Management One’s Post

Employees, if you want to grow - Then DON’T assume your boss knows how much value you’re bringing. Don’t assume they know it all and see it all. Don’t think you don’t need to actually show them. Do you recognize that your growth depends squarely on your boss’s understanding of your value? So show them. Demonstrate it. Make it clear. Deliver the data. And you’ll be on the path to your own well-earned elevation.

Life is made up of seasons and cycles – seasons and cycles of opportunities. Ideally, everybody should be either gainfully employed or running a lucrative business. But as we all know, the ideal is never the case. Even in buoyant economies, some are unemployed, and businesses fail. This is because the workplace and the business environment of today are performance-driven and results-oriented. There’s no more room for the nice guy with good intentions. To excel, you have to become adept at turning good intentions into expected results. What guarantees your profitable involvement in today’s marketplace is VALUE. All things being equal, people naturally patronize the person or the organization that gives them the best value. Continue reading... https://lnkd.in/es7tSSSB

Growth is Essential I remember a commercial from a few years ago that featured a newly retired person sitting idly on his front porch. He wanted to move but was unsure if he should just sit there—for a while, for a long while. The message was clear: inertia is a death sentence, and movement is essential to life. This philosophy isn't just applicable to individuals; it holds true for businesses as well. Being complacent is the enemy of progress; standing still is not an option, especially for small businesses. You've got to keep moving. Breaking it down to essentials, there are two key areas where every SMB owner needs to focus their growth efforts: revenues and staffing. Stagnant revenue signals the end of a product's life cycle or perhaps indicates that a business model, like Blockbuster's, has become obsolete. When you find yourself in this position, it's time to go back to the drawing board. Whether that means developing a new business plan or contemplating the sale of your business, action is necessary. The second pillar of growth is your staff. Employees are the lifeblood of any business, and a great team can make or break your success. In a market where retaining top talent is increasingly difficult, continually hiring and nurturing quality people should be a priority. Always let people know you're hiring and accept applications—even when you're not actively hiring. Be sure to sort them, keeping your best fits at the top of the pile. This way, when the time comes, you have a head start on candidates that you like—or at a minimum, the type of candidates that are a better fit for you and your business. Remember, as the saying goes, "If you want to run with the big dogs, you've got to get off the porch." Keep moving and keep growing. #EssentialGrowth #BusinessProgress #RevenueStrategies #TalentAcquisition #KeepMovingForward

The shorter, simpler, and clearer a strategy is, the easier it is to get people to understand it. When it’s easier to “sell” our strategy story, the easier it will be to get other people on board to help us bring it to life. One insight AG Lafley shared in “Playing to Win” was that he was forced to keep his strategic choices simple when working with people for whom English was a second language. How important was simple, clear strategy for P&G? From “Playing to Win”: “P&G sales doubled and profits quadrupled. Earnings per share increased 12 percent per year. P&G’s share price increased by more than 80 percent in a decade that saw the S&P 500 go down overall. Company market capitalization more than doubled, placing P&G among the most valuable companies in the world.” — Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G. Lafley, R.L. Martin

𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞. It’s said that excitement and anxiousness are the same emotion, just a different context. There are a few things to keep an eye on in this current environment and depending on your context, they are exciting or scary. 𝐀 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 than it was 3 years ago because there is a lot of noise in the market. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐱 your sales people may just have a slight edge. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 because the demand for staff is outstripping the supply. 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭. There are some simple staff development strategies that work to attract and keep quality people. Fluctuating interest rates and inflation cause uncertainty 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧. It does however give you an opportunity to reassess your budgets and do some realistic forecasting. 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭. The risk is being in a continually in a state of response rather than being pro-active. Check the status of your Founder/Owner activity. Are you investing your time wisely? ♟️ 20% of your time in strategy discussions and thinking. 📈 65% in Tactical activities like new business, customer service, operations, and finance. 🫂 15% building internal relationships and connecting with your staff to have a deep understanding of their issues. The people connection helps form your view and contributes to the strategy. Be wary of changing Tactics midstream without taking the time to consider the Strategic implications. No one likes change for change sake. It confuses everyone. Better to make small gains by experimenting. #managementdevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #perfoemancemanagement ------------------------------- Reclaiming the 𝐉𝐎𝐘 of Business  😃 Secure the business value for 𝐘𝐎𝐔 the owner/founder and 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 family.. 💲Protect the legacy of 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 business by providing a foundation developed with 𝐘𝐎𝐔 the owner/founder. 🤝Empowers 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 staff ensuring 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 are an integral part of the business success and valuation..  ⇞ Create a 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 that leaves a positive impact Click #inspiringbusiness to review all my content in one place

