The post HI-MAP: Because a Skilled Management Team Matters appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>HI-MAP is a practical management training program designed to help managers lead people well and get work done effectively. It focuses on the real challenges managers face every day—communication, accountability, problem solving, and navigating difficult situations with confidence.
The training builds core management skills that improve team performance, strengthen working relationships, and create clarity around expectations. Managers learn how to address issues early, give effective feedback, manage up and across the organisation, and support their teams without avoiding hard conversations.
HI-MAP is not about titles or theory. It’s about developing confident managers who understand their role, take ownership of results, and contribute to a healthier, more productive workplace.
Download our white paper today to learn how HI-MAP is building stronger, more capable management teams around the world.
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]]>The post Is Your Leadership Team Aligned and Driving Growth? appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>An organisation’s greatest advantage isn’t just its products or strategy—it’s the leadership team steering the ship. When leaders are aligned, decisions are made faster, communication is seamless, and the entire business moves forward with clarity and purpose. But too often, leadership teams operate as disconnected individuals rather than a united force, leading to stalled initiatives, internal friction, and missed opportunities.
This white paper reveals what separates high performing leadership teams from those that struggle, the common pitfalls that weaken even the most talented teams, and how the StratPro strategic leadership program helps teams break through these common barriers.
With a structured approach to alignment, execution, and accountability, StratPro’s proven methodology equips leadership teams to drive growth, improve efficiency, and build a stronger, more competitive business.
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]]>The post Blueprint: Build a Better Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Our sole mission at The Alternative Board is to provide business owners and team leaders the insight and tools they need to become better leaders running stronger, more successful organisations. That has been and always will be our driving force.
We launched The Alternative Board more than 30 years ago, offering peer advisory board and business coaching services. We have helped thousands of global business leaders enhance their acumen, build their strategies, and improve their systems.
Over the years, business has evolved and so have we. Today, our suite of services has expanded to include strategic execution and leadership development workshops, high-impact management training, and AI-powered strategic planning tools. We call it Blueprint and it is taking the industry by storm. Each of our services is designed to help you lead with greater clarity as you run and grow your business.
Regardless of where you are in your business ownership journey, The Alternative Board’s Blueprint is here to provide you with the expertise and tools you need to tackle challenges with confidence, identify and seize the right opportunities, and grow your business wherever you want it to go.
This informative white paper dives deeper into our five core services and will help you identify which best fits your needs.
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]]>The post DISC: Powerful Insights and Improved Performance appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Understanding people is the key to building high-performing teams. DISC assessments provide a clear, practical framework to do just that.
In this white paper, we walk you through how DISC assessments work, how to interpret the insights, and how different behaviour styles show up in a “day in the life” business setting.
See how communication, collaboration, and decision-making are influenced by these styles and learn how leaders can leverage this knowledge to drive stronger engagement and better results.
Leverage the power of DISC to unlock your team’s full potential.
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]]>
As artificial intelligence transforms the way we work, one question stands out:
Can technology ever replace the depth of human connection and shared experience?
Our new whitepaper, AI vs. Peer Wisdom: Why Business Owners Will Always Need Each Other, explores the evolving relationship between AI and the collective intelligence of business leaders, revealing why human insight will always remain at the heart of great decision-making.
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]]>The post Fuel Strategic Growth with a Business Builder’s Blueprint for Success appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>This white paper unpacks the core principles behind Blueprint, offering a practical guide to aligning your team, tracking the numbers that really matter, and building momentum towards long-term goals. Whether you’re looking to grow, streamline operations, or map out your eventual exit, these insights will help you shift from working in your business to working on it with more confidence and control.
Discover a proven, AI-powered approach to strategic planning and execution that’s already transforming businesses across industries, here in Australia and around the world.
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]]>The post Everything You Need To Know About Planning Your Exit appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>This TAB white paper unpacks the key aspects of exit planning, including:
- How to understand the selling process and what buyers are looking for
- Practical tips for working with M&A firms and advisors
- Navigating the emotional side of letting go
- Identifying the right people to support your exit journey
We’ve also included a practical, interactive checklist and timeline so you can track the steps at every stage—whether your exit is five months or five years away.
The best time to start is now. Download the white paper today and begin shaping the future you want.
Download our white paper and start planning your successful transition
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]]>The post Why KPIs Are Important appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Why are Key Performance Indicators important? How can Key Performance Indicators grow my business?
There are no standard Key Performance Indicators to measure company performance. By setting measurable company goals, you can effectively use Key Performance Indicators to help grow your business strategically.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that provide a quantitative measurement of your company’s performance over time.
They should act as a “flash” report, giving you a quick understanding of how your business is progressing, or can be expected to perform in the near future.
