. . . by what is broken.

A Twitter friend posted “The parts of us that need to be healed can’t be healed by what is broken.” I sat pondering that for moment when I realized that statement can be modified slightly to apply to businesses. I am in the business of businesses so I look at everything from a business perspective and I can readily apply a modified phrase to nearly all problems in every business I deal with.

“The parts of a business that need to be fixed can’t be fixed by what is broken.”

This phrase seems rather simplistic but let’s apply it to a couple of scenarios. A client came in to see me about building his business’ customer base because the numbers were falling off (what needs to be fixed). I asked to see his marketing and advertising plan to see who he had as his target market and what he was doing to reach them. He looked at me and said “What’s that?”(what’s broken). Another client came to see me because her business was bleeding economically – they were very close to shutting down because the business was losing money every month and she couldn’t figure out why (what needs to be fixed). I asked to see her business plan, profit and loss statements and balance sheet in order to determine where things have gone awry. She didn’t have a P&L and her business plan was five years old and had never been looked at since she first created it (what’s broken).

In the first scenario, I showed my client the reason for a marketing and advertising plan. In simple terms I showed him his customer numbers wouldn’t go up unless potential customers knew who he was, where his business is, what he sold or provided, why the customers needed to shop there and how his business would help them solve their current needs. In the second scenario, I showed my client how it was important to be acutely aware of the P&L and balance sheet and compare those numbers to those in the business plan on a frequent basis to see where actual numbers were falling short of projections in the business plan.

The point is most small business owners are so focused on the day-to-day operations they overlook areas in their business’ operations where there is room for improvement. I realize the above scenarios are simple problems but an analysis of larger problems will yield the same results. The basic concept is this: If you don’t fix what’s broken in you business your business will go broke.