My business colleague Neil Sayer is a very effective Business Coach whose clients get great value in working with him as they grow their business. (Every now and then Neil also gets me to come in as a specialist coach for short interventions on time management issues.) So, when he offered to share his 50 Point Implementation Checklist with my readers I jumped at the opportunity.
Cheers, Robyn
Here’s Neil:
Are you an SME business owner serious about growing your business by say $2-3M within 3 years, at home or in export markets? Do you sometimes get frustrated, pressed for time & short on expertise?
- If yes, then the following Checklist can help as a self-diagnostic tool.
- It will help you start to see ‘the wood from the trees’.
- You’ll gain direction, focus, fresh ideas, solutions & improved results.
Working as a Business Coach, I regularly use the following Checklist (and others) as part of my Growthology program to help my clients. Just one of them, award-winning Stormwater360, has consolidated their Growth Plan. It also particularly helped with the phasing in of a new General Manager into their operation. By working through the 2 page Checklist they have been able to assess whether they are on track, strength areas to be leveraged, gaps to plug, and clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities moving forward.
The feedback has been great, prompting me to share further!
Some of the Checklist items:
Decide the Focus Areas to work on moving forward
- I have accurately captured the areas across my Business Model that need attention.
- I know what the key “Focus Areas” are for my Growth Plan.
- Realistic priorities have been discussed, set & agreed with team involvement.
In particular:
- I have a clear, differentiated and credible Value Proposition
- I have identified my target ‘ideal customers’.
- I am targeting the right market(s) with sustainable revenue streams & have considered whether I need to expand or refine my market choices – for better margin/less risk.
- I have considered whether I need to ‘spark-up’ my current Product/Service offering – to catch up/leap-frog the competition, and whether I need new Product/Service.
- I have the effective Distribution Model(s), and effectively manage my sales team, agents, distributors etc.
- We win targeted business – with good ‘brand’ market presence, & we have real capability to position & win targeted work.
- We have the Capability & Capacity for Growth – across financial management & funding; operations; HR and systems – to meet increasing levels of sales & to manage risk.
- My team is one of real expertise, talent & motivated
Ignite your Growth Plan
For each Focus Area, my Plan captures:
- sensible goals
- strategies, with key tasks
- activities
- schedule & milestones
- budget responsibility & accountability, with sensible & measureable KPI’s
Keep your “Finger on the Pulse”
- I have regular visibility on progress for each of my Focus Areas
- I have identified the key elements of my business that I must have a good handle on “to get a good nights’ sleep” e.g.:
- Cash Flow
- Sales Pipeline
- Sales conversion/success rates
- Health & Safety
- Productivity
- Margins
- Team performance/motivation
- Competitor activity
- Meeting customer timeframes
- Quality
- Other
I have systems in place to ensure that I get visibility on these key areas when needed – quarterly, monthly, weekly, immediately.
- Meetings
- User friendly, to the point Reporting
- My team have delegated authorities & accountability
- We manage our time effectively, e.g. using Robyn Pearce at Getting a Grip.
- We operate on a ‘no surprises’ basis.
Rate each Checklist item to help identify areas for digging deeper & priority attention
To receive the
Full Checklist Version register here
About the Author: Neil Sayer at “Globalise” is a former award-winning CEO & now a leading Business Coach, working with the owners and managers of SME manufacturing companies to deliver growth. His experience is recognized, impressive and truly global!
