Has there ever been a more appropriate time to press the accelerator?

The strangest of times have presented us all with many rather unexpected tasks we wouldn’t have even contemplated just a few months ago. Except for a few industries, many of us in business have experienced a significant drop in income, resulting in regular or previously anticipated income being postponed or cancelled. For some, especially in the hospitality sector, it may take some considerable time to recover. However, I am confident that many businesses will improve, but only if they adopt the right strategy, habits and attitudes from the outset.

One of our tasks as business owners has been to acquire the financial security we need to be able to bounce back. I have a strong suspicion; many of us have a much better understanding of our financial situation than we may have had at the start of the year. It has become all too clear.

The government is considering every aspect of balancing the spread of the virus with economic recovery and as eager as we are to get back to business, a new sustainable and profitable normal, our new chancellor has reciprocated, providing us with a superb package of financial instruments to aid in our recovery and encourage us to start pushing onwards and upwards once again. The economic V-shape or tick as economists describe it needs to be as steep as we can make it.

‘Now we have some financial stability, what are our plans for recovery, growth and opportunity moving forward?’

Accelerating our recovery for our businesses has now become critical. The more proactive we are now, the more significant the UK economic recovery will be. The collective effort of us all is crucial. We need to look at every aspect of our business model, including finances, operations, marketing and sales. We also need to initiate proactive internal policies with our staff and urgency with our communications all around. At the moment, and understandably, demotivation is commonplace given the impact on job security and mental health. Our people need to be on board with our plans, and indeed, become a significant part of those plans. Without them, the task in hand can be difficult.

Over the past seven years of coaching, I have taken many businesses through my Growth Accelerator programme. It injects confidence through a meticulous process of discovery and renewed understanding, looking at every element of business in fine detail. It strips away wastage and sets a positive tone for the future, especially in light of the prospect of what awaits us all now. As a coaching programme, it has never looked so poignant.

What is Growth Accelerator

As a business coach and mentor to many businesses in the region, my introductory program ‘Growth Accelerator’ is entirely geared to the situation businesses currently face. It focuses on financial clarity first and foremost, and this sets a position for the company to start looking at new growth. A job that is especially poignant in a marketplace that has evolved significantly, hugely significant changes for some. Typical of any recession or difficult economic period, new opportunities present themselves. Opportunities that may not have been relevant just a few months ago. It is a chance to press the reset button, evaluate and evolve to meet the demands of a post-pandemic market.

So, how does growth Accelerator work?

Growth Accelerator is a six-month programme and covers:

Session 1: Orbit Map
Create a one-page 3-year business development plan. Identify growth opportunities and establish profit margins. Identify team training requirements. Identify infrastructure and capital expenditure costs. Create a marketing budget and the areas for investment.

Session 2: Plans & Goals
Identify your 12-month business and personal goals. Create a 90-day business development plan: highlight team and system improvement requirements. Clarify financial improvements. Create accountable development strategies and targets.

Session 3: Focus on financials
Learn how to create a 12-month budget/actual forecast. Identify the seasonal fluctuations of your business’s trade. Establish the critical financial margins from your accounts for KPIs. Maximise the key priority areas for growth using the five ways.

Session 4: Financial clarity
Create cash flow forecasts. Establish Creditor and Debtor levels—model affordability for expanding your business and making prudent financial decisions. Establish the company’s quarterly and annual breakeven points.

Session 5: Sales financials
Establish what you need to be charging for your products and services. Create bespoke costing templates. Identify the key margin ‘sweet spots’ by tracking your enquiries and sales conversion rates.

Session 6: SWOT analysis
An in-depth analysis of your business to identify any shortcomings and opportunities. Minimising risk and any potential threats to the business’s ability to grow.

Session 7: Target Market Gap Analysis
Analytical establish your target markets. Critique your current targeted marketing activities. Categorise your target markets into priorities. Establish marketing goals to maximise opportunities.

Session 8: A marketing plan and an ROI calculator
Complete a 12-month marketing plan: market research your competitors—critique your current products and services. Establish improvements to enhance your competitiveness. Create action points to prioritise marketing activities.

Session 9: Key performance indicators (KPIs)
Identify what the key drivers are for your business. Establish the base levels for your improvement targets. Analyse and set goals to enhance profitability. Monitor and maintain accountability within your company. Resign poor performance to history.

Session 10: GA Programme Review
Undertake a business performance review—establish critical learnings and benefits. Identify the next business development goals, raise your ambitions and transition into 1-2-1 coaching.

The Growth Accelerator programme provides absolute clarity of financials, operations, systems, processes, marketing, sales and the overall goals of the business going forward. Very often, the utilisation of this programme has been in distressed situations where a company has either reached a problematic period, stagnation or lack of direction. With the current status quo providing more uncertainly than many of us have experienced, the certainty provided by Growth Accelerator is a confidence boost and a designation of a clear path forwards while still being flexible and adaptable to the current economic situation.

If you would like to discover more, I offer an introductory business consultation with no obligation other than a few hours of your time.