A clear and concise vision and mission
It must be communicated to and understood by all the stakeholders (owners, management, employees, customers and suppliers) in the company. This answers the question, “Why are we in business?” 

Operational inefficiencies
Paying too much for rent, labour, and materials. Now more than ever, the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that are reflective of today’s economy may leave a company uncompetitive.

We can show you where the “dead money” is.

Team Culture
A culture which meets the needs of the owners, the 
employees, customers and suppliers of the company. This definition of culture answers the question, “How will we conduct ourselves as we do business?” 

No clear plan
Having a clear plan to de-clutter the headspace of a business owner is vitally important. As an entrepreneur, there will be a “million” things going on inside a SME owners head, so the plan must be clear, concise and re-visited regularly

Our clients re-visit their plans and we keep them accountable.

Point of Difference
A uniqueness that separates the company from its competition, thereby answering the question, “Why should our customers buy from us?” 

The “maths” just doesn’t work
There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete against Best Buy and its economies of scale.

What is the “blueprint” for the maths in your industry? We know the maths and can show you what the benchmarks are so that you know what to work on.

Adequately capitalised
Financial reserves such as ownership capital and outside lending resources, but most importantly, capital accumulated from a healthy stream of profits. The healthy stream of profits will attract ever increasing amounts of ownership capital and lending resources to help the company grow. 

Owners who cannot get out of their own way
Your business is a reflection of you. What is working is you, and whatever is not working is also because of you. To be successful, a business owner has to commit to change and working on “who you need to BE.”

We’ll help you leave the “baggage” at the door.

People
The ability to attract top performing people to accomplish the vision and mission. The really successful businesses do not depend on the charisma of any single individual, including that of the founder. 

Poor accounting
You cannot be in control of a business if you don’t know what is going on. With bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time.  Now more than ever, SME owners need to know their numbers and the growth points in their businesses.

We love numbers. Ask us about the growth equation. 

Continuous improvement mantra
Means that even when things are going very well, successful companies strive almost obsessively to improve their product or service. 

Lack of a cash cushion
“Cashflow is king” – we’ve all heard this and there are ways to get better at managing your cashflow.

We teach business owners better strategies to  have money ready for a “rainy day”.

Awareness of strengths and weaknesses
A focus on things that the company does well and the sense to recognise that doing some things well does not mean that the company does everything well.

Too many hats
In small business you need to wear them all – tax, marketing, selling, service, HR – the list goes on. For some business owners they underestimate the importance of each division and have inadequate expertise in ALL the areas.

The good news is that we can show them how they can get ALL the skills cost effectively.