First: What IS a standard operating procedure?

A standard operating procedure is a set of written/audio/video instructions that describes the step-by-step process that must be taken to properly perform a routine activity.

It’s intended that SOPs be followed the exact same way every time to guarantee that the company remains consistent - especially if you work in a highly regulated or monitored environment such as financial services, some health providers, and even for health and safety reasons…

Steering the ship of a business is can be both exhilarating and challenging. Decisions made can have a profound impact on the entire company and its performance. It’s in this context that personalized business coaching emerges as a powerful tool for business owners to not only navigate the complexities of their roles but to thrive and excel.

I’ll dive into the various advantages and positive outcomes that business coaching brings to owners and founders as a not-so-secret weapon.

Many business owners and founders often grapple with the question of where to focus their efforts for maximum impact. When you can hone in a few important areas, you’ll find that the pieces come together, you’re gaining traction and able to create sustainability in your company.

While it's not uncommon to feel pulled in multiple directions, the key to overcoming this lies in a strategic and intentional approach to where you direct your attention.

There are two areas that support yours and your business’ growth: personal and strategic initiatives.

Why a Sales Surge? Whether you're in Financial Services, Food Services, Home Security, Real Estate, or any industry with a sales focus, this guide is designed to help you and your team collectively hit your targets. It's not just about meeting deadlines; it's about creating a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and fun that elevates your team's performance.

Did you know that 75% of business owners regret the sale of their business just one year after their exit?

No one wants to regret the sale of their business. Yet it happens time and again.

Even if selling isn’t in your immediate future, learning about some of the pitfalls can save you from disappointment:

Regret often looks like…

…a business owner who scored the “number” they thought they wanted, but failed to calculate how much would be taken for taxes.

…a business owner who learned after the fact that there were other exit options available, but now it’s too late.

…a business owner who thought “complete freedom” would be exciting, but feels lost as the months tick by.

One of the toughest aspects of running your business is wearing the many hats it takes to run your company.

However, to get yourself out of the spin cycle of your days, investing in building a high-performing team can elevate not only the space you can gain in your business to focus on strategy and goals, but to elevate your company’s results.

Through my work with my clients who are successful business owners and founders, we’ve been able to elevate their impact and overall company performance by embracing three core steps in building high-level support in their businesses:

Does your life ever feel like a whirlwind and it’s passing you by?

It can be challenging to move forward on your life’s goals and dreams if you don’t make space for them.

Creating the conditions to live your life by design and build a business intentionally is not impossible amongst your other responsibilities.

But building a sustainable business takes time.

And it’s easy to become impatient.

But if you take the steps and put the structure in place, the rewards will start to show up - even before you‘re finished.

Waking up each morning, one of the first things so many of us do is check our emails and messages.

What is the day shaping up to be?

What did I miss?

What am I going to be faced with when I get to work?

We look at our calendar and see the meetings, administration and other commitments that are required to run our business.

We have aspirations for greater sustainability and perhaps growth, but how does one achieve this amidst the running of the business?

…when so much of our energy and time is already wrapped up in what we do every day?

There are many tips and how-to’s in the marketplace about how to market your company.

It’s almost too much to wade through, isn’t it?

One thing I would invite you to consider is: if you own a business, you’re a marketer…And a salesperson. Whether your marketing and sales are sophisticated or fairly simple; if you have customers, you’ve engaged in some sort of marketing.

Even if that marketing is based on word of mouth and referrals. Your customers are doing your marketing for you in this case.

Marketing isn’t sales and sales isn’t marketing, but they do work together.

What does your business give you?

What do you get?

What are you able to do ‘because of’ the company you created?

This is what I’m inviting you to consider today…

Thinking about the next 10 years or ‘when’ you’ll be ready to think about handing over your business to prepare for that event is like waiting until the day before you hand over your house keys to its new owner to paint the walls, fix the leaky faucet and renovate run down bathroom. It’s too much too late.

And, consider what you could be leaving on the table by doing so?

You could be passing up, with some adjustments, a beautifully run company that actually reduces your headaches.

You could be passing up additional value in the business by not having some of its functions running more smoothly with a little TLC. AKA leaving money on the table.

You could be passing over obvious headaches to the new owner but that existing employees and customers still have to deal with, jeopardizing retention.

The belief that ‘getting ready to pass’ down is reserved for the actual event is actually robbing you of more money, more joy and likely more stability now.

One of the secrets to being an attractive company to run and purchase? Read more here.

As we build our businesses, we get to practice and gain proficiency in the details of running of it.

