Hire a business operational consultant in Nashville, TN

Unless your business is purely your hobby, then sales are very important to your business. Business doesn’t just show up at your doorstep, so how does an operational consultant develop a strategy to attract a constant stream of prospects and clients who purchase your products or services?

The answer is pipeline management. 

Pipeline management is an internal system that evaluates your incoming leads and current clients. With most product-based businesses, the process must be well-defined and quite speedy, whereas timelines for services can vary greatly by the type of work. You should be constantly evaluating how much business is coming in and out of your organization to start determining if your pipeline process is efficient or not.

Are you falling behind on your deadlines?

This isn’t an uncommon problem for any business as there is a constant stream of variables that can affect your business operations. Your role as a business leader is to mitigate as many as possible. As new challenges arise, you should not only plan for solving them today but ensuring they don’t ever happen again by implementing a better process.

An operational consultant can work with your business to develop an efficient operations consulting process, which includes a systematic approach to better estimate completion dates, communicate client needs to employees, and incorporate cost-effective technology.

Every business has angry customers no matter how well it is run but when it becomes an every week (or every day) occurrence, it might be time to look at your business and make some changes.

The reason people say “the customer is always right” is because of the essential role that revenue plays within your organization. To keep your business alive, you have to sell much more than you spend. You need to attract people to spend their money with you to fulfill a specific need. Don’t underestimate how difficult this step is. To be successful, you want to make your business practices customer-centric. Every single decision you make should be assessed for how it will impact your clients. 

Most businesses want more customers so they can grow (obviously), but how do you get more? The cheapest strategy is the one that also has the highest conversion rate, word of mouth. It’s important to remember that providing exceptional customer service is an easy way to get people to shout your business’ name from the mountain tops.

When people look at the greatest coaches in the history of sports there seems to be something in common, they are all great motivators. We know there’s a human element to coaching that goes beyond what any strategy can do. Your team can’t just execute, they have to believe. Business is no different.

Start thinking of yourself more like the coach of your business. As the business owner, success falls on your shoulders no matter what. Regardless if you have the world’s worst employee today, the result of their efforts is still your problem to deal with. Most employees struggle because of a lack of clear direction and responsibility. Over time, an employee who feels unsure without support becomes resentful, and they begin to do the bare minimum to collect a paycheck.  

It is not enough to just pay someone to do their job. You must:

• Solve issues that come up in their day-to-day 
• Communicate what success looks like in their role
• Help them understand the long-term vision of your company
• Train them to be self-sufficient and to continue to take on more responsibility
• Show them a path for further financial and career growth within your company

It’s amazing how hard a person works for you when you focus on the areas above. As the business owner, your goal is to build a roster of star employees that you want to work with for years to come. This enables you to get out of the weeds and focus more of your time on growing the business, rather than putting out fires, day after day.

Ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? It’s a commonly used phrase, especially in sports, that means that you shouldn’t try to change anything if it’s working. We believe this expression can be shortsighted.

If your car’s check engine light comes on but it still gets you from work and back, should you take it to the shop? It’s important to remember that while issues may not arise today, you need to prepare for the future before you have a major problem, like engine failure, that could cost you much more in the future.

The “set it and forget it” mentality has no place in business. Business owners need to be constantly evaluating their toolsets and determining where there are opportunities to improve. The more your business grows, the more unique processes you add to make your day-to-day efficient. You need to make sure your tools are keeping up.

Here are some commonly used business tools:

• Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) – Often seen as a glorified address book, today’s CRM systems don’t just track names and phone numbers, they are used for things like automating follow-ups and check-ins with your clients and prospects. CRM systems save countless business development hours.
• Business Intelligence dashboard – Businesses big and small have access to information they never had before. By working with your technology team, you can integrate data from all your key tools to gain visibility of your business and therefore a more tangible understanding of successes and failures.
• Project Management tool – Being able to get a view of all customers or internal projects can be a game changer for any business. PM tools help by tracking all activities related to a project to allow for easy executive oversight and clear communication to employees.
• Accounting software – Most businesses use some sort of accounting software to track spending and to help automate regular payments. In today’s world, accounting software has enabled businesses to use digital records to save paper, oversight and most importantly, tax preparation time.

We all start from somewhere when it comes to business and there is nothing wrong with that. Even the most savvy business men and women understand that there is always more to know. The problems only come when people start believing they know it all.

Our operations consulting firm is always learning both from our clients and from the subject matter experts we follow. Take the Stairs, specializing in operations research consulting, can provide a fresh perspective to you and your business by understanding your unique business goals.

Our job as an expert in operational consulting is to enable you to get what you want from your business. We evaluate your current strengths and develop a plan to fill any gaps so you can take the baton and run with it.