6 Signs of a Healthy Business
Starting here - Ultimately, healthy businesses have healthy balance sheets. Period. You cannot survive without strong financial reports. So what's next?
In today’s world, where a quick decision from a politician can radically affect your business overnight, it’s important to know the early indicators of business peril. This of these things as your business’ “canary in the coal mine.”
6 Signs Your Business Is Healthy (before you see it on the books)
Before you see any issues in the balance sheet, you can spot a healthy business in these areas:
1. Respected and Recommended.
Who knows you and your business well enough to recommend it to your most trusted clients, friends and family? A business recommendation goes way beyond a referral. The more people you know - the really know, like know enough to trust you with their grandma trust - the stronger your business becomes.
2. Reviews.
Just like recommendations, reviews are the signature of a healthy, well-loved business. But they don’t happen automatically. A healthy business asks for them, makes it easy to give them, and repurposes them in their marketing collateral. We have some businesses - respected businesses - that we tell them, you have a low google score, and they don't address it. If for no other reason than to support your current clients and those who recommend you, fix this.
3. Promotes from within and trains accordingly.
A healthy business promotes from within with clear pathways to additional challenges even when the business is small enough not to have additional levels to climb. It recognizes employees who are committed to the business, doing a great job, and those that require additional challenges or training.
4. Has a strong team.
Building the perfect team is one of the most challenging area businesses face today. The perfect fit is out there, the hardest part is finding them, training them and keeping them. The right fit stays.
A healthy business is clear about what each employee’s strengths are and what they may need to obtain from outside whether that be from an additional hire, vendor, or partner.
5. Builds loyalty outside of sales.
Loyalty is not owned by the sales department. Loyalty is built by customer service and marketing. A healthy company looks for ways to keep customers engaged and feeling like they are part of the brand. It creates enjoyable experiences for customers at each touch point whether they are calling to complain, buy, or simply spend time on social media. THIS!
6. Remains agile.
This one is certainly a lesson learned in 2016 and 2020. A healthy business must be ready to align its offerings and services with those of their loyal customers and the larger market. Small businesses may not have had a lot of operating capital when the pandemic hit but they did retain the ability to move quickly and that helped a lot of them stay in the black.
Is your business healthy outside of the balance sheet? What did we miss? #Lpbetterbiz
