All too often our progress in business plateaus. You know, it levels off at the point you achieved when you last gave it attention. Very often we settle into 'habit' mode and forget to look at the long view for our business. Over the years I've consulted too many business owners and leaders who want new results. By their own admission, they've assumed that staffing up or cutting expenses was the route to achieving their business's next level. In their hearts they believed that if they managed the money, the rest would follow.



They've very often been wrong!

It's already standard business practice to manage the money. What differentiates successful companies from those just noodling along are some things not discussed in business courses and business books.

I'll let you in on a little secret: One of the most important ways to boost your business is to focus ON your obstacles.

Watch Your Competition

It's very inspiring to be told to ignore your competition. We were well trained in school. all dream of doing better on a test than our classmates, and that carries over to how we behave in business. "I won't look at yours paper if you don't look at mine!"

The fact is, the more you know about your competition the quick you can sort through potential options for your own business, and sort out those that are relevant for you and those that are not.

Compare Yourself To Others

Some of the most stunning results my clients have made over the years have been by borrowing ideas that had nothing to do with their own industry or business. They kept an eye on the wide world of business through reading magazines, and talking with people in other industries. That allowed them to actually hear and see new ideas their direct competitors missed.

One example from a client I worked with in the legal support world will show you what I mean. They used to send out staff carrying 50 pound document copies that recorded the documents on film. That film was then turned into paper again and delivered to the attorneys who needed it. My client viewed that as the full cycle of their services. Period.

I noticed how often they got calls from past clients months later. An attorney wanted more copies of the documents... only no one knew where the film was in the law firm. My client was fed up with having to go back and get access again to re-shoot those documents. Taking an idea from the records management industry, my client began storing the film themselves, AND charging their grateful clients for the service.

Their attorney customers were delighted to get new copies the next day. And my client was pleased to have a new stream of revenue for nearly no additional work and miniscule amounts of storage space in a simple file drawer system.

Tighten Your Standards

We've all heard the principle of "80-20". It's been tracked and proven over and over again, 20 percent of your time produces the most important 80 percent of your results. (What ARE we doing with all that other time and effort, I'd like to know?)

80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of your clients. 80 percent of your aggravation comes from... you guessed it, 20 percent of your customers.

Even more important than measuring to see if it's true in your business (you'll see, it is) is WHAT you'll do with the information. Will you sit down and calculate the lost productivity, the lost time and energy and intelligence of your team and yourself? Will you fire those distracting clients so that you can create the space to tip the scales into the profit zone rather than the distraction zone?

In the past two years I've concluded my work with 2 high profile and very demanding clients. I felt a deep tug of war because they were very lucrative clients. yet with each of them, I spent more time talking about the frustration of working with them, than on the work itself.

I released them to find other support, and in the next year I grew my own business by 40 percent.

The management books will tell you all about measuring the internal productivity of your ongoing operations. Their 80-20 rule will tell you to keep looking at the costs of your people.

If you want to outpace your competition, you need to shift your attention to what you can add OR subtract from your business to boost your own success.

Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz