The 20%

In the last 6 years we've been working with businesses from different industries and at different growth levels: startups with no revenue or marginal profit, to well established businesses who are achieving high return on capital employed.

We can categorize these businesses into two main categories, those who pay attention to details, however know their market very well, and the other category are mostly on the overall picture scheme, no real attention to details.

Both categories revenue driver is not really affected much with their style of management, therefore the common ground of success regardless of the categories above stated, is that the market is big enough and the value provided by the company is acceptable, or good enough to be sold.

I believe the category who sees the big picture however invest more time than other peers focusing on the little details of their business, are far more productive and chances of success are much higher than their peers who are less focused on nitty gritty stuff.

For example, some businesses when they are overwhelmed with daily work, they may not price all the products correctly, because they don't have good costing structure, making them gain good margin on some products, while incur losses on another product or service, which eventually eats overall profitability, not mentioning the lost opportunities.

Another example on the collection of invoices: some owners do not compromise on this part of their business, and they find ways to chase their money, other leaders don't exert or have the time to look into such details, increasing their chances of losing money, of the unpaid, or even delayed collection.

Those two examples help us understand that no matter how big or strategic your view is, paying attention to details is crucial to be able to take decisions, allocate resources, reduce waste in time and resources, and navigate through all times whether good or tough.

To help you also understand how we as financial professionals see both styles - and no matter which style one chooses, the importance is to find ways to get the job done even by delegating it to someone else who can do it right and can take decisions; The percentage of businesses overlook their financial reporting in our world is beyond 80%, which is freaky. They tend to return to look into their finances, when they face difficulties getting detailed information about their performance, or forecasting a financial period, in addition to mitigating a foreseen risk.

Therefore Our advise is the following to be in the 20%:

There are functions that need to be carried out, marketing, finance, sales, operations, et..., If one of these functions is ignored, delayed, or not seen as crucial, your business will suffer, and pay the price either directly by losing cash, high cost, or indirectly forego an opportunity, or not adapting to changes quickly enough. Therefore the moment you decide to do business; PLEASE consider all the business functions to be carried out professionally, and never ignore or delay any of the functions. There are many ways to get the job done with efficiency and also effectively.