In July 2017 CBI stated Its survey of 357 businesses found over 40% of businesses said Brexit has affected their investment decisions. Of these, 98% said the impact has been negative. From my perspective, I am still seeing this trend with people I speak to, saying they will not invest in their business currently as the future is uncertain.
Hearing this makes me very sad as without investment into the business, whether it is time or finances, the business will not grow and develop. I’ve even heard businesses saying there is no point, we won’t be here in a year’s time. It makes me wonder where their backbone is and why they are giving up so easily and not fighting for their business?
If your business is thinking along those lines, now is the time to carry out a PESTLE analysis (Political, economic, social, technology, legislative and environment). This will help you work out what the future holds and then establish mitigations such as a change of direction, new technology, expansions etc.
To enhance this, it helps to also run a SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) session. This works really well with employees in a workshop and it encourages them to be creative and come up with new ideas for the business.
Spending time at least, looking at your business will make it stronger and asking employees to get involved builds engagement and creates an opportunity for them to be empowered.
From these two exercises, you may establish processes you need to visit to cut waste out or new technology you need to invest into to secure your business and keep you ahead of the competition. I’ve even known it open up a whole new direction for the business when they’ve realised where the future is going.
Another angle to look at is the interaction between your business customer and the business. Could their journey be improved? Do you understand how they feel when they interact with your business? Look at the data you hold – complaints and compliments can give you insight. What are they telling you that could enhance or change the direction of the business?
I hope this gives you some ideas to help your business and if you feel as if you need a helping hand then have a look at The People Mentor services and book a call for your free one-hour consultation.
Do share other tools you’ve used to develop your business?
Take care
Nicola
