It’s official, the recession is here. If you are like most business owners, you are probably thinking about battening down the hatches. The majority of businesses we meet, not just those we coach, are looking at cutting staff, shaving costs and shelving any plans for expansion. There is, however, a choice here. Cutting costs is not the only way – why not get more from what you already have?

 

Every business has an optimum level of revenue given their current levels of employees, resources and product placement within the industry. Experience tells us that no business achieves 100% of its capacity due to uncontrollable factors, such as staff sickness, clients not showing up for scheduled meetings or problems with suppliers.

 

From coaching thousands of clients, we know that the most efficient businesses run at approximately 80% of their potential capacity. If you are not at this level, concentrate on building responsibility into your business and getting the right mix of resources. This will drive improve both profit and life-work balance. We call this ‘functionality’ and it is simply dealt with by imagining your business divided into three colours: red, blue and black.

 

 

Stop looking at the business on a person-by-person basis and see it as functional areas; stand back and look at what is really going on. Getting more responsibility in your business will give a better profit, release management time to do more strategic planning and give everyone a better work-life balance.