1. business and industrial

How To Manage
Your Business
Course Handbook
May 2013
The views expressed in this handbook are not necessarily
reflective of the official views of Fasset.
Facilitated by
Goldengate Consulting
Business Management
May 2013
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
4
2. The Changing Business Environment
5
2.1
2.2
Understanding the global financial crisis – what happened? ............................................................. 5
Why does this affect me? ................................................................................................................... 7
3. How to Combat Recession
3.1
3.2
9
Reaction to Global Economic Crisis – Positive Attitude ..................................................................... 9
Practical Steps to Take – Adapt Or Die .............................................................................................. 9
4. Marketing in the Professional and Financial Services Sector?
10
4.1 Market research – finding new clients .............................................................................................. 10
4.2 Retaining Existing Clients – Understanding Your Clients Business To Offer What They Need ...... 11
4.3 The Value Proposition – What Does Not Add Value Is Not Worth the Cost – Selling Your
Services to the Client .................................................................................................................................. 12
5. Analysing Your Business Plan
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
14
What is a business plan? .................................................................................................................. 14
Where are you going? – Understanding the future .......................................................................... 14
Deciding how to achieve your Business Plan ................................................................................... 15
Having the correct team to achieve the plan .................................................................................... 16
Marketing and Servicing Your Client ................................................................................................ 16
6. Improving Your Management Skills
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
17
Identifying Your Management Skills ................................................................................................. 17
Leadership as a Management Skill .................................................................................................. 17
The Principle of Delegation............................................................................................................... 18
Motivating Your Team ....................................................................................................................... 19
Developing Your Team ..................................................................................................................... 20
Communicating With People In Your Team ..................................................................................... 20
Communicating With People Outside Of Your Team ....................................................................... 21
How to Manage Discipline in the Team ............................................................................................ 21
7. Strategic Human Resources Management
7.1
7.2
7.3
22
What is strategic human resources management (SHRM)? ............................................................ 22
Aligning SHRM with Business Objectives ........................................................................................ 22
How Strategic Human Resources Management Works ................................................................... 22
8. Effective Time Management in Business
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
8.7
23
How To Manage Your Time Wisely .................................................................................................. 23
Goal-setting....................................................................................................................................... 23
Prioritisation ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Managing Interruptions ..................................................................................................................... 24
Procrastination .................................................................................................................................. 24
Scheduling ........................................................................................................................................ 25
Common Time Management Challenges ......................................................................................... 25
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9. Improving the Quality of Your Service
9.1
9.2
9.3
26
Understanding Your Product / Service ............................................................................................ 26
Understanding Market Demand ........................................................................................................ 26
Aligning Your Product / Service with Market Demand ..................................................................... 26
10. Managing Business Operations
10.1
10.2
27
Aligning Business Operations with Business Objectives ............................................................ 27
Do not forget the future ................................................................................................................ 27
11. Fundamental of Pricing
11.1
11.2
11.3
28
How do you price your services?................................................................................................. 28
Pricing Models ............................................................................................................................. 28
Effective Methods of Marketing Professional Services ............................................................... 29
12. Financial Administration and Management
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
12.5
30
Accounting ................................................................................................................................... 30
Cash Management ...................................................................................................................... 30
Business Compliance Management ............................................................................................ 30
Computer System Management .................................................................................................. 31
Client Stability .............................................................................................................................. 32
13. Making the Most of Information Technology
13.1
13.2
13.3
13.4
13.5
13.6
Work Smarter, Not Harder ........................................................................................................... 33
Competitive Advantage ............................................................................................................... 33
Recovering Your Investment – Making It Work For You ............................................................. 34
Disaster Recovery, Data Storage and Back-Up .......................................................................... 34
Internet Fraud / Computer Crime................................................................................................ 34
Identity Theft ................................................................................................................................ 35
14. Available Business Support for SMMES
14.1
14.2
14.3
36
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) ..................................................................................... 36
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) .................................................................................. 37
Fasset .......................................................................................................................................... 37
15. Business Best Practices
15.1
15.2
39
What Are Business Best Practices? ............................................................................................ 39
Benefits of Business Best Practices ............................................................................................ 39
16. Useful Links
16.1
33
40
Useful Links For Your Further Reading / Reference ................................................................... 40
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1. Introduction
This handbook is a detailed guide to the subject of business management. This course on “How to
Manage Your Business” has been designed to assist delegates to enhance their management and
entrepreneurial skills in the business environment. It will provide insight into how effective decision
making is an important skill in the successful management of a business.
This document will provide the reader with all the relevant information that s / he needs to know on
how to manage a business. Planning and preparing for new challenges is one step in the process of
business management. This workshop will show you how you can successfully grow your business. It
will focus on how to market professional services, effective time management in business, how to
improve your management skills, aligning your service / product with market demand, using
technology to stay competitive and practical ideas for growing your business. This handbook
highlights many of the key issues surrounding the concept of business management as they apply to
all businesses in all sectors of the economy, with emphasis on professional services and financial
services.
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2. The Changing Business Environment
2.1
Understanding the global financial crisis – what happened?
Global Recession
There are two senses of the word "recession": a less precise sense, referring broadly to "a period of
reduced economic activity", and the academic sense used most often in economics, which refers
specifically to the contraction phase of a business cycle, with two or more consecutive quarters of
negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
According to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions)
the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. US mortgage-backed securities,
which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world. A more broad based
credit boom fed a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities, which served to reinforce the
risky lending practices. The precarious financial situation was made more difficult by a sharp increase
in oil and food prices. The emergence of sub-prime loan losses in 2007 began the crisis and exposed
other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices. With loan losses mounting and the fall of Lehman
Brothers in September 15, 2008, a major panic broke out on the inter-bank loan market. As share and
housing prices declined, many large and well established investment and commercial banks in the
United States and Europe suffered huge losses and even faced bankruptcy, resulting in massive
public financial assistance.
The global recession has resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, rising unemployment and
slumping commodity prices. In December 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
declared that the United States had been in recession since December 2007. Several economists
predicted that recovery might not appear until 2011 and that the recession would be the worst since
the Great Depression of the 1930s. Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics,
once commented on this as seemingly the beginning of "a second Great Depression." The conditions
leading up to the crisis, characterised by an exorbitant rise in asset prices and associated boom in
economic demand, are considered a result of the extended period of easily available credit and
inadequate regulation and oversight.
The onset of the economic crisis took most people by surprise; however a 2009 paper identified
twelve economists and commentators who, between 2000 and 2006, predicted a recession based on
the collapse of the then-booming housing market in the United States.
Housing Bubble
By 2007, real estate bubbles were still under way in many parts of the world, especially in the United
States, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Australia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Ireland,
Poland, South Africa, Israel, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden,
Finland, Argentina, Baltic States, India, Romania, Ukraine, and China.
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UK house prices between 1975 and 2010.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in mid-2005 that "at a minimum, there's a little
'froth in the U.S. housing market and it's hard not to see that there are a lot of local bubbles".
The Economist magazine, writing at the same time, went further, saying "the worldwide rise in house
prices is the biggest bubble in history". Real estate bubbles are (by definition of the word "bubble")
followed by a price decrease (also known as a housing price crash) that can result in many owners
holding negative equity (a mortgage debt higher than the current value of the property).
A speculative bubble exists in the event of large, sustained overpricing of some class of assets. One
factor that frequently contributes to a bubble is the presence of buyers who purchase an asset based
solely on the expectation that they can later resell it at a higher price, rather than calculating the
income it will generate in the future. If there is a bubble, there is also a risk of a crash in asset prices:
market participants will go on buying only as long as they expect others to buy, and when many
decide to sell the price will fall. However, it is difficult to predict whether an asset's price actually
equals its fundamental value, so it is hard to detect bubbles reliably.
Well-known examples of bubbles (or purported bubbles) and crashes in stock prices and other asset
prices include the Dutch tulip mania, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Japanese property bubble of
the 1980s, the crash of the dot-com bubble in 2000–2001, and the now-deflating United States
housing bubble.
Some economists have claimed that the ultimate point of origin of the financial crisis of 2007–2010
can be traced back to an extremely indebted US economy. High private debt levels also impact
growth by making recessions deeper and the following recovery weaker. In the US, total debt was
then about 350% of GDP and that number is among the highest ever recorded. Robert Reich, an
American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator claims the amount of debt
in the US economy can be traced to economic inequality, assuming that middle-class wages
remained stagnant while wealth concentrated at the top, and households "pull equity from their homes
and overload on debt to maintain living standards."
Some economists argue that financial crises are caused by recessions instead of the other way
around, and that even where a financial crisis is the initial shock that sets off a recession, other
factors may be more important in prolonging the recession.
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However this is not the first global crisis and it will not be the last. Over the past few centuries there
have been many global crises and the world economy has emerged stronger and wiser.
2.2
Why does this affect me?
We may well ask, why does this affect me? Well, there is the obvious impact that this is having on the
average South African and to name but a few impacts, the soaring costs, the lack of increases or in
fact in some cases the decrease in salaries, the high inflation that gives you less every month for the
salary that you earn, the bankruptcies of people caught in the housing bubble and finding that their
properties are worth less that the value of their bonds and then having to sell as the other financial
factors are making their bond repayments unaffordable. In addition, let us consider the impact on us
as members of the professional services or as consultants in the financial services sectors.
Business Failure
The first and possibly the biggest impact has been the loss of clients due to business failure.
But why have so many business had to close their doors over the past few years. While some have
been directly impacted by the housing bubble the remainder have simply felt the effects of the global
financial crisis and been too slow to react and change to the new normal.
One of the least understood aspects of entrepreneurship is why small businesses fail, and there is a
simple reason for the confusion, however most of the evidence comes from the entrepreneurs
themselves. A close-up view of numerous business failures, including a few start-ups reveals that the
reasons for failure cited by the owners are frequently off-point, which makes sense when you think
about it. If the owners really knew what they were doing wrong, they might have been able to fix the
problem. Often, it is simply a matter of denial or of not knowing what you don't know. In many cases,
the customers -- or, I should say, ex-customers -- have a better understanding than the owners of
what wasn't working. The usual suspects that the owners tend to blame are the bank, the
government, or anyone else.
Rarely does the owner's finger point back at himself, the owner. Of course, there are cases where
something out of the owner's control has gone terribly wrong, but those instances are in the minority.
Jay Goltz published an article in the New York Times which, based on his own experiences
and observations give his top 10 reasons small businesses fail.
The list is not pretty and it is not simple. The list is also in-exhaustive.
1. The math just doesn't work. There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that
will produce a profit for the company. This, for example, would include a start-up trying to compete
against the bigger firms or companies and their economies of scale.
2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way. They may be stubborn, risk adverse or conflict
adverse. They may be perfectionist, greedy or insecure. Sometimes, you can even tell these owners
the problem, and they will recognise that you are right -- but continue to make the same mistakes over
and over.
3. Out-of-control growth. This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure -- a successful
business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are not as
profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much money in an
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attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.
4. Poor accounting. You cannot be in control of a business if you do not know what is going on. With
bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one
thing, it is a common -- and disastrous -- misconception that an outside accounting firm hired primarily
to do the taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the chief financial officer,
one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is hired.
5. Lack of a cash cushion. If we have learnt anything from this recession, it’s that business is
cyclical and that bad things may happen -- the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the
arrival of a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all put pressure on the finances of
a company. If that company is already out of cash or borrowing potential, it may not be able to
recover.
6. Operational mediocrity. There is no business owner who would describe his or her operation as
mediocre. But some companies are faring well then others. Repeat and referral business is critical for
most businesses, as is some degree of marketing.
7. Operational inefficiencies. Paying too much for rent, labour, and materials. Now more than ever,
the lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity or stomach to negotiate terms that
are reflective of today's economy may leave a company uncompetitive.
8. Dysfunctional management. Lack of focus, vision, planning, standards and everything else that
goes into good management. Throw fighting partners or unhappy relatives into the mix, and you have
a disaster.
9. The lack of a succession plan. This could refer to cases of nepotism, power struggles or
significant players being replaced by other people as a result of power play. This is one of the reasons
many family businesses do not make it to the next generation.
10. A declining market. Book stores, music stores, printing businesses and many others are dealing
with changes in technology, consumer demand, and competition from huge companies with more
buying power and advertising dollars.
‘In life, you may have forgiving friends and relatives, but entrepreneurship is rarely forgiving.
Eventually, everything shows up in the soup. If people don't like the soup, employees stop working for
you, and customers stop doing business with you. And that is why businesses fail.’ Jay Goltz
A recent study conducted in Johannesburg showed that:
Small business failure rates are as high as 63% in the first two years of trading. Small
businesses have moved from employing 18% of the South African employable population in
1998 to more than 60% today.
Currently the new entrants mainly range from people who are unemployed, retrenched or
retirees who realise they cannot survive on their pension. "They are then forced to start their
own businesses, but are not equipped to handle the rigours, and sometimes they do not have
the financial support or technical knowledge on how to run the business.
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3. How to Combat Recession
3.1
Reaction to Global Economic Crisis – Positive Attitude
South Africa seems to have been less affected by the global economic crisis and the resultant
recession than many of the other countries, such as the United States, the UK and many countries in
Europe. So let us look at some of the possible reasons for this.

