To build a great company one needs work and also intelligence. It is not just enough to have a good product or service to create the best company. If you are a CEO of a company you are constantly worried about the bottom line as well as the top line. There are different aspects that contribute to the success of a company and in this article we are looking at ten of the best things every CEO must implement.
1. Measure productivity
Every company exists to survive and go beyond just making a dollar but also to make a difference. Productivity is what shows that a company is still alive. In the same way that we have a heart beat, a company has a productivity heart beat such that if it goes below a certain rate then there would be a lot of worrying. Similarly productivity is like that heart beat which must be measured regularly by any company. If a product falls below demand then the company can fail to meet some of its customer satisfaction requirements and competition can easily takeover the market. It is therefore good to always know what your productivity is.
2. Account for all revenue
There is nothing as wrong as making money and not knowing where it is going. It is very important that every company be able to know what it makes per product and per service line. If this is not known it leaves the company open to fraud and losses.
3. Drop non-performing products
Bad apples can make good apples get rotten fast. If there are products that are not performing in a company then the natural thing is to drop these products. Non-performing products will only eat away on the cash flow and use up resources which could have been used for other more productive products. We recommend the usage of the BCG matrix to better know what your products really mean to your company.
4. Build efficient processes
Inefficient processes can cost a company as much as 20-35% of its operating costs. Imagine an employee who visits a client twice because they forgot to bring a tool on to the client site. That is a lot of fuel, and time lost which cannot be recovered. So in such a situation where the costs could have been minimized the costs are doubled as in the case of the fuel and the employee labor hours.
5. Train your employees to be the best
A tool is a only as good as the user (Five Principles of Programmed Success, 2015). You can have the best working environment or the best equipment or resources but if you don’t have the best employees to operate these then these tools may never be as productive as they should be. Training is essential and not just a once-off training but continuous training. Water can only boil for as long as the temperature is kept at a certain level .
6. Don’t compromise on quality
There is no substitute for a good product or service. Quality in summary enables to meet the customer expectations. Quality should not just stop on the actual product or service but should include everything from packaging, delivery, inquiry, solutions and anything that involves the business operations.
7. Make the voice of the customer a priority
The customer is king, full stop. If the customer does not buy there is no revenue to account for and no business to speak of. Every CEO must therefore make sure that the business conforms to ensuring that the customer is king. Develop the right policies and procedures that enable the delivery of the product or service to be seamless.
8. Keep research and development running
We are human and we like fresh things, and our customers are human after all. When you own a business then research and development is key to stay in competition. Think how many products a company like coca cola has yet it is already an established product company. You must always be looking to improve and do better than the where you are. If you don’t improve someone else can improve on what you do and in the end the business suffers.
9. Get rid of assets not in use and stocks that don’t move
Assets and stock is money tied up, hence if you just keep it lying around for no particular purpose you lose the value of time. Every asset that you own must have a contribution to the return on investment on the business. If it has no contribution to this then that asset or stock is of no use to your business as it will cost you in storage and maintenance.
10. Don’t run your companies based on personalities but on operating standard
Some personalities can seem bigger than the company but remember, we are human and we have an expiry date. As much as Steve jobs was good for Apple, Apple must still carry on after his death. Microsoft success cannot be based on Bill Gates it must be based of the points noted above. So yes, hire great personalities they help to grow a business but remember not to anchor the success of your business on the personalities in your work place.
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