Business Strategy - 2013 Archive - Page 2

1. Keep the regular reviews with your agent.  Businesses are making changes daily and keeping up with those changes requires some effort.  Depending on the size and type of business, you may need to review with your agent quarterly, or even more often.  Your agent wants is done correctly and at the lowest cost as you do.


2. Your agent is the only advocate you have with the insurance carrier.  Disclose everything to them.  They can't help you or educate you if they don't know what exposures you have.  It is better to know up front what pitfalls there are than to find out after a claim happens.

1. A good Relationship (Personal) Banker will want to be very involved with your business, keeping up with the daily happenings of the business, and working to be an advisor for the business owner.

2.  The good Relationship Banker will aid the business owner through all stages of business: Growth, Sustainability, Succession Planning, and Exit Planning.

Sue Blattner, Blattner Accounting Services Business owners need to see their accountants as partners.  Over the years she’s seen clients that want to abdicate their financials, but that often leads to losing money.  Sue noted that even if they don’t like financials business owners need to be aware of the...

In the June 3^rd article, we talked about leveraging your professional service relationships such as your Accountant, Insurance Agent, and your Bank or Relationship Banker. Rather than give you more of our own ideas and experiences, we thought we would go straight to the service providers themselves for their thoughts on what business owners need to know and how they need to approach the relationship.

Click on the professional service type to see what the experts had to say!

Last week we discussed the importance of leveraging strategic business partners. This week we ask you to question how to use this advice in your own business.

Relationships are the keys to most successful businesses. The more obvious relationships are those you hold with your customers and your employees. The less obvious relationships are those you hold with the other businesses and professionals that provide you and your business with important services, such as bankers, attorneys, accountants, and technology providers. In larger businesses, these disciplines and services are often provided through in-house dedicated departments, because they are so essential. In smaller businesses, this group is most often not leveraged properly and therefore never develops into a relationship that maximizes the value for your business. Yes, your CPA can do more than just prepare your annual tax returns, and your local Banker does more than loan money. There is a possibility you are not asking the right questions, or avoiding the questions altogether.

 

So, what if you began to think of each of these providers as essential departments within your business, all working as strategic partners towards a common set of goals? To work, all participants in the relationship must be engaged and working towards the same results. You have to be as involved as your strategic partners, and that means taking responsibility for your part and holding your partners accountable for theirs.

In last week’s article, “Planning to Have a Life Outside Your Business,” we discussed the need to schedule your time away, to have a Paid Time Off (PTO) Policy, and to support your business and employees by creating Systems and Training that enable PTO. This week we are presenting a listing of PTO Systems that your business should have in place to support your employees, clients, and company: