Many business consultants start by looking at the way a business promotes themselves, i.e. through sales, the financials of the business, the organisational structure etc.
Whilst all relevant, I am a passionate believer that most people build their business to achieve a lifestyle they aspire to, yet far too often they end up compromising their lifestyle to support their business. So, my starting point is always to understand the owner; what their aspirations are (both short and long term) in terms of financial renumeration and the amount of time they’ll spend working.
Second, is to understand their core values and what’s important to them; be it timeliness, tidiness, cleanliness, ethics, eco-friendliness, or supporting local businesses.
This may sound trivial to some, but vetting employees, suppliers, partners and customers against these core values to ensure alignment, will make sure the business thrives.
With these fully understood, you can then start to explore the vision of the business, building both a quantitative plan that delivers against the owner’s financial aspirations, but also a qualitative plan that delivers for both the owner’s work/life balance and core values.
There is obviously a lot of work that goes into building a detailed plan which includes key performance metrics and measurements, but to be honest, if you don’t spend time getting the first bit right, you could create a great plan that builds a successful business, but ruins the owner!
Personally, the only measure I use for success, is having a positive impact on the business owners who engage with me.