If you and I were in business together and maybe even we are in business with another person as well, do you think that every week, we would sit down and have a meeting about the business as the directors of the business? We would have an agenda, things we need to look at in the business on a regular basis. We would discuss the business.
So why is it that when we go into a business and we are the sole director, we don’t have a weekly directors meeting? Even just with ourselves?
If you are in a couple – married or a personal relationship – and then in business together, why are you not having a weekly directors meeting? Remember too that having a discussion at 7am in the morning in the bathroom whilst brushing your teeth does not count, because if you were in business with me, is this where I’d have a meeting with you? I think not!
The simple truth is, that franchisees that take the time – and it can be as little as 15 minutes a week – to have a weekly directors meeting, even if they are the only one in attendance, generally, in my experience, one far more profitable and less stressed.
Why do they work?
It gives you a place to stop each week and be the true owner of your business, the director. You are looking at your business from a different perspective. It will keep you on track for the big picture goals for your business whilst at the same time, not letting the little things get missed.
I suggest you have an agenda you stick to each week. If you are meeting on your own, then I recommend you have a weekly directors meeting ‘worksheet’ that you fill in each week (just one page) so that you are making sure you look at all the things important to your business.
What do you have on the agenda?
Depends on your business, but I believe the things that are important to keep an eye on in your business and how you are going to keep moving your business forward.
Some suggestions I have all come from following the organisational chart of business.
Start with being the owner and looking at the vision and plan for the business and monitoring if you are on track or what you need to do to get back on track.
Look at your systems and people as the manager. Are we using our systems effectively or what do we need to implement? How are our ‘people’ in the business going?
For marketing, what strategies do we have on the go? Are they working? How many leads/enquiries did we receive last week? Is this on track? Need more? What strategies are we implementing in the near future and what do we need to do to implement them?
Then look to your conversion rate, your sales. How many sales did we make last week? How many sales appointments (if appropriate for your business) do we have coming up this week? What previous sales or quotes can we follow up on? What can we do to improve our conversion rate?
Operationally – are we on track? Are we providing the best customer experience? How are our customers? What can we do to improve our service standards? What can we do to improve our products or service? How can we get our customers to come back and buy from us again?
Do you (you’d be asking ‘I’) or anyone on your team need more training? Upskilling? Re-training? How can we improve our training? Do you need more training? New skills? Re-training?
Finally, profit. What was our turnover/revenue last week? What profit will that give us? Are we on track for our profit goals? What turnover/revenue do we need to achieve this week to be on track for our profit goals?
It doesn’t have to be hard, but I think you want to always ask those questions or look at the things for your business that are really important to the business, but they are not urgent. If you didn’t ask these questions this week, would it affect the business? Probably not, but if you never ask them, then it will!
Weekly directors meeting. Get into the habit of it. Make it at the same time each week and have a system to follow.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be boring either. I had a couple that owned a franchise business that used to go out for breakfast every Monday morning and they’d have their meeting there. It was off site and it was ‘Director’s time’, not a date. They used to use this as a director’s meeting for their life, not just their business too. They had an agenda that also looked at each of their kids, where they were at and what they needed. They spoke about the finances of their business and if they had put money in the savings account for the big holiday they had planned.
This may seem like a little thing, but it is really a big thing. To take a short time out of your business each week to see where you are at and if you are on track, can make all the difference in your business.
As they say, the proof is in the pudding. Coaching franchisees for more than a decade, I’ve found those that have a weekly director’s meeting are more profitable and less stressed than those that don’t. Choice is up to you on whether or not you are going to value you and your business enough to regularly (EVERY week) take out up to an hour (which is less than 1% of all time available to you in a week) or less, to really look at your business and to make sure you stay on track. Up to you…..
…… But, I highly recommend it!
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