Is your business running perfectly?

Are you making all of the money that you think you should?

If you have to answer "No" to either of these questions, then you should check out the list of problems below. If any of those problems seem to apply to your business, click on the possible solutions to the right of the problems.

	Problem	Possible Solutions
	Profitability	Increasing sales is usually a darned good idea. Reducing costs is tougher.
	Efficiency	Improve the Business Processes to make your business more efficient. Consider appropriate information technology.
	Resources	You've got so much to do, maybe you need general management help. You have specific projects that need doing, but there's no-one skilled enough available.
	Accounting	Think about a better (computerized) system. Are your business processes letting you record the right information?
	Information	A good accounting system helps you make dollars out of cents.(Sensible, valuable information) Well designed computer systems deliver good information to help your business grow profitably. Maybe you just need some more effective reporting.

The so-called Pareto principle (also known as the 80 / 20 rule or the law of the vital few) states:

"For many phenomena, 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes."

In plain business English, this could mean that:

80% of your sales are due to 20% of your customers,
                               or
80% of your profit is due to 20% of your products.

Wouldn´t you like to make a lot more profit by selling the right products to the right customers and work smarter not harder?

Most business consultants will tell you that they can help you cut costs in your business. That´s a fairly bold statement. I can certainly tell you that I could come into your business and show you ways to reduce your business expenses. I´ll bet I can save you more than enough to justify my fees.
Here's a classic example:

"Do you know how much money you´re spending on coffee?"
It´s costing you $5 (or $10, or $20) a day to provide coffee for your staff.
Let them buy their own coffee. You´ll save $25 (or $50 or $100) a week;
that´s $1,250 (or $2,500 or $5000) a year!

Well, that consultant is a real beancounter!
(and I don´t mean coffee beans.)

He doesn’t know the difference between cost and value.

• How much time will be wasted by your people going out to buy coffee? Or arguing about a coffee pool?
• How will your people feel about their cost-cutting boss?
• How much are your average daily sales per employee?
• Will their attitude to customers change?
• How much will your ticked off employees cost you in lost sales or excess expenses?

I´ve run my own business. I´ve hired and fired employees. I know that people like to feel valued. What message does the (coffee) bean counter approach send them?

A much tougher cost cutting question is: How much money are you spending on ineffective advertising?
Your books will tell you how much you´re spending in total on advertising (cost); but are you getting value from each type?

Do you know how much you spend on each type of advertising? Even more importantly, do you know how much profit you get from each of your different types of advertising?

This is my general approach to profitability.....

You´re the business owner or senior manager; you sign the cheques (or invoices), so you know what your costs are. You don´t always know if you´re getting value, but you have a pretty good idea if you´re wasting money.

I will certainly review your costs to see if they´re out of line for your industry, but I believe that you´re much better off selling more of the right products than just cutting costs.

Here´s a brief example that shows the differing impacts on your business of slashing expenses or increasing the sales:

Let´s assume that the business has a Gross Margin of 50% .... that means that the goods are sold for double the costs of buying or manufacturing them.

	Sales	10,000
	Cost of Sales (50%)	(5,000)
	Gross Profit	5,000
	Fixed Expenses	(3,000)
	Net Profit	2,000

If you slash your expenses in half, from $3,000 to $1,500, you´ll make another $1,500 in profit. If you increase your sales by 30%, you´ll also make the $1,500 extra profit. Which scenario is more likely? Do you think you´ll be able to halve your costs? Let´s face it. That´s not very likely. Isn´t it going to be easier to increase sales?

There are often great opportunities for businesses to save money. Any business consultant can look at your business and suggest some cost savings. Good business consulting looks at the value you get from your costs. Do you want to start earning more value from your business?

Then call me at (604) 889-4199 and get sound advice and uncommon sense from genuine small business consulting. Although I have many clients are in the Vancouver area, I also have clients in the Fraser Valley, Whistler, the Okanagan, Sunshine Coast, and the United States.....that´s the power of the Internet.

You´re a senior manager or executive with a larger business, crown agency or ministry.

You are looking for some assistance with a specific problem or special project. You either don´t have the expertise in-house or you have the expertise, but not the resources to get the job done on time. That´s why you´re here.

We can provide expert business consulting to help you with professional solutions to business issues. Whether it´s strategic planning, help with the business side of technology, preparing or evaluating RFPs, writing a business case, analysing data, managing a project or any other problem requiring short-term or part-time professional assistance, an expert business management consultant is available to help you anywhere in the Greater Vancouver area.