The main idea is to have a few key measurements that help you track critical components of your business. Financial statements just aren’t enough. KPIs should be more “big picture,” taking into consideration your Personal Vision and the company’s goals.
A secondary benefit is to help educate your Board members about critical processes and results in your company.
The more they know about your business, the better advisors they can be to you. For this reason, KPIs should be “normalised,” which means expressing them in a way that is easily understood. For instance, if your finance company allows you a credit line based on 80% of the number and age of units in inventory, you would want to express this as “My credit line is 94.8% of the allowable limit,” as opposed to “My line is at $347,000 on a current inventory value of $458,000” which is difficult to interpret in terms of performance.
There are no “standard” KPIs.
Every company has a different driving force, so KPIs will vary from one to another. Sales and profits are numbers every business tracks, but they only tell you the results of your efforts. Because dollars are a universal method of measurement, it’s tempting to use them for KPIs. However, a KPI should be measured against something (e.g., sales against same month last year and against budget). A number is just data, but ratios provide information about how your business is performing in reality compared to expectations.
You may also track industry-related data, such as oil prices, but remember that industry indicators don’t measure your performance.
Your metrics should illustrate how you are doing, not how your industry is doing.
By way of example, here is some “KPI Logic” from members of our Board:
- I want to bring on “x” partners in the next three years. Each partner must be supported by $”y” revenue, and my average new account is $”z” annually. My KPI is the number of new accounts opened in the last month and for the year to date.
- If we have more than an “x” week backlog, we begin to miss deadlines due to over commitment, but less than “y” weeks results in under utilised personnel. My KPI is the number of weeks of backlog against the over/under optimum range.
- We are growing rapidly, and it is difficult to track the productivity of new hires. My KPI is dollars of revenue per field technician.
Once you start using KPIs, you’ll be able to track your company’s performance over time in a way that can be easily understood by your management team, as well as employees, Board members, potential partners, etc. Just remember, nothing is forever – if you find that a KPI is not giving you actionable information or is no longer relevant, get rid of it.
This Key Performance Indicator whitepaper will:
- Define key performance indicators and discuss why they are important.
- Discuss how KPIs can help grow your business.
- Set guidelines for what KPIs you should track based on your company’s goals.
WHY KPIS ARE IMPORTANT
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]]>The post Productivity Hacks For Small Business Owners appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Improving productivity at work is key to becoming more competitive in a crowded market
What’s the difference between highly effective business owners and those who are constantly stressed and overwhelmed? Learn from other business owners on how to break out of your old mindset and accomplish the most important tasks in your business. From managing the inbox to reducing workplace distractions, this whitepaper will put you on the right path to better time management.
Improving your productivity — both as a company and as a business owner — is key to becoming more competitive in a crowded market. It’s also key to achieving a better work-life balance.
A recent Small Business Pulse Survey found that a full 84% of our respondents reported working over 40 hours per week and one in 10 reported feeling continuously overwhelmed by their responsibilities. For all those hours worked, the average business owner reported having only 1.5 hours of uninterrupted, highly productive time each day. That’s not much time to accomplish the most important things on a business owner’s plate.
This speaks to a huge need for business owners to learn to be more productive. We turned to the experienced business owners at The Alternative Board (TAB) for tips and ideas to help your business — and you — work more productively. Read on for ideas to transform your productivity and accomplish the most important things in your business.
“Busy” is a state of mind
What’s the difference between highly effective business owners and those who are constantly stressed and overwhelmed? After all, both have large numbers of tasks and responsibilities, and both only have 24 hours in the day.
The difference, says Joe Zente, CEO of Z3 Performance Development, is all in the state of mind. “Great entrepreneurs get more accomplished than weaker ones but rarely tell you that they are ‘really busy’ when you ask how they are doing,” he says.
“Conversely, unsuccessful owners are addicted to busyness. Their mindset has nothing to do with the number of hours in a day.“ The key to breaking the cycle of being in crisis mode is to change your mindset. “Successful owners focus on the important,” says Zente.
“Struggling ones focus upon the urgent.” “Don’t let yourself be ruled by whatever feels more urgent. To make the most use of your time — and feel less overwhelmed in the process — keep your eye on the work that’s truly important.”
Productivity Hacks for Business Owners will help you:
- Identify the inefficiencies that are taking up your time.
- Revamp your meetings into tools for productivity.
- Learn how to prioritise tasks and eliminate the clutter that is distracting you from your work.
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Productivity Hacks for Business Owners Whitepaper
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]]>The post Peer Advisory Boards: How They Can Benefit Your Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>At The Alternative Board (TAB), we often hear from business owners who feel they can’t properly share the challenges they face as an owner with their friends, family, or even employees.
We’ve heard many business owners use the phrase, “It’s lonely at the top.”
Owners often seek out advise through small business networking groups but quickly realise that networking isn’t going to help them connect or problem solve.
