Business Continuity Audit » Business Goals

Does Your Cleaning Business Have a Mission Statement?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:10:38 +0000

Along with a business plan, a mission statement is an important tool that will capture the spirit of your business. A mission statement helps to clarify the goals and objectives of your company. In just a sentence or two, the mission statement for your cleaning business will set your business goals, your underlying philosophy, and what special benefits you have to offer to your customers. A good mission statement will reflect that special niche that your cleaning business is catering to and provide a long-range vision for you to build on.

Following is a sample mission statement:

“ABC Cleaning Company is committed to delivering the exact services our commercial cleaning customers want, listening closely to their expectations, taking a pro-active approach in defining their needs, and building the best partnering relationship possible. We are also committed to acting with honesty and integrity at all times in all aspects of our business, to being professional in doing our job, and to delivering a consistent, high level quality of work.”

A well thought out mission statement will take more than just a few minutes to develop – it takes careful thought and planning. Spending time developing those few sentences that define your business can be just as valuable as the final statement. Going through the process of evaluating your cleaning business, and then defining your customers and your services will help you to look at your cleaning business from your customers’ perspective. Don’t get bogged down with technical jargon. Focus on defining your company’s strengths and why those strengths benefit your customers.

When you are ready to begin, sit down in an area with no distractions. To come up with the statements that will sum up what your cleaning business is all about, consider the following:

- What specific need does your business satisfy?

- What are the principles and values that guide you in the everyday operation of your business?

- Who are your customers?

- What level of service will you provide?

- What image would you like your business to portray to your customers?

To write an effective mission statement, sit down with those who are closest to your business and jot down notes to answer the above questions. Look at mission statements from other businesses and start brainstorming. Once you have a couple of key ideas draft those thoughts into complete sentences.

Once you have formalized your mission statement use it in your promotional materials. The statement will be a quick and easy way for your customers and potential customers to learn about your cleaning business. Keep your mission statement visible and live up to it everyday. This will show your employees and customers that you practice what you preach.

Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store

By: Steve Hanson

Importance of Computing Business Profitability

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:39:02 +0000

If you are the owner of a business or contemplating starting a business, you should understand the importance of computing business profitability. With any business, no matter what good or service is being provided, it is very important that the owner understand the business side of the business. The purpose of company is to generate a profit.

Revenue versus Profit

Many people think that profit is the money a business brings in. This is not true. The total money brought in by the business is called revenue and this is different from profit. For example, if you sell an item for $100, you have $100 of revenue. To get to profit, you need to subtract the expenses out. For that $100 product, it may have cost $50 to make, there could have been additional overhead costs of $10, and employee expenses of $5 associated with that product. That would mean that there was $65 of expenses associated with that one product. So out of that $100 of revenue from the one product, you will make $35 of profit.

As you can see, it is important to set your business goals to make a profit, not just make revenue. This is the importance of computing business profitability. You need to make sure that your business brings in enough money to not only cover the expenses but make sure that there is something extra so that you can take some money out of the business.

Fixed Versus Variable Expenses

When computing business profitability, you will notice that your business has many different expenses. Some of these expenses are fixed and others are variable. Fixed expenses are expenses that you must pay not matter how much product you make. Examples of fixed expenses are rent, employee expenses, and some utility costs. In the above example, the $10 of overhead costs and $5 of employee costs are fixed expenses.

Variable expenses are expenses associated with creating additional product. In the above example the $50 cost to make the product is a variable expenses. You only have this expense if you produce an additional product.

It is important in computing business profitability, that you make sure that you are at a minimum covering your variable expenses. If you are not covering your variable expenses, then you are losing money with each unit you produce.

Get Professional Help

Computing business profitability can be a tall order, especially for a small business owner. You should hire a competent accountant or attorney to help you with your analysis. There are many profitability ratios that can be used to show the health of your business.

The More You Know

The more you know about the profitability of your business, the better off you will be. It is important that you stay up to date regarding the financial health of your business. You should constantly be computing your business liability and making any necessary changes.

By: Gary Pearson

Business Goals are Essential for Your Success

admin — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:51:31 +0000

Business goals are the foundation on which a business are justified, analyzed, and built. Business goals are commonly expressed as a certain level of returns on investments, returns on equity, or income from your business.

Personal goals are stated to achieve the life style you want. Goals are essential for creating the quickest and most effective plan to get you from A to Z in your career, business, job or life in general. Your motivation, initiative, and your direction will stem from your goals.

Goals will help you to stay focused on success and away from distractive activities that drain business resources and accomplish little. Goals are also your guideposts, established to show you the right path and to help you assess your progress.

Goal setting are important because it will affect just about everything you do, as you plan and operate your business. It’s not just the destination you’re moving toward, they’re also the painted white lines that keep you on the road. Without this designed target,that your goal represent, successful results are unlikely, accidental and often but sadly undetectable.

An effective goal must state, in one or two sentences, the conditions that will exist, once the goal is accomplished. Evaluate each specific business goal, identify the behaviors or actions you need to start doing, do more of, do less of, or stop doing if the goals are to be achieved.

The more well defined a goal is, the easier it will be to understand what you need to do to met it, and to measure successful achievement. If youre unclear on your goals, how can you ascertain if your business is successful.

If you find that your business, even if very successful, won’t satisfy you personally, or if you discover that achieving your personal goals requires you to take more risks and make more sacrifices than you’re willing to. Well, then you need to reset your goals.

By: Ove Nordkvist

Business Goals

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:40:20 +0000

Every person should have a goal in life. A goal is something a person wants to achieve at all costs. To have a clear, well defined goal will help a person focus all his attention and strive towards its achievement. Sun’s rays can burn paper only when focused through a lens. In business goals are extremely important

You should have a long term goal and a short term goal. The short term goals should be small steps towards the achievement of the long term goal.

If you want to set up a business and get a million dollars in profit, it might not be possible to do it immediately. You should have a clear plan to achieve this goal.

IBM founder Watson said “aim high”. Aiming high is fine. But whether you have the ability to achieve the high goals you have set for yourself has to be thought about. Attaining smaller goals on the road to the ultimate success will give greater satisfaction. If you find that the goal you have set for yourself is not realistic you can target something which is more achievable.

Wanting to make millions of dollars is fine. But you have to ask yourself, how many people have succeeded in doing so. The aim should be to maximize your potential.

You should have the motivation to achieve any goal. You should always think about, your goal. It should be embedded in your sub-conscious mind.

I have found, telling others what you want to do, will drive you towards its achievement. President Charles De Gaulle used to his secretary that he would not smoke on a particular day. He would not smoke because he would belittle himself if he does so.

Some people do not need to set themselves any goal. They are highly motivated individuals, who would drive themselves to achieve things that ordinary mortals find impossible.

By: B.N. Sridhar

More than Words – Creating a Useful Business Plan

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:30:46 +0000

You’ve heard it a million times: you must have a business plan to succeed. It’s a no-brainer in the world of small business. A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your company’s resume.

But more than that, your business plan should have a way for you to track progress and to identify tactical steps to that your plan is more than just words on paper, it is actually a document that is a part of your living, breathing business.

Sure, it might seem like a boring exercise to define the business you are in. But actually, many owners have gone broke because they never answered that question. Or, they never quite knew why they should or how to develop a business plan.

Let’s start with the basics. A business plan is a tool with three basic purposes: communication, management, and planning. As a communication tool, it is used to attract investment capital, secure loans, convince workers to join and assist in attracting strategic business partners. A complete business plan shows whether or not a business has the potential to make a profit. It requires an honest look at almost every phase of business and allows you to show that you have worked out all the problems and decided on potential alternatives before actually launching your business.

As a management tool, the business plan helps you track, monitor, and evaluate your progress. The business plan is a living document that you will modify as you gain knowledge and experience. By using your business plan to establish timelines and milestones, you can track your progress and compare your projections to actual achievements.

As a planning tool, the business plan guides you through the various phases of your business. A thoughtful plan will help identify obstacles so that you can avoid them and establish alternatives. Many business owners share their business plans with their employees to cultivate a broader understanding of where the business is going.

All three of those purposes are important, but be sure to particularly remember the management and planning aspect. That ensures that you are actively involved with executing your business plan and tracking the goals you’ve set out to achieve.

In Focus: The Useful Business Plan
In order to be a truly usable tool, a business plan should be a work-in-progress. Even successful, growing businesses should maintain a current business plan. It doesn’t need to be fancy, complicated or difficult, it just needs to be clear and manageable.

Remember, your goals are to show your expertise in your business, to “sell” your business to prospective customers (such as investors and employees), and to design a management tool that works for you.

Every successful business plan should include something about each of the following areas:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Analysis

3. Company Description

4. Organization and Management

5. Marketing and Sales Management

6. Products and Services

7. Financials

8. Appendix

A solid business plan is more than just a few paragraphs on what you want your business to be, it is a step by step plan for how to get there. Start by brainstorming and recording everything you know for each of these areas of your business. Then, identify where you need more information in order to complete the sections.

Finally, include a checklist or table at the end of each section that highlights the main components of the section and allows you to track how you’re performing in each area. Commit to reviewing the plan monthly – either on your own or with other management employees – to track your progress.

For more information on developing your business plan, visit: http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.html

By: Andrew Brown