The Fundamentals of Increasing the Value of Your Business

Recently, my son and I watched the Australian men’s basketball team, the Boomers, play a practice match in Melbourne before they departed for the Rio Olympic Games. The team consists of six NBA players, and as an avid basketball fan, I researched and calculated the salaries of these six players at $31 million annually.

Top athletes achieve peak performance by practicing and executing basic fundamentals. The Boomers NBA stars were no exception: during the game the six NBA stars focused on dribbling, shooting, layups, passing and defending—nothing really fancy.  These are the same basic skills that I’ve been teaching my son’s basketball team for the last seven years.

Top-performing firms and producers also achieve superior results, outperforming their peers year in and year out, by executing just five basic fundamentals extremely well:

• Acquiring new, desirable business. They understand that new business is the lifeblood for future success. They completely understand what a great future A-class client looks like and make new business acquisition a high priority.

• Maintaining 100% retention of top clients. The majority of their marketing time and budget is spent marketing to their top clients. This means a lower acquisition cost and a strong sales pipeline of referrals and introductions to prospective clients who match their ideal future client profile.

• Maximizing the value of top clients. They continuously monitor top clients’ needs, looking for opportunities to be of additional service. Some refer to this as cross-selling; top performers call this maximizing client relationships to create a win-win situation.

• Regularly expanding value proposition. Top performers continuously sharpen their skills, both technical and selling. As they acquire new knowledge, they expand their value proposition to further educate their clients. This, in turn, assists with acquiring new business and  retaining and generating referrals.

• Actively managing key relationships. Top performers understand that there are five relationships that always need to be managed, sometimes concurrently: clients, prospects, suppliers, referrals and internal team members.

These fundamentals are mastered through coaching, practice and everyday focus.

If you are a leader of a mid- to large-sized firm, a good place to start is by providing your producers with the tools they need to enable them to do their job effectively. Build a culture of accountability by holding everyone accountable for their personal results and the results of their firm. Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring to help sharpen skills.

If you operate a small firm or you are an independent producer, review your work processes and work flow, examining ways things could be done better, faster and more efficiently. Utilize automation in your business to help you get things done faster.  Hire and train good staff, ensuring you have the right people doing the right jobs. Consider outsourcing; there are many admin and back-office functions that can be done by someone else cheaper on a contract basis. This will free you up to focus on selling activities.

Regardless of the size of your firm, practicing the five fundamentals of new business acquisition, client retention, maximizing value, expanding your value proposition and managing key relationships will ensure that you’re able to produce consistent, superior results regardless of the market and economy.

Clients will be rewarded with better service, and your firm with additional growth.  Ultimately, this will drive the long-term value of your business.