As contractors prepare for the busy landscaping season, company owners are also making plans to keep track of their business growth. Some owners will set business goals that focus on hitting certain revenue or profit milestones this spring. While a business might increase profits during the busy season, will the business be more valuable this time next year?
If your goal is to grow a more valuable business by the end of 2021, here are eight ideas to help you get there.
- Write down at least one of your business processes per month. You know you need to document your systems, but you may be overwhelmed by the task of taking what’s inside your head and putting it down in writing for others to follow. Resolve to document one system a month, and by the end of the year, you’ll own a more valuable company.
- Offload at least one customer relationship. If you’re like most business owners, you’re still your company’s best salesperson. This can be a liability in the eyes of someone looking to buy your business, which is why you should wean your customers off relying on you alone as their point person. By the time you sell, none of your key customers should think of you as their relationship manager.
- Create a recurring revenue stream. Valuable companies can look into the future and see where their revenue is going to come from. Recurring revenue models can vary from spring startups to service packages or winterization contracts in the fall, spring clean ups, plating, holiday lighting installations, fall clean ups and more.
- Find your lease (and any other key contracts). When it comes time to sell your company, a buyer will want to see your lease and understand your obligations to your landlord. Having your lease handy can save time and avoid any nasty surprises at the eleventh hour in the process of selling your company.
- Check your contracts and make sure they would survive the change of ownership. If not, talk to your lawyer about adding a line to your agreements that states the obligations of the contract “surviving” in the event of a change of ownership of your company.
- Start tracking your Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS methodology is the best predictor that your customers will re-purchase from you and/or refer your company, which are two key indicators of a healthy and successful business. It’s also why many strategic buyers and private equity companies use NPS as a way to measure the health of their potential acquisition.
- Get your Value Builder Score. All goals start with a benchmark of where you’re at today. By understanding your company’s Value Builder Score, you can pinpoint how you’re doing now and evaluate which areas of your business are dragging down your company’s value. Sign up for the Ewing ProAdvantage Program and get your personalized Value Builder Score at no cost.
- Take a two-week vacation and only check in with the office on occasion. When you return, you’ll see how well your company performed and where you need to make a key hire or create a new system.
A lot of company owners will set goals focused on their revenue or profits, but those goals are blunt instruments. Instead of just building a bigger company, also consider making this the year you build a more valuable one.
For more information, read this blog about the benefits of building a sellable business.