Business Assessment —
If You Don’t Ask, You Won’t Know
Every business goes through ups and downs, periods of growth and periods of stagnation or even decline. The most successful businesses — the ones with staying power, steady growth, and robust profit margins — make periodic adjustments to their business model, their products and services, their internal operations, their sales process, and their marketing approach. But how do you know where to focus your attention and resources if you don’t ask the right questions? That’s where a thorough business assessment comes in.
- Is your business moving in the right direction?
- Are you hiring more people, but getting less done?
- Are your people an asset or a liability?
- What do your customers say about your company?
- Is your organizational structure an asset or a liability?
- Do you have the right software, systems and policies in place?
- Do you have a plan for growing your business?
- Are you keeping up?
These are just a few of the questions we typically cover in our business assessments.
Standing still just isn’t an option
A periodic business assessment is an essential part of the innovation and growth process. Think of it as a health and wellness checkup for your business.
A thorough business assessment will help you:
- Pinpoint problems that could negatively impact your company’s top and bottom line
- Identify business risks you may not be aware of
- Identify areas where you may be able to reduce expenses
- Identify potential areas for future growth
Our Approach
Since no two businesses are exactly the same, we customize each assessment engagement for each client. We start with very high level questions and drill down where we need to. Often clients hire us to focus on one area, such as marketing, but we soon discover that the marketing issue is just a symptom rather than the problem. The problem lies deeper — in management, staffing, organizational/ compensation structure, etc. Other times, clients recognize they have a problem because customers are complaining or revenues are lagging, but they have no idea where the real problem lies. Based on our many years of experience, we excel at uncovering issues that others often miss.
If you are considering a business assessment for your business, you should know the following:
- We specialize in small, established businesses, typically with revenue below five or ten million dollars. We can work with larger organizations, but they are not our primary focus.
- The business owner must be on-board and involved. Without his or her commitment, it just won’t go anywhere.
- We try to be as gentle as possible, but the fact is a thorough business assessment can feel intrusive. We have to ask tough questions if we are going to do your business any good. If you aren’t willing to answer questions about management, staff, processes, marketing, financials, etc. then you should not hire us.
- Most assessments can be completed within four or five weeks, but larger more complicated organizations (especially ones with multiple locations) can take longer.
- An assessment is just the first step. Recognize up front that the purpose of an assessment is not to solve problems, it is to identify them. You can’t solve a problem until you know what the problem is!
- Once we complete the assessment, we can help you implement solutions, or you can take over and do everything yourself. It is completely up to you.
Contact Us today to learn more about our business assessment service.