Define Your Current and Future Resource Requirements

July 18, 2013 Selling Comments Off on Define Your Current and Future Resource Requirements

In the previous few months we have asked that you define your products and/or services and your value proposition, look at why people buy what you sell, define what you sell and what you want to sell and define the specific companies and the people inside of those companies that will buy what you sell.

Now let’s look at the “defining your current resources and future resources needed to meet your goals (people, skills, technology, machinery, facility, finances, etc.)” component of your strategic plan.

How do you and your management team define the resources needed to grow your business?  Do you need a plan that realistically considers your current resources and the resources that will be needed to support the growth you want?  We think so.  While the resources to be considered include people, skills, technology, machinery, facility, finances and whatever else you need to operate, we believe people will be the key to your success.

Recruiting and retaining people will be your biggest challenge and potentially will have the most affect on your ability to operate and grow your business.  A growing company will typically need more of all the resources described above and of course access to capital will be critical to success.  Of all the resources people will be the most important.  In reality they are what separate you from your competition.

Think about this for a minute – I mean really THINK about this.  When asked “what is your most important resource”, many business owners will answer “People”, but how many times do they really understand what they are saying?

• Do they really believe this and do they understand what it takes to recruit, train and retain the quantity of people they are going to need to grow?  We do and we work daily with our clients on this exact issue.
• Do you really understand what you are going to have to do to maintain the people side of the equation as you grow?  Have you thought through the supporting resources to provide the tools for the people to do their job?  As you grow will you be able to balance the needs your people will have with your customer’s expectations and demands?
• If people are the key to success do you follow through with the actions required to make people the key to your success?
• Do you work to constantly recruit good people so you have people to handle growth?
• Do you have training programs to quickly bring new hires up to speed and continuously develop existing team members?  Are your people mentored so they can develop the skills that are needed to help maintain and grow your business?
• Do you work as hard on the people side of your business as you do on the sales and operating sides?

If you do all of these and feel good about your progress you are in the minority.

We find it is common that business owners just expect their people to know how to do the job they hired them to do and are not focusing time, money and effort on the people side of the equation like they need to.  They are so wrapped up in all the day to day things needed to run and grow their business that they lose track of the really important things, like the people they need to help them and their development.  Call it culture or whatever you want but, the way your people operate will be directly connected to your bottom line.  Developing people is usually the last thing most businesses invest in when it should be one of the first.

As your business grows you will not only need more people but the quality of the people and skills they possess will grow.  Please remember this and stay focused on having the best team you can assemble and grow the team and their skills to prepare for the coming growth.  Do the preparation work before the growth happens so that the growth is profitable growth.  You should always hire the best people available and typically highly skilled people take additional investment.  As the business increases revenue you should be able to afford to invest in not only more people but higher skilled people.

We live in a world of constant change, so you should expect that your people will change.  So will other resources and thus the need to plan for changes along the way.  Remember, a business plan is a living, breathing document and you need to continuously work on making sure your resources keep up with the needs of your business.  This means you have to continuously analyze what you are doing and make the necessary changes when the market demands.

Coaching these skills is a critical part of what we do.  We are here to help you develop and implement your Strategic Plan and coach and develop the skills to implement the plan successfully.

We are having great success coaching and implementing these methods and skills and our clients love it!