Getting It Right the First Time: Business Builders You Can Count On!

Any entrepreneur can tell you the path to success is not exactly well marked. Road maps to hidden treasures have always been in short supply. And, even if there were a "Thomas Guide" for building highly marketable products and services in the future, it would be of limited use to most small business owners. Nearly all of them claim to be too busy working in their business to work on their business.

Admittedly, even the right formula does not guarantee success. But, on this you can be sure, without a systematic approach or a complete understanding of the cornerstones that form the foundation of every successful business-building plan, the long-term success can be illusive, sort of like trying to catch lightening in a bottle. And, since there is no right way to execute the wrong plan, each cornerstone is devoted to getting it right the first time.

1 Start with the Right Goals

Every business starts with an infinite number of options and an unlimited number of destinations. What ultimately defines its degree of success or failure are the choices its leaders make. Invariably, "winners" put together a business-building team capable of providing not only an accurate assessment of the enterprise's current status but a clear and strategic vision of where it is headed. They document and quantify the goals, assign responsibility for their accomplishment, create a budget and schedule and monitor the progress toward goals regularly.

Barton Goldsmith, CEO of Fulcrum Marketing and renowned consultant to a laundry list of Fortune 500 companies, occasionally resorts to Garfield-speak to emphasize the need for setting "big fat hairy goals." It's not just a gimmick. Goldsmith says, "Once the final destination is determined, the proper path and best methods are more easily explored." He firmly believes the interactive development of a mission statement is critical to the team's success. In his words, "It gives your team the ability to take ownership in the vision of the company."

Goldsmith is so committed to this entire process that he and Bill Wagner, CEO of Accord Management Systems, recently put together a SWAT team of highly specialized consultants he calls the "Business Builders." The group's goal is to help organizations identify the holes and weaknesses that currently exist within their organizations and then guide them in the development of a better strategic and operational plan.

2 Get the Right People in the Right Jobs

Few companies possess along-lasting, competitive technological or financial advantage, so their only real competitive advantage is their people. Yet, according to superconsultant, Bill Wagner, in a recent survey only 30 percent of CEOs felt they had truly awesome performers. "In order to have an awesome team," says Wagner, "we must have awesome people." As Wagner notes, "Eventually, it all gets down to people."

In due course, successful leaders learn to find, hire and keep the right ones. The Cliff Notes version of this process makes it sound easy; however, without a system to objectively measure the position, the task is daunting and virtually impossible.

Wagner who has probably forgotten more about communication, motivation, morale and team building than most people will ever know believes the formula for sustained corporate growth requires a high level of behavioral self awareness and a behavioral understanding of company teams. To select the right candidate, companies need to start with a clear definition of the behavioral description of the job and then survey the personalities of the applicants or incumbents to get the right match. Then, to keep the right people, top executives have to develop a winning team and create an environment for personal success. Naturally, recognition, meaningful work and achievable goals are the key catalysts of that atmosphere.

According to Wagner, "Today's leaders spend the majority of their time working with their mediocre performers at the expense of their best performers, thereby putting our best performers at risk. We must spend our time working at the upper end of the performance chain and constantly strive to add superstars. Turnover of mediocre performers is not negative; it is healthy. It's simple arithmetic. When the bottom gets pushed up, it raises the overall level and quality of the entire organization. It just takes a behavioral system to provide the road map."

3 Develop the Right Branding

Branding is all the steps and the strategies a company uses to develop a separate and distinct identity along with a positive image. To achieve this goal, the company's messages need to be clear and consistent. "They must also speak directly to the customer about the value of your proposition and reinforce your USP," says Gerri Knilans, president of Thousand Oaks-based Trade Press Services. One of the best ways to develop this awareness and visibility of your brand is through a highly targeted publicity campaign. "The more your company is seen in print, on the Internet, on radio or TV, the easier it is for you to develop and promote your brand and position your company as a leader," Knilans continues. Ultimately, the idea is to gain recognition in a way that tips the scale of competition in your direction and leads to qualified referrals and more sales. That means everyone in the organization must be on the same page, both philosophically and tactically. That in it self is a formidable task, but as Knilans i s quick to point out, "Executives don't have to have all the answers, but they do have to surround themselves with good people. And, they need to continually ask questions about what they are doing and how they are doing it to develop premier products and services."

4 Create the Right Relationships with Customers

This is a two way street. In order to generate loyalty and repeat business, find a way to say "yes" to customers. Phrases such as "I can't do that," "It's not my department," or "It's not our policy" only serve to annoy customers and create a negative image of the company. Likewise, if the sales and marketing reps discover the company's products or services don't help the buyer achieve his or her goals, they should be prepared to help the customer find alternative solutions. By demonstrating a sincere interest in the success of customers, sellers create more trust and loyalty. This is the foundation for creating the right relationships with customers. It's based on a strong service orientation and requires the development of a proactive customer service feedback mechanism.

When sellers do a good job for buyers, buyers can help sellers reduce their costs. How? By providing powerful referrals and testimonials. The most commonly used vehicles for capturing the positive experience of customers are newsletters, Web sites, videos and especially CD Roms. Bob Chesney, the popular host of "Window On Wall Street" and Executive Producer of Chesney Communications uses all of them in what could best be described as the ultimate turbo charged, high-tech/high-touch experience. According to Chesney, "A company's best sales people are its customers. Why not use multi-media communication tools to build credibility and a demand for your products and services? They are dynamic tools that reduce the cost, time and effort of selling, while at the same time dramatically increasing the bottom line profits."

The information customers provide in a referral or testimonial helps the seller know how to identify the company's unique selling proposition and better position the company's products and services. Companies that use this process successfully are able to capitalize on word-of-mouth advertising and make the phone ring more often.

These solid business-building concepts are not overly complicated or beyond understanding. But they do require time and attention. That's why having the right plan, the right people, the right brand and the right relationship with customers may be the only difference between those business ventures that cash in and those that simply cash out

Ron Edwards is a freelance writer with an extensive background in organizational development, executive training and change management.