Marketing Consultants Aylesbury
Marketing Consultants
“If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one" Dolly Parton
Now I’m no great Dolly Parton fan but I gather she’s something of a philosopher in certain circles and I certainly think she has a point here.
Life’s too short – we all need to enjoy and believe in the things we do – and this should be applied to business too.
Many of the business owners and professionals that I talk to in the course of my work are dissatisfied. They’re unhappy with sales performance, feel they are working too hard for little reward or they find customers and clients difficult to deal with. Most of them are of course going through a short lived crisis in their business and soon come out the other side, focused and ready to take on the world. And in any event the fact that they are talking to me indicates that they are ready to start ‘paving another road’.
The nature of the owner managed business or professional services firm is that they don’t always create the opportunity to work out which road they should be taking. Sometimes the most difficult thing for a small business owner to do is take time out from the day to day chaos of running their business and look to the future or initiate change.
That’s where a business partner or external help and support can be invaluable. Working with a business coach, consultant or adviser can provide the focus you need and the space and time to think about the road you want your business to travel on.
But there’s no reason you can’t become your own coach. A useful step on the way is to ask yourself some challenging questions about where your business in heading, and more to the point where you’d like to take it.
So what are the 5 key questions to help you on your way?
What do you want to achieve in your business – what’s your overall vision?
You’ll have heard it before – but if you don’t know where you’re going you’ll never know when you get there. Are you clear on where you are taking your business and what you want to achieve? Your goals maybe financial or more personal, they may be related to growth, or preparing your business for sale or personal retirement.
Without a clear vision of what you want the future to look like you can feel very frustrated by the present and dissatisfied with the results you are achieving. Once you have set goals and objectives you can feel far greater purpose and results start to improve too.
How will you know when you’ve achieved your vision and goals?
This may sound so obvious as to be ridiculous – but we can all get so wrapped up in the day to day challenges that we sometimes fail to recognise the achievements we’ve made. At least if you have set some measurable goals or have a clear vision of what success might look like you can start to see your progress along the new road you’re paving.