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It is safe to mention that business owners by their very nature are extremely busy people. There is never enough time in the day to take care of everything that needs to be done. Therefore, most business owners fail to develop contingency plans for their business. If there is one truism in business, it is that nothing stays constant forever. While a change can be frustrating and even cause major problems in your business, it is completely possible to set up a series of strategies and processes to help mitigate a lot of the problems. In other words, have a Plan B developed and ready to go.
The Worst Number in Any Business
It has eloquently been said, “The worst number in any business is one”. Just having one of anything exposes a business to potential failure. For example, only having one key supplier opens a business up to problems if that supplier goes out of business. Having only one top salesperson is dangerous if that one salesperson leaves. Similarly, having only one lead generation system could stall out the business, should customers no longer respond to that system. The fact is, we live and operate our business in a constantly changing environment. This is why we need to develop contingencies before changes appear and force us to find solutions. If we are honest as business professionals, we have to agree that something will change in the near future and it will impact how our businesses are run.
Plan B
Given these odds, now would be a good time to begin to sketch out some contingencies for the most critical aspects of your business. One of the best ways to do this is to take a day to work ON your business, instead of constantly working IN your business. It is only when you have an uninterrupted period of time that you will be able to fully understand what contingency plans need to be put into place. Now, it is understandable that it may not be possible to solve all the issues in one day. However, by just starting the process, you will have done a lot to protect your business.
Here are Some of the Most Common Issues That Any Business Should Look at:
1. What would happen if your major goes out of business?
· Look at your supplier’s current competition. Could there be another source? What do they offer?
2. Are there key employees who would hurt the business if they left?
· Could you cross train the staff to learn what these key people know?
3. What is the backup system for all your data?
· Is the system working as well as it should? What are the limitations?
4. What happens should your merchant account begin to place holds on your funds?
· Perhaps you should have more than one merchant account?
As you can see, there are various aspects of the business that require serious contemplation. The idea is to fully evaluate your business placing emphasis on any weak links first and then moving through each aspect of the business. Dong this in advance will help stabilize the business quickly should a crisis suddenly occur. By doing this exercise in advance, you will be better off than 90% of all businesses who simply rely on hope as a strategy.
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