THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

For a small (or even a large) business to be successful requires 5 essential elements.

1.      Good management.

2.      Systems.

3.      The right staff.

4.      Top class state of the art training.

5.      “A Name”.

Looking at these in reverse order;

            “A Name”? This is the reputation of the business not necessarily the fact that it is part of a well known group or franchise. Noble has been part of enough groups to know that the while the name of the front door may be the same, the “Name” varies widely depending on the individual branches attitude to all the other elements.

            Training. There has been a variety of phases in training in our industry and I am sure this has applied in others. The governments have tried to compel training in business with varying success.

            A few home truths about training;

A.     You can’t teach anyone anything they are not ready to learn. If you force an individual to train they will actively fight the acquisition of knowledge.

B.     An employee’s attitude to training reflects directly in their attitude at work. I have never yet seen someone unwilling to train who went to the top in his career.

C.     There is a huge difference between “knowing” and “doing”. Most training is wasted because it never hits the road, but just remains notes on paper.

D.     The implementation of knowledge is more important than the acquiring.

The right staff. The best thing in the book “Good to Great” is the requirement to

“Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, then get the right people in the right seats on the bus”. In order for a business to grow and prosper in the long term, management has to follow Michael Gerber’s plan in “The E Myth” and make themselves dispensible. This can only be achieved through management delegating and that will only occur where management has faith in the staff.

Systems The more systematic the approach to the daily functions of the business, the smoother the operation and the less stuff ups are likely to occur. Systems will also influence how quickly the stuff ups are corrected. They also overcome problems associated with key staff being on leave as their replacement will be able to operate efficiently.

Management This is the most important of the key factors as management decisions control all the other elements. The key here is for management to work towards making their people capable of running the organisation without them so the business will survive independent of any one person.

If you are an individual operator such as a real estate salesperson, think of yourself as a business and apply the same approach. The Americans love “buzz” words and they have a term for someone working as a small business inside someone else’s business. They refer to them as “intrapreneurs” rather than entrepreneurs. It still works.

In today’s world with many businesses unable to survive, it may seem too late to start down this road. Naturally the best time to have begun was when times were good but if this plan is not in place now then when will you begin?

Ross Cutten

Owner / Director

Noble Real Estate