Many years ago, I was attending a convention and the president of one of the largest and most profitable companies in America keynoted a speech welcomingeveryone to the city. He talked about typical things such as local attractions and encouraged everyone to enjoy the city. Just before leaving, he commented that he was asked to offer some business wisdom and explain why his company was so successful. His reply was, “Every year we take in more money than we spend. Thank you.” He was already leaving the podium before the crowd realized what happened and thunderous applause erupted. The simplicity of his statement was profound but the reality of doing so is not all that easy.
Most of our consulting is for people hoping to increase their bottom line. The first step is to stop the bleeding. Company owners tend to blame losses on an incident or situation such as customers not paying, one bad job, a poor salesperson, etc. In reality the problem is usually cultural and has more to do with how the company is run. The incident merely triggered the inevitable. Unfortunately, most will only change when the pain is great enough and lately, many have called us when it is too late.