The War for Talent - What do Young Professionals Want?
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with eight high-growth firms as part of discussions over a quality professional practice we are assisting in selling. These meetings again highlighted a major issue facing the profession – the attraction and retention of talented professionals.
Attraction and retention of young professionals is a challenging issue for many professions and was the topic of a report titled ‘Employee Loyalty Research’ completed recently. The report summarised the findings of a study into factors impacting loyalty amongst professionals under 35 years of age.
It appears that young professionals are looking for 3 key aspects from their employers.
1. Constant learning
2. Challenging work
3. Contribution to the organisation
Attracting professional team members
The survey provided solid clues to assist professions to attract young professional team members. Young candidates look most specifically for:
1. Career development and ongoing learning opportunities that are actively managed by the employer
2. A good reputation within the industry and with previous employees
3. A speedy recruitment process that includes exposure to staff and/or partners
4. Sound remuneration. You need to offer your team members compensation that reflects the value they deliver while at the same time gives them work, responsibility and accountability that stretches their ability and allows them to contribute to the organisation.
5. Work life balance. Firms in which people are expected to work a 45-60 hour week doing basic work are not attractive to young professionals. Even if team members do not work these hours, when they see the owners doing it they are turned off the prospect of ownership and will not remain in the company for an extended period.
Retaining Young Professionals
Retaining valuable team members is vital for business success. Surprisingly, nearly 45% of survey respondents indicated they plan to stay with their current employer for less than 3 years. The principal reason they list for leaving is lack of an obvious career path followed by remuneration then lack of challenging work.
People under 30 years of age are more interested in skills acquisition than they are in remuneration but as they get older they’re looking to be rewarded for their skills now acquired and are seeking promotion and more responsibility.
What’s also interesting is that amongst the sub 35 year old group 60% plan to leave within 5years and only 10% expect to be with their current firm 10 years from now.
In the survey, parents of before-school age children tend to want long tenure in their current role and appear to be more settled than those without children.
A number of younger professionals indicated a low tolerance for routine or mastered tasks and highlighted that this would be a factor in their decisions to leave an organisation. They want to quickly turn their experience into promotions or other challenges. Younger professionals are more likely to stay longer in small and medium sized firms if they are given autonomy, flexibility and greater client contact.
They also believe high remuneration, senior roles and work-life balance go hand in hand. 21%of respondents reported that greater work-life balance would improve their work satisfaction and affect their retention rates. Work-life balance and policies that support this are seen as standard features of employment and not optional extras.
One surprising finding was that young professionals expect their employer to take responsibility for establishing their career path, particularly within the first 12 months of hire, with 33% stating they would leave a position if they could not see a clear career path. Career path does not necessarily mean you need to promote the person – it could just be giving a new skill or larger client base. Whatever you do, you need to clearly spell out your intentions or you could risk losing valuable employees.
Implications for Professional Practices
How you manage your team and develop their potential is vitally important where 40%+ of your expenses are direct labour costs. Your ability to effectively attract, retain and manage your team is intrinsically linked to your business strategy.
To attract talented people and to retain them you must create a firm that does interesting and challenging work. This means designing and delivering services that are valuable to clients and which call for challenging and interesting engagements that stretch an individual's abilities requires the sharing of their skills. This in turn means you must attract clients who are willing and able to see the value you create for them and are willing and able to pay for that value.
If your business strategy is to focus on doing high volume, low level work that is routine and repetitive in nature and can only support modest prices, then you will have an extraordinarily hard time attracting and retaining talent.
Your younger team members will not stay with you for very long and you will experience lower margins partly because of productivity challenges arising from high team turnover and partly because you will have limited opportunity to premium price non-premium services.
Firms that achieve a sustainable competitive advantage as reflected by higher margins and a higher level of profit per owner/director are those that truly understand the importance of having a strategy built on offering the right services to the right clients at the right price.
As a result, these firms give their team member’s lots of client contact and assignment variety and are able to pay above average compensation. Because they are actively involved with helping their clients grow their business they are creating a “reliance relationship”. Interestingly, this foundation not only yields higher profit margins today but it also creates greater client loyalty, a much richer referral source and a very loyal & committed team. Note also with this strategy, to secure your risk, consider employment contracts to include restraint issues.
Your starting point for creating a great firm must always be the vision you have for it which in turn will define your strategy. Then it’s simply a matter of execution.
Having the vision and defining the strategy is the easy part – although it’s amazing how many firms have neither. Execution and being patient is the hard part but, as is the case with all things in life, the rewards for those who pursue the hard yards are significant and most definitely worth the effort.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Rate Your Practice
Rate your practice for the new era.
Today we live in a business world dominated by the financial crisis. However as I travel around and meet people in all walks of business I find that there is a general frustration with the negativity of tough times. If anything, business people and professionals, in particular, simply want to get on with the future.
Now for some, that future is an ideal retirement. They are ready to sell or hand the baton over to a younger group within their organisation. They have had enough and the current crisis has brought forward their decision.
So strong has that demand been that Summit is now helping a number of practices with a transition of ownership or management. Allied with this is the recognition that there is a rationalisation process amongst professional practices which will be accelerated by the current business environment. And again Summit is being asked to assist with mergers and acquisitions for those exact reasons.
However, if you are of a mind to develop and grow from within current practice - then now is the time to examine the key factors that will ensure success in the future.
The important point to remember is that for most owners rating their organisation’s performance in these key areas – there will be a need for change. I believe that changing a practice is often more comfortable for the person managing the change than perhaps the employee who is being asked to change the habits of a lifetime or move out of their security zones.
On the other hand much of the change required after the evaluation will fall on the shoulders of the owners of the business. In other words the change will need to be at the top. For instance, I believe that the future will require acceptance of multi-disciplined practices. For many that will mean a great change in attitude. It will also require updating of systems and computer programs – not just to meet competition but to maintain young and talented professionals who don’t want to be left behind.
So let’s take a close look at the key indicators or criteria for future growth. Many of you who have read this column in the past or attended a seminar at which Summit have presented – will have seen a number of these factors before. All that is required is an honest appraisal of where you are now.
A Good Team
Attracting and retaining good people is a critical success factor for professional service practices. The old fashioned view ‘that we are paying them enough’ is not enough in today’s environment. Young people particularly will not endure a boring work environment. Successful firms celebrate successes (new clients, birthdays, major achievements) have sound training, career plans & feedback, job variety and recognition.
