Why is your business still going when so many are crashing? – a vital question in leadership coaching

In his book Leap of Strength, CEO advisor Walt Sutton, an entrepreneur who has started, built and sold three companies, talks about the missed business growth and market opportunities – because he didn’t know the special inner workings that set his business apart.

As an executive coach I challenge you with Walt’s questions:

1. Why does your business work? Is it because of your superb processes, your tight controls or your great sales and customer service?
2. What do you do for your clients? Save them time and money? Give them a great experience, solve their problems?
3. What does time or timing have to do with what you do? Did you and do you still anticipate what your clients want and need?
4. How do you do what you do? Do you follow a set formula or process? Employ and train the best people?
5. Why do you make money? Is it because you are a great innovator or have a sound understanding of and ability to navigate the rivers of cash that yield the best margins and profit?
6. Why don’t you make money? Are you producing or selling the wrong product or service to the wrong markets at the wrong price?
7. How do your relationships with people, plant, space, location, government and society link to the businesst? Are you a great employer with a strong CSR ethos who ‘gives back’ to the community and environment? Do you forge powerful stakeholder partnerships; do you work with ‘green’ materials?
8. Is there one act at the centre of the business?  If so, what is it and how is it done? Are there several acts? What are they, how do they work and how are they related?
9. Is there equipment or technology at the centre of the business? Does this place you at the cutting-edge?
10. Is there an important place at the centre of the business where it all happens?
11. Why isn’t every Tom, Dick and Mary doing the same thing and kicking your butt in the market? What makes you so different?
12. What is your market? Local, regional, national or international, young or old, established or new?
13. Who else does what you do? Who are they, where are they and why are they there?
14. What is it they do differently? Market themselves better, produce a superior product or service, or offer it at a lower price?

Walt then suggests you sleep on the answers. The next step is to follow the advice of guest blogger Juliette Lee by tapping into the power of the unconscious to distil the information down into some key statements. After that, test, modify and refine the list against what you see and experience in the business until you drill down to its core secret.

If you would like further help to:

• Uncover and harness the secret of your business
• More easily identify additional growth opportunities
• Refine and adapt the business model to capitalise on other openings
• Enhance your value proposition and bottom line

… then drop me a line at richard.bosworth@whatifspecialist.com or send a direct message on Twitter to @richardwhatif