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Johannesburg - The first 20 minutes of a business owner's work day may determine the success or failure of the business.
This is according to John Baladski, owner of several Pick n Pay franchise outlets and the author of a book on how to run franchises in South Africa.
"In each business, there is a set of critical facts which will inform the decisions that one makes. This is 'mission critical information'," said Baladski. "Within the first 20 minutes of the workday, critical information must be collected, analysed and acted upon."
Thabiso Ramasike, head of franchising at Standard Bank, concurs: "Like any other business, the main aim of your franchise outlet is to make a profit. Your fundamentals therefore have to be in place."
Baldakis offered the following tips to franchise owners.
Engage the customer:
The closer you are to your clients, the higher your success rate. Excellent service should be seen as an investment because bad customer service loses you business and profit.
Set the standards:
"Every day should be opening day." Your business needs to be consistent and maintain the same standard you set on your opening day.
Lead the team:
Leadership is more than just being the boss. You need to pick a direction and stick to it. Don't lose focus on the target - adjust the course when necessary to get there, but never take your aim off the goal.
Improve one thing daily by innovating:
Find ways to cut costs, improve the customer experience, and run your business more efficiently.
Make excellence happen:
Find ways to push the goals further. You should strive to make your success today bigger than yesterday's excellence.
While the advice sounds relatively straightforward and obvious, many financing and consulting institutions which have spoken to Fin24.com on the subject of small business bemoan the fact that the people they are trying to support often have very few systems in place. This makes it non-viable to give them financial support.
Common complaints include unfiled statutory returns and accounting systems that exist in a shoebox.
Technology is a wonderful enabler for small business and below is a list of tools which can help you to streamline the running of your business.
FNB Instant Accounting
Can't afford an accounting package but still need to keep a set of books? FNB has a brilliant rules-based system which draws data from your bank statement and offers bookkeeping on the fly as a free service if you are an account holder.
Google Analytics
If you are going to pour money into a website for your business, it might just help to understand which parts of the website work properly and why people are searching your site.
Analytics is a free tool which can be installed to track keywords and search phrases people are using to find your site. This will improve your client interaction and help you provide a product or service they want.
Customer Relationship Management system
For those with a bit of budget to spare, investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be an important part of running a small firm.
Good old-fashioned Excel
If you can't afford a CRM, spreadsheets tracking inbound enquiries, sales calls and marketing activities can make for a powerful tool to make the best assessment of what works for you and how effectively your business is operating.
- Fin24.com
This is according to John Baladski, owner of several Pick n Pay franchise outlets and the author of a book on how to run franchises in South Africa.
"In each business, there is a set of critical facts which will inform the decisions that one makes. This is 'mission critical information'," said Baladski. "Within the first 20 minutes of the workday, critical information must be collected, analysed and acted upon."
Thabiso Ramasike, head of franchising at Standard Bank, concurs: "Like any other business, the main aim of your franchise outlet is to make a profit. Your fundamentals therefore have to be in place."
Baldakis offered the following tips to franchise owners.
Engage the customer:
The closer you are to your clients, the higher your success rate. Excellent service should be seen as an investment because bad customer service loses you business and profit.
Set the standards:
"Every day should be opening day." Your business needs to be consistent and maintain the same standard you set on your opening day.
Lead the team:
Leadership is more than just being the boss. You need to pick a direction and stick to it. Don't lose focus on the target - adjust the course when necessary to get there, but never take your aim off the goal.
Improve one thing daily by innovating:
Find ways to cut costs, improve the customer experience, and run your business more efficiently.
Make excellence happen:
Find ways to push the goals further. You should strive to make your success today bigger than yesterday's excellence.
While the advice sounds relatively straightforward and obvious, many financing and consulting institutions which have spoken to Fin24.com on the subject of small business bemoan the fact that the people they are trying to support often have very few systems in place. This makes it non-viable to give them financial support.
Common complaints include unfiled statutory returns and accounting systems that exist in a shoebox.
Technology is a wonderful enabler for small business and below is a list of tools which can help you to streamline the running of your business.
FNB Instant Accounting
Can't afford an accounting package but still need to keep a set of books? FNB has a brilliant rules-based system which draws data from your bank statement and offers bookkeeping on the fly as a free service if you are an account holder.
Google Analytics
If you are going to pour money into a website for your business, it might just help to understand which parts of the website work properly and why people are searching your site.
Analytics is a free tool which can be installed to track keywords and search phrases people are using to find your site. This will improve your client interaction and help you provide a product or service they want.
Customer Relationship Management system
For those with a bit of budget to spare, investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be an important part of running a small firm.
Good old-fashioned Excel
If you can't afford a CRM, spreadsheets tracking inbound enquiries, sales calls and marketing activities can make for a powerful tool to make the best assessment of what works for you and how effectively your business is operating.
- Fin24.com
