Avoid these 5 mistakes in a small business

You too can increase profits without necessarily increasing sales!

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Possible leaks could be anywhere.

This report provides 7 clues that should put you on alert for a profit leak.

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"Adam, over the past six years, I've had the pleasure of 'bumping into you' on at least three business and marketing related forums. Your contributionsto discussions have always been courteous, astute, incisive and practical,delivered with good humour, and based upon 'real-world' business experience. You are clearly an experienced business professional who actually knows what he is talking about. I wonder if your clients know what a gem they have in you? As one business professional to another, I salute you.

Good Wishes,
John Williamson - The Wealth Coach
www.thewealthcoach.com
www.retaildisplaysecrets.com

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I just LOVED "7 Clues to a Profits Leak".

Steven Walker - Profit Improvement Advisors
Calgary, Canada

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You will be proud how your protégés are proceeding! We have expanded the business to Katherine and Alice (Tennant is also on the list). T he catering side of the business is far less stressful and is actually profitable, now that we only take the good jobs.
We will never forget the assistance you gave us in re-inventing our business!

Karen Sheldon

Managing Director

Karen Sheldon Catering

Darwin, Australia

+++++++++++++++++++

The chap is Adam Gordon whom I have known for many years. He is a former resident of Darwin having lived here for perhaps 25 years, is an excellent communicator and has a very good appreciation of small business, business plans and all that goes with it. In fact Adam is regarded as a business guru.

Charles Wright, QS Services, Darwin, Australia

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Thanks for the catch-up the other day. It's great to be working with a legend in the small business community.

AJ Kulatunga, BLKMGK ICT

Darwin, Australia

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The 7 Clues is a great.

What I like the most in the Seven Clues report is that it clearly explains that accounting is merely a subset of proper financial management and

that only the business owner can practise financial management. The accountant does the accounting, and in doing so supports the business owner's financial management. And the business owner uses the accountant's information, but relying on the accountant to do full-blown financial management is short-sighted.

The report nicely "grounds" an otherwise complex topic which many business owners are afraid of touching, so they often move ahead in blissful ignorance. The water hose and the soggy soil under the leak makes an excellent and easy-to-comprehend example, upon which the financial management concept is nicely built.

Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan, Organisational Provocateur Dynamic Innovations Squad
Personal and Firm-Wide Performance Improvement for Management Consulting Firms

Vancouver, BC Canada

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have played a very important role in my development in business.

You were there with the right information at the right time, I thank you for that.
By adding the next level of systems, and marketing knowledge that you brought to the table we able to identify our objectives, acknowledge the gaps in our business and put in place the planning so as to achieve those objectives. Within 5 years we achieved 9 of our ten stated objectives. In that same year we won the NT Telstra Small business of the year"

Greg Haigh
Director - Trade Group
Regional And Northern maintenance services
RANms

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Without measurement there can be no improvement!
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Mastering core marketing principles
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Profit leaking processes
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At times it is folly to hasten
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What will be the X-Factor in 2009
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Confidence leads to action
Increase sales - so easy to say
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Avoid these 5 mistakes in a small business

And you will find life a lot easier!

With over 20 years working with small business to help them improve their profitability a number of issues stand out that hold small businesses back. Not addressing them won't necessarily lead to failure, but you will certainly work harder, be more stressed and less profitable than you need to be.

How would you rate your business against these five areas? Why not take that question a step further; give yourself a score out of 5, where 5 is excellent and 1 is "hopeless".

1. Not managing your cash flow - do you manage your cash flow via your bank statement? No idea of where the cash is tied up in your business or how you could do more with less? Not being able to pay your creditors because your debtors are not paying you. Too much slow moving stock tying up cash which could be used for faster moving stock. No cash flow budget. Remember cash flow and profitability are two different things.

2. Not understanding your financial statements - can you really have control of your business if you don't understand the messages your Profit & Loss statements and Balance Sheet are giving you? Is the profitability of some product lines or services disguising the losses of others? How do you know? Are some customers more profitable than others? How do you know? Are all variable costs recovered from the customer who incurs them, or from overheads at the expense of your profits? Who is funding your business; you, the bank or your creditors? Which key ratios do you use to measure your financial health?

3. Not having a plan - Do you know where you and your business will be in three years? Or do you have a focus on short term day-to-day issues, rather than a long term objective? Are your trapped in being busy being busy, and going nowhere? Are the decisions you make based on those day-to-day issues, or getting you where you want to be? It's like pounding away on a treadmill, and where do treadmills go? Nowhere!

4. Haphazard marketing - Yellow Pages ads placed every year with no real thought, no measure of how many sales they generate. Ads placed at random in the local newspaper, radio or TV. Does your message match your market? No thought-through core marketing message or understanding of what makes your business unique, no marketing campaigns. Your target market is "everyone", but are you in markets which don't perform as well as others you could be in? How much repeat business are your getting?

5. Not having business systems and operating procedures - Have you noticed that all good businesses have good business systems and procedures? How much time do you spend each week redoing things that weren't done properly in the first place? Or telling someone how to do something that you've told them before, looking for something that wasn't put in the right place? It's frustrating but it's also a waste of your time, and your money. And it's all because of a lack of documented systems and procedures. Is "we've always done it this way" good enough today?

So how did you go? Is there an opportunity for improvement in your business? Avoiding even one of these mistakes will make a difference to your business, and to you.

If your would like to think about these issues a little further then our free E-Book, "7 Clues to a Profit Leak" looks at these questions and others.
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© Copyright 2009 Adam Gordon, Profits Leak Detective