As the year winds down to a close, have you scheduled time to work on your business and not in it. As the CEO, your daily goal should be figuring out how to run your business and move it forward – not be focused on the minutia of running it daily. The best future exit strategy is a growth strategy today. Yet, the fact is that it’s easier said than done. Here is a very simplistic way of making it a reality starting right now:
Ideas for setting time aside right now:
1. Right now, schedule a half-day offsite for you and your key management team within the next 30 days or;
2. Right now, set up a series of after-the New Year Breakfast meetings on the calendar now with each of your key business area team leads.
Once you have assembled your team you can begin by focusing on the following areas and strategic conversations. They key here is to drive conversation, derive key goals for next year, and commit to key performance indicators that can measure your progress. This is a process and not a one-time event and each idea garnered from these meetings will lead to better ideas and a stronger business overall.
1. Marketing Plan
a. How many new prospects do you want to touch?
b. What market or segment will have the most focus next year?
c. What are a few Key Performance Indicators you can set to measure against?
2. Systemization
a. What systems are in place today? Are they working?
b. More importantly, if they are working is everyone using them?
c. If they are working, look for small improvements and document them.
3. Talent
a. How do you hire more A players
b. How do you plan to retrain or eliminate C players?
c. How are you communicating your expectations and realigning your expectations?
Your business is an asset that you have invested your time and money in developing. By focusing on working on your business and not in it, you can take control of your destiny and drive the value of your asset even higher.
Evergreen Advisors is a leading middle market investment bank and corporate advisory firm focused on assisting companies in the areas of corporate finance, growth and exit strategies, business valuations and CFO advisory services. As entrepreneurs and founders, we have real-world experience of the challenges our clients face and the market experience to assist them in driving value. Give us a call today, we welcome confidential consultations with you regarding your exit strategy.