Small business peer advisory boards (sometimes called a business advisory board or mastermind group) are available to discuss problems and build goals as a collective; a business owner advisory board.
Why use a peer advisory board?
A traditional business advisory board is a hand-picked group of individuals who come together to help guide a business owner through tough decisions. These individuals generally complement the business owner’s own expertise and could include anyone from a financial advisor or a lawyer to a sales expert or a marketing specialist.
Business owner advisory boards are a longtime staple of large businesses, but owners of privately held businesses generally haven’t had the resources to take advantage of them. Plus, when you’re mired in a business problem, even expert advice from an advisory board often can’t compare to sharing your concerns with a group of people who not only understand your business but also understand the pressures you face as a business owner.
That’s where local peer-to-peer external advisory boards can be valuable. They bring together like-minded business owners across a variety of industries who can all share insight and expertise in order to help each other’s businesses grow. In these peer-to-peer boards, members come together as equals in business with a shared goal of growing their companies and developing their own skills as business owners and leaders.
This creates an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust; where members can be frank about their challenges and questions. The concept of an alliance of business owners and other high-powered peers was introduced in the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. He recommends that business owners run every plan they have by what he calls their “Master Mind” alliance, writing, “No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability and knowledge to insure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people.”
How can a peer advisory board benefit your business?
Not only do fellow business owners more fully understand the issues you face, as a business owner advisory board matures, members will become more familiar with each other’s businesses and be able to offer personalised insights on things like how to increase sales, how to run the business more efficiently and how to solve thorny personnel problems.
As business owner advisory board members become more familiar with one another’s businesses, says TAB founder and executive chairman Allen Fishman, something incredible happens.
“One of the reasons why TAB Boards are so successful is that the members are able to open up with the kinds of things they don’t discuss with anybody else,” he says.
“They never discuss their fears or their pocket dreams of what the future holds with their employees in general — or even their executives.”
The ability to open up so fully among a trusted group of peers allows business owners to not only grow their businesses, but also to find personal and professional balance.
Consider the following points to better understand how a business owner advisory board can help your company — and you— thrive.
Who might benefit from a peer advisory board?
Whether you’re just getting your first business off the ground or you’ve been around the block a few times before, you’ll benefit from a business owner advisory board. Don’t underestimate the power a group of like-minded business owners can have when they put their attentions and business acumen toward the same goals.
The benefits of joining an advisory board extend across industries.
For example, there are over 3,000 business owners who are members of The Alternative Board (TAB) representing over 300 different industries. These include professional services, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, construction, finance, insurance and real estate.
Seeking out a peer advisory board is a smart move for a business owner who:
- Has been running a business smoothly for some time but is ready to increase growth.
- Is considering a new direction for the business and is headed into uncharted territory.
- Knows that the business is in a rut and isn’t sure how to get out of it.
- Is considering a transition of power — especially within a family — and needs advice.
- Could use regular help with marketing, hiring, employee management and other day-to-day business concerns.
- Wants to run the business more efficiently in order to improve work-life balance.
- Has just bought a new business and could use expert mentorship.
- Is looking to sell a business and wants to make it more attractive for a potential buyer.
In short, a business owner advisory board is a smart move for every business owner.
But particularly for those who are hungry to improve both professionally and personally.
The value of an advisory board
“Most people join TAB because they know from talking to other board members that it will increase the profits of their company and the value of their business,” he says.
“But they don’t realise that they will also receive non-financial values that may be every bit as important — or, in some cases, more important.”
He’s seen business owners improve their quality of life, their work-life balance, learn how to fight burnout better and even work on their interpersonal relationships as a result of their TAB Board membership.
Augment your core competencies
Every business owner has specific strengths and weaknesses — and even a Jack or Jill of all trades could use more in-depth assistance in certain areas. You may be excellent at keeping your business on track fiscally and finding inefficiencies but be less adept at communicating with your employees or developing a marketing strategy.
Each member of a peer advisory board will come with a different unique set of strengths and weaknesses, tried and tested in the real world. This makes a board a powerful tool for business owners to help fill the gaps in each other’s knowledge and grow their own capabilities in other areas. Along with receiving advice, you will also get an opportunity to share your own knowledge. That challenges you to grow, as well as gives you an opportunity to help other business owners.
An added bonus is that, whereas many business owners find it difficult to admit vulnerability or knowledge gaps to others, a peer advisory board is designed as a safe space where you can assess your strengths and grow professionally.
Help you evaluate new ideas and strategies
Are you puzzling through a new growth idea? Considering a possible business opportunity?
Here’s another place where the real-world experience of your peer advisory board will come in handy.
