Page 53 - Australasian Paint & Panel Mar-Apr 2019

Ben Fewtrell is the author of the Business Exceleration Blueprint, is a sought-after advisor, speaker, podcast host and traininer. He has mentored and coached hundreds of business owners in dozens of industries, including collision repair. Visit Maxmyprofit.com.au
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pains’. These pains are felt when a business is unable to cope with the extra pressure of dealing with additional customers, pressure on cash flow and a bigger team of people.
A lot of growing pains can be avoided if these issues are anticipated and systems and processes developed, implemented and monitored throughout the growth phase.
All businesses require lead generation, sales, operation and business finance and administration. A common issue is the busi- ness owner will end up wearing too many hats and not doing any one job very well. As your business grows, you’ll need to delegate many of the things you have been doing to other team members. To successfully dele- gate, it's important that your business has an organisational structure that clearly outlines each division, role, responsibilities and key performance indicators.
You’ll also need to ensure Systems are cre- ated making it easy for you to recruit and train new team members into each of the roles. Each position needs KPI’s that align with the overall goals of your company. This makes it easy to ensure the team is performing at the level required.
TIME
For your business to thrive it will require somebody working on the business, imple-
menting strategies, training and monitor- ing progress. If you are too busy trapped inside your business operationally, this may prevent you from taking the time to work on your business.
It’s easy to see how some people are re- sistant to growing the business, imagine if you grew your business by a multiple of 10 in the next week, how would you cope with all this extra work?
When working on the business you will do the tasks that are important but not ur- gent, these are things like planning, team training, creating and implementing sys- tems, identifying opportunities and self-de- velopment. It’s easy to get drawn back into the demand of running your business on a day-to-day basis, so set time aside each week to ensure you dedicate at least 20% of your time to working on the business.
MONEY
Cash flow issues and lack of profitability are often the biggest problems a busi- ness will face. Understanding your finan- cials is paramount to succeeding. As the business owner you should be reviewing your profit and loss reports on a monthly basis, it’s important for you to look at trends and understand where the money goes. You should also have a budget that
clearly indicates the level of sales required, a budgeted cost of sales, budgeted expens- es and most importantly how much profit you expect to make.
There have been plenty of businesses go broke whilst making a profit, usually a re- sult of running out of money. It is impor- tant to make sure that you have cash man- agement systems in place. At the very minimum you should have a 90-day cash flow forecast giving you an insight to the future available cash flow in your business.
Getting the foundations right will help you to grow your business. Business owners that spend time getting the ba- sics right are able to make better busi- ness decisions. Gut feel won’t work. You need to know your numbers and be able to hold your team accountable for achieving the agreed KPIs.