Maximize Your Assets

When times are tough most business owners quickly turn to look at their financial picture. They examine their budgets, look at costs and question expenses looking for places to trim and save some money. And while this is indeed be an important activity, one we might add that should be done regularly and not just during tough times, it should not be the only area to get attention.

When times are tough you need to also examine your assets and find ways to leverage them for higher returns and expanded business opportunities. Let’s look at a few examples.

We’ll start with real estate - a store might be able to use their space, when it is normally closed, to teach a class related to their products, a manufacturer might be able to use his equipment to produce other products his clients’ need, or a large business might be able to rent out the boardroom for small business owners who don’t have the space for a meeting room of their own.

And when it comes to employees – often referred to as the greatest asset - they could
(if encouraged) utilize their talents in new and varied ways. A car dealer could bring the car to your home because there’s nothing quite like seeing it already in your driveway; or perhaps the dog groomer could come to your home instead of you driving to the pet salon and the dry cleaner could offer a pick up and drop off service for busy executives. Then there are all those meetings your staff attend, you know they could be more productive if they were well run. They could fast track your projects and result in quality decisions but too often the people are so focused on getting through the agenda that they fail to notice the full impact of the lack of input, superficial agreements, sidetracked conversations and negativity. Just imagine what a difference it could make to your organization if your meetings were run well.

Now let’s talk about sales and marketing. Could your employees be selling more goods instead of just ringing in purchases? How about an incentive program or competition to make it more fun? Far too many employees don’t understand enough about selling from the customer’s point of view to be able to make that difficult sale. Take the time to teach them a few tips and you will be rewarded time and again. If you are relying on your sales and marketing team to drum up business then you are short changing yourself. You should, and could have, every employee working to build your business.

So, when you are next thinking about cutting costs, devote a bit of time to examining your assets to see if they can improve your bottom line. It will not only help you to be successful, but make the job more interesting for your employees.

Submitted by Heather Hughes CMC (Certified Management Consultant)
Heatherconsults@shaw.ca
250-857-5833