In the past year, I have met quite a number of Business Owners, who, first, were complaining about the recession and how difficult it was to get by and business was slow and that nobody was buying; and then, once they got tired of complaining and loss of business (those that were lucky to survive), decided to get busy and get some business.
Well... I think what they meant by “business” was “busy-ness”... I have been watching their progress with great curiosity and here are some of my observations.
During my numerous conversations, as a Business Advisor, vast majority of business owners acknowledged their need for help with various aspects of their businesses. What they all said was that they needed more business and customers to sustain and grow their respective businesses. So, what have they done differently and how did they go about it?
Here is just one example. You be the judge.
I have been asked to meet with someone (let’s call him Mr Smith) who was starting a business in the leisure industry with a good prospect of reaching Turn Over in excess of £250K in the first year of trading. Mr Smith had negotiated a great deal to take over an existing site at a bargain price and wanted to turn it around and make his first million in the first 3 years. Ambitious? Perhaps... I arranged to meet with Mr Smith at his site to see for myself what potential was there. To my surprise, the location was great with all the facilities pretty much ready to use right away. All that he needed to do with the premises was update the tired look of the premises and bring some 21st century technology in to make it more appealing and improve functionality. He then told me his grand plan and how quickly he wanted to move and build his venture. I suggested that he started at the beginning and looked at putting some structures and systems in place before he could start promoting his business and got the place full with customers. Mr Smith categorically told me that he had it all planned already and that he would hire staff to take care of all aspects of the business... He also told me that he had a couple of businesses in the past and had all the experience that he needed. Somehow, I couldn’t help but feel that Mr Smith was trying to run before he could walk. There was something in his story that didn’t quite make sense and as it was getting late by that stage, I suggested that we adjourned the meeting and agreed to get together and continue our conversation another time.
In between the meetings I decided to do a little research about Mr Smith. Having visited his new business, I had no doubt that with the right approach he could make it work very well. I just had my reservations about his ability to do so. And there it was... Mr Smith did have a couple of businesses... failed businesses. He was declared bankrupt not once, but twice. There was also some negative press about his involvement in other businesses and that he left on not so friendly terms. All that it told me was that Mr Smith was ambitious, but was perhaps too strong-headed and possibly didn’t learn his lessons and was going to make yet another mistake.
On the agreed day, I arrived at a place of my meeting with Mr Smith 10 minutes early. I saw him having a meeting with someone and politely acknowledged him and the person he was with and took a seat in his view but away so that I did not disturb them. My frustration grew as half hour later Mr Smith was still nowhere close to finishing his first appointment and kept me waiting. I politely interrupted him and asked if we should reschedule. He offered a vague apology for overrunning and insisted that we kept our meeting. Eventually, over an hour later, we did get together. Without further apology Mr Smith went on to explain the nature of his earlier meeting, which had no relevance to what we were about to discuss. Did he value my time? No. But I thought I would allow him to continue as I saw it was important to him and it might also give me an opportunity to learn more about Mr Smith.
When we did get to the point, I asked Mr Smith about how he was planning on making his new venture work. Having done a little bit of research, I wanted to see whether he would talk about his past experiences and whether he acknowledged his failures and what lessons he learnt. He replied that he had no specific plans but imagined that with the right staff the business would take off and be on the right track. He said he had done it before and it had worked... I asked him again how he planned on getting the right people, what and how they would do it and how he saw his role. He was quick to say that he just wanted to be the boss and staff should know what they were supposed to be doing, but asked what I thought. Seeing that Mr Smith had no desire of drawing on his past experiences (or learning from the past mistakes), I suggested that it would take more than just hiring people to do the job. It would involve much more to make the business work. I got back to our first discussion and stressed the importance of structuring and systemising the business before anything else could happen. He needed to lay the foundations of the business in order to be able to build on them as otherwise the business would struggle to survive and succeed. Mr Smith nodded along and asked if I would work for him. Well... I invested over 16 years of my life in learning and accumulating my experience in business development to get me to the point where I am now. I was prepared to work with Mr Smith on his business, but not in his business. Plus, having observed Mr Smith over a couple of meetings, would I want to work for him if I were looking for a job? Needless to say, Mr Smith wasn’t happy about that arrangement. After all, he had a plan of hiring staff that would do what I was proposing.
So, nearly a year has passed and I still closely watch Mr Smith’s business. It has picked up and is getting busier, which is a good thing as the business appears to be making money. At what cost though? He hired some staff, as he planned. Although, he seems to have failed to go the right way about it. No contracts of employment, no staff book, no job descriptions... Staff work overtime and are asked to do other work additionally as things are done at the last minute and without sufficient preparation. And, more importantly, delayed, and in some cases no payment to staff for the work that they have done. Result: extremely low morale and thoroughly dissatisfied employees. At least one of the former employees is reported to be taking Mr Smith to the Employment Tribunal and a few others are considering resigning. To top things up, some of the suppliers to Mr Smith’s business are also considering court action as they also didn’t get paid. Some of Mr Smith’s customers left unhappy about the service they received and thought that facilities were advertised to appear better than they actually were.
Would Mr Smith be in that situation if he listened to the advice? Will Mr Smith’s business succeed?... Time will tell. Provided that Mr Smith uses the time wisely and values it by listening to people that know what they are talking about as well as valuing their time, expertise and skills and trusting to do the right job, he may yet stand a chance of turning things around.
What do you think?
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