The Credit Act restricted the amount of retail credit granted in the period before the collapse
thus reducing the impact of the financial crunch on the average South African.

The Sub Prime leases and the overvaluation of properties had less impact in South Africa due
to property market correction being less dramatic

The impact of the global financial crisis did however not give us a free pass and although
delayed; the effects were eventually felt and resulted in many job losses and the failure of many
businesses, both large and small.
3.2
Practical Steps to Take – Adapt Or Die
Many people have asked “when will things return to normal.” One of South Africa’s greatest
entrepreneurs said “… things will not return to how they were; this is the new Normal” Brian Joffe
We have to recognise that the market conditions and the economic climate have changed and that if
we do not change with them, we will not be relevant and will thus fail.
Businesses in the financial and professional services sector have to recognise that the type of clients
that we see emerging from the financial crisis are leaner and meaner and do not have money to
waste. Therefore, they are looking to us for added value for their spend and will be demanding lower
service fees and will be contracting for less ancillary service with more actual benefits delivered.
We will therefore have to examine the market closely to determine the products / services that are
required, promote our ability to deliver these, ensure that we are providing top quality products /
services and that these are priced correctly. We will need to examine our businesses and look closely
at how we operate, assess our allocation of resources to ensure that we are managing the staff and
the business better and that we are making use of technology where ever we can to improve our
throughput. We need to make sure that our business processes are streamlined and that our financial
administration and management are functioning effectively and efficiently.
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4. Marketing in the Professional and Financial Services
Sector?
4.1
Market research – finding new clients
How do you reach professional services buyers? This should be one of the first questions that any
professional services marketer should ask themselves. Hinge Research Institute has released a new
study that tackles that issue head on.
The question asked the over 800 buyers in the study was how they would go about finding a new
professional service firm. The results are shown in the figure below (buyers often use multiple
strategies, so the numbers add up to over 100%).
The first thing that jumps out at you is the dominance of "Network / Ask a Friend or Colleague," with
71% of buyers citing it as part of their strategy. Clearly this needs to be a central consideration for any
plan. If your potential buyers are ever to become actual clients, two conditions need to be met. First,
when buyers ask for a referral, their friends and colleagues need to know that you exist. No visibility,
no new client. Second, when they do ask about you, your reputation needs to be strong. This
combination (your reputation and your visibility) is in fact, a way of defining your brand. And without a
strong brand, it is difficult to generate new clients.
The next interesting finding, at 24%, is the group that says they already know all the service providers
that they need. And their counterparts, at 4%, are buyers who feel that they don’t need to look for
firms because “they find us.”
There is also a somewhat related group that is constrained by a structured buying process (11% of
responses). Many of these buyers hail from government entities or very large institutions. Whether or
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not these three groups of buyers have a sufficient range of potential firms from which to choose is
beside the point. They think they do, so they are not inclined to look further.
The next most prominent response is to search online, with 11% of the professional services buyers
reporting this strategy. This may come as a shock to many firms. At that level, it is as prominent as
the formal institutional buyers described above and second only to asking a friend or colleague for a
recommendation.
Now, compare online search to traditional business development techniques, such as checking with
associations (3%), tradeshows or conferences (1%), or business and trade publications (1%). Anyone
who still believes that online marketing is not relevant to professional services buyers is in for a rude
awakening.
Building Your Professional Services Brand
We know from other findings in this research study that a firm’s reputation is very important in the
selection process. We also know that most firms have low marketplace visibility. The challenge
becomes how to enhance a firm's visibility while also building its reputation.
To further complicate the picture, a firm must also strive to be found in online searches. What’s a
marketer to do?
Fortunately, there are some approaches that make sense and some that don’t. First, trying to
increase visibility without improving reputation is a waste. That is why space advertising and much
sponsorship do not produce great results.
Instead, try combining visibility with a reputation boost. That’s why speaking at a conference is a
much better strategy to reach professional services buyers than sponsoring the conference. And
writing an article in a magazine is preferable to placing an advert. It enhances your reputation and
increases your visibility.
4.2
Retaining Existing Clients – Understanding Your Clients Business To Offer What
They Need
In the past; professional firms used to have the attitude of; ‘these are my products / services and this
is how much they cost’. However the wheel has turned and the clients these days are saying “if you
don’t understand my business and provide me with what I want, then I will find someone who does”.
Some years ago, two different teams were given opportunities to prepare a presentation and pitch
same to the management of a company. The first presentation was very professional in the old dyedin-the-wool manner with graphs presented by 4 men in dark grey suits, with the message of ‘We are
the professionals, we know what you need and that is what we will be delivering.’ The second
presentation was very different, no less professional but the tone was easy going and the message
was ‘You know your business and we won’t try to tell you how to run it, we may offer suggestions on
how to do things easier or better, and we will work with you to make your business great.’ Needless to
say; the second presentation won the day, and it was simply because the presenters took time to
understand the business of the prospective client and they tailored their presentation to address the
concerns of the client.
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Service providers that want to continue to retain their clientele and possibly woo new ones must make
the effort to understand the business of their clients and provide services that will enhance those
businesses.
Nowadays, business is no longer ‘as usual’. One needs to pay attention to little details; take
something as simple as the dress code, the mode of dressing may be an important factor in a client’s
business environment. As an illustration, a certain young man involved in consulting learnt this lesson
in a hard way many years ago. He visited a clothing manufacturer in the Eastern Cape wearing a
white shirt, a jacket and tie. He was at the client’s for an audit for the whole week, and he was
scheduled to meet the MD of the company. The MD was shocked to see him in shirt and tie. The MD
of the company told him that wearing loose clothing such as a tie was plainly dangerous around
machinery, the MD”s impression was that the young audit clerk had not done his homework to know
and understand their business. The dress analogy above is to illustrate the point that your clients are
important to the success of your business. If you wish to keep your clients, then you better understand
their business, their culture and what they actually need and expect from you.
Clients want you to add value to their business. This does not mean that you do not address issues
that you find materially wrong or risky, even if you know that the controls needed are contrary to their
business culture or their desired business manner. You simply have to sell to management why they
need to comply with the recommended controls or processes.
The difficulty that most professional firms are faced with is an ever changing stream of articled clerks
and even qualified staff. Gone are the days when your staff remain with the business for 30 years or
more and become family to the clients. This becomes problematic as nothing annoys clients as much
as having the same questions asked year after year by different staff during an audit review for
instance. How many times have audit managers heard a client complain “I hope I am not paying for
the training of your staff”. The solution to this is to keep detailed permanent files on each client so that
your staff can familiarise themselves with the client’s business before commencing their audit. The
problem is of course the cost of maintaining such records and keeping them current.
A possible solution is to sell to management the benefit of keeping detailed procedures for their staff
to use as reference material to make sure they are doing things the way that management wants, and
for training of new staff. We can even come across as their best business consultant by suggesting