Coming up with effective business growth strategies, marketing strategies, succession strategies, etc. can be difficult. Adapting generic advice to your specific business is a challenge, and evaluating whether or not a specific strategy will work for you is easier with the help of other seasoned business owners.
In a board with a diverse membership, it’s likely one of your peers has come across whichever situation you’re considering in the past and can give you custom-tailored advice.
Your board members can also help you ask the tough critical questions or offer suggestions and caveats based on their own personal experience. They can help you uncover your blind spots and confront gaps in your line of reasoning to make sure your new strategy is watertight.
Provide an outsider’s perspective
When you’re too close to your business, it can be difficult to see issues or opportunities that might be glaringly obvious to someone else. Cultivating a group of unbiased outside observers is an excellent way to expand your perspective. (This can be especially helpful for family-owned businesses, which often suffer from relying on the advice of too many people with very similar points of view.)
This is one of the best values of a board made up of members across different industries or disciplines. A business owner who has spent 40 years in manufacturing will have unique questions and ideas to offer a wholesale business. These could spark true light bulb moments, whereas if you brought up your problem to a group consisting only of wholesaling professionals, you might hear only industry- standard advice.
Create accountability
Many business leaders excel at meeting the day-to-day deadlines of the business. But big-picture goals designed to stretch the business — like implementing a new marketing strategy or networking with potential business partners — often get pushed to the back burner.
A peer advisory board helps provide accountability to keep you on track with big-picture goals. Knowing that you will need to walk into your next meeting and report on your progress provides the positive peer pressure to accomplish those things that will truly grow your business.
Along with providing peer pressure and accountability, members of a business owner advisory board can help you understand why you’re having trouble missing certain milestones or goals. They can help you identify which issues are holding you back or brainstorm ways to get obstacles out of your path.
What should you consider when joining a business owner advisory board?
Many boards will let you attend one or two meetings as a guest before deciding to join. This is a good idea, as it allows you to see the group dynamic in action and gives you a better sense of whether this particular group works for you.
When you are deciding if the board is a good fit, consider the following before making a decision.
The Members
Who are the current members? What types of professions and industries do they come from? Do they represent a wide range of experiences and disciplines? Both LinkedIn and Google are useful tools for doing your due diligence on the current members of a potential business owner advisory board.
In the business advisory board, members should all come from different industries and not be competitors. “The benefits would not work if everybody was in the same industry,” says Fishman. “This is a concept that works on the premise of openness, and you are not going to be open to a competitor in your field.”
Time Investment
How much of your time will the business owner advisory board take up each month? How often are the meetings, and how long do they last? Beyond the meetings, are there any additional time requirements, such as volunteer expectations or outside business coaching?
Monetary Investment
How much are the annual or monthly dues? How much would your business have to grow (or how many new clients would you have to take on) in order to realise a return on investment from joining the board? Does it seem like the board will offer at least that much or more value?
The Facilitator
The facilitator or chair is the lynchpin for how a board functions. If you are considering joining a board, ask to meet with this person one-on-one to understand his or her personality and style. Pay attention to how he or she directs the meeting if you attend a trial session. Do they run the meeting efficiently? Do you agree with the insights and suggestions they offer to other members?
Your Own Commitment to Openness
There are two last big things that are important to the success of a business owner advisory board, says Fishman: willingness to share advice and openness to receiving advice. Ask yourself if you are willing to be vulnerable enough to learn and grow along with your fellow board members. Are you willing to share (and empathise with) personal challenges? Are you willing to hear (and offer) tough advice?
What is a TAB board meeting like?
TAB’s business owner advisory boards meet monthly under the guidance of a qualified board facilitator and are made up of an intimate group of around ten members. These members hail from a variety of industries, providing a breadth of knowledge and experience to help each other solve challenges and seize new opportunities.
In a typical TAB Board Meeting, members have a chance to greet each other and catch up before learning something new and actionable about a business topic or trend. Then, we move around the table one by one so that each member can share a particular business issue or situation they would like help gaining perspective on. The other members of the board then ask clarifying questions and offer advice.
Next, we list our goals for the next 30 days, quarter and year. This is where the accountability aspect comes in, and members help each other understand why they haven’t yet met certain goals and brainstorm how the board can help. Lastly, we set the agenda for the next board meeting.
Over 70% of TAB Members say that the board meetings and coaching sessions add real value to their businesses, and 86% say they are likely to recommend TAB to other business owners.
But these numbers tell an even more compelling story:
The majority of TAB Members say the cost of their membership has had a high return on their investment.
Those who were able to quantify their return on investment showed impressive numbers:
Along with business owner advisory boards, TAB Membership also comes with opportunities to take advantage of our coaching and consulting services, along with valuable networking opportunities and access to proprietary business resources.
Is The Alternative Board for You?
The Alternative Board® (TAB) helps forward-thinking business owners grow their businesses, increase profitability and improve their lives by leveraging local business advisory boards, private business coaching and proprietary strategic services.