Details like hiring: some of us may have hired a few employees over time and each time we do it, we will get a little bit better at it; finding what works and what doesn’t.

When it comes to managing your people: I suspect that you’ve made some mistakes (like we all have) and had some wins, and have attained a decent level of competency in managing your team through the years.

I also bet that how you serve your customers has improved in some way over time as you do this over and over again. There may be still room for improvement, but you practice this day-in and day-out and it’s my observation that your company is very good at serving it's customers.

So what don’t we get to practice?

Has this thought ever gone through your mind?

You keep pouring more of your efforts in but you can’t seem to grow beyond the level you’ve achieved in your business.

You’ve been hitting the same revenue line for the last while, or maybe even the last couple of years and you can’t seem to go beyond, no matter what you do.

Beyond our plans or intentions, there’s a barrier we can’t seem to break.

The pain of this is you want to expand your company and want to hire or build on the services you offer, but without solving this revenue plateau your hands feel tied…

You’re working too hard to not have the profit you need.

You sell your products and services, but realize that after each month, you’re no further ahead.

Your bank account is dismal and there doesn’t seem to be much left to invest back into your company.

Does this sound familiar?

If so, you may be suffering from the profit conundrum.

This is suffered by those businesses who are selling, but not making any money.

This is no bueno.

If you’re not familiar with the 4 Levers of Profit, then you’re going to love today’s article.

Let’s dive in!

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to sell your business?

Or, hand it over to a family member who now works, or will be working, in your company?

Is this something you know you’d like to do in the future…or does it feel more abstract and you have no idea how to make it happen?

We’ve all heard stories of successful businesses, passed down to the next generation who have failed the business in some way.

While we can’t predict what a new owner might do - whether that’s a buyer or your own family member we CAN prepare our business the best we can so it operates well, setting the new owner, existing employees and existing customers up for success.

AND there’s a way to do all this so you enjoy the benefits now even before you are ready to transition.

Several years ago my husband and I were asking questions like: Will we have enough to retire? How much is ‘enough’? What do we need? What do we want our future to look like?

We’ve both worked in the financial industry and we have a good understanding and knowledge of personal finance. However, we wanted more than our general understanding and wanted to speak with an expert in retirement planning.

We explored possibilities and chose someone who we love working with and has the expertise we needed.

Once we made that move I felt incredibly relieved. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because we now have a plan built for us.

And, I feel more confident in our ongoing day-to-day financial decisions because I know where we are in relation to where we are going with our ‘plan’. It was a very smart decision for us and I’m so thrilled we made it.

Getting help in the areas you need it is important. We can’t be all the things.

And we don’t know what we don’t know.

You can apply this to a number of areas in life.

You've likely heard the adage that it’s far easier to cross-sell an existing customer a new product than it is to find a new customer. And if your goal is to grow at all costs, then cross-selling makes sense.

However, all of that sales growth may not do much for the value of your company. If you cross-sell your existing customers too much, it could make your business far less valuable.

When you cross-sell a customer so many products and services that they begin to account for more than 15–30% of your revenue, expect your value to drop. If a single customer represents more than 30% of your sales, expect an even deeper discount.

Customer concentration is one factor that makes up your score on the ValueBuilder assessment — it’s one of eight drivers that’s behind the research determining your business's value in an acquirer's eyes…

If you’re a business owner and you think building a strong foundation that leads to a valuable business isn’t for you - then I encourage you to continue to read.

You see - there’s a strong link between the value of the business and the freedom you, as the business owner, experience in your business.

I hear from so many owners that the reasons they started their businesses were to experience some sort of freedom - freedom to do work they want, freedom to create their own schedules, freedom to work when they want, and to create financial freedom. Yet, many don’t achieve these things.

Freedom = Value.

Why?

Being able to articulate your company’s vision simply is powerful.

It supports your decision-making, how you lead, and provides a guidepost for your company to work towards.

Sharing it with your team, your clients and suppliers can be equally as powerful so people know what you’re about. People are attracted to doing business with companies that have passion and purpose.

If you haven’t articulated or written your business’ vision in a while, I encourage you to use this simple framework which includes what success looks like.

Here’s a vision framework for you to work with:

When I started my business, and I started writing my newsletters and blogs, I found myself signing off with the words “NOW is YOUR time.”

It just happened the first or second time I started to write. Those words came out on paper naturally (I often write on paper first and then transfer to my computer; my writing seems to flow better that way :)).

I was thinking about these words recently and thought about what I meant by them.

And, what I was reminded of came easily to the page (again). NOW is YOUR time, for me means that it’s time to cultivate the courage to take your next step now.

Your next step could be…