Snake-Oil and Hype?

Now when you're running your own business sooner or later there will come a time when there's more to do than you can do!

And that raises three challenges.

The first challenge is how to focus your own time, energy and efforts to make sure you are making the biggest contribution you can to the future of your business.

The second challenge is about how you can free up more of your own personal time to do the things that make the most difference, and to make sure you have a life outside!

The third challenge is about how you prioritise your own time.

So let's look at the first one, and that will give us some insights about the other two.

Now the first challenge was how to focus your own time, energy and efforts to make sure you are making the biggest contribution you can to the future of your business.

Here's the question: what IS the biggest contribution you can make to the future of your business?

Let's unpack that a bit, and I think the best way to do that is to look at all the aspects of a business. And as I go though the list, just pay attention to how you feel about each one. Perhaps some will make you shudder as you think about them. Perhaps others will give you a warm glow.

And remember, every single one of these activities is present in even the smallest and newest business.

So let's start with the front line:

There's marketing - the process of generating new leads and making sure past clients are looked after.

There's sales - the process of converting those leads into profitable clients.

There's fulfilment - the process of delivering the products and services your clients have bought.

There's customer service - the process of making sure clients are happy and that issues are managed well.

And then there's all the back-office stuff.

There's product development - the process of making sure what you deliver this year, next year and the year after is fit for purpose, high quality and profitable.

There's quality management - the process of making sure the standards you set across your business are delivered consistently and improved over time.

There's systems management - the process of making sure all your support systems are fit for purpose, reliable and secure.

There's capacity management - the process of making sure you and your business can cope with the volume of work.

There's risk management - the process of making sure all the risks to your business are understood and mitigated.

There's financial management - the process of making sure the right cash comes in, that costs are controlled and that profit margins are managed.

There's strategic planning - the process of making sure there's a feasible plan to meet specific business goals in an achievable timeframe.

There's performance measurement - the process of tracking the key measures that quantify present-day performance and help to predict future performance.

That's twelve core activities essential to every business. And it's important to think about these real 'activities', rather than notional 'departments'.

Your notional HR department, for example, makes sure the right people with the right aptitudes and the right skills are in place across all twelve, as well as managing the risks of employing people.

Your notional IT department makes sure every activity has access to the right IT systems, as well as keeping everything up-to-date and managing security risks.

Your notional Finance department makes sure all the right things are being measured, that bills are being paid and that invoices are being chased as well as managing tax and regulatory risks.

And so on.

Now this list leaves us with some challenging questions, and I want to be clear there's no criticism here, it's just a reality check.

So the first question is, are there some activities aren't being done consistently or effectively? Perhaps you don't have the skills. Or the time. Or nobody had explained to you what they were or why they matter?

If so, perhaps it's time to give them some thought.

The second question is, which activities are you trying to do yourself that really don't fit you? It's an inevitable consequence of running your own show that you get to wear every hat going, but the result is always that you end up doing some things you hate.

And the third question is, which activities fit you really well that you can't do effectively because you are run ragged trying to take care of all the others? It's another inevitable pressure of running your own show that the work you love to do is frequently side-lined by all the other essential busy-ness.

As I said, this is a reality check, not a whipping post so I hope you're feeling clearer and better informed rather than overwhelmed, inadequate or guilty! The truth is that running your own business is a big challenge and I applaud your willingness to take the challenge on, no matter what size your business or how long you've been running it, and I'm taking you though this process to help you make the best plans possible for a prosperous and rewarding future.

Here's the point of all this.

All those activities are present in your business, whatever business you are in and whatever scale your business.

Some can be very effectively minimised, but it needs to be done consciously.

And that means you need to have a crystal clear picture of what your business is doing now, what you want it to do in the future, and the levers you will pull to make the change happen effectively, efficiently and profitability.

The bottom line is that it all comes down to planning. Success is based on having a clear strategy based on good information.

All too many business owners feel so pressured by outside influences that they make knee-jerk decisions to outsource activities without taking the time to think things through. And that can be costly.

And thinking things through means asking three crucial questions:

Question One: is the activity I'm outsourcing a genuine strategic imperative for my business? Or am I being swept away by hype and group-think. After all, there's a lot of people out there peddling snake oil and silver bullets.

Question Two: if the activity IS a strategic imperative, what are the specific outcomes I want to see from the outsourcing arrangement? How will the supplier demonstrate they are achieving those outcomes? And what recourse do I have if they don't? After all, words are easy. It's results you're paying for.

Question Three: How can I do what it takes to train the supplier about my business, my procedures, my performance measures and my supplier management processes? After all, if the supplier is going to deliver results for my business, we both need to know how that's going to work.

It's crucially important to remember that outsourcing any activity - from search engine marketing through social media marketing to HR, IT and finance - outsourcing any activity is a business investment, and it needs to be given the planning and due diligence it needs if it is to give the return you want.

I see far too many business owners being ripped off, simply because they haven't done their research about what a 'good' supplier looks like. They haven't insisted on proposals from at least two suppliers. They haven't taken the time to train the chosen supplier in their business. And, most importantly, they haven't given due weight to understanding the strategic imperatives in their own business and so find themselves investing in activities that bring little or no benefit.

 At heart, business is simple, but it can look really, really complicated and there are people trying to sell you stuff you don't need by playing up the complexity.

So take the time to find the simplicity in your business and focus on that.

Choose the few things that will genuinely make a difference. Don't take anyone's word for it, and don't let anyone blind you with jargon or irrelevant examples. Find reliable, objective mentors. Talk things through with them.

And then you can make up your own mind and decide for yourself.

I'm Jim Pirrie and I hope this has given you something to think about! Let me know in the comments.

That's it for now and I'll see you again, next time.