The #1 reason holding you back from scaling might just be you. Understanding who you are as a person is crucial for growing your business. Why? Because it allows you to hire people who complement your own strengths and weaknesses. Take it from someone who's been there: I'm not great at sales. Recognizing this was a game changer. It led me to surround myself with team members who excel in areas where I don't—particularly in sales. But it goes beyond just skills. To truly scale, consider personality, gender, and background as well. Diversity isn't just a buzzword; it's a business strategy. Different perspectives fuel creativity and drive innovation, helping to tackle challenges from multiple angles. If you're struggling to scale, take a hard look in the mirror. Understand your personality profile and identify what traits you need to complement yours. Then, make strategic hires based on these insights. Look for people who not only fill the gaps in skills but also bring diverse viewpoints and experiences to the table. This approach has been a cornerstone of our growth strategy. By aligning our team's diverse strengths, we've been able to scale more effectively and tackle new markets with confidence. So, if you feel stuck, remember: the key to scaling may involve building a team that balances out your own limitations and maximizes the collective potential.

Time for Plan B. I was reviewing my proposed growth strategy with a client, and our conversation progressed to the supporting recommendations. Included was a new technology intended to fill some expensive process gaps, increase efficiency, and profits. The projected ROI was highly favorable, and it fit their budget, so I expected easy agreement. My client, however, could not agree. He explained that another group had invested significant budget in a technology project that had gone sideways. Across the company, no one dared suggest any technology-related efforts. I had to find another solution to address those process gaps, and achieve the intended profitable efficiency. Happily, Plan B returned the needed result. The path to a company’s growth is specific to each company: its environment, opportunities, challenges, resources, etc. Sometimes that includes what can be approved, despite the logical justification. Creating a growth strategy that factors the specifics that may include hiring freezes, or reassigned budget, or a sensitive topic, ensures that clients gain achievable strategy that drives more sustainable, more profitable growth. And I’m curious: do you like to raise a sore subject? — If your company is experiencing stalled or declining revenue, if you have a bold growth objective—or both—let’s talk. I develop company-specific, data-driven growth strategies to achieve executives’ objectives. My clients gain actionable strategies that drive growth quickly and as they advance to their larger objectives. To discuss your growth objectives, DM me. We’ll schedule a call. It’s a sales call only if you want it to be a sales call.  #strategy #CEOs #boardsofdirectors #revenuemanagement #growthstrategy #revenuestrategy #revenue #growth

The most successful firms quietly charge top dollar for their services, have waitlists, and selectively choose the work they take on. By focusing on outcomes over output or deliverables, these leaders have built stronger teams with limitless opportunities to grow. It's not about grinding harder; it's about elevating your brand promise, subtracting unnecessary tasks, and multiplying your success. So, if you're looking to rise to the top 1-3% in your industry, ditch the hustle and focus on doing what you do best with excellence. Want this kind of growth in your service firm? Chat with our team to see what might be possible with the right support to scale your business: https://lnkd.in/eh6RTRYi

Question I like to ask people when buying into an industry. “What’s your unfair advantage?” Company x does $1m of EBITDA, you are saying you can grow it to…y EBITDA What makes you think you can? Pretty simple question that can’t be answered with “well the model is…” It has to be answered with tangible ideas / strategies. Why are you going to be able to grow it, when the guy who dedicated 50 years to it couldn’t? And what do you think his competitors will do? You don’t think they have a website and marketing and sharp finance people? They stumbled into $5m of EBITDA because they are dummies? Sometimes, the right answer is grit and will. Sometimes it’s A, sometimes it’s B. Sometimes it’s do nothing. Doesn’t really matter. I’m not judging the answer. I’m judging if they have clear conviction to answer.

If you're stuck and not seeing the growth you expect (and deserve) in your business, here's something to think about: Growth doesn't always require: - Adding more leads - Adding more clients - Adding more features - Adding more resources Sometimes growth means: - Removing an ineffective offer - Removing a toxic employee - Removing a terrible client - Removing a bad process In my experience growing two agencies, I've discovered that the biggest gains come from subtraction, not addition. 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. So before you try to solve an inefficient business with more people, consider asking these questions (just a few): • Do we have unprofitable offers or services not aligned with our core competencies? • Are we spending money on tools or services that don't give us an adequate ROI? • Do we have a well-defined company culture, and are we sticking to it? • Is there a team member whose actions or work is hurting the team? • Are we effectively communicating both internally and externally? • Can we automate any processes to free up human resources? • Are there clients who use up too much time and resources? • Are there tasks that consistently bottleneck our workflow? Asking questions like these also sets a tone with your team and promotes a culture of bringing potential issues forward. What other questions would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments! ------------------------ 𝙥.𝙨. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨! 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 Tom + {{🔔}} 𝙥.𝙨.𝙨. ♻️ 𝘙𝘌𝘗𝘖𝘚𝘛 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