that we absorb some of the costs ourselves as we can use these procedures to familiarise our staff
and eliminate the frustrating questions by new audit staff at the annual audit. For instance; this can be
sold as the first step in meeting the King III requirement for a formally documented risk management
process and the formal review of the internal controls by executive management. As business
managers or entrepreneurs; it gives us the opportunity to be seen to be helping the client by
absorbing some of the costs, whereas we have enabled ourselves to better understand the client’s
business and actually generated additional work by making us the supplier of choice for their risk
management work. Thus by understanding the client’s business better, we have empowered
ourselves to better serve the client and to ensure that we retain the client into the future.
4.3
The Value Proposition – What Does Not Add Value Is Not Worth the Cost – Selling
Your Services to the Client
As can be seen in the examples above; we need to market all that we do as a benefit to the client and
its business and not just a process that they have to endure. Even when the work that we do for
clients is mandatory, we must look at how we can leverage a benefit for the client. After all, we did
find out that 71% of new clients are derived from word-of-mouth marketing.
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When we looked at the reasons why small businesses fail, we identified a declining market as a
reason for business failure. Now we may think this is more applicable to our clients than us, e.g.
Bookshops being threatened by E-Books, manual board packs versus electronic board packs. But we
ourselves are not immune. Many of the services such as accounting services are being replaced by
easy access to simple accounting software that is user friendly, and consulting / outsource
assignments are being restricted by new governance laws and regulations and conflict of interest
issues, e.g. Business Process Control Consulting or Internal Auditing Outsourcing being considered
inappropriate for a firm that also does the External Audit.
Even the annual audit that was a guaranteed process by the Company’s Act, No. 61 of 1973, is not
guaranteed by the new Company Act, No. 71 of 2008. Many businesses will not require an audit in
terms of the regulations to the Act but may only require a review. We will have to show the client that
a full audit will add value to his business and will give him the peace of mind that at least the basics
have been independently reviewed. This will require us to ensure that the manner in which we audit
does benefit the client and not just satisfy our need to comply with the law.
This issue of smaller businesses not requiring an audit is amplified by the trends over the past few
years towards Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) versus the giant enterprises.
Currently the new entrants into SMME sector mainly range from people who are unemployed,
retrenched or retirees who realise they cannot survive on their pension. They are then forced to start
their own businesses, but then there may be some of them who are not equipped to handle the
rigours, and do not have the financial support or knowledge. This could however work in the favour of
service providers as the lack of skills of the part of the entrepreneurs could open a new market for
business consultants, who do have expertise in entrepreneurship, who can then develop service
offerings for small businesses to help and train these upcoming entrepreneurs and fledgling
businesses.
It does seem therefore, that for a service provider to maximise the benefits of his / her relationship
with a client; he / she needs to be able to think ‘out of the box’ and come up with practical ways of
adding value to the client’s business.
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5. Analysing Your Business Plan
5.1
What is a business plan?
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons they are
believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain
background information about the organisation or team attempting to reach those goals.
Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer,
client, taxpayer, or larger community. When the existing business is to assume a major
change or when planning a new venture, a 3 to 5 year business plan is required, since
investors will look for their annual return in that time frame. - Wikipedia
5.2
Where are you going? – Understanding the future
The first step in making sure your business will survive and prosper into the future is to know where
you are going. Having understood your clients’ business and having identified their needs, you need
to determine which of those needs your business is going to try to satisfy.
The best way to fail is to try to provide services that you are not geared up to provide. This does not
mean that you should not be looking to diversify, but it means that you need to identify your strengths
and then to build on these as your core business offerings.
Plan your Future – but be inspirational
Analyse your
Clients
Business
Marketing &
Servicing your
Client
Understand
Their Needs
Develop your
Product /
Service
Analyse your
Strengths
Analyse your Clients’ Businesses
When you look at your clients, don’t restrict yourself to analysing the existing client base, but look
outside your normal business sphere, your comfort zone, imagine your clients of the future and then
analyse their businesses.
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There is an old adage – you will never get a second hole, if you continue to dig the same hole bigger.
So if you are an accountant to a client, look at their business and determine what other services they
may need in the future e.g. Risk Management, Internal Control Assessment, Soft Skills Training –
Ethics, Governance, etc.
Understand Their Needs
The needs of your clients must include those needs that they do not even realise they need. You must
be forward thinking, you must anticipate where your current and future clients are going and what they
are going to need to get there. A key factor in marketing is being able to anticipate the clients’ needs
before they need them.
Analyse your Strengths
To fail is to offer something that you cannot deliver. So determine which of the needs that you have
identified, you are able to provide, or would be able to provide with the proper research, staffing, or
other resources. Even simply taking on an additional client or venturing into an entirely new business
offering needs careful planning. The business needs to examine what it has been doing well to this
point to ensure that the level of service is not adversely affected, as well as analysing those areas
where the service has not been optimal to ensure that these are improved or if at an acceptable level,
that this level of service does not deteriorate.
Develop your Service / Product
To develop your service / product, you first need to decide how you are going to achieve your
business plan and then determine if you have the correct team to achieve your plan.
5.3
Deciding how to achieve your Business Plan
Now, knowing what you are able to meet the needs of your clients with your current skill set and with
your current staff, you can decide which of the additional needs that you identified, that you would
possibly want to venture into and then plan how to get there.
Additional Considerations
Your plan should not only consider staff and skills, but it needs to identify also what additional
resources will be needed, e.g. if you are planning to service a national client, you would need to
consider if that would be possible from your current base of operation, be it one or multiple locations,
and whether the best option would be to open additional offices to have a footprint in every location
that the client operates in. Whether co-sourcing or outsourcing of selected work assignments should
be considered or if the best option would be travelling and accommodation. If you are selecting travel
and accommodation, you would need to determine if the best option is to have company cars, give
staff a car allowance or if it would be better to fly and rent a car at the destination. Also the type and
location of accommodation would need to be determined as well as if the cost of travel and
accommodation would be borne directly by the client or if it needs to be categorised as ‘disbursement’
in your invoice for the client’s account.
Timing and Charge-out
Part of the plan would be funding. If your business has been quite small to date, or even if quite a
large business, the funding and cash available would have been planned to be appropriate to your
needs. Thus, any planned expansion of the business or even simply a re-direction would need to be
accompanied by a planning exercise on the funding and charge-out. Most clients, especially new
clients could be put off by the requirement of a deposit or provisional payment upfront, so the
business has to ensure that it has adequate funding to carry itself for the duration of the project or
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needs to negotiate weekly or monthly billing. Provision of additional funds will come at a cost and
even if funded from own resources, the charge-out rate would need to reflect a factor to cover the
interest charged or lost over the duration of the project
5.4
Having the correct team to achieve the plan
Once the plan has been developed and the decisions made about what services are to be delivered,
the staffing issue comes to mind. Well; there are effectively two ways to find the staff skills:

Buy the skills – The biggest issue with this approach is that while you get expert skills, they
probably may not know or understand the client’s business model and also, they might not fit in
with your current team, which can greatly disrupt the harmony in a firm.

Train up the skills – This too is a double edge sword as the person selected to be skilled up for
the new task will leave behind a gap in the area when they leave your employ. In addition, there
is no guarantee that they will master the new skills or be motivated in their new role.

There is an additional problem that can occur when a business expands or more importantly
adopts a change in direction or methodology, and that is what to do with the staff that do not fit
into the new structure and cannot be up-skilled for the new tasks to be performed.
5.5
Marketing and Servicing Your Client
It is important to note that if you are not able to market or sell your product or service effectively, then
no matter how good your product / services are; no one may ever know their worth.
How you deliver the product or service to the client is as important as the product or service itself. If
the client is not happy with the delivery and if this new process is not implemented seamlessly into the
client’s business environment, there will be a backlash and this alone could derail the entire process.
The final step in every plan is the monitoring of product or service to ensure it delivers what it
promised. No matter how much planning and care that went into the new service delivery, there is
likely to be some areas that could have been quicker, smarter, smoother, and this will then require
adjustment to the plan for the client’s implementation and for the future.
Beware of out-of-control growth. This one might be the saddest of all reasons for failure -- a
successful business that is ruined by over-expansion. This would include moving into markets that are
not as profitable, experiencing growing pains that damage the business, or borrowing too much
money in an attempt to keep growth at a particular rate. Sometimes less is more.
Moreover, it is very important that business managers to understand the need for market segregation
in order to position the business for optimal productivity / profit maximisation.
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6. Improving Your Management Skills
6.1
Identifying Your Management Skills
Management skills can be developed or learnt through training, mentoring and experience. When you
move from being a worker to a line manager, you need to develop a new set of skills, and make use
of new tools and techniques. These will help you with the key management activities of organizing,
motivating, developing and communicating with your team. Above all, learn how to delegate
effectively. However, also learn how to motivate people, develop team members, communicate
effectively with people inside and outside your team, and manage discipline effectively. And make
sure that you avoid the mistakes that many new managers make. The following guidelines will provide
an insight into what is needed to be a good manager of people’s skills:
6.2
Leadership as a Management Skill
"Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right."
– Professor Warren G. Bennis
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to
do it." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
It is important as managers to consider the following basic principles of good leadership:

The word "leadership" can bring to mind a variety of images. For example; an army officer,
charging forward to meet the enemy, a manager or director developing her company's strategy
to remain ahead of the competition. Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things.
They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about
mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organisation. For the purpose of
this discussion, our reference to leadership is transformational leadership as first proposed by
James Burns.

Choosing an appropriate leadership style in managing your team may be a daunting task,
however, depending on the requirements for the task or project at hand, how much autonomy
the individual member of the team could exercise; the manager is able to come up with the
appropriate leadership style for the team. A leadership matrix is particularly useful in this
regard. An example of a leadership matrix is displayed below for your guidance:
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(source: mindtools)


6.3
One other important area of leadership is taking on a new role as a new intake within an
organisation or moving from one department to another. Sometimes, this involves taking on a
huge responsibility. New leaders are especially vulnerable to being caught out by difficult
situations. They may inherit dysfunctional structures and procedures, or simply be too
overwhelmed by the pressures of a new role to know what to question. This is particularly true
of new leaders who are promoted from within; they may make assumptions about their
organisation based on their previous roles, they may feel loyal to previous leaders' decisions,
and they may fail to see the "bigger picture" that a leader needs. Full responsibility is an
enormous challenge to take on, and it could be overwhelming. However, leaders who plan for
this responsibility right from the start have a far greater chance of success than those who take
a more ‘laissez- faire’ approach. A new manager needs to understand his organisation’s
mission, understand the stakeholders in designing the best strategy to use in managing
stakeholders’ relation.
The decision making process is equally very important in managing any team. Decision making
is an essential leadership skill. If a manager learns how to make timely, well-considered
decisions, then s / he can lead his / her team to well-deserved success.
The Principle of Delegation
The first step to improving your management skills is to understand the need for delegation in
business management. No matter how skilled you are, there is only so much that you can achieve
working on your own. With a team behind you, you can achieve so much more: that's why it is so
important that you delegate effectively. Successful delegation starts with matching people and tasks,
so you first need to explain what your team's role and goals are. A good way of doing this is to put
together a team charter, which sets out the purpose of the team and how it will work. Not only does
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this help you get your team off to a great start, it can also be useful for bringing the team back on
track if it is veering off course. Only then will you be in a position to think about the skills, experience
and competencies within your team, and start matching people with specific tasks.
In addition, in delegation, managers need to guide against a condition referred to as ‘self
enhancement bias” which is a psychological condition in which an individual is convinced that he / she
is the only one who can produce the necessary work. There are several advantages of delegation,
however; the managers must ensure they watch out for possible pitfalls of delegation as the principles
of delegation are correctly applied within the organisation.
6.4
Motivating Your Team
Your management style is strongly influenced by your beliefs and assumptions about what motivates
members of your team: If you believe that team members dislike work, you will tend towards an
authoritarian style of management; On the other hand, if you assume that employees take pride in
doing a good job, you will tend to adopt a more participative style. There are many theories for
motivating employees; we will briefly look at two of the theories:
Theory X
Theory X assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this
encourages an authoritarian style of management. According to this view, management must actively
intervene to get things done. This style of management assumes that workers:





Dislike their work
Avoid responsibility and need to be directed
Have to be controlled, forced, and threatened to deliver what is required
Need to be supervised at every step, with controls put in place
Need to be enticed to produce results; otherwise they have no ambition or incentive to work
In view of the above; X-Type organisations tend to be top heavy, with managers and supervisors
required at every step to control workers. There is little delegation of authority and control remains
firmly centralised. Usually, you find X-Type workers in mass organisations, such as large scale
production environment, X Theory management may be required and can be unavoidable.
Theory Y
Theory Y advocates a participative style of management that is de-centralised. It assumes that
employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy working with greater
responsibility. It assumes that workers:



Take responsibility and are motivated to fulfil the goals they are given
Seek and accept responsibility and do not need much direction
Consider work as a natural part of life and solve work problems imaginatively
This more participative management style tends to be more widely applicable. In Y-Type
organisations, people at lower levels of the organisation are involved in decision making and have
more responsibility.
Comparing Theory X and Theory Y

Motivation
Theory X assumes that people dislike work; they want to avoid it and do not want to take
responsibility. Theory Y assumes that people are self-motivated, and thrive on responsibility.
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
Management Style and Control
In a Theory X organisation, management is authoritarian, and centralised control is retained,
whilst in Theory Y, the management style is participative: Management involves employees
in decision making, but retains power to implement decisions.

Work Organization
Theory X employees tend to have specialised and often repetitive work. In Theory Y, the
work tends to be organised around wider areas of skill or knowledge; Employees are also
encouraged to develop expertise and make suggestions and improvements.

Rewards and Appraisals
Theory X organisations work on a ‘carrot and stick’ basis, and performance appraisal is part
of the overall mechanisms of control and remuneration. In Theory Y organisations, appraisal
is also regular and important, but is usually a separate mechanism from organisational
controls. Theory Y organisations also give employees frequent opportunities for promotion.

