Businesses come in all shapes, sizes and types. Some have many transactions a day, while others might have two projects in a year. Regardless of how dissimilar businesses may seem from one to another, there are many core similarities that make astute businesses successful. Here are a couple of things that we’ve noticed that our Astute clients have in common.
I’m sure you’d expect this to be at the top of our list, being that we’re accountants and bookkeepers. But we keep seeing, time and time again, that the businesses who stay in business in hard times, and thrive in the good times, all know the business drivers in their business, and what the numbers that result from these drivers mean. They can also plan cashflow as they budget for their income and expenses. So, in a nutshell, they know where the money comes from, and where it goes. It’s like knowing if your boat has a leak versus identifying where it is leaking – you can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s there, or where it is. The cashflow and budgets are like the fuel for the boat. You need to know how much fuel you need to get where you’re going (without weighing it down!).
An astute business owner spends a lot of time keeping up to date on the changes and new developments in their industry. By keeping tabs, and even being a part of these changes, they’re in the best position to help drive their business in the right direction. They never stop learning and educating themselves about other parts in their business as well, and identify their weaknesses in order to overcome them. They hire a talented team who have the same excitement over new innovations, and invest in their staff development and growth, and who can provide a solution to those shortcomings in the business owner’s skill set.
They have clear goals for the business and it’s marketing and sales. By really knowing their customers and how to best connect with them, they can create more focussed marketing and promotions. By knowing their business they can then have more clear goals for the marketing. Finally, by knowing their competition, they can highlight what their own points of difference are, attracting a more focussed, and profitable, customer base.
