What do The All Blacks, An Olympic Gold Medalist and Bill Gates have in common? They all employ a coach. They employ a coach to help them “Create the perfect game plan perfectly implemented.”

It is no coincidence that the vast majority of businesses that win business awards employ a business advisor.
The SME market (Small to Medium Enterprises) makes up 94% on New Zealand’s economy. Albeit with an incredibly high casualty rate. When surveyed, SME Business Owners advise the reason that they got into their own business was threefold;

• A better quality of life
• Make more money
• Be their own boss

So why is it that the reality is far from the vision? Most SME Business Owners work long hours, make little more than salary and find it really difficult to hold themselves accountable for many of the calls that need to be made.

The answer lies mainly in the fact that most SME business owners are really good at the industry that they opt to go into. That is; great builders, excellent engineers, stunning graphic artists, but they fail to recognise that it is not this skill that is required to make their business successful.

When the topic of employing an advisor comes along they question why they should pay good money to get someone to show them how to do what they do. What do you know about engineering they will ask?

However, this is a long way from what they should be thinking. A good advisor is a person not emotionally involved in a business, that can take a helicopter view and help you “create and implement the perfect game plan”.

Over the years, in working with SME businesses, one of the most commonly missing ingredients is the “score”. Imagine the All Blacks playing a game without a score. Business is no different. We need KPI’s (key performance indicators) that tell us the score and whether our game plan is working. Some businesses will have these at the macro level, (owner) but not at the team level. It is the team that needs to implement the game plan and therefore they need to know what the score is. Are they winning? Was it a good day, week or month.

An engineer running and engineering business needs not only good engineering processes but also;

• A clear vision well documented
• Goals that are relative to both the owner and the business
• Carefully thought-out strategies to move in the right direction
• KPI’s that will quickly tell us if our game plan is working
• Ideal actions from the team that will implement our perfect game plan

None of the above has anything to do with Engineering, Building, Graphic Art or any other business niche. Implementing the above is a skill and a business all of its own.

So, are you in the game? What is your “Perfect Game Plan Perfectly Implemented”

A business advisor is not a cost, it is an investment in your business and a good one will improve your bottom line many more times than any fee that is charged. Get in the game now.