Application
Although Theory X management style is widely accepted as inferior to others, it has its
place in large scale production operation and unskilled production-line work. Many of the
principles of Theory Y are widely adopted by types of organisation that value and encourage
participation. Theory Y-style management is suited to knowledge work and professional
services. Professional service organisations naturally evolve Theory Y-type practices by the
nature of their work; even highly structure knowledge work, such as call centre operations,
can benefits from Theory Y principles to encourage knowledge sharing and continuous
improvement.
6.5
Developing Your Team
Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks and abilities, and are at different
stages of their careers. Some may find that the tasks you have allocated to them are challenging, and
they may need support. Others may be "old hands" at what they are doing, and may be looking for
opportunities to stretch their skills. Either way, it is your responsibility as the business manager /
owner to develop all of your people. Your skills in this aspect of management will define your longterm success as a manager / entrepreneur. If you can help team members to become better at what
they do, you will be a manager who people aspire to work for, and you'll make a great contribution to
your organisation, too. The most effective way of developing your people is to ensure that you give
regular feedback to members of your team. Many of us are nervous of giving feedback, especially
when it has to be negative. However, if you give and receive feedback regularly, everyone's
performance will improve.
6.6
Communicating With People In Your Team
Active listening is a very important skill for managers and others to master. When you are in charge, it
can be easy to think that you know what others are going to say, or that listening is less important,
because you have thought of a solution anyway. Do not fall into this trap. Most good managers are
active listeners: it helps them detect problems early (while they are still easy to deal with), avoid costly
misunderstandings, and build trust within their teams.
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6.7
Communicating With People Outside Of Your Team
Another part of your job is to manage the way that your team interacts with other groups. Use
stakeholder analysis to identify the groups that you need to deal with. Then talk to these people to find
out and confirm expectations from both sides.
6.8
How to Manage Discipline in the Team
Discipline may be subtly different from basic feedback, because it does not always relate specifically
to the employee's work. You can give feedback on their phone manner, for example, but handling
problems with timekeeping or personal grooming may need a different approach. Obvious breaches
of the law or of company policy are easy to identify and deal with. But what of other situations? On
one hand, you do not want to react to every little thing. On the other hand, you cannot let things go
that should be dealt with.
Use these guidelines to decide whether you need to take action. If the answer to any is yes, then you
need to arrange a meeting to speak to the employee in private.
1.
2.
3.
Does the issue affect the quality of the employee's deliverable to the client (internal or
external)?
Does the issue adversely impact the cohesiveness of the team?
Does the issue unnecessarily undermine the interests of other individuals in the team?
When you are faced with a potential discipline issue, take time to collate information about the
situation, decide what you are going to do, and act. Discipline issues rarely go away of their own
accord, and they usually get worse, often causing considerable resentment amongst other team
members.
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7. Strategic Human Resources Management
7.1
What is strategic human resources management (SHRM)?
SHRM is that process of managing people in organisations in a structured and thorough manner. This
covers the fields of staffing (hiring people), retention of people, remuneration, performance
management, change management and taking care of exits from the company.
SHRM also means managing people in the form of a collective relationship between management
and employees. This approach focuses on the objectives and outcomes of the SHRM function. What
this means is that the human resources function in contemporary organisations is concerned with the
notions of people enabling, people development and a focus on making the “employment relationship”
fulfilling for both the management and employees.
7.2
Aligning SHRM with Business Objectives
Strategic Human Resource Management is the practice of aligning business strategy with that of HR
practices to achieve the strategic goals of the organisation. The aim of SHRM (Strategic Human
Resource Management) is to ensure that HR strategy is not a means but an end in itself as far as
business objectives are concerned. The idea behind SHRM is that companies must “fit” their HR
strategy within the framework of overall business objectives and hence ensure that there is alignment
between the HR practices and the strategic objectives of the organisation.
With the advent of new economy industries like IT and the mushrooming of the service sector,
organisations all over the world realized that human resources must be viewed as a source of
competitive advantage as far as capital is concerned. What this means is that the practice of SHRM is
being viewed as something that promotes the business objectives of the firms and not merely another
factor in the way the firm is managed.
The practice of SHRM demands a proactive and hands on approach by the management as well as
the HR department with regards to the entire suite of activities ranging from staffing, training and
development to mentoring and pay and performance management.
7.3
How Strategic Human Resources Management Works
If we take real world examples, many organisations in recent times have dedicated “people
managers” whose sole function is to look after the enabling and fulfilling needs of the resources. This
is a marked change from treating people as just resources to treating people as assets. For instance,
one big conglomerate once stated that people are its assets and the founding member of that
company usually says that ‘the capital of their company walks in every morning and walks out every
evening’; essentially laying emphasis on the fact that the company’s employees are the major capital
in business.
One finds that organisations tend to leverage upon the capabilities of the people employed there and
ensuring that the “human capital” is nourished and nurtured as a source of competitive advantage.
This translates into a dedicated human resources department and people managers in every group
dealing exclusively with employee issues as opposed to treating this as a line management function.
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8. Effective Time Management in Business
8.1
How To Manage Your Time Wisely
Time management is a very important skill in life. Ordinarily, people who are not good managers of
their own personal time often battle to manage time effectively in the business arena. Therefore, the
ability to utilise time wisely is an invaluable tool in business management. In the business world, time
is money and the wastage thereof can be very costly.
In any business, poor management of time will prevent the business from reaching its full potential.
The situation is even aggravated in a small business where the business owner wears many caps; s /
he is the manager, the accountant, the salesperson, IT officer etc. Many demands are made on this
individual because s / he is totally responsible for operating the business. Time is wasted doing things
that should be done in a few moments or not at all; all of these lead to poor planning and little or no
outcome. All of us have the same amount of time; the challenge is using this resource effectively. It is
practicable to use time more effectively so your business will achieve optimum performance; however;
it does take commitment, determination and a change of mind-set to begin. The best place to start
managing time better is with yourself. Resolve to manage your time and not let time manage you.
When you face the fact that you may be the cause of some of your time challenges, you are ready to
grow your business by managing your time wisely. The following are key areas in time management
that a business manager needs to pay attention to in ensuring that time as a resource in business is
fully and effectively engaged in business management:
8.2
Goal-setting
Goal setting is the basic art of deciding what you really want to accomplish. This requires setting longrange goals and allocating specific blocks of time to each. Goals should be put in writing and
reviewed frequently. To make these goals operational, a daily "to-do" list should be used. Each
workday should begin with a plan of tasks and the priority of each task. In budgeting your time,
allocate part of each day to tasks that will lead to accomplishment of your goals. That is, block out
part of your day or week for major projects to ensure that you have time to do the important things.
Goal setting is an essential factor for business success. By understanding goal setting theory, you
can effectively apply the principles to goals that you or your team members set. Locke and Latham's
research confirms the usefulness of SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable)
goal setting, and the theory continues to influence the way we measure performance today. Use
clear, challenging goals, and commit yourself to achieving them. Provide feedback on goal
performance. Take into consideration the complexity of the task. If you follow these simple rules, your
goal setting process will be much more successful, and your overall performance will improve in your
personal life as well in your business. In order for your goal to be motivational; they need to have the
following attributes: Clarity, Challenge, Commitment, Feedback and Task complexity.
8.3
Prioritisation
Prioritisation is the essential skill you need to make the very best use of your own efforts and those of
your team. It is also a skill that you need to create calmness and space in your life so that you can
focus your energy and attention on the things that really matter. It is particularly important when time
is limited and demands are seemingly unlimited. It helps you to allocate your time where it is most
needed and most wisely spent, freeing you and your team up from less important tasks that can be
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attended to later. With good prioritisation, you can bring order to chaos, massively reduce stress, and
move towards a successful conclusion. Without it, you will flounder around, drowning in competing
demands. There are many prioritisation techniques for personal and business use. For our purpose,
we shall be looking at two of those techniques which are; the Important / Urgent Matrix and the Pareto
80 / 20 rule.

The Important / Urgent Matrix helps you look at your task list, and quickly identify the
activities you should focus on. By prioritising using the matrix, you can deal with truly urgent
issues, and at the same time it will keep you working towards your important goals.

The Pareto 80 / 20 Rule is a simple technique for prioritising problem-solving work so that the
first piece of work you do resolved the greatest number of problems. It is based on the Pareto
Principle (also known as the 80 / 20 Rule) – the idea that 80% of problems may be caused by
as few as 20% of causes or that 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers. To use
Pareto Analysis, identify and list sources / problems and their causes. Then score each
problem and group them together by their cause. Then add up the score for each group.
Finally, work on finding a solution to the cause of the problems in group with the highest score.
Pareto Analysis not only shows you the most important problem to solve, it also gives you a
score showing how severe the problem is.
8.4
Managing Interruptions
Everyday interruptions at work can be a key barrier to managing your time effectively and, ultimately,
can be a barrier to your business success. Your day only has so many hours in it, and a handful of
small interruptions can rob you of the time you need to achieve your goals and be successful in your
work and life. More than this, they can break your focus, meaning that you have to spend time reengaging with the thought processes needed to successfully complete complex work. The key to
controlling interruptions is to know what they are and whether they are necessary, and to plan for
them in your daily schedule. The tips that follow will help you do that, and so prevent interruptions
from frustrating you and jeopardising your success.
Areas of focus in managing interruptions
1. Emails
2. Surfing of Internet
3. Idea Flash
4 .Disorganised office desk
5. Handling multiple projects
8.5
Procrastination
Putting off an unimportant task is not necessarily procrastination. It may just be good prioritisation.
Putting off an important task for a short period because you are feeling particularly tired is not
necessarily procrastination either, so long as you do not delay starting the task for more than a day or
so, and this is only an occasional event. If you have a genuine good reason for rescheduling
something important, then you are not necessarily procrastinating. But if you are simply “making an
excuse” because you really just do not want to do it, then you are procrastinating. Are you a
procrastinator? Check the following list to see if you as a person do exhibit at least one symptom of
procrastination.
Do you fill your day with low priority tasks from your ‘To Do List?

