12 Sep 2012
What Does Your Executive Summary Say About You?
While only 2 pages in length, the executive summary is by far the most important component of your business plan or proposal. It is designed to summarize the key elements, capture attention and most importantly, showcase the financial highlights.
So, if you only have 2 pages to convey a significant amount of information and summarize the financial upside, how do you decide what to put in and what to leave out? Which financial features are critical to emphasize?
Depending on the purpose of your document and the intended audience (investment, sale, partnership, strategic alliance, joint venture etc.), you will want to tailor your financial disclosure to suit their needs and expectations. What would they want/need to see in order to make an informed decision?
At a minimum, you need to clearly state what financial input is required from them and what they will get in return – i.e. a share, debt instrument, license, exclusive right etc. Next, highlight the expected net profit and cash flow over 2-3 years. Also, give a clear indication of return on investment (ROI) AND a realistic, well defined exit strategy.
In an executive summary, it is important to be succinct and focused. It is not the time to tell your life story, overpromise with unrealistic projections or overwhelm with too much detail. You will only get one chance to make a good first impression and capture the attention of the reader. In fact, many sophisticated investors have told me they rarely read a business plan or proposal in its entirety. They make their decision on the strength of the executive summary and their assessment of the owner/manager (in terms of character, knowledge, skills and tenacity).
Focus on “what’s in it for them”. Show them clearly how they can benefit and when the result will be crystallized. Give them enough detail to understand the industry, opportunity and unique solution you provide. And most importantly, clearly summarize the key financial metrics of profitability, cash flow and ROI.
In short, make it EASY for them to invest in YOU.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6107414
What do you need to do to change the playing field you are on completely?
It’s an unlikely source for great business advice for entrepreneurs. A story about Billy Beane, the general manager of a major league baseball team at the bottom of the ladder – the Oakland A’s. Crushed by the big budgets and big name players of teams like the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians, Beane is forced to take a risk and do something no team has done before – abandon traditional recruiting methods and employ computer-generated analysis to acquire and trade players. And in doing so, he changed the face and landscape of the game forever.
The following quotes from the movie were never really meant for you and your business and yet, they reveal some fantastic truths about life and success that will make you a better owner and leader.
1. You’re not solving the problem. You’re not even looking at the problem.
It is very easy for you to be distracted by all the issues and rhetoric swirling around the actual problem. The more you (or others) have personally invested in the status quo, the more you will be prevented from seeing the real problem for what it is. Seek advice and perspective from people outside your industry — those inside will be emotionally attached to the way things have always been done and thus, they have become part of the problem.
Your number one objective is to determine what the actual issue is, and solve it. You don’t have time to get caught up in meetings talking about why it is a problem or re-engineering band-aid fixes that have not cured it in the past.
2. We’ve got to think differently.
Your business really isn’t that different from the Oakland A’s baseball team. If you’re a start up or a small-mid size business, you’re likely working under some tight (and possibly unfair) resource constraints. If you want to grow and to challenge competitors that have much deeper pockets, you need to level the playing field or you need to change it completely. It is impossible to beat anyone if you insist on letting others dictate the terms. You must start by thinking differently. What would need to change in order for you to have the advantage? What can you do differently right now to achieve your objective? How can you adapt or modify your approach to get what you want?
Playing the game on your competitor’s terms is no longer a viable option. It can only lead to frustration and failure.
3. He passes the eye candy test. He’s got the looks – he’s great at playing the part.
Success often depends on good scouting and recruiting. A common mistake that most of you will make is to recruit team members that you like (and have something in common with during the interview) or who look the part. In order to ensure the survival of your business, need team members that can actually do the job that you need them to do. It doesn’t matter whether the candidate has 15 years of experience at a multi-national or comes highly recommended from so-and-so. None of that amounts to a hill of beans if they cannot do the job. If you want to boost your success this year, get the right people on your bus. If you need a good hitter (someone who can close business) don’t hire a semi-retired catcher who is charming in the interview.
4. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins.
It is important to get the right people on your bus. However, in order to do that, you need to figure out exactly what needs to get done and hire people who can do it. Don’t get caught up in fancy titles, big salaries, stock options and what looks good to the outside world. If you want to be successful you must be in the business of plugging gaping holes and buying outcomes.
If you need more customers and sales, hire someone that you know can and is incentivized to close business. It doesn’t matter what you call him, what matters is that he can produce the result that you need to survive and thrive in your business.
5. Why do you like him? Because he gets on base.
Step 1 – figure out what success looks like for the role you need to fill. Step 2 – don’t hire anyone without a proven track record of achieving that outcome. Step 3 – Get rid of (or trade) anyone who can’t fulfil their role or who is polluting the office environment.
6. Where on the field is the dollar I’m paying for soda?
It is good to be frugal and smart with your money but it never pays to be penny wise and a pound foolish. If you want to grow your business profitably, focus on the items that will have the biggest impact on your bottom line and cash flow first. There’s no point focusing on shaving one or two thousand dollars off your fixed expenses if you’ve got $25,000 tied up in dead or slow moving inventory. To make good decisions and take action that boosts your bottom line, you need to measure and track your financial KPIs regularly.
