by Ted Saul, Senior Staff Writer
Unless your business is running at peak performance, with increasing profits while meeting aggressive goals, it may be time to do some reinventing. In this economy the successful company will regularly examine itself and make necessary adjustments. The process will answer questions such as why the business exists, how well is my operating model working and what do my customers think. I recently had a personal experience with a restaurant in San Diego. It had been a while since my last visit and it was clear that the economy had taken its toll. While the service was still fair, the menu items had degraded, prices were not competitive and quality diminished. Furthermore deterioration of the building was evident. This business needed to reinvent itself to survive.
Any company review should start by dusting off the business plan. If you don’t have one, develop one. This activity alone will take you down the road of determining your current model’s feasibility and relevance in today’s business world. You may find that a shift in your mission statement is required to reflect the changing market place. New goals can be set along with updated objectives to seek. It may be time to look at your product or services strategy section and see what you need to improve or expand. This is a good time to review your pricing and see how you compare with competition. Reinvent your marketing plan as well. Discover where and how customers have been finding you and eliminate what isn’t working. Rebuilding your brand may be part of this process as well. Is it time to replace a worn out logo?
Reinventing your business may include downsizing to meet a realistic budget. Perhaps you can maintain your business at a smaller site or take some or all of it online. Or it might mean reducing the number of stores or moving to a home office. Take a look at your expenditures and see what can be eliminated to make your business leaner and able to operate more efficiently.
If your business depends on first impressions, then examine your business from the customer point of view looking for any physical aspects that might need updating. Get outside input by having trusted friends give you an honest opinion of the experience of entering your store and evaluating from the floors to the ceilings to the restrooms. Take a field trip look at what your competition is doing. Chances are there are many quick and inexpensive fixes that can be completed while making plans for major investments. Your goal is to put the “Wow” factor back into your business. If you are operating your business in the same manner year after year with the same results, it’s probably time to reinvent making positive movement towards growth.
Ted Saul provides business consulting that assists startup and small businesses with organizational and planning needs. Ted holds an MBA from Regis University out of Denver Colorado and can be reached at t.saul@juno.com“>t.saul@juno.com, teds787 on Twitter and on LinkedIn.