The man behind the counter looked harassed.
When I walked into the corner shop, he had been in the middle of loading his shelves with new stock.
He greeted me gruffly and then turned his back on me.
I got the feeling that by trying to buy a bottle of water, I was interrupting his busy day…
…That’s what it’s like when you’re manning the till and managing inventory at the same time.
What a difference I felt a few days later, when I visited John Lewis.
The people at the till had one job – serving customers patiently and with a smile.
There was a completely separate team to answer my questions on the floor. And I’m pretty sure they were not the same people who stock the shelves.
Everyone gave me their full attention, and operations seemed to run much smoother.
Last week I recommended that you look at the way the “Big Guys” run their companies, and mimic some of their best practices….
Well, this is one of the biggest differences between corporates and larger companies, and the business minnows.
Smaller companies have a few people doing lots of jobs. Everyone wears lots of hats – from the owner down – because they can’t afford, or won’t invest in, lots of specialists.
They can probably manage, but standards are sacrificed. I mean, there’s a limit to how many jobs any one individual can do well!
And it constrains their growth, as well. When the business owner is busy stocking shelves, he or she is probably not paying enough attention to sales and marketing… or many other issues.
Larger companies don’t rely on one or two people to fill all the essential functions – they have teams.
And not just any old teams…
They have all the right people in place… Doing all the right things.
Let’s take your finance function as an example….
Small businesses turning over £1 million and under tend to make do with a bookkeeper and / or an accountant.
That’s absolutely fine when you’re very small…
…Because your needs are fairly limited. One or two people can probably prepare your accounts, manage your taxes and process payroll, even if that means quite a lot of juggling.
But as you grow, your needs, challenges, and opportunities will constantly change.
You’ll likely wrestle with issues like obtaining funding, navigating acquisitions, managing working capital, dealing with legislation issues and compliance, integrating tech solutions…
Plus you’ll need more sophisticated reports like management accounts and cash flow forecasts, and you’ll want to understand more about the financial implications of the decisions you take.
These high-level issues can’t be resolved without a proper team of trained financial staff.
No one, two, or even three people will have all the skills you need to fulfil these functions.
I mean, can you imagine the bookkeeper trying to help you buy a competitor….
Or giving you advice on the tax implications of buying another property….
…Or the specialist helping you obtain funding trying to do your accounts?
It’s inconceivable that the same person can do it all (well).
That’s why larger companies have big finance departments, full of people with special skills. Having a varied team allows them to run more smoothly – and grow too.
And if you want to grow beyond £1 million or £2 million, you too need that kind of finance team in place.
See how the big guys operate and mimic them – remember?
The problem is, most companies turning over £1-£5 million think they can’t afford a specialist team to get them over such big financial hurdles and to the top of the industry…
But Insight Associates make it both possible and affordable.
You see, we have those specialists on board….
…And when we become your outsourced finance department, they work for you!
We can give you the same quality of financial management that corporate giants take for granted… for just a fraction of the cost.
Get in touch today to get started.
