1. Drainage Business
This business just had the first profitable Feb in 8 years and now has staff that are motivated and excelling in their roles. Next step is to get the owner down to 4 days per week.
Time to achieve: 6 weeks
How:
- Elimination of grey areas in leadership and who staff report to. It was ‘fuzzy’, there was two leaders. No there is one.
- Clarification of roles and expectations. This included staff interviews to understand their personal career goals and the type of work they liked doing and where they felt they needed more training/support.
- Clarification of where the business is going. Every business can be thought of as a ‘bus’ and as the owner you are the driver of the bus. A common cause of low motivation is staff on the bus that don’t know where the bus is going. So they start to think about getting off the bus. Who likes to be on a mystery bus ride!? The bus driver must keep everyone informed as to where the bus is going.
- Clarification of the culture, vision, mission and vibe the staff want and the owner wants. This is key and part of the Critical Alignment Model I use. Actions are then measured against this – do they help create the desired culture or not.
- Competitor prices were confirmed and the price of one common service was increased by $100.
2. Pilates Studio
This business never had money in the bank, and any cash in was going straight out. This meant there was no surplus to hire more trainers, buy equipment, invest in marketing or cover an unexpected slow period. The business now has $17K in the bank and this is continuing to grow.
Time to achieve: 3 months
How:
- The main action that turned things around was simply putting a staff member in charge of calling clients about outstanding fees. It wasn’t any more complicated than that. The owner now realises that they probably have lost thousands over the years by clients not paying.
- We have been implementing a range of other improvements to help improve lead generation, increase clients, increase profit and decrease the time the owner is working in the business. However the main cause of money in the bank is simply chasing up clients that haven’t paid.
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So there you go!
I hope these two case studies give you ideas for your own business.
If you need more info or what to run by me your business issue to see if I can help, simply call or email or message me.
0400 520 471
david@davidlennon.com.au
