diligent and followed your plan on a monthly basis
with appropriate recordings, you should have been able to make
the appropriate adjustments to keep your business on course.
At the beginning of the year, if your business was a start-up, you
should have been recording all of your start-up costs including
required items such as:
• Deposits
• Equipment Purchases
• Tenant Improvements or Building Purchases
• Legal and Accounting Expenses
• Advertising
• Signage
• Website Design and Hosting
• Miscellaneous Purchases
• A Safety Net “Contingency Fund”
All of the money you invested (Owner’s Equity) coupled with
other capital infusions you may have done, such as Investor Capital or a Bank Loan or Line of Credit, put your company in the
position of doing business.
If you are not a start-up, you have the previous year’s numbers to
work from. Those numbers are now the benchmarks in which you
will begin the New Year that are realistic because they have historical
value. The focus now is to drive more revenue, realize exponential
growth, hire more employees, and expand into more markets.
All businesses go through the same business cycles at various
times in various stages. “Cash Flow Management” has become
the real focus because you are now in a growth mindset.
If your company is in year two and you have survived the “shock
and awe” of what it takes to meet some sort of weekly payroll
and kept the doors open, now is the time to expand your sales
staff by hopefully recruiting seasoned sales professionals that really know how to close the sale and get the order. Of course, this is
based on the premise that you have a brick and mortar business
38 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ NOVEMBER 2014 ]
and you need someone to get out and shake some hands and
look at some eyeballs. This is the old-fashioned way of selling and
still is the best way to establish relationships that will last.
If you have an Internet based business, then you need to hire IT
professionals that can help you achieve dominance in the social
media arena whether it is B2B or B2C. Either way, you are going
to hire someone to help achieve the growth in sales that you will
need to compete in the marketplace.
You will have to design several compensation packages that
will appeal to the freshmen sales professionals and also to the
seasoned pros. Your goal is to capture and retain the best talent
that you can afford at this time.
While you are working on the sales and marketing strategy, you
will also have to focus on building your “Mid-Level Management
Team”. This team of professionals will be composed primarily of
individuals that have the following skill sets:
• Operations
• Sales
• Accounting
• Finance
• Customer Service
• Logistics
• IT
As the company grows, so will you. It’s inevitable. You must
evolve, you have no choice. You are still the one with the original
“Vision and Mission”. It’s natural that all businesses evolve whether small, medium, or large. It’s time for you to go back to school
and learn the traits of leadership by taking specific courses, seminars, and workshops that will help you manage your company
more effectively and efficiently.
The decision of “letting go” and delegating is a very liberating
act. If you go down the path of “I must keep control and micromanage everything”, it will definitely become a hindrance to exponential
growth. Relax, stay focused, get a mentor, and move forward.
I sincerely hope that this message will serve as an inspiration
and education tool for you as a small business owner.
Alvin E. Terry, MBA, President of Dynamic Business Builders can be contacted by
email at [email protected] or by cell at 713-392-9107.