Use this criteria to rate your firm in attracting developing and retaining good team.
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Production Culture
A second department to be developed is what our team does produce – particularly, quality and timely work for clients.
Bringing the team together in a culture of ‘continuous improvement’ is one huge success ingredient in growing firms that also contributes to efficiency and effectiveness (i.e. control of costs & earners).
Successful firms have solid work scheduling systems whilst looking at capacity and technology capabilities with reduced time write offs and few job complaints about quality & delivery times.
How do you rate?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Value Added Services
We’ve found clients want more and more a ‘one stop shop’ approach to related services e.g. for a surveying firm consider; engineering design, town planning, project management, architectural design etc without diminishing the core skill – in this case, surveying.
Unfortunately, as professionals, it is easy to stay with your core professional skill and not entertain cross selling.
Clients certainly don’t expect you to be the master of all these professions – rather be the controller of quality filtered alliance partners i.e. other professional firms.
How do you currently rate with this opportunity?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Key Clients and Alliances Program
Most professional firms get clogged with the 20% ‘c’ clients creating 80% of problems, bad debts, write offs and loss in employee morale. At the same time relationships with client referrers (e.g. architects, engineering firms, lawyers etc) are generally poor.
Successful firms have a client and alliance partner review process which filters out unworthy clients and alliances and highlights the 20% A, B clients and alliance partners who give 80% of the revenue, profit, referrals and job satisfaction for the team.
So how do you rate in existing low value clients and alliances, attracting new clients & up selling and cross selling with new value add services & having regular meetings to review progress.
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Leadership
Using a corporate approach to different roles & responsibilities (e.g. shareholder, director, CEO), leadership is then the key factor in the way forward for professional service firms.
An owner or CEO needs to be leading the organisation towards a bigger future. That requires a number of hours not dedicated to servicing clients but rather servicing the business.
Which is better for the firm? – Producing currently 1200 chargeable hours or introducing 2400 new chargeable hours from new clients?
Thus developing roles for partners & managers (CEO, Business Development, Human Resources, Operations and Financial roles) to take on specific responsibilities is clear forward thinking on a tried & proven model.
So imagine a firm with compound growth of 20% with better quality clients, a high producing team, selling value added services with value billing (fixed fees).
Understanding this how good is the leadership at leading change, relationship building, keeping a strong focus on results, solid professional skills and commitment?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Next Step
So after reviewing all the above - the next step is the where analysis. Where do I want this business to be strong in and what are the strategies I have to focus on to get there. The above model gives you a good guide for this. It is about setting your objectives for change. A year from now how do you want to rate yourself.
Today we live in a business world dominated by the financial crisis. However as I travel around and meet people in all walks of business I find that there is a general frustration with the negativity of tough times. If anything, business people and professionals, in particular, simply want to get on with the future.
Now for some, that future is an ideal retirement. They are ready to sell or hand the baton over to a younger group within their organisation. They have had enough and the current crisis has brought forward their decision.
So strong has that demand been that Summit is now helping a number of practices with a transition of ownership or management. Allied with this is the recognition that there is a rationalisation process amongst professional practices which will be accelerated by the current business environment. And again Summit is being asked to assist with mergers and acquisitions for those exact reasons.
However, if you are of a mind to develop and grow from within current practice - then now is the time to examine the key factors that will ensure success in the future.
The important point to remember is that for most owners rating their organisation’s performance in these key areas – there will be a need for change. I believe that changing a practice is often more comfortable for the person managing the change than perhaps the employee who is being asked to change the habits of a lifetime or move out of their security zones.
On the other hand much of the change required after the evaluation will fall on the shoulders of the owners of the business. In other words the change will need to be at the top. For instance, I believe that the future will require acceptance of multi-disciplined practices. For many that will mean a great change in attitude. It will also require updating of systems and computer programs – not just to meet competition but to maintain young and talented professionals who don’t want to be left behind.
So let’s take a close look at the key indicators or criteria for future growth. Many of you who have read this column in the past or attended a seminar at which Summit have presented – will have seen a number of these factors before. All that is required is an honest appraisal of where you are now.
A Good Team
Attracting and retaining good people is a critical success factor for professional service practices. The old fashioned view ‘that we are paying them enough’ is not enough in today’s environment. Young people particularly will not endure a boring work environment. Successful firms celebrate successes (new clients, birthdays, major achievements) have sound training, career plans & feedback, job variety and recognition.
Use this criteria to rate your firm in attracting developing and retaining good team.
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Production Culture
A second department to be developed is what our team does produce – particularly, quality and timely work for clients.
Bringing the team together in a culture of ‘continuous improvement’ is one huge success ingredient in growing firms that also contributes to efficiency and effectiveness (i.e. control of costs & earners).
Successful firms have solid work scheduling systems whilst looking at capacity and technology capabilities with reduced time write offs and few job complaints about quality & delivery times.
How do you rate?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Value Added Services
We’ve found clients want more and more a ‘one stop shop’ approach to related services e.g. for a surveying firm consider; engineering design, town planning, project management, architectural design etc without diminishing the core skill – in this case, surveying.
Unfortunately, as professionals, it is easy to stay with your core professional skill and not entertain cross selling.
Clients certainly don’t expect you to be the master of all these professions – rather be the controller of quality filtered alliance partners i.e. other professional firms.
How do you currently rate with this opportunity?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Key Clients and Alliances Program
Most professional firms get clogged with the 20% ‘c’ clients creating 80% of problems, bad debts, write offs and loss in employee morale. At the same time relationships with client referrers (e.g. architects, engineering firms, lawyers etc) are generally poor.
Successful firms have a client and alliance partner review process which filters out unworthy clients and alliances and highlights the 20% A, B clients and alliance partners who give 80% of the revenue, profit, referrals and job satisfaction for the team.
So how do you rate in existing low value clients and alliances, attracting new clients & up selling and cross selling with new value add services & having regular meetings to review progress.
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Leadership
Using a corporate approach to different roles & responsibilities (e.g. shareholder, director, CEO), leadership is then the key factor in the way forward for professional service firms.
An owner or CEO needs to be leading the organisation towards a bigger future. That requires a number of hours not dedicated to servicing clients but rather servicing the business.
Which is better for the firm? – Producing currently 1200 chargeable hours or introducing 2400 new chargeable hours from new clients?
Thus developing roles for partners & managers (CEO, Business Development, Human Resources, Operations and Financial roles) to take on specific responsibilities is clear forward thinking on a tried & proven model.