Becoming a member of The Alternative Board gives you access to resources and expert advice to help you create, and maintain, a strong company culture. Find a TAB Board near you and begin growing your business today.
Was 19 Reasons Your Business Needs a Business Owner Advisory Board helpful to you? Help someone else out by forwarding to a colleague.
Or if you want to hear more about joining a TAB business, contact us.
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]]>The post Top Tips For Helping Improve Your Time Management appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Most business owners are spending less time than they would like working on their businesses (tasks like strategic planning, marketing and other leadership responsibilities) than they are working in their businesses (performing repetitive administrative or customer-oriented tasks that could be delegated to an employee). We have created a strategic guide to help you recapture the value of every minute and focus your energy where it belongs.
Business owners wear many hats, working both as visionary leader and frontline employee—and switching between the two roles at a moment’s notice. As your own boss, you’re in charge of managing how you spend every moment. The decision you make as to where to focus your time is critical to the health of your business.
At The Alternative Board® (TAB), we’ve become very aware of the difficulty business owners have in managing their time. We’ve heard anecdotal tales from both TAB Members and other business owners we’ve met throughout the years, and we wanted to more fully understand the challenges they face. TAB surveyed 323 business owners about their time management challenges.
The survey results were enlightening. They showed not only where business owners are struggling most, but also helped illuminate which specific activities they thought their time could be most valuably spent on. Along with the survey data, we have also collected time management tips from TAB Members and other business owners who routinely balance urgent everyday distractions with more important strategic work on their businesses. By combining real data on how small business owners are actually spending their time with insights gathered from TAB Members and other business owners who are facing the same challenges, we have created a strategic guide to help you recapture the value of every minute and focus your energy where it belongs.
One key theme illuminated in our survey is that most business owners are spending less time than they would like working on their businesses (tasks like strategic planning, marketing and other leadership responsibilities) than they are working in their businesses (performing repetitive administrative or customer oriented tasks that could be delegated to an employee).
While the latter tasks often feel the most urgent, it is the former strategic responsibilities that are most critical to a healthy, forward-moving organisation. Our survey found that there is a gap between how most business owners spend their time and how they believe they should be spending it.
While business owners think they should be working 41.7 hours a week on average, 63% reported working more than 50 hours per week. (The average was 49.4 hours of work per week.) It’s not just a matter of how much time they spend at work—business owners are largely unsatisfied with how they are spending their time. While 73% prefer working on strategic activities, only 32% of their time is actually spent on those tasks.
10 Tricks to Make the Most of Your Time will show you how to:
- Examine where you’re currently spending your time, and if it’s helping or hurting your company.
- Create a strategy for how to approach tasks and make your workday productive
- Use shortcuts to minimise the amount of time routine tasks take out of your day
TIME MANAGEMENT WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post What is your excuse for not having a Strategic Plan? appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Strategic planning is not just for large corporations!
A strategic plan will help you focus your company’s activities on what matters most. TAB’s Strategic Business Leadership process was designed specifically with the small and mid-sized business in mind. Download our white paper today to learn more about how strategic planning can help navigate your business toward greater success.
What’s your excuse?
- Are you focused on a major company challenge?
- Have you tried strategic planning in the past, and it didn’t work for you?
- Is your company already successful?
We’ll identify the top seven excuses business owners have for not creating a strategic plan, and then cover why these are excuses – not reasons!
STRATEGIC PLAN WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post Hiring New Employees appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Finding the perfect candidate for an open position can be tricky.
You want a person who will be a good cultural fit, possess the right job skills and who will be able to get up to speed quickly.
Most likely, you also need this person quickly.
Maybe one of your key people left unexpectedly, leaving you with a critical position unfilled. Maybe your business is growing rapidly, and, in order to keep up, you need to expand your sales team. Maybe you’re starting to burn out and desperately need to hire an executive assistant.
Whatever the reason, you’re searching for the best person for the job — and you needed them in their position last week. But in order to be effective, the hiring process can’t be rushed. Hiring the wrong person can be costly, both in the amount of time spent on the job search and in lost productivity for the company.
The Center for American Progress estimates those costs (both in money spent and productivity lost) can add up to around 16% of the person’s salary for hourly workers. That number can go as high as 213% for a highly trained position. And the Harvard Business Review reported that up to 80% of employee turnover can be attributed to poor hiring decisions. Any number of things can affect why new employees churn.
But one of the biggest things that you can control is having an effective hiring process that makes sure open positions are filled efficiently with excellent candidates.
To make a good hire the first time, you need to start with strong foundations. These three core principles will help guide you through every step of the hiring process — from crafting job descriptions and asking smart interview questions to making the final hiring decision and onboarding your new employee.
