Welcome to the fourth edition of the Kleinhardt Bulletin. 

This month we take a look at a number of simple measures that you can easily implement into your business that produces real results.

I hope you enjoy...

Many business owners will be familiar with the adage that "we should spend more time working on our business rather than working in it".

This thought sounds simple, but with the day to day pressures of meeting customer service expectations and deadlines, searching for new sales leads and initiatives, looking after employee needs, managing cashflow, attending to a myriad of compliance requirements, and so on, it is all too easy for business managers to become snowed under, to the point that there is little or no time available for detailed consideration of how they might grow and improve their business. The dangers here are that the business becomes less progressive and increasingly reactive, and indeed important decisions sometimes have to be made "on the run" without the wider consequences being fully thought through.

So how do better business managers manage? The answer often lies in effective business planning techniques.

Done properly, business planning is a process discipline that provides for a continuous and systematic review and assessment of each aspect of a business against a background of constantly changing market conditions. Sounds difficult and time consuming. But it shouldn't be. It should be stimulating, challenging, inspiring, motivating, enjoyable and satisfying. Afterall, this is going to be the roadmap for the next few years of your business and financial life! The trick is simply in knowing how to go about it in a logical way.

I recommend the following six steps.

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We're in business and we want to grow. The question is how can we create demand for our products and services?

It's a simple enough question but the answer is reasonably surprising. Our ability to actually create "new" demand is reasonably limited. "New" demand, in the main, is only generated from "new products," either by the emergence of new technologies or from the advent of new inventions.

What this means of course is that a vast number of businesses don't actually create new demand; they simply share the existing demand between themselves. There is surprisingly little unmet demand out there. Existing demand is being pretty well catered for in one form or another, with or without us.

This introduces a new dynamic to the equation; if we want to increase our share of the market we have to steal some of somebody else's share; the other side of the coin of course is that there are a whole lot of people out there trying to do the same thing by attempting to steal some of our share.

How then do we go about protecting and increasing our share?

Achieving this requires a thorough understanding of both our customer base and that of rival businesses.

Having the answers to the following simple questions will help us build a comprehensive picture of our market and our competitors and put us in a stronger position to win a bigger market share.

• Who are our existing customers and what segments within these markets can we identify? Are there any other groups that may require our product or service that we haven't targeted before? Can our product or service be used for other purposes that we had not previously thought of that could make it appealing to a wider market?

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No this is not an article about euthanasia, although it is said that the two certainties in life are death and taxes!

Another certainty, often not recognised is that one day we will leave the business that we have nurtured, developed and devoted our lives to building; and you'd be surprised how many business owners are too busy worrying about the day to day growing and running of their business that they fail to take this into account.

Are you one of them?

It's never too soon to start thinking about it. Exit, and value realisation planning, are as important as any other aspect of business; ignore it at your peril! People have often told me that their business is their superannuation. How important then to plan the means by which this asset is to be realised, and the manner by which they are to be released in order to enjoy the fruits of their labour?

Exit planning - What Is It?

There are many ways to define Exit Planning, but essentially it is based on one simple premise: At some point in time, every business owner leaves his/her business, voluntarily or otherwise. At that time, they want to receive the maximum amount of money, or best income stream, in order to accomplish personal, financial, income and estate planning objectives. Formulating an exit plan will provide a clear understanding of the ownership transition goals and the various steps, which will be required in order to achieve them.

The exit planning process:

There are three key steps in the exit planning process:

• Clarify your personal goals and objectives
• Select the most appropriate exit route, having regard to your objectives
• Plan the transition into life after work.

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