So imagine a firm with compound growth of 20% with better quality clients, a high producing team, selling value added services with value billing (fixed fees).
Understanding this how good is the leadership at leading change, relationship building, keeping a strong focus on results, solid professional skills and commitment?
Poor Average Good
-5 0 5
Next Step
So after reviewing all the above - the next step is the where analysis. Where do I want this business to be strong in and what are the strategies I have to focus on to get there. The above model gives you a good guide for this. It is about setting your objectives for change. A year from now how do you want to rate yourself.
Creating a Value Driven Team
Creating a Value Driven Team
Which of the following does your firm report on, monitor and react to most frequently? Is it client satisfaction levels, is it the strength of key client relationships, is it employee motivation and energy, or perhaps its financial results? Which consumes most of your management time?
If you answered financial results, don’t worry, from our experience without doubt so do the overwhelming majority of professional practices. And as a result your practice and others are making less money than would be possible with a change in direction.
We have all heard the expression, ‘putting the cart before the horse’; well in this case it is no different. Because managing a business by looking at financial results is like trying to win a game by keeping your eye firmly fixed on the scoreboard. Financial results are just that - results. They are the outcome. To achieve the right outcome you must report on, monitor, react and manage those things that produce value. And that means managing your team because energised employees who deliver outstanding quality and service to the marketplace - will bring far greater profits than a fixation with financial results.
Does this mean you don’t monitor and track your financial performance? Of course not. But the real key to business success is, not focusing all your attention and decisions on whether you made profit last week, but by getting your people sufficiently focused so that they eagerly and willingly strive for high standards. If you can do this, the dollars will follow.
Having completed many strategic plans for a range of clients I have noticed, quite remarkably, that they feature many of the same ingredients. Everyone sits around and figures out correctly which client sectors are growing, which services are rising in demand, and which dimensions of competition, such as client service or innovation, clients are looking for. Everyone knows what needs to be done. But those who succeed are those who can best action the strategic plan. And this in turn is determined by the following vital ingredients:
• energy
• drive
• enthusiasm
• excitement
• commitment
• passion
• ambition
Hence an owner’s role needs to be a creator of energy, drive and enthusiasm amongst their team. Alas, too often, owner’s are the destroyers of excitement. If all they ever talk about is finances e.g. “how are your billings? What’s happening to receivables?” it can deaden the spirit of your team. It doesn’t mean the subjects are unimportant rather that there should be a wider more exciting range of subjects to provide a more balanced environment.
Many employees believe their leaders only want them to be dollar focused. Whenever a choice needs to be made between strategy i.e. developing a reputation for superior quality, and short term cash, most people feel under significant and irresistible pressure from management to go for the cash. The message seems to be, go for the cash today, strategy can wait til tomorrow.
However if you’re willing to sacrifice value to earn short-term cash, you won’t create a market reputation for superior quality. If you want to be known as excellent at something, you have to be reliably, consistently excellent at it. Not be swayed by daily temptations, short term expediencies and wonderful excuses for why we can’t afford to stick to high standards today.
It takes courage to believe that a reputation for excellence is worth more in the long run than incremental cash. It begins with a promise in the vision, strategic plans, and objectives, but we see owners more often than not compromise this promise.
An effective owner must have the courage of the convictions they espouse, maintain a long term focus, and intervene personally whenever there are departures from the values and vision that create excellence. A key is to be disciplined about maintaining the integrity of those standards and leading by example. Team members need to know that there are consequences if there is noncompliance to set standards. If an owner doesn’t show leadership on these matters then other team members will see that maintaining the standards is not vital and cease striving to comply. The result is that a strategy based on a reputation for quality, will never be attained.
Let’s Make it Happen
To get started, take out your documents developed with your team's input that describe your company’s vision, purpose, values and strategy. Turn them into a questionnaire and ask your team how well they think the firm is going in relationship to those benchmarks for success.
If you find out that there are some things that you’re not doing so well it's time to re-evaluate and as a leader commit yourself and your team to achieving the standards or objectives the documents contain.
Another vital step is to involve as many people as possible in the process of implementing, if not actually setting, strategy. The task of energising, mobilising, and motivating action is easier with people feeling involved, rather than being imposed on from above.
As an owner, your job is much easier if you can share the load with a motivated team who want to help. Ask the team, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Lastly let me share what I think is a key message to be a successful owner and leader.
A leader doesn’t build a business. A leader builds an organisation that builds a business. Many owners start because of their technical excellence, their business development skills or their financial skills. However, there comes a point where the central question is, can you manage? Are you a creator of energy, drive and ambition in others? Can you cause others to strive to achieve high standards?
Which of the following does your firm report on, monitor and react to most frequently? Is it client satisfaction levels, is it the strength of key client relationships, is it employee motivation and energy, or perhaps its financial results? Which consumes most of your management time?
If you answered financial results, don’t worry, from our experience without doubt so do the overwhelming majority of professional practices. And as a result your practice and others are making less money than would be possible with a change in direction.
We have all heard the expression, ‘putting the cart before the horse’; well in this case it is no different. Because managing a business by looking at financial results is like trying to win a game by keeping your eye firmly fixed on the scoreboard. Financial results are just that - results. They are the outcome. To achieve the right outcome you must report on, monitor, react and manage those things that produce value. And that means managing your team because energised employees who deliver outstanding quality and service to the marketplace - will bring far greater profits than a fixation with financial results.
Does this mean you don’t monitor and track your financial performance? Of course not. But the real key to business success is, not focusing all your attention and decisions on whether you made profit last week, but by getting your people sufficiently focused so that they eagerly and willingly strive for high standards. If you can do this, the dollars will follow.
Having completed many strategic plans for a range of clients I have noticed, quite remarkably, that they feature many of the same ingredients. Everyone sits around and figures out correctly which client sectors are growing, which services are rising in demand, and which dimensions of competition, such as client service or innovation, clients are looking for. Everyone knows what needs to be done. But those who succeed are those who can best action the strategic plan. And this in turn is determined by the following vital ingredients:
• energy
• drive
• enthusiasm
• excitement
• commitment
• passion
• ambition
Hence an owner’s role needs to be a creator of energy, drive and enthusiasm amongst their team. Alas, too often, owner’s are the destroyers of excitement. If all they ever talk about is finances e.g. “how are your billings? What’s happening to receivables?” it can deaden the spirit of your team. It doesn’t mean the subjects are unimportant rather that there should be a wider more exciting range of subjects to provide a more balanced environment.
