What does it take to own and operate a successful company?

The fundamentals of owning and operating any business are remarkably the same. There are 7 major areas that require your attention as an owner. I call this The Power Concept.

Start by reviewing each area, and then rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 to locate your company’s strengths and weaknesses.

1 = Powerless
2 = Have some systems
3 = Currently working on improving
4 = Close to powerful
5 = I’ve got the Power!

The Power Concepts to go from powerless to powerful are as follows:

1. Operating Power Create the policies and procedures for every task in every department of the company. Implement the systems to run the company systematically and automatically without you from day-to-day.

2. Financial Power Generate the selling price and define how each person affects the financial success of the company. Sell people on the pricing using open book management. Decide what numbers need to be collected and trained on. Address accounts receivable, accounts payable and the credit department.

3. Sales Power Establish how each department plays a role in the pricing and profitability in order to focus on how each employee affects the selling process. Sales meetings, role-playing and scripts all are put to work here to ensure that everyone understands they have a vested interest to sell what is ethical to the customer.

4. Marketing Power Once the price is established and the tools to sell have been given, we need to market effectively to reach the target audience — those most likely to desire what we’re selling. Different than advertising, joining organizations and networking in the community are keys to marketing the small business.

5. Staffing Power Add people with the right attitude and develop the rest in-house. Hold people accountable for the sales, operational and technical standards you create. This will make existing staff better, or make them go away if they don’t want to play a better game. When you want to hire from other companies, have the systems to identify what they know and then train them your way. Knowing how to train is the key.

Staffing Power is all about recruiting, hiring and training for every position at your company. Based on all of the other power concepts, you must acknowledge that training is essential to your success. Never stop training. Become excellent at training and communicating through effective meetings. This requires the development of the skills of an excellent presenter.

6. Leadership Power Set the goal, inspire a vision or belief, and take the actions to make it all a reality. To do that, you need everyone on the same page. The managers and owner need to be effectively working on the business, coaching those who need it and congratulating those who are achieving on their own. Leadership is about working on the right things, in the right order, and getting them implemented.

7. Sales Coaching Power Have everyone who performs work for the customer use a selling system that is linked to a system for coaching sales. Using objective financial measurements create a reward system based on a three-tier approach: 1. Do this measured minimum and you keep your job. Thanks for coming to work. 2. Do below this measured minimum for a specified amount of time and you get coached on how to improve your sales. Keep doing poorly and you’ll need to find another place to work. 3. Do above the measured minimum and you’ve earned a bonus. Rewards are more than just financial.

These 7 Power Concepts are the foundation of a sound business plan. Once you have the goal, you need to prioritize the many projects and steps it will take to reach that goal. A plan for prioritizing and implementing projects can trigger you to assess, plan, take action and inspect those things you know you need to implement. A thorough needs assessment should do the following:

• Learn what you’re doing right so you can do more of it.
  
• Learn what you need to stop doing and why.
  
• Learn what you need to begin doing and how you’ll benefit.

Before you can get plugged into the kind of power I’m talking about, you need to make an honest assessment of where you are today — and where you want to be in the future.

EXERCISE: Rate Your Power

Rate each area in The Power Concept on a scale of 1 to 5 to locate your company’s strengths and weaknesses.
 

1 = Powerless
2 = Have some systems
3 = Currently working on improving
4 = Close to powerful
5 = I’ve got the Power!

Operating Power                     1          2          3          4          5
 Financial Power                      1          2          3          4          5
Sales Power                             1          2          3          4          5
Marketing Power                     1          2          3          4          5
Staffing Power                         1          2          3          4          5
Leadership Power                   1          2          3          4          5
Sales Coaching Power           1          2          3          4          5


Now prioritize the areas you need to work on in your company.
Operating Power                            Priority #_____
Financial Power                              Priority #_____
Selling Power                                  Priority #_____
Marketing Power                            Priority #_____
Staffing Power                                Priority #_____
Leadership Power                         Priority #_____
Sales Coaching Power                 Priority #_____