When meeting with clients we cover a lot of things in a short period of time. We go over processes, people, financials, growth strategies, leadership responsibilities and more. When I bring up the questions about alignment, most of the time I get a blank look and stare from most of the individuals in the room.
Many times, I go around the room asking about the company’s mission statement or company policies. I also ask about the last time processes were reviewed such sales funnels or how employees are hired and fired.
Vision statements are often posted on the wall for visitors and team members to see, but no one really knows what say or if there are even relevant. When is the last time that you and your team updated their vision and mission statement? Are they relevant for this decade or the last one? Do they include modern and up to date statements that everyone can understand?
So many times, companies forget their roots and where they started from. It is great to revisit what worked in the past, but also what needs to be changed with the times so that they can be around for another xxx number of years. What works today, might not work tomorrow. What takes time today, might be able to be automated to save time, money and effort. Is that report that someone is spending five hours a week even relevant anymore and does anyone actually look at the key metrics and dash boards?
I met with a client recently and asked them about their sales funnel. I sat down with every team member that is a part of the sales process to understand their methodology. In the end, we were able to streamline the process, save time and resources that could be allocated to something more important. People question a consultant cost but only see the real value when it comes quantifying the savings. Reviewing their process, we discovered they were paying for software that no one has used in years.
The days of “this is how we always did it” are gone. Change needs to be in real time. If you are not reviewing your sales funnel and other processes on a bi-yearly (hopefully quarterly), you could potentially be missing cost saving opportunities. Better yet, ways to provide better service to your customers. We all review the financials on a yearly if not more regular basis, why not company policies. How many of your company policies do you know right now that are out of date?
Let’s not forget the company vision and mission that is on the wall and hopefully given to every new employee to review. Is the message the same today as it was when the statements were created? A good time to review these two statements is during your annual strategy meetings. During this time, it is very helpful to have a consultant present who can view things from an outside perspective and provide feedback on topics that may not have been mentioned previously. Sometimes we are to close to the forest to see the trees. This is the value that a business consultant can have and the impact is even more when financial savings are identified.
In today’s working environment, you more than likely have more on your schedule that you have time for. However, we cannot forget to review the processes and procedures that you are using daily to see if you can streamline your process, save money or more importantly save you time. What would it mean for you to have more time on your calendar throughout the day? What would accomplish? What would it mean for you to have time for what is important to you? These are the types of answers that a business consultant can help you answer. I have saved companies millions over the years. Imagine what I could do for you and your business. Schedule a call and onsite visit today.