Many employees believe their leaders only want them to be dollar focused. Whenever a choice needs to be made between strategy i.e. developing a reputation for superior quality, and short term cash, most people feel under significant and irresistible pressure from management to go for the cash. The message seems to be, go for the cash today, strategy can wait til tomorrow.
However if you’re willing to sacrifice value to earn short-term cash, you won’t create a market reputation for superior quality. If you want to be known as excellent at something, you have to be reliably, consistently excellent at it. Not be swayed by daily temptations, short term expediencies and wonderful excuses for why we can’t afford to stick to high standards today.
It takes courage to believe that a reputation for excellence is worth more in the long run than incremental cash. It begins with a promise in the vision, strategic plans, and objectives, but we see owners more often than not compromise this promise.
An effective owner must have the courage of the convictions they espouse, maintain a long term focus, and intervene personally whenever there are departures from the values and vision that create excellence. A key is to be disciplined about maintaining the integrity of those standards and leading by example. Team members need to know that there are consequences if there is noncompliance to set standards. If an owner doesn’t show leadership on these matters then other team members will see that maintaining the standards is not vital and cease striving to comply. The result is that a strategy based on a reputation for quality, will never be attained.
Let’s Make it Happen
To get started, take out your documents developed with your team's input that describe your company’s vision, purpose, values and strategy. Turn them into a questionnaire and ask your team how well they think the firm is going in relationship to those benchmarks for success.
If you find out that there are some things that you’re not doing so well it's time to re-evaluate and as a leader commit yourself and your team to achieving the standards or objectives the documents contain.
Another vital step is to involve as many people as possible in the process of implementing, if not actually setting, strategy. The task of energising, mobilising, and motivating action is easier with people feeling involved, rather than being imposed on from above.
As an owner, your job is much easier if you can share the load with a motivated team who want to help. Ask the team, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Lastly let me share what I think is a key message to be a successful owner and leader.
A leader doesn’t build a business. A leader builds an organisation that builds a business. Many owners start because of their technical excellence, their business development skills or their financial skills. However, there comes a point where the central question is, can you manage? Are you a creator of energy, drive and ambition in others? Can you cause others to strive to achieve high standards?
A Planned Retreat
A planned retreat is winning business tactic.
Partner or senior management retreats can be a powerful tactic in the success of a professional practice. But like every worthwhile undertaking - prior preparation is an absolute requirement and most importantly there needs to be agreed objectives. Unfortunately, in my experience, this is not always the case.
Key questions to be answered should be “what changes do we want to occur as a result of this retreat?” and "what factual information should we have at hand?” Perhaps even more important “how will the results of the retreat be recorded in order that they can be actioned?”
Leading the retreat
There is no doubt that most senior people will want to have an input. There can also be a tendency for the more outspoken or senior to dominate or in pushing a viewpoint perhaps not give consideration to another's view. I often find there are many with complaints but few with real ideas or suggestions for creating a better system or a better business.
Therefore I believe that the either appointing someone to facilitate the retreat from inside the practice - if they have that experience - or better still hiring and thoroughly briefing a professional facilitator is paramount. Indeed after the decision to "retreat" - this is the next most important decision.
If sessions are planned they are less likely to get out of control, and then from an external point of view maybe other firm's stories and successful experiences that can be brought to the table.
Using this approach means initially preparing a great deal of information to make the retreat more valuable – financials, past strategic plans, client surveys, and internal management minutes.
Then following that collation of information, the partners and the external facilitator should meet beforehand to confirm what the firm wants to improve and precisely how the retreat can be used to make that happen.
Real Results
A well run retreat should have data collected so that the discussion is based on an external reality not someone’s opinions.
For example – if a topic is profitability, ensure the group is informed precisely where the profits are coming from – which clients, which services?
If a topic is marketing or client service undertake research or interview your clients about the firm's strengths and weaknesses. Ask questions like:-
• “What do we have to do to deserve and earn more of your business and to obtain unbeatable referrals from you?"
• "What should we do more of, what should we do less of?"
• "What do think are our strengths and weaknesses?"
If a topic is team development, ask members of the team:-
• "What do they think we do well what we do poorly?
• "How could we improve - better communication, better systems etc?"
If a topic is strategic direction, have the partners been asked to prepare their thoughts in advance on:-
“Priorities and initiatives they believe need to be tabled and discussed that will best grow the firm?"
In this later case the use of a facilitator to address these issues with key players presenting the ideas anonymously at the retreat can often assist with balanced impersonal debate.
With the right planning and the right approach, partner retreats truly are an effective management tool.
Partner or senior management retreats can be a powerful tactic in the success of a professional practice. But like every worthwhile undertaking - prior preparation is an absolute requirement and most importantly there needs to be agreed objectives. Unfortunately, in my experience, this is not always the case.
Key questions to be answered should be “what changes do we want to occur as a result of this retreat?” and "what factual information should we have at hand?” Perhaps even more important “how will the results of the retreat be recorded in order that they can be actioned?”
Leading the retreat
There is no doubt that most senior people will want to have an input. There can also be a tendency for the more outspoken or senior to dominate or in pushing a viewpoint perhaps not give consideration to another's view. I often find there are many with complaints but few with real ideas or suggestions for creating a better system or a better business.
Therefore I believe that the either appointing someone to facilitate the retreat from inside the practice - if they have that experience - or better still hiring and thoroughly briefing a professional facilitator is paramount. Indeed after the decision to "retreat" - this is the next most important decision.
If sessions are planned they are less likely to get out of control, and then from an external point of view maybe other firm's stories and successful experiences that can be brought to the table.
Using this approach means initially preparing a great deal of information to make the retreat more valuable – financials, past strategic plans, client surveys, and internal management minutes.
Then following that collation of information, the partners and the external facilitator should meet beforehand to confirm what the firm wants to improve and precisely how the retreat can be used to make that happen.
Real Results
A well run retreat should have data collected so that the discussion is based on an external reality not someone’s opinions.
For example – if a topic is profitability, ensure the group is informed precisely where the profits are coming from – which clients, which services?
If a topic is marketing or client service undertake research or interview your clients about the firm's strengths and weaknesses. Ask questions like:-
• “What do we have to do to deserve and earn more of your business and to obtain unbeatable referrals from you?"
• "What should we do more of, what should we do less of?"
