Business Growth Guides provides face to face mentoring to qualifying business owners who we feel will benefit from this more direct and intensive approach and the investment is justified by the potential returns to you of doing it this way.
These days this can be accomplished very successfully online using Google Hangouts, or Skype, but we also work in client’s offices if that is both convenient and useful.
Although it develops over time our initial work with a new client usually takes the form of what we call a Structured Business Review, which does just what it says – we review your business in a very structured way using our proven process. During a period of about 50 days or so we collaborate with you to guide you and accompany you through the powerful business development process that Mark has written about in his book Build Your Ultimate Business in 100 Days.
Working directly with us we can do it in about half the time set out in the book because we do this work every day so we can help you to get to clear conclusions at each stage more quickly than you likely do on your own.
If you take this route to build a better and stronger business this is what you’ll get:
1. A kick-off meeting where we will set out the work plan and you will share with us some of the key information we need to fully understand all aspects of your business.
2. Regular, often weekly, sessions where we do the following:
a. We review work during the past week and conclusions from the previous session.
b. We share work done in the interim and carry out activities such as brainstorming, or prioritization of business options, at various stages of the process.
c. We capture and record the results of the session and plan the next week’s work.
3. A final wrap-up meeting that pulls all of the work together into a clear conclusion about the best way forward for your business.
4. A written report that documents the results and the evidence base for the conclusions reached.
The main stages of the work, covered in 2 above, are as follows:
• Agree your objectives
• Review the current business and which is the best workbook to use
• Identify your (and your team’s)key skills and complete an analysis of your business’ strengths and weaknesses
• Decide on the best focus for your business to take going forward after researching and prioritizing all the options open to you
• Decide on how best to position your business to achieve your objectives
• Agreeing how to test the market and learn from it
• Produce a one-page business plan, P&L and cash flow statement for the next 12 months
• Review how you are going to implement best practice in your business going forward
In most cases, we will do the research and digging around in between meetings but there may be some things that you, or someone in your team, are better placed to do. The regular meetings normally take 90 minutes and they can be with just you or others in your team if that makes the most sense. Irrespective of who is involved in the work the final wrap up can involve a wider group of people from your business.