Effective Hiring will help you assess, develop, and retain top talent.
Recruiting challenges for small businesses are enormous. Business owners do not have the time to spend on hiring effectively, and, as a result, they often hire quickly but not effectively. Effective Hiring details a four-step hiring process that will help you organise your recruiting efforts.
- Organise the job description and set realistic goals
- Information on how and where to promote the open position
- Assess your candidates to ensure greater recruiting success
- Successfully on-board a new employee in a way that will help reduce turn-over
EFFECTIVE HIRING PROCESS WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post Business Advisory Alternatives appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>In this Visionary Whitepaper, you will:
- Discover business advisory alternatives
- Learn what the ‘big dogs’ do
- Gain insight and strategy implementation techniques to help you achieve your goals
BUSINESS ADVISORY ALTERNATIVES WHITE PAPER
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]]>The post Visionary Leadership appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Visionary leaders forge new roads. They inspire greatness in those around them. They take chances, fail miserably and try, try again. Visionary leaders are people who have touched us in business, politics, technology, entertainment and fashion. In one-way or another, they touch us all.
This Visionary Whitepaper will:
- Provide insight into what makes a visionary leader
- Teach you how to pass on your vision to your team
- Teach you how to cultivate true visionary leadership
VISIONARY LEADERSHIP WHITE PAPER
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]]>The post Succession Planning appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Families in the process of transferring their business to the next generation have a number of complex challenges to overcome. Maintaining the viability of the business enterprise is foremost. This involves good business planning, sound management, effective practices and processes, and the ability to execute within a competitive marketplace. The bottom-line, to generate revenue streams and investments to sustain the family now and in the future.
SUCCESSION PLANNING WHITE PAPER
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]]>The post Marketing for the Minimum: Low Cost Marketing Tactics appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Low cost marketing tactics to help your business achieve development goals.
For most small businesses, highly effective marketing is a make-or-break necessity. Each year thousands of businesses fail—not because they lack effective management or a superior product, but because they lack good marketing and sales techniques. After all, it is these fundamental elements which bring in revenue and generate profits.
“I don’t know what to do,” or “I don’t have the money,” is the common cry of entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The good news is you don’t need a degree in marketing to sell your products or services effectively; nor do you need a million-dollar budget.
In fact, the low-cost methods many business owners and entrepreneurs use to reach their target markets are the most effective. Pursuing the fundamentals doesn’t require as much cash as it requires focus, wit, persistence and a little creativity.
The bottom line – you have to spend money on marketing, but you don’t have to break the bank to achieve great results.
The Concept of Marketing Marketing continues to be a mystery – for those who create it, those who use it and for those who sponsor it.
Many people, including top executives and management, use it as synonymous with sales and selling.
Today, it’s easy to become confused about the terms marketing, sales, advertising, promotion, public relations and publicity, because they are often used interchangeably.
Although similar in many ways, each term encompasses very different activities. Definition of Marketing: The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.
Marketing is the wide range of activities and programs involved in making sure you are continuing to meet the needs of your customers and getting value in return. These activities include market research to find out who your best prospects are, where they’re located, what their needs are and how you should target them. Marketing also includes analysing the competition, positioning your product and/or service, pricing your product and/or service and promoting your business through advertising, promotions, public relations and sales.
All too often, the idea of marketing makes even the most seasoned business owner a bit uncomfortable. Business people know the ability to meet the changing needs and demands of customers has become increasingly important in recent years. New technology, growing international trade, improved communications and profoundly more sophisticated and demanding buyers have all increased the pressure on businesses to make continuous improvements in their products and services.
Given a choice, customers will always do business with those who most completely meet their needs – needs that are constantly changing. Thus, companies must continuously assess their markets and develop strategies to best reach their target audience(s). If one concept sums it all up, marketing is about building and maintaining successful relationships.
This Marketing white paper will:
- Help you understand the importance of planning
- Provide low cost marketing ideas
- Teach you which marketing mistakes to avoid
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MARKETING FOR THE MINIMUM WHITE PAPER
The post Marketing for the Minimum: Low Cost Marketing Tactics appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post How to Effectively use Incentives to Motivate Employees appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Most business owners approach employee incentives with mixed emotions. They want to provide some system that creates a sense of urgency and responsibility in their employees, but they don’t want to give up too much of an already limited bottom line.
This Employee Motivation white paper will:
- Help you understand how to create incentives that appeal to individuals’ personal motivators
- Develop a structure around your employee incentive programs
- Explore how you can continue benefiting from employee incentive programs over time
9 TIPS FOR MOTIVATING YOUR EMPLOYEES WHITE PAPER
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]]>The post How To: The Best Ways to Secure Capital for Your Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Best Ways to Secure Capital for Your Business
White Paper
While small business owners have a wider range of options for financing new businesses and expanding existing businesses, what we learned is that sound planning is still a key strategy. The type of funding you need varies according to the stage of business you are at. It’s more important than ever to approach your search for funding with a strategic plan and to be organised in your business finances.