• "What do think are our strengths and weaknesses?"
If a topic is team development, ask members of the team:-
• "What do they think we do well what we do poorly?
• "How could we improve - better communication, better systems etc?"
If a topic is strategic direction, have the partners been asked to prepare their thoughts in advance on:-
“Priorities and initiatives they believe need to be tabled and discussed that will best grow the firm?"
In this later case the use of a facilitator to address these issues with key players presenting the ideas anonymously at the retreat can often assist with balanced impersonal debate.
With the right planning and the right approach, partner retreats truly are an effective management tool.
The Surveying Industry - The Next Decade
The Surveying Industry – The Next Decade.
At this moment in history, when the world is facing and trying to deal with one of the greatest financial catastrophes of all time, it is rather daunting to set out to provide an outlook for the next decade. Added to the crisis we know about is the amazing changes that are taking place around the world and affecting the way we work and live. The old order of society is changing rapidly. Here are a few facts produced by Sony for their senior executive group last year.
• China will soon be the largest English speaking country in the world
• The predicted top ten jobs in demand in 2010 did not exist in 2004
• There are 31 billion searches on Google each month (2008) in 2006 this was 2.7 billion
• The first commercial text message was sent in 1992 - today the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the total population of the planet.
While no doubt these changes and the pace of them will affect us all in time, there are two key factors that I believe will affect the surveying profession over the next decade.
Firstly, we will lose a large group of baby boomers from the profession in that time and secondly, we perhaps will not attract a satisfactory level of new graduates unless we can vitalise the image of the profession.
That said I believe we can at least hypothesise on what changes or trends might occur in order to develop our own plans and strategies for the future.
Many notables such as award winning author David C McCullough, have said we need to look to history to see the future "History is a guide to navigation in perilous times" others such as Henry Ford, a brilliant 'new thinker' of his time, seemed to disagree " History is more or less bunk" he is quoted as saying. I believe that we can look at what has been happening in the profession over the past decade a put down some directions that would be the good basis for discussion when developing a long term strategic plan.
The first is size of organisations. It seems to me that we are seeing more and more movement towards larger or multi-disciplined practices. With the combination of new technology and the cost of running small practices increasing - this move towards size is a real consideration for any professional looking into the future. The need for older surveyors to retire will mean a chance for larger firms to grow through mergers or acquisitions. This added to the benefits for clients of having a one shop concept with multi-disciplined firms, only adds to the argument for size. Another dimension of this maybe an increase in the support staff for each qualified surveyor in order to service clients efficiently.
I am not suggesting there is no future for the smaller one or two partner practices but, I don't feel that this is the future of the surveying profession - no more than it has been the future for professions such as medicine or law. Whether multi-disciplined or specialist surveyor - growth is a key element for those looking to the future in my opinion.
Last year I worked with a group of surveyors who merged their business. While the result was a greater size and no great savings in overheads, the idea between the merger was more a centralisation of the business side of the practices which allowed the qualified surveyors and other disciplines to focus simply on servicing their clients, thus increasing efficiency.
That said as we face the immediate future - regardless of our firm's size - there are some basic steps that need to be taken for survival and long term growth.
With careful planning, surveying practices can be agile and move with the times. With lean operations, the surveying industry will have the ability to improve efficiencies in productivity, sustainability and to establish market share.
When looking to develop a plan to help navigate the period ahead owners should consider reviewing trading cycles, costs and expected cash flow; get support and advice from business peers; undertake a SWOT analysis of your business and consider your market.
One thing is for sure, innovation will be mandatory for surveying firms over the next decade. Surveying practices must take up the challenge to be natural and continuous innovators as they result in improved products and services, better business processes, increased customer value and stronger financial results.
There will be changing demands of customers. Customers will continue to demand increasing added value from surveying practices over the next five years. At the same time these clients expectation of the service they receive is also expected to increase. Whilst these pressures are being brought to bear, surveying practices will fully expect to have to continue to decrease the costs of their product and service offerings.
But who will do it? Even as we look into a difficult immediate future, general industry research says that only 16% of professionals are proactive in adopting change. If this is true for the surveying profession it suggests a profession without enough committed practitioners to ensure a healthy future. Certainly the 16% of proactive adopters will be busy.
Finding new ideal customers is integral to growth and survival as is retaining them. Pavlov’s rule of 20% of your clients bringing 80% of your income has never been more pertinent in your need to develop a profitable streamlined surveying practice. Dated thinking by some owners has lead them to believe they don’t have the time nor resources to market their firm and services at a time when marketing has never been more important.
The critical marketing challenges for surveying practices will be to improve the target marketing to key ideal customers by making more effective use of the internet. Improved levels of customer insight will be required to build practices that are relevant to their customers needs. Exploiting one of the oldest forms of marketing communication - word of mouth - by creating strong networks locally and on the net.
As mentioned earlier a massive issue for the surveying industry is dramatic increase in the number of business owners reaching retirement age over the next decade. This was highlighted by a recent survey undertaken by the CPA association:
• Approx 24% of SME owners are now over 60
• Another 25% are between 50 and 60
Thus we are hearing more and more business owners saying “My business is my superannuation”. With 40% of owners looking to sell in the next 5-10 years it is a concerning fact that only 38% of surveying practice owners have a plan to sell or succession
Small business owners need to get smart, plan and prepare for their business succession or exit, years in advance of their retirement for the best results. Even if they are closing their business, planning will make a big difference to the amount they walk away with. Leaving their exit planning to the last minute is not a good strategy.
That said, surely this trend signals incredible opportunities for younger surveyors looking to create practices that are sizeable, innovative, utilize technology and suit the future.
At this moment in history, when the world is facing and trying to deal with one of the greatest financial catastrophes of all time, it is rather daunting to set out to provide an outlook for the next decade. Added to the crisis we know about is the amazing changes that are taking place around the world and affecting the way we work and live. The old order of society is changing rapidly. Here are a few facts produced by Sony for their senior executive group last year.
• China will soon be the largest English speaking country in the world
• The predicted top ten jobs in demand in 2010 did not exist in 2004
• There are 31 billion searches on Google each month (2008) in 2006 this was 2.7 billion
• The first commercial text message was sent in 1992 - today the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the total population of the planet.
While no doubt these changes and the pace of them will affect us all in time, there are two key factors that I believe will affect the surveying profession over the next decade.