7. I’m not paying you for the player you used to be, I’m paying you for the player you are right now.
While you might get away with recruiting based on potential, in the end, you can only reward based on results. Time and time again I have seen business owners struggle with the decision to let salespeople, who are not meeting their targets, go. The decision is really a very easy one. Someone has to go. It’s either them or you. You can’t win a baseball game without putting runs on the board and you can’t build a successful enterprise without hitting sales targets consistently.
8. It’s day one of the first week. You can’t judge just yet.
Patience is a virtue. Don’t pass judgment judge too soon. If someone’s not performing or the team is not quite gelling, take some time to investigate, ask questions and make adjustments. All changes to the team will have a natural breaking-in period.
Too much tolerance can become a vice. Good performers tend to contribute value very quickly – both in terms of their attitude and work ethic. The typical 3 month probation period is more than enough time to make a fair evaluation. When the writing is on the wall, have the confidence to cut your losses and move on.
Despite the Oakland A’s disadvantaged revenue situation, Billy Beane took his team from bottom of the ladder to World Series contender in just a few months. By re-evaluating the strategies that produced wins on the field, they built a winning team with only one-third of the salary budget of the New York Yankees. To do this, they had to do more than just play better a better game of ball. They had to transform the playing field completely.
Can you apply Warren Buffet’s best advice to your small business?
Discipline and attention to details is more important than ever if you want to succeed in challenging economic times. Take a look around… competitors are closing their doors – which means more potential customers for the businesses that DO survive. And in times like these, it’s going to take more than “thinking outside the box” and goodwill with existing customers to secure the survival of your business.
You may have been lucky over the past few years – you may have found it possible to operate without a detailed, written plan and systems/processes. But the global economic crisis has changed all of that. If you want to thrive, there is only one thing that is for sure – uncertain times call for deliberate decisions and proven practices. So here are my top tactics to recession-proof your business.
1. Begin with the end in mind
If you don’t know exactly where you are going, how will you know when you get there? Now is the second best time to decide on your strategy, set your goals and document tactics and timelines. Keep it simple – write a 2-3 page summary of what you intend to accomplish in 3 months, 6 months and 12 months.
2. Focus on cash flow not profit
You cannot buy a house or a new car with “profit” from your business. Make it your mission this year to develop and maintain a weekly/monthly cash flow forecast for your business. This is not hard to do but it does require discipline and a simple excel spreadsheet. If you need help, I recommend that you consider signing up for Imagineering Profit. With just a few numbers from your Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statement, Imagineering Profit can calculate your cashflow for you and give you the insight that you need to get your company operating in the black!
3. Collect your debt NOW!
How many days does it take to collect your debts on average? Whatever it is, make it your goals to reduce this by at least 10 days. You may be surprised to know that if your annual revenue is around $500,000, you could save yourself up to $2,500 in interest carrying charges simply by collecting your debts 10 days quicker on average. Pay attention to customers who are taking longer than usual to pay. Now is not the time to be extending too much credit if you are concerned about their ability to pay.
4. Rank your customers
Do you know who your best and worse customers are? Have you ever tried to calculate how much profit you are making from each customer or group of customers? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, today is the best time to start tracking and measuring this.
5. Fire your worst customers
Everyone knows that is cheaper and easier to garner incremental business from existing customers. Some even argue that it is 6 times cheaper and 75% easier to convert a sale from someone who already knows and trusts you. If you have unprofitable customers, get rid of them and focus your attention on your best customers.
6. Trim your product range
Contrary to popular belief, it is better to have money in your back pocket than tied up in stock sitting on your shelves for months on end. The longer it sits and does not turn over, the more it actually costs you in lost opportunities. Spend 2 hours today calculating which of your SKUs or stock lines are your worst performers; make it a priority to sell those quickly to release some much needed cash. Consider reducing your overall investment in stock. Compile a spreadsheet of all the SKUs you carry and then run two separate columns – one for how many units you sell on average of each per month and the other being the total units on hand. If your stock gets delivered quickly, you should never be carrying more than one month’s worth of sales at any given time.
7. Monitor your breakeven and key numbers
The most important day of the month is the day that you break even and start making a profit. If you don’t know which day of the month that is, you need to find out today. Knowing this number allows you to monitor your performance and take measures to correct issues right now. Waiting until the end of the year for your accountant to produce financial statements is not a good idea – if you are behind, you need to know now so that you can correct the situation.
09 Nov 2011
8 Ways You Sabotage Your Own Success in Business
How often do you shoot yourself in the foot in business?
As a business owner, I’ll bet you’re incredibly busy and find that there never seems to be enough hours in the day to complete all your work.
Have you ever noticed that some of your everyday activities are just deeply ingrained habits – driving your car, putting on your watch, brushing your teeth or taking a shower? You wouldn’t dream of not doing them, they are part of your routine and they just seem to happen automatically. In your business you also have habits such as checking your website, opening the mail, reading emails, grabbing a coffee and glancing at your diary. You do them without conscious “thought” and they seem to fill up hours in your day…
But what about all the actions you need to take in order to build a more profitable and efficient business? Like following up with your best customers, asking for referrals, strategic planning and goal setting to grow your business? When do you do these activities? Do they often get relegated to “tomorrow” or “sometime soon”?
If you’ve ever spent your day stuck in back to back meetings, answering routine questions from your team, responding to emails, helping other people, doing paperwork or tidying your office – you already know that these are “make busy” activities, and they will keep you trapped where you already are – just simply maintaining, not growing your business. By filling your days with these tasks, you are in effect avoiding the very activities that you know will really move your business forward and produce tangible results.
Your “make busy” work or habits create the magnificent illusion that you are hard at work, simply because you feel “flat out” and your day is full of tasks. Let’s be honest, you would actually rather do anything than face the activities you know would radically accelerate your business success NOW! In fact, you often get to the end of the day and say to yourself “It’s OK, I was really busy, I’ll just get to that marketing plan tomorrow.” Or “I just couldn’t find the time today to make that seminar on leadership or customer loyalty.”
If you are waiting for the right or best time to do these critical activities in your business, it will simply never come! There will always be other “busy work” to fill all of your available time. You need to find a way to make your business building activities an ingrained habit too, if you want to grow your bottom line and live the lifestyle of your dreams.
Do you relate to or identify with any of these common sabotage habits?
1. Perfectionism – this tactic is insidious. It often immobilizes us from making a decision, starting a project or activity and signing off on a piece of important work. Most tasks don’t have to be 100% perfect, they just need to be good enough. The other way that this can show up is when you deceive yourself into believing that no-one else can do the job (even simple routine tasks) to your exacting standard, so you must do it ALL yourself. Follow the 80/20 rule, delegate what you do not have to do yourself and give yourself permission to be human!
2. Refusing to Let Go of The Past – Have you ever heard yourself say “last time I tried that, it didn’t work”? Or have you ever simply avoided doing something that you know you should or need to do but were afraid to do because “last time it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to”? Even though it’s a good idea to stop doing what clearly doesn’t work, it’s important to remember that the past does not necessarily equal the future. If you catch yourself finding reasons from the past to justify why you are not moving ahead toward your compelling future, stop NOW and take a good hard look at whether these are just cleverly disguised forms of self-sabotage.
3. Lack of Accountability – who is holding you accountable to the decisions you make and the actions you take in your own company? Isn’t that why you went into business for yourself in the first place – so that you could be the boss and do things your way? Find someone outside your business – a coach, mentor or trusted advisor that can act as a sounding board and hold you accountable to staying on track.
4. Lack of vision, planning and specificity – if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there? Enough said. If you don’t have a 90 day, 1 year and 3 year business plan, you need to make this your number one priority in your business. Set a weekend aside and find a place where you will not be disturbed by anyone or anything. Set down your goals clearly and succinctly – get clear about the specifics (who, what, where, when and why) and set realistic deadlines for completion. Goals need to be written down in detail to allow your mind – which is a goal seeking mechanism – to do its magic.
5. Lack of focus – stay focused on the important task you are currently working on and only allow yourself to be diverted by real emergencies.
6. Fear of Financials – you cannot have a truly successful business if you don’t know your numbers. Not knowing your numbers has already cost you time and money. Find someone who can explain your financials to you in plain English - learn the key drivers and indexes in your business (such as break even, productivity ratios, inventory turns, gross profit margins etc.) and track them daily.
7. No USP – the greatest product or service in the world will not sell if you have not clearly defined why someone should buy from you instead of your competitors. “Build it and they will come is a fallacy.” If you have not yet figured out what is unique about your product or service and found a compelling and cost effective way to communicate it in everything you do, you are literally flushing your marketing budget down the toilette.
8. No Testing and Measuring – this is the most-often overlooked activity by small business owners. The simple act of testing and measuring everything in your business…and I mean everything…will save you thousands of dollars this year. No matter what “it” is, if you haven’t tested and measured “it”, you don’t really know if “it” works. And until you know if it works, you don’t have a reliable, predictable business that will run without out.
Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes. As you already know or suspect, some of the most common forms of self-sabotage are habits because they are deeply ingrained behaviours that take time to establish or eliminate. In the 1960′s a highly regarded plastic surgeon, Dr. Maxwell Maltz discovered that it took 21 days for amputees to cease feeling phantom sensations in their amputated limb. From further observations and significant research he established that it takes 21 days to create a new habit.
Brain circuits take engrams (which are essentially “memory traces”) and produce neuroconnections and neuropathways only if they are bombarded for 21 days in a row. This means that our brain does not accept new data or information for a change of habit unless it is repeated each day (without fail) for at least 21 days. Changing habits (whether positive or negative) can be done but it takes time and consistent effort.
Do yourself a favour and identify today which form of self-sabotage is the primary one that is holding you back from having the business and lifestyle of your dreams. Make a plan on paper – specific decisions and actions that you can take to move forward in this aspect every single day for the next month. It is imperative to track your progress each day and I highly recommend finding an objective person outside of your business to hold you accountable to your plan, actions and results.
