We are all aware that COVID19 has had a massive impact on the economy and on business in general. Some businesses have managed to survive, some have thrived and others sadly have had to fold. Certain sectors have been affected disproportionately, for example leisure, entertainment and tourism. As life begins to return to some semblance of normality, we hope that your business or organisation has weathered the worst of the storm and is now looking forward to a successful future.
As we ease out of lockdown, I would suggest that it’s a great time for us all to review our business plans as it’s quite likely that adjustments will need to be made to fit the new post-COVID ‘normal’. In my book, ‘Your bigger future’, I identify 14 Principles for Success in Business that provide a framework for how to do this.
Over the forthcoming months, I will be highlighting and discussing each of these principles in turn. Please don’t read this as my attempt to tell you how to run your business. Rather, these are my collection of tips and knowledge gained throughout my many years in business that I believe are at the heart of business success and profitability. I hope you find them a useful reminder or aid, and would welcome any feedback or comments.
Principle 1: Build a relevant business
This may sound obvious, but is advice that is often overlooked. The key to a successful business is to provide a service or product that your target customer actually wants, not one you want to sell to them!
At Brunsdon Financial, we put our clients’ needs at the heart of what we do. In fact, ‘Let’s talk about you’ is an integral part of our branding. It reflects our desire to understand what makes clients tick before developing our suggestions as to how we can help them. The very last thing we feel clients want or need is to be given the hard sell by someone who’s not listening to them. In fact, if we honestly don’t feel we can meet clients’ needs then we’ll refer them to a trusted alternative provider.
Sadly, many businesses I have come across fail to keep their clients’ needs at the forefront of their minds. For example, they employ salespeople who are driven by targets or who are told by their head office to push products with little regard for individual client needs. Alternatively, some businesses forget the customer in their drive for greater and greater growth. As the business grows, they lose sight of the very people who helped them to succeed.
Since Brunsdon was established back in 1932, we have stayed true to the original values of our founder, Gilbert Brunsdon: integrity, value and excellent customer service. Continuing to put our clients’ needs first has stood us in good stead over the years and much of our new business now comes from word of mouth recommendations.
If you would like to know more, you can read the ‘Healthy Business Finances’ chapter of my book free of charge online. Alternatively, please visit the Your Bigger Future website .
Next month, I’ll be looking at my Principle 2: Develop a clear business plan.
Please note that the views expressed in the book, ‘Your Bigger Future’, are solely those of the author Brian Morman and not those of Brunsdon Financial.
Brunsdon Financial is not responsible for the content of third party web sites.