Firstly, we will lose a large group of baby boomers from the profession in that time and secondly, we perhaps will not attract a satisfactory level of new graduates unless we can vitalise the image of the profession.
That said I believe we can at least hypothesise on what changes or trends might occur in order to develop our own plans and strategies for the future.
Many notables such as award winning author David C McCullough, have said we need to look to history to see the future "History is a guide to navigation in perilous times" others such as Henry Ford, a brilliant 'new thinker' of his time, seemed to disagree " History is more or less bunk" he is quoted as saying. I believe that we can look at what has been happening in the profession over the past decade a put down some directions that would be the good basis for discussion when developing a long term strategic plan.
The first is size of organisations. It seems to me that we are seeing more and more movement towards larger or multi-disciplined practices. With the combination of new technology and the cost of running small practices increasing - this move towards size is a real consideration for any professional looking into the future. The need for older surveyors to retire will mean a chance for larger firms to grow through mergers or acquisitions. This added to the benefits for clients of having a one shop concept with multi-disciplined firms, only adds to the argument for size. Another dimension of this maybe an increase in the support staff for each qualified surveyor in order to service clients efficiently.
I am not suggesting there is no future for the smaller one or two partner practices but, I don't feel that this is the future of the surveying profession - no more than it has been the future for professions such as medicine or law. Whether multi-disciplined or specialist surveyor - growth is a key element for those looking to the future in my opinion.
Last year I worked with a group of surveyors who merged their business. While the result was a greater size and no great savings in overheads, the idea between the merger was more a centralisation of the business side of the practices which allowed the qualified surveyors and other disciplines to focus simply on servicing their clients, thus increasing efficiency.
That said as we face the immediate future - regardless of our firm's size - there are some basic steps that need to be taken for survival and long term growth.
With careful planning, surveying practices can be agile and move with the times. With lean operations, the surveying industry will have the ability to improve efficiencies in productivity, sustainability and to establish market share.
When looking to develop a plan to help navigate the period ahead owners should consider reviewing trading cycles, costs and expected cash flow; get support and advice from business peers; undertake a SWOT analysis of your business and consider your market.
One thing is for sure, innovation will be mandatory for surveying firms over the next decade. Surveying practices must take up the challenge to be natural and continuous innovators as they result in improved products and services, better business processes, increased customer value and stronger financial results.
There will be changing demands of customers. Customers will continue to demand increasing added value from surveying practices over the next five years. At the same time these clients expectation of the service they receive is also expected to increase. Whilst these pressures are being brought to bear, surveying practices will fully expect to have to continue to decrease the costs of their product and service offerings.
But who will do it? Even as we look into a difficult immediate future, general industry research says that only 16% of professionals are proactive in adopting change. If this is true for the surveying profession it suggests a profession without enough committed practitioners to ensure a healthy future. Certainly the 16% of proactive adopters will be busy.
Finding new ideal customers is integral to growth and survival as is retaining them. Pavlov’s rule of 20% of your clients bringing 80% of your income has never been more pertinent in your need to develop a profitable streamlined surveying practice. Dated thinking by some owners has lead them to believe they don’t have the time nor resources to market their firm and services at a time when marketing has never been more important.
The critical marketing challenges for surveying practices will be to improve the target marketing to key ideal customers by making more effective use of the internet. Improved levels of customer insight will be required to build practices that are relevant to their customers needs. Exploiting one of the oldest forms of marketing communication - word of mouth - by creating strong networks locally and on the net.
As mentioned earlier a massive issue for the surveying industry is dramatic increase in the number of business owners reaching retirement age over the next decade. This was highlighted by a recent survey undertaken by the CPA association:
• Approx 24% of SME owners are now over 60
• Another 25% are between 50 and 60
Thus we are hearing more and more business owners saying “My business is my superannuation”. With 40% of owners looking to sell in the next 5-10 years it is a concerning fact that only 38% of surveying practice owners have a plan to sell or succession
Small business owners need to get smart, plan and prepare for their business succession or exit, years in advance of their retirement for the best results. Even if they are closing their business, planning will make a big difference to the amount they walk away with. Leaving their exit planning to the last minute is not a good strategy.
That said, surely this trend signals incredible opportunities for younger surveyors looking to create practices that are sizeable, innovative, utilize technology and suit the future.
10 Critical Mistakes When Selling Your Business
You’ve spent the best part of your life building and creating a business that has provided you with so much…. it has provided you with a living, a creative professional outlet, a reason to get up in the morning, professional joys and challenges, an opportunity to lead others, create future financial security for you and your family… why ruin all that you have worked for by erring when it comes to what will be the biggest sale of your lifetime. A seemingly small error that could cost you and your family hard earned dollars. Do you really want to risk that? From my experience in selling small business practices I’d like to highlight the following pitfalls that I have personally seen that have cost others their dream retirement. I do this in the hope that you will avoid these:
1. Wrong price
Too high is bad and too low can be very costly.
Despite the old saying that "there's a sucker born every minute" the reality is that if the price is too high many buyers won’t bother to investigate the opportunity and no one wants to be seen as a sucker. Ultimately the offer has to be taken off the market and time taken before remarketing can take place. Worse still there is a large price drop required. If it is too low, you will first up be losing money but also be subject to a negotiation in which you can only lose more.
I find that most sellers don’t know the value of their business in the same way they don't know the true market value of their home. What to do? Ask a broker and get a proper valuation.
2. Inadequate Financial Records
Private businesses are set up to minimize tax, not show maximum profits. However this makes for a low valuation. The answer is not to pay more taxes but to keep thorough and accurate records to show earnings and cash flow attributable to the business. Nothing kills a deal quicker than an inability to produce accurate reports from at least the last 3 years.
3. Doing it yourself
Selling a business is a complex legal, financial and time consuming process. Because of the process and the many often emotional decisions that need to be taken you are best advised to employ a business broker. A good business broker helps you maximize the purchase price you receive by canvassing the marketplace appropriately, driving the execution of the transaction and adding value through effective negotiations.
4. Negotiating too hard
You should negotiate hard but not to the detriment of a successful outcome. It is better for the seller that the surviving company be successful. Here again a broker will work on your behalf to negotiate a win-win situation where everyone is happy with the outcome.
5. Demanding an all cash deal and no handover period
Some buyers are naturally suspicious of sellers who demand an immediate cash settlement. It suggests desperation or a lack of transparency on the real situation. Most seek to have a period of time during which the price paid actually relates to the performance promised. This is particularly true in professional practices where individuals are key to retaining clients. Buyers will also pay a substantial premium for seller financing. Sellers should keep an open mind on exit dates and financing - both of which may get an even better deal.