The past decade has been a transformative one for small business financing.
Traditional credit markets have tightened since the Great Recession, while new technology is making it easier than ever to secure alternative sources of capital in the form of non-bank, online lenders.
Equity investments from venture capitalists are also on a multi-year rising streak, providing many small businesses with yet another potential way to find funding.
Whether seeking startup capital to get their ideas off the ground or a line of credit to accelerate business growth, small business owners continue to need reliable sources of financing.
The Alternative Board (TAB) wanted to understand what options are available for business owners, and how they are navigating their options. That’s why our recent Small Business Pulse Survey concentrated on the strategies, sources and lessons learned raising capital for small businesses.
Along with gathering information about their experiences in our survey, we also asked them to share tips and advice to help other business owners navigate their own funding challenges. While small business owners have a wider range of options for financing new businesses and expanding existing businesses, what we learned is that sound planning is still a key strategy. It’s more important than ever to approach your search for funding with a strategic plan and to be organised in your business finances. This is borne out in both our survey results and the accompanying advice we’ve gathered from business owners.
We surveyed 325 business owners. They are successful, profitable, small and diverse.
Best Ways to Secure Capital for Your Business will help you:
- When the best time is to seek funding for your business.
- How to differentiate between good and bad reasons for taking out a loan.
- What funding options are available to small businesses.
- How you can maximise your chances of getting a loan.
- Which factors you should take into consideration when deciding on a loan.
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BEST WAYS TO SECURE CAPITAL FOR YOUR BUSINESS WHITE PAPER
The post How To: The Best Ways to Secure Capital for Your Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post How To Achieve Work-Life Balance appeared first on The Alternative Board.
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Obtaining a better work-life balance is possible, with strategic planning.
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WORK-LIFE BALANCE WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post Improve Your Company Culture appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>A strong company culture can be a major contributor to your company’s success.
IMPROVE COMPANY CULTURE WHITEPAPER
The post Improve Your Company Culture appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post Employee Motivation appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>How to Effectively use Incentives to Motivate Employees
Is your incentive program truly motivating your employees in the long-term?
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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post Time Management: How To Manage Your Time Better appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Time Management is a universal problem
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TIME MANAGEMENT WHITEPAPER
The post Time Management: How To Manage Your Time Better appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post Harness The Power of Social Media appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Since its introduction over 10 years ago, social media has been on a rapid rise, and there are no signs of it slowing down. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s quickly become a critical part of today’s business.
In this report, you’ll learn:
- The top 5 benefits to having a social media presence.
- How other business owners are spending their time on social media.
- How to choose the right channel for your business.
SOCIAL MEDIA WHITEPAPER
The post Harness The Power of Social Media appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post Family Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Learn How to Navigate the Complex and Unique Aspects of Operating a Family Business
Have you found yourself confronted with decisions that put family and business interests at odds?
Constant demands from family members, for employee satisfaction, and for strategic decision-making often leaves a family business owner feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally drained. Sometimes you may feel like you can’t share these concerns or ask for assistance from your family.
All in the Family, our family business white paper, provides some guidance and advice on:
- Balancing emotional responses with operational objectives.
- Positive and negative aspects of family business conflict.
- Understanding and managing conflict.
- Resources for skill development and family business advice.
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FAMILY BUSINESS WHITEPAPER
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]]>The post 7 Steps For An Effective Hiring Process appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Do you wish you could know which applicants were the most likely to succeed?
Effective Hiring will help you assess, develop, and retain top talent.
Recruiting challenges for small businesses are enormous. Business owners do not have the time to spend on hiring effectively, and, as a result, they often hire quickly but not effectively. Effective Hiring details a four-step hiring process that will help you organise your recruiting efforts.
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- Organise the job description and set realistic goals
- Information on how and where to promote the open position
- Assess your candidates to ensure greater recruiting success
- Successfully onboard a new employee in a way that will help reduce turn over
EFFECTIVE HIRING WHITEPAPER – DOWNLOAD HERE
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]]>The post Why KPIs Are Important appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>Are you tracking Key Performance Indicators for your business?
Why are Key Performance Indicators important? How can Key Performance Indicators grow my business?
There are no standard Key Performance Indicators to measure company performance. By setting measurable company goals, you can effectively use Key Performance Indicators to help grow your business strategically.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that provide a quantitative measurement of your company’s performance over time.
They should act as a “flash” report, giving you a quick understanding of how your business is progressing, or can be expected to perform in the near future.