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




Do you read e-mails several times without starting work on them or deciding what you are
going to do with them?
Do you sit down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately go off to make a cup of
coffee or visit the bathroom?
Do you leave an item on your ‘To Do list’ for a long time, even though you know it is important?
Do you regularly say "Yes" to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do, and filling your time
with these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list?
Do you wait for the “right mood” or the “right time” to tackle the important task at hand?
How to handle procrastination
1.
Recognise and accept that you are procrastinating
2.
Critically identify the reason why you are procrastinating
3.
Adopt a practical anti- procrastination strategy for the task
4.
Take a step to actually begin the task
8.6
Scheduling
Scheduling aims to predict the future, and it has to consider many uncertainties and assumptions. As
a result, many people believe it is more of an art than a science. But whether you are planning a team
building exercise or leading a multimillion rand project, the schedule is a critical part of your efforts. It
identifies and organises project tasks into a sequence of events that create the project management
plan. A variety of inputs and tools are used in the scheduling process, all of which are designed to
help you understand your resources, your constraints, and your risks. The end result is a plan that
links events in the best way to complete the project efficiently. In project management, it is advisable
to use action plans for small projects and Gantt / schedule network analysis for big projects.
8.7
Common Time Management Challenges










Failure to prioritise
Not setting realistic goals
Ineffective scheduling scheme
Not keeping a ‘to do list’
Procrastination
Inability to manage distractions
Not taking deserving breaks
Multi-tasking
Hiding behind ‘I’m busy’ syndrome
Handling more than one’s capacity
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9. Improving the Quality of Your Service
9.1
Understanding Your Product / Service
We need to consider two aspects regarding the product / service and these are:
The Quality of the Product or Service, and

The Price of the Product or Service

9.2
Understanding Market Demand
We have discussed the decreasing demand in general for products / services due to the global
recession so it becomes imperative that we understand market demand to ensure that the product or
service that we are selling is being sought in the general market. But how do we achieve this? We
need to talk to the client.
Your client, both current and future, understand their needs best. That is their business and they have
been running it for many years so they understand the business. What we bring to the table is
knowledge of control and new methods so we need to listen to them and if we believe that we have
identified an additional need that they have not thought of, we need to sell the need to them without
alienating them. Thus understanding market demand is not just accepting what is currently desired on
the market, but it is creating a demand where one does not currently exist. If you have a product or
service that you truly believe your clients or the market in general needs what you offer, you need to
get out there and create a market by – talking to the client – Current and Prospective.
9.3
Aligning Your Product / Service with Market Demand
It is important that as professionals, we need to lose the attitude of “We Know Best” which has crept
into our profession over the past few years, and ensure that we have aligned our product and service
with the market demand that either existed or that we have created in the market place.
We need to make sure that our product / service does actually deliver exactly what the client desires,
and that it is at a competitive price. In addition, we need to remember changing markets. There is an
old cliché which states “the only constant is change” and unfortunately this is true. We need to guard
against analysis paralysis, which means that we spend so much time and effort making sure the
product / service is perfect that we price ourselves out of the market. Thus we need to reduce costs
while we still need to deliver a quality product, so we need to look at how to avoid this cost cutting
exercise becoming a quality problem. For example, in the far distant past – 80 days for an audit
assignment of analysing a business process and recommending system controls and improvements
was the norm, but these days this has been reduced to 80 hours. We need to ensure that the entire
business is aligned with the revised requirement so that we can deliver quality product / service at a
greatly competitive cost.
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10. Managing Business Operations
10.1 Aligning Business Operations with Business Objectives
It is important that the business administration is streamlined to reduce the amount of time that is
added to each project, but that does not actually add value to the project or the outcome. In the past,
vast amount of time was dedicated to documentation and file standards, including elaborate indexing
and cross referencing of the files and the findings. With the time constraints that we now face on the
projects, we need to find a simpler method to achieve this. One of the solutions to facilitate the
reduction of administration that can be investigated is the use of computerised or automated working
paper systems. Various systems are available and although the set-up of these systems and the
training of staff to use them effectively can be time consuming, this is a once off cost and greatly
reduces the time of subsequent projects.
Quality control: Some professions have introduced quality control and review standards that are both
time consuming and expensive, due to the level of the person performing them, but we need to
ensure that these are performed efficiently so that we deliver quality products / services which are
also cost effective for our business.
Operational inefficiencies: Paying too much for rent, labour, and materials. Now more than ever, the
lean companies are at an advantage. Not having the tenacity to negotiate terms that are reflective of
today's economy may leave a company uncompetitive. As much as our clients want value for money,
we need to do the same and the starting point is ensuring that unnecessary time is not wasted on
unnecessary actions. We need to eliminate any action that the business has been engaging in that is
not adding value.
10.2 Do not forget the future
However, when we are doing all this cutting-back and economising we need to bear in mind the
future. If we do not prepare for the future, we may survive the recession but may not survive the
recovery. What we mean by this is that if we do not train new upcoming staff at all, then we may find a
shortage when we start the recovery and need to expand the business.
Furthermore, if we do no socialising we may not even be aware of the up-turn when it starts and may
miss out on business opportunities.
We also need to consider quality when streamlining our administration because if we trim too much,
this could leave us in a situation that we lose control when times improve and we take our eye off the
ball to focus on expansion.
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11. Fundamental of Pricing
11.1 How do you price your services?
Pricing of professional services is not an easy task to accomplish. It is a question every business
manager or entrepreneur asks as soon as a prospect emerges. The service provider is always in the
process of adjusting the business variables to ensure that his pricing is reasonable and worth the
effort he is about to put into the service delivery required by the client. A service provider is always
engaged continuously in the balancing act of not pricing his services too highly and not pricing his
services too low. The questions then are; how do I know how much to charge for my services as a
professional? When is the price right? How high or low can I go?
To determine the best pricing model for your services and products does take a great deal of planning
and research. One also needs to consider the impact such a price change may have on current
customers and new ones especially in the light of the pricing models of competitors within your
industry. In order to determine the appropriate pricing model for your services; you need to at least
consider the following critically:
1.
2.
3.
What is the status of our services in the industry?
How much price differentiation will your clients tolerate?
What are the costs of providing the services?
Once you are able to answer the questions above to the best of your ability through market research
and analysis; you may then proceed to determine what pricing model will be appropriate for the kind
of services you provide to your clients. