Last week I was looking at data that covers many different business operations in many different territories. Irrespective of geographical location or economic conditions, some franchises were clearly outperforming others. My team and I decided to drill down and look at the high and low performers and what was causing the difference in their success rates.
In the bottom half of business performers, the people generally look like this:
The work like a manager not a business owner
They fail to take 100% responsibility for everything that happens in their business
They give up too easily when it comes to winning business
They blame everything out there: the government, the roads, the tax system, their sales people…
They believe they simply cannot do anymore
They don’t invest in themselves
They don’t take advice seriously
They don’t test and measure…
and as a result they generally feel trapped, stressed, struggle to manage time and don’t get the financial rewards they dreamed of.
The good news is it doesn’t have to be like that. So what do the top performers look like:
They take full responsibility for everything that happens in their business
They, to quote Churchill ‘Never, never, never give up’
They take into consideration the economic environment BUT do whatever it takes to overcome it
They always think they can do more
They constantly invest in themselves and have a hunger to learn
They listen to and learn from people that have made it
They are always testing and measuring new products and marketing techniques.
The disappointing news is that over the past five years the gap between top performers and lesser performers is growing. There are 4.8million small businesses in the UK now (around 500,000 started up last year). So that is a lot of business people to potentially fall into the low performance category.
So how do you make sure you become a top performer? Well the answers are above. Add those characteristics to making sure you plan, have a clear vision and create robust systems and you are on the road to success.
It’s easier said than done though when you are starting out. That’s why I recommend you consider franchising. It’s the equivalent of having your own business but you are not alone and you have a strong support system in place.
Whatever you choose to do, good luck, and make like a high performer.