The main idea is to have a few key measurements that help you track critical components of your business. Financial statements just aren’t enough. KPIs should be more “big picture,” taking into consideration your Personal Vision and the company’s goals.
A secondary benefit is to help educate your Board members about critical processes and results in your company.
The more they know about your business, the better advisors they can be to you. For this reason, KPIs should be “normalised,” which means expressing them in a way that is easily understood. For instance, if your finance company allows you a credit line based on 80% of the number and age of units in inventory, you would want to express this as “My credit line is 94.8% of the allowable limit,” as opposed to “My line is at $347,000 on a current inventory value of $458,000” which is difficult to interpret in terms of performance.
There are no “standard” KPIs.
Every company has a different driving force, so KPIs will vary from one to another. Sales and profits are numbers every business tracks, but they only tell you the results of your efforts. Because dollars are a universal method of measurement, it’s tempting to use them for KPIs. However, a KPI should be measured against something (e.g., sales against same month last year and against budget). A number is just data, but ratios provide information about how your business is performing in reality compared to expectations.
You may also track industry-related data, such as oil prices, but remember that industry indicators don’t measure your performance.
Your metrics should illustrate how you are doing, not how your industry is doing.
By way of example, here is some “KPI Logic” from members of our Board:
- I want to bring on “x” partners in the next three years. Each partner must be supported by $”y” revenue, and my average new account is $”z” annually. My KPI is the number of new accounts opened in the last month and for the year to date.
- If we have more than an “x” week backlog, we begin to miss deadlines due to over commitment, but less than “y” weeks results in under utilised personnel. My KPI is the number of weeks of backlog against the over/under optimum range.
- We are growing rapidly, and it is difficult to track the productivity of new hires. My KPI is dollars of revenue per field technician.
Once you start using KPIs, you’ll be able to track your company’s performance over time in a way that can be easily understood by your management team, as well as employees, Board members, potential partners, etc. Just remember, nothing is forever – if you find that a KPI is not giving you actionable information or is no longer relevant, get rid of it.
This Key Performance Indicator whitepaper will:
- Define key performance indicators and discuss why they are important.
- Discuss how KPIs can help grow your business.
- Set guidelines for what KPIs you should track based on your company’s goals.
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WHY KPIs ARE IMPORTANT
The post Why KPIs Are Important appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>The post How To Achieve Your Vision For Your Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
]]>You know what you want in life; how is your business going to get you there?
Studies show you are 33% more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down.
Think back to when you first started your business. Or, better yet, when you first conceived the idea for your business. You had a great vision about what your business would mean – to you, your family, to your customers and perhaps to the community.
Are you realising those dreams? Is your personal vision of success being fulfilled?
“A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” —Thomas Carlyle
One of the most difficult things for any of us to do is look out beyond our immediate horizon and imagine what can be. It is even harder to “paint that picture” in such vivid detail and bright colours in our “mind’s eye”, that it becomes a source of daily motivation and constant inspiration.
While there is an eternal desire to find what motives successful people, most are motivated by their own vision of success.
Some make great sacrifices to give the best to their kids, others to buy their first house, and we are moved by the stories of ordinary people facing enormous adversity. The common thread among these stories of determination is that people are strongly motivated by the clarity of their vision and purpose, but also the clarity of the route to achieving it.
Your Success Road Map
Do you have a written Personal Vision Statement? I would expect many readers would say they have a Personal Vision in their mind. The fact is that writing it down makes a very big difference in terms of whether you achieve your vision or not. Not having a written Personal Vision is like traveling without a map.
Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, did a study on goal-setting with 267 participants. She found that you are 33 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down. Her research also concludes that sharing your goals with a friend significantly helps with achievement. Why? Because you become accountable and committed to achieving your goals.
Your Vision of Success
The unique vision an individual business owner has may not include maximising profits or potential selling price. Their desires may involve such things as family benefits, image in the community, flexibility of time away from office, and many other items that are not profit-oriented. Scott Harrison was a successful nightclub promoter in New York City.
He had every material thing he wanted. But he felt unfulfilled. He decided to change everything and volunteered with Mercy Ships for two years bringing medical supplies to the world’s poorest.
He then used his Personal Vision to start “charity: water”. His vision is to ensure that every person on the planet has access to life’s most basic need – clean drinking water.
A Personal Vision Statement is the long range vision of what you want your life to be like. It will drive every decision, personal and professional. Your personal vision, is in fact, both the beginning and the desired end-state of your strategic plan for success.
In this whitepaper we will:
- Discuss what having a written Personal Vision should look like and how it will help you achieve your goals.
- Provide 6 considerations to developing your Personal Vision.
- Introduce how your Personal Vision will work with your Business Vision to get your business working for you, and not the other way around.
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PERSONAL VISION
The post How To Achieve Your Vision For Your Business appeared first on The Alternative Board.
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