10 Keys to Business Success Before launching into your own business venture, we recommend you examine the following steps to become a leader in your industry. There are 10 essential aspects of forming and running a successful business that must be achieved.  Before examining how you want your business to be placed within the market, first take a look at what you, personally, are hoping to achieve. Above all, know what you stand for.  Identify your core values and be aware of them, as they will influence most of your business decisions.  Secondly, decide what you want to achieve.  Be specific about "who, what, where when and how" and remain clear about your end result.  Take time to write this down, be as detailed as possible. Finally, find someone who will consistently support you in your efforts.  Make sure you have at least one person who believes in you and what you’re doing - someone who will listen and encourage you, someone who is always in your corner for those tough days to remind you of all you have achieved so far, and to celebrate with you on the good days. Once you've accomplished the above, follow these 10 tips to guaranteed success. 1.  Understand your Market Without a market there is no business.  No matter how good an idea, product or service is, no market means no business.  So, who is your market?  Where are they?  What do they want?  How long will they want it?  What do they value?  How will you reach them?  Who else is trying to reach them?  What are they prepared to pay?  How do they make their buying decisions? Understanding your market requires getting inside the head of your potential customers.  In order to do this, you have to step away from your product and see it from the market’s perspective.  A classic example is the "features versus benefits" debate.  Cars have many features, but to the customers they have benefits (safety, pleasure or security).  Benefits are features that customers value.  For example, a CD player is not a benefit to someone who has no CD’s or prefers to listen to the radio. 2.  Know your Numbers The purpose of being in business is to make a surplus.  To make a surplus you have to sell for more money than the costs of your production.  You also have to manage the cashflow through your business to realise that surplus.  It is ironic that the main number people track is sales. What are some of the numbers you need to know?  Profit per item, service or customer Number or level of sales to cover operating costs (break-even point) Cashflow – where it is in the business, and how fast it is moving 3.  Satisfy your Customers Our number one priority is to keep existing customers happy, because it costs more to gain new customers than to service existing ones.  Also, happy customers are our greatest leverage point in gaining new ones through word-of-mouth. Customers provide us with the most accurate information about why they use us and what they value (thus helping us with the first key step). 4. Empower your People Your staff really is your biggest asset.  How well are you managing them?  Empowering staff members can help your business function without you.  This means getting the right people and helping them be the best they can be.  Then setting up objectives, good systems, procedures and resources to provide the guiding framework.  Clear communication and feedback on performance help people understand how they are going.  Opportunities to "have a go" and experience the consequences allow staff to learn.  Positive reinforcement of work done well and support where needed help staff stay motivated.  Finally, knowing what employees value and providing it where possible encourages long-term commitment. 5.  Maximise your Resources Resources are so precious in SMEs and they have to go a long way.  While it is important to be aware of your costs the smart manager spends more time considering the value costs generate and the opportunity cost of utilising those funds in another way. What else can be achieved with resources, both technically and financially?  For example, staff - are they achieving the best they can?  Would they be better off doing other things, or are there some things that waste their time that you could easily fix?  Financially, would you be better off using the funds for something else, such as, outsourcing an operational staff member or investing in new technology?  To make these decisions, it is important to know the cost of using these resources and the direct and indirect value they provide to the business. The smart business person is always looking to make the most of what they’ve got.  It’s the best way to get more! 6.  Systemise your Processes A business is a set of systems.  Protect one of your most valuable assets (your intellectual property) by documenting the way things are done so they can be reviewed, communicated and repeated. Don’t re-invent the wheel!  Design simple ways to do repetitive business activities.  This ensures a consistent result and saves time and money.  Systems don’t have to be complicated – they can be a standard form, a checklist, a flowchart or even a regular activity in the diary.  What can you systemise today? 7.  Track your Performance How do you know how you are doing?  Our cars have a dashboard of various measures to advise us about our car’s performance, what do you have for your business? You can measure just about anything.  When deciding on any strategy or initiative, always include how you will track your progress.  This provides vital feedback so you can make any necessary adjustments and achieve the results you planned. Performance-measuring guidelines Track trends rather than one-off events Use them to improve performance Use a balanced range so you can see if something is at the expense of something else Include measures from all relevant stakeholder perspectives Don’t shy away form the "soft" issues.  Questionnaires can track attitude changes  Graphs can be easier to understand than lots of numbers 8.  Monitor your Competitors Most of us do not monopolise our industry.  Therefore, what our competitors are doing can have a big impact on our business, both good and bad. Ensure you know who your competitors are.  Sometimes competition can come from unlikely places, so make sure you understand what you customers value and then track who else could deliver this.  Monitor advertising, visit trade shows, join your industry organisation, read the news and talk to customers.  These will all help you keep in touch with what’s going on. 9.  Develop your Products/Services/Identity Things change and so must you.  As the saying goes “evolve or die”.  Scan your environment to see how things are changing and what opportunities there are for you?  Listen to your customers and what issues they are dealing with?  Ask what’s happening in other industries that could be applied to yours.  What clever things are your business peers doing that you could apply to your business? 10.  Enjoy Yourself Being in business is a great adventure.  Despite all of the above, it is important not to take things too seriously.  Have fun.  Celebrate your successes.  Laugh about the silly things.  Get involved.  Ask yourself how you can add a bit of fun to each day.  If appropriate, make it fun to deal with you and your business.  Business is about learning and creating.  It takes time to build a successful business, so it makes sense to enjoy yourself along the way!  First published in the April 2006 issue of HerBusiness magazine To achieve improved success in your business see our Impact Consulting Programme. 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