6. Selling to the wrong buyer
The best buyer is one whose philosophy and experience is synergistic with that of your practice and has a real motivation to buy. If the chemistry is not right with the person you are dealing with, terminate the negotiations. The aftershocks can be catastrophic.
Often selling to a direct competitor, employee or supplier improperly without full confidentiality can be a mistake. A competitor seldom pays full value and if the deal falls through they gain huge confidential information. An employee rarely has the money to pay full value and seller is at risk of getting paid. Suppliers have the problem of becoming competitors to their suppliers when they integrate forward or backwards.
7. Non qualified prospects
Beware tyre kickers, bargain hunters and general time wasters who can burn up a significant amount of your time, energy and money.
The first 2 questions a buyer asks is “why are you selling?” and “what are your financial results?”, therefore you should ask the prospective buyer the same equivalent questions.. “why are you buying?” and “what is your financial capability in purchasing our firm?”.
8. Lack of preparation
Many businesses come to the market without a single idea of what is involved in the sales process and what they want to get out of the sale. If you are poorly prepared, it will show, frustrate buyers and waste everybody’s time. The end result is NO SALE. Do not underestimate the costs and effort it will take to get a positive result. Treat it as an investment to get optimum sale value.
9. Timing
The best time to sell is when you don’t have to particularly when the business is on the upside and profits and turnover are at, or near their best. There can be a substantial variation in price depending upon the business cycle. It can be very hard to justify a great price and do a deal when your turnover and profitability are in decline. The mistake is that owners sit and wait for the "right time". If your business is not ready for sale - then get active and improve its performance - start a new business drive - employ better staff - fix your systems - cut your costs. Get the business ready for sale.
10. Why do you want to sell?
This will be one of the first questions a buyer asks you. Give some serious thought to why you want to sell. If you have not deliberated and come to the firm decision that you are going to sell, don’t start the selling process. Some common reasons include retirement, health, capitalisation or a career change. Be sure that you want to sell the business and have a solid reason why you want to walk away. Naturally if you find there are too many problems and you are tired - then this is perhaps not the answer to the seller's question. Take a break - get refreshed and then actively work with your broker to get the business in the market.
1. Wrong price
Too high is bad and too low can be very costly.
Despite the old saying that "there's a sucker born every minute" the reality is that if the price is too high many buyers won’t bother to investigate the opportunity and no one wants to be seen as a sucker. Ultimately the offer has to be taken off the market and time taken before remarketing can take place. Worse still there is a large price drop required. If it is too low, you will first up be losing money but also be subject to a negotiation in which you can only lose more.
I find that most sellers don’t know the value of their business in the same way they don't know the true market value of their home. What to do? Ask a broker and get a proper valuation.
2. Inadequate Financial Records
Private businesses are set up to minimize tax, not show maximum profits. However this makes for a low valuation. The answer is not to pay more taxes but to keep thorough and accurate records to show earnings and cash flow attributable to the business. Nothing kills a deal quicker than an inability to produce accurate reports from at least the last 3 years.
3. Doing it yourself
Selling a business is a complex legal, financial and time consuming process. Because of the process and the many often emotional decisions that need to be taken you are best advised to employ a business broker. A good business broker helps you maximize the purchase price you receive by canvassing the marketplace appropriately, driving the execution of the transaction and adding value through effective negotiations.
4. Negotiating too hard
You should negotiate hard but not to the detriment of a successful outcome. It is better for the seller that the surviving company be successful. Here again a broker will work on your behalf to negotiate a win-win situation where everyone is happy with the outcome.
5. Demanding an all cash deal and no handover period
Some buyers are naturally suspicious of sellers who demand an immediate cash settlement. It suggests desperation or a lack of transparency on the real situation. Most seek to have a period of time during which the price paid actually relates to the performance promised. This is particularly true in professional practices where individuals are key to retaining clients. Buyers will also pay a substantial premium for seller financing. Sellers should keep an open mind on exit dates and financing - both of which may get an even better deal.
6. Selling to the wrong buyer
The best buyer is one whose philosophy and experience is synergistic with that of your practice and has a real motivation to buy. If the chemistry is not right with the person you are dealing with, terminate the negotiations. The aftershocks can be catastrophic.
Often selling to a direct competitor, employee or supplier improperly without full confidentiality can be a mistake. A competitor seldom pays full value and if the deal falls through they gain huge confidential information. An employee rarely has the money to pay full value and seller is at risk of getting paid. Suppliers have the problem of becoming competitors to their suppliers when they integrate forward or backwards.
7. Non qualified prospects
Beware tyre kickers, bargain hunters and general time wasters who can burn up a significant amount of your time, energy and money.
The first 2 questions a buyer asks is “why are you selling?” and “what are your financial results?”, therefore you should ask the prospective buyer the same equivalent questions.. “why are you buying?” and “what is your financial capability in purchasing our firm?”.
8. Lack of preparation
Many businesses come to the market without a single idea of what is involved in the sales process and what they want to get out of the sale. If you are poorly prepared, it will show, frustrate buyers and waste everybody’s time. The end result is NO SALE. Do not underestimate the costs and effort it will take to get a positive result. Treat it as an investment to get optimum sale value.
9. Timing
The best time to sell is when you don’t have to particularly when the business is on the upside and profits and turnover are at, or near their best. There can be a substantial variation in price depending upon the business cycle. It can be very hard to justify a great price and do a deal when your turnover and profitability are in decline. The mistake is that owners sit and wait for the "right time". If your business is not ready for sale - then get active and improve its performance - start a new business drive - employ better staff - fix your systems - cut your costs. Get the business ready for sale.
10. Why do you want to sell?
This will be one of the first questions a buyer asks you. Give some serious thought to why you want to sell. If you have not deliberated and come to the firm decision that you are going to sell, don’t start the selling process. Some common reasons include retirement, health, capitalisation or a career change. Be sure that you want to sell the business and have a solid reason why you want to walk away. Naturally if you find there are too many problems and you are tired - then this is perhaps not the answer to the seller's question. Take a break - get refreshed and then actively work with your broker to get the business in the market.
Unlock Your Full Potential
Unlock Your Full Potential
One of my first clients in business coaching was a partner in a professional practice related to surveying. He was around 45 years old and working 10 to 12 hour days at least 6 days a week and hadn’t had a real holiday in four years. He was earning less than $100,000 per year, was unfit, overweight, highly stressed, and of even greater concern to his future health, not at all satisfied with his life. He felt overwhelmed, with too much to do and too little time. Both he and I realised that something had to change.
Together we closely analysed each part of his work and personal life. We identified the areas where he was getting the best results and making the most money. Likewise, we identified areas that consumed an enormous amount of time but contributed very little to his real goals. I had him make a list of all his responsibilities and daily business, social and family activities activities. It became clear that his lifestyle was out of balance and that other than money he was contributing little to his family’s well-being. I then asked him a key question. “With a snapshot of your life in mind – if you had the chance to start all over again - would you continue on in the same way”?
Clearly the answer was a resounding no.
This became the first step to creating a better business and better life. I helped him set new goals, for his work, his family, his financial situation and his life in general. The result was a complete re-balance of his life and reengineering of his business.
This man had a wonderful opportunity, to step back, analyse his life, make specific decisions and then follow through on those decisions. The result was that within three months, he had cut his work week from seven to five days. He had refocused his efforts on the top 20% of his clients and organised his activities to acquire more clients in that same category. At the same time, he began reducing and cutting back on the amount of time he was spending with the 80% of his clients who contributed only 20% of his revenues. This enabled him to spend more of his time with the clients who provided most of his income.
With his work life simplified and streamlined, he refocused on his family. He began spending more time with his wife and children. First, they arranged to go away for a weekend holiday, something they had not done for years. A few weeks later, they took an entire week away from work and school. Within six months, he was taking one week off per 2 months with his family.
Meanwhile, because of his increased focus on his most valuable clients, within a year his income increased by more than 100%. He was exercising regularly and had lost 11 kilograms. By doing fewer things of higher value and discontinuing activities of lower value, he dramatically improved the quality of his life in every area in just a few months.
This early case history led me to establish a 7 step program to creating a more balanced, satisfying life for highly stressed professionals. Particularly, professionals who want to be successful but have recognised that overwork is not the way to achieve great things in life.
Here is the 7 step program that you can take with the aim of doubling your income and doubling your time off.
1. Decide to reengineer your business with perhaps a better quality client base of A&B clients with a smaller better quality giving you a lot more energy and making more cash.
2. Crystallize what you excel at professionally (is it professional skills, relationship building, leading change, getting results?)
3. Clarify what gives you most satisfaction and energizes you (gaining new A & B class clients, completing top quality work etc?)
4. What are you most eager to learn and grow (e.g. how to sell, how to grow a high performing team, or purely redesign your business direction)
5. Determine the core competencies to put you in the top 10% (that’s where all the big earners are). Perhaps this might include training the team, technology upgrades, relationship marketing. Resolve with yourself, what one skill if I did excellently would double my income.
6. Choose to take time off regularly to clear your head & think about the business to keep it in line with your plan (i.e. quiet time by yourself every day, a long weekend, a week off every 2/3 months)
7. Start today to pay closer attention to the things you do. Identify the most important tasks that give the greatest value and concentrate on them single mindedly. (Once today goes, chances of change for the better diminish considerably tomorrow).
One of my first clients in business coaching was a partner in a professional practice related to surveying. He was around 45 years old and working 10 to 12 hour days at least 6 days a week and hadn’t had a real holiday in four years. He was earning less than $100,000 per year, was unfit, overweight, highly stressed, and of even greater concern to his future health, not at all satisfied with his life. He felt overwhelmed, with too much to do and too little time. Both he and I realised that something had to change.
Together we closely analysed each part of his work and personal life. We identified the areas where he was getting the best results and making the most money. Likewise, we identified areas that consumed an enormous amount of time but contributed very little to his real goals. I had him make a list of all his responsibilities and daily business, social and family activities activities. It became clear that his lifestyle was out of balance and that other than money he was contributing little to his family’s well-being. I then asked him a key question. “With a snapshot of your life in mind – if you had the chance to start all over again - would you continue on in the same way”?
Clearly the answer was a resounding no.
This became the first step to creating a better business and better life. I helped him set new goals, for his work, his family, his financial situation and his life in general. The result was a complete re-balance of his life and reengineering of his business.
This man had a wonderful opportunity, to step back, analyse his life, make specific decisions and then follow through on those decisions. The result was that within three months, he had cut his work week from seven to five days. He had refocused his efforts on the top 20% of his clients and organised his activities to acquire more clients in that same category. At the same time, he began reducing and cutting back on the amount of time he was spending with the 80% of his clients who contributed only 20% of his revenues. This enabled him to spend more of his time with the clients who provided most of his income.
With his work life simplified and streamlined, he refocused on his family. He began spending more time with his wife and children. First, they arranged to go away for a weekend holiday, something they had not done for years. A few weeks later, they took an entire week away from work and school. Within six months, he was taking one week off per 2 months with his family.
Meanwhile, because of his increased focus on his most valuable clients, within a year his income increased by more than 100%. He was exercising regularly and had lost 11 kilograms. By doing fewer things of higher value and discontinuing activities of lower value, he dramatically improved the quality of his life in every area in just a few months.
This early case history led me to establish a 7 step program to creating a more balanced, satisfying life for highly stressed professionals. Particularly, professionals who want to be successful but have recognised that overwork is not the way to achieve great things in life.
Here is the 7 step program that you can take with the aim of doubling your income and doubling your time off.
1. Decide to reengineer your business with perhaps a better quality client base of A&B clients with a smaller better quality giving you a lot more energy and making more cash.
2. Crystallize what you excel at professionally (is it professional skills, relationship building, leading change, getting results?)
3. Clarify what gives you most satisfaction and energizes you (gaining new A & B class clients, completing top quality work etc?)
4. What are you most eager to learn and grow (e.g. how to sell, how to grow a high performing team, or purely redesign your business direction)
5. Determine the core competencies to put you in the top 10% (that’s where all the big earners are). Perhaps this might include training the team, technology upgrades, relationship marketing. Resolve with yourself, what one skill if I did excellently would double my income.
6. Choose to take time off regularly to clear your head & think about the business to keep it in line with your plan (i.e. quiet time by yourself every day, a long weekend, a week off every 2/3 months)
7. Start today to pay closer attention to the things you do. Identify the most important tasks that give the greatest value and concentrate on them single mindedly. (Once today goes, chances of change for the better diminish considerably tomorrow).
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