Article By Jimmy Muhinda

An organised venture makes it easy to run and sustain over time.

1.EMPLOYEES.

How do you hire/recruit employees ? What do you look for in an employee ? What tasks are available in your venture ?  How do you facilitate employees ? How do you  build their capacity ? How often do you appraise employee performance ? When and how do you retain or fire employees ?

2.CUSTOMERS

Who are your customers ? What categories of customers do you serve ?
What category makes you the most money ? What category makes you the least money ? What measures are in place to generate more money from each category of customers ? Must you serve all categories you currently serve ? How must  your customers be handled at all times ? How must feedback be received and responded to ?

3.SUPPLIERS.

How do you source for suppliers ?
How many suppliers serve you ? What kind of suppliers do you deal with ?
What terms do you look out for ? How many of your competitors do they serve as well ? Under what terms do they serve your competitors ?

4. PRODUCTS/SERVICES

What products/services do you offer ? Does everyone know all your products and services ? What products/services do you take pride in ?
What standards must be upheld in your products and services ?
Which products/services must you avail more to the customers ?
What new innovations are you working on ? How do your products and services compare to those of your competitors ? What other products/services can be used as  substitutes to what you are offering ?

5.DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS.

How do customers access your products/services ? How do you get your products/services to customers ? How easily do you get to your customers ? Describe the various distribution channels you use to deliver your products and services. What percentage of total revenue does each contribute ? Should you probably try out other channels ?

6.PRICES AND PRICING

How do you determine prices for your products and services ?
Are they comparable to competitor prices ? What are the sector average prices ? Do these prices generate adequate revenue for you or should they be adjusted ? Prices must be right for you to make adequate money but remain affordable to target customers.

7.SALES AND MARKETING.

How do you promote your products and services ? How do people get to know about your products and services ? How do you initiate and close sales ? When do you pursue and when do you stop pursuing a potential customer ? Which marketing channel delivers the most sales?
Which channel brings in the most paying customers ? Do you have a sales and marketing budget ? How efficient and effective is your sales and marketing team ?

8.EXPENDITURES.

What are your costs of production or service provision ?
What  are your costs of operation ? What are your fixed costs irrespective of production level ? What are your variable costs ? Is it possible to reduce them without affecting productivity and quality ?

*THERE MUST BE A LIMIT TO EVERY AND ALL COSTS. Reduced costs result in increased profitability.

9.REVENUE.

How much revenue do you generate per day,week,month,every quarter, year ? How much revenue have you generated over the years ? What time of the year do you get peak sales ? What is your worst time of the year in terms of revenue generated? What percentage of revenue is received as cash and what percentage is received as cheques ? How does money go out of the business? Do you have a well thought out spending plan ? What percentage is spent at source ? What percentage is banked immediately ?
Are your books of account up to date ? How regularly do you check the books of accounts ? How regularly do you crosscheck what is in the books against what is physically present ? Do the figures in the incomes and expenses satisfy you ? Is there something else that must be done to improve them ?

10.SYNERGIES.

How independent or interdependent are your processes? Do the people you work with appreciate how their work affects the work of their colleagues ? Do people you work with respect colleagues in other departments or do they consider them insignificant ? Do the people you work with view the enterprise as a whole or are they concerned only about their department ? Which department is fond of delaying work of the enterprise ? How are you ensuring that all departments and their staff smoothly work together to satisfy customer demands ? THERE MUST BE FREE FLOW OF WORK FROM ONE DEPARTMENT TO ANOTHER.

BONUS

CHECKS AND BALANCES

In everything you do,you must ensure that checks and balances are set up and closely followed. Anything done without supervision and appraisal will be misused by shrewd individuals. Let everyone know that measures are in place to smoke out those who do not follow laid down processes and procedures. Everyone must know that sanctions will apply to those who ignore or default on following laid down processes and procedures.

JIMMY MUHINDA is an entrepreneur and Head Of learning at DETT COMMUNITY. He is also the Author of SMALL BUSINESS IS BIG BUSINESS