How to organise a growing business from the inside
When Glen founded TizzOreo, he was always clear that his clients would be global household names. He wanted to create a personal and bespoke business consultancy that would take a different approach to the large international alternatives.
Being a specialist in growth and systems, it was natural that Glen would set up his enterprise to be able to grow seamlessly from sole trader to small enterprise to a global consultancy, without concern for whether the processes could cope. With each client and new project, he has been able to expand and grow TO, knowing that his business was set up with a robust internal structure.
Setting up a business to grow
“I’ve seen so many small enterprises fail not because the business idea isn’t sound, but because they become victims of their success”, explains Glen. “When a start-up exceeds its business plan and grows quickly, it can implode due to a lack of internal structure. The systems and support simply aren’t there. Cash flow starts floundering, records are messy and the business collapses”.
Glen, and the team at TO, believe that all small enterprises have the potential to grow given the right building blocks. To have market success, the first action is to review internal processes.
Investing Time now to Save time later
Reminiscent of the children’s story of “The Three Pigs”, investing time in organising your business will give you the reward of being able to grow and expand by having a strong foundation for your company. The pig who took the time to build with bricks lived to tell the tale!
It is easy when you start with one client, or a low turnover, to rely on an excel version of a “back of a fag packet” approach to client communication and accounting. As the business grows, you will likely be too busy to focus on working “on your business” as it is all you can do to keep up with working “in your business”. Then boom! Cash flow stops, debtors build up, and growth ceases.
Processes and Systems
Whatever stage your business is at, the first step to growing to a larger scale operation is change happening inside the business. Getting the right processes and systems in place will allow you to scale up confidently so that your business operation is robust.
TO believes that with change happening on the inside, growth and great things can be achieved.
Just four of the systems that TO has in place, which they would recommend for their clients, are:
CRM
Depending on your business having a great CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system in place is a true life – and business – saver.
A CRM system is a fantastic tool and is at the heart of TO’s office! Don’t make the mistake of thinking it is just an address book. Yes, it will store all your clients and suppliers' contact details, but the power is in how you can use the CRM as part of your strategy and process management.
It allows you to track conversations across all channels – so whether a letter, email or meeting, it can all be seen under that client’s file on the CRM. It improves cross-team communication as everyone can see the latest position and information flow.
You can segregate to produce focused marketing campaigns. It saves a huge amount of administration time. The CRM can produce reports to show ROI, profitability, and cash flow. Whatever you need for your business, we are pretty confident that the right CRM can help with information management.
Financial control
Having robust systems and processes in place for banking, payment terms, invoicing and bookkeeping will allow you to know your financial position at any time. It will avoid cash flow issues, and allow prompt chasing of invoices through a process-driven action opposed to memory! It will allow you to forecast and manage, and make decisions.
Company Guardrails
TO use guardrails as a way of explaining how to improve performance and growth. Having guiding principles to work within will result in strategic strength. This could include, for example, work procedures, governance policies, market analysis, and financial forecasts.
A team of trusted Associates
Glen decided to use associates rather than employees for the majority of his client-facing projects. Associates are a great way of having flexibility in your team’s skill base and capacity. “Having a team of trusted associates means that I can bring in the best for each project”, explains Glen. “I can use someone who not only excels in the skills needed, but matches the client’s culture, or industry, or personality. It gives TO excellent client relationships with each and every project”.
Using associates can also reduce overhead costs such as employee administration and payroll.
If you are looking for growth, the first place to look is inside your organisation. Once you have the right systems, processes and policies in place, you will be rewarded with the ability to grow in a controlled, consistent manner. Why not take your small local enterprise on the journey to be a global success?