Some customers want to know who they are doing business with. An especially fast growing company with rapidly increasing sales might be chronically short of cash. Compounding the problem for the organization is that the department no longer has its best researcher making discoveries on the bench. You have no business running your own business.
Employees need to be appreciated and cared for
The
more you control,
the less your people do for themselves. That
will be the
best decision you make today and tomorrow. Marriage
or family counseling
with an experienced counselor can be an invaluable preventive investment. If
intermediaries did not
exist, manufacturers would have to assume their duties, greatly increasing their costs and operational complexity.
What do you do to help customers?
There
are reasons people
want to work for your company. Operational,
administration, and production
excellence starts with complete systems to ensure on-budget projects, excellent service, quality workmanship, on-time completion, and a safe workplace. This
will ensure a
consistently growing quality customer target list to use to expand your customer base. Leadership
has nothing to
do with working hard, setting a good example, or owning a company.
Introduce customers to potential customers of their own
All
business owners should
know how much it costs to keep their company running. You
may protest that
some industries don't work that way, and it is hard for a newcomer to change the rules. But
while their separation
can provide clarity and allow expertise to shine, 'functional silos' are not inherently distinct. Wealth-building
assets create regular
positive cash-flow, reduce debt, and are passive instead of needing constant attention and supervision.
Intellectual property protection
After
your spouse has
filed for divorce or your kids have become strangers to you, the damage too often is done. This
rules out ideas
such as a dating site or a holiday home rental site. A
good salesperson will
even talk a customer out of making a wrong purchase, because in the long run the customer will respect the salesperson's honesty and may become a repeat customer. People
like to buy
where others buy.
Ask suppliers and customers to help find candidates
To
me, wealth includes
all things that make you happy. Businesses
typically like and
expect to be able to pay thirty days in arrears, with you sending them an invoice after you have supplied the goods or services. For
example, if your
marketing plan calls for a half-page Yellow Pages advertisement plus an ongoing monthly outbound direct-mail campaign, keep track of the return you get for the dollars you invest in this marketing. But
it is better
to suffer a loss at one's own hands than to have a competitor introduce a product that takes away those same sales.