As children across the country return to school it seems like the perfect opportunity to take you and your business back to the classroom and top up your knowledge on some of those key subjects.
Whether you loved or hated it, school gives you a basic understanding of various subjects. In business you might be the best at what you do but does that make you great at marketing, sales or accounting?
Go back to the classroom with our whistle stop tour of the some of the lessons you need to be learning in your business this September:
Lesson 1: Maths
You don’t need to be a master at a quadratic equation but you should know your numbers.
It’s important to remember that your bank balance is only part of the picture. Do you know your monthly running costs? Do you know how much you owe to suppliers? Do you know how much your customers owe to you?
If you don’t know these numbers then you need to. Once you have control of the numbers in your business you can make more informed decisions. If you don’t understand what you’re seeing then seek help from someone who does and don’t be afraid to ask questions of your accountant if they say something you don’t understand.
Lesson 2: English
‘Communication is the response you get’
When it comes to communicating with your clients are getting the response you want?
If you’re not then perhaps you aren’t communicating in the right way. If you aren’t answering the questions they need answered clearly then things will get lost in translation. By communicating with your clients in the way that they want to be communicated to and with the information they need you are more likely to get the response you are looking for.
Lesson 3: Science
If you were doing a scientific experiment at school you would have been asked to record your method and your results.
How often do you do that with your marketing activity, for example? If you don’t test and measure you will never know whether the activities you are doing are working and therefore whether the time they are taking is worth the investment.
Testing and measuring your activity will help to streamline processes and ultimately mean you are spending your time and money in the right places, getting you the right results for your business.
Lesson 4: Geography
If you’re going to a new destination, you are more than likely to check your Sat Nav to find out how long it is going to take and what route you need to take to get there.
But, where is your business going?
What route you need to take to achieve your goals? Understanding where you want your business to go, what your exit strategy is and having an idea of how you are going to achieve this will help to get your business moving in the right direction and keep you on track should things come along to try and steer you off course.
Lesson 5: Music
At one stage or another in school you will have taken part in a group performance, whether you were front and centre singing the solo, or hiding at the back playing the triangle the aim was to get everyone playing the same song in time to the music.
If you have a team, are they all pulling in the same direction?
If your team aren’t aligned with the vision of the business owners and the goals of the business then you are unlikely to be playing sweet music together. Getting your team in the right roles and on the same page will make for a better business
Contact us if you need some extra tutoring to get your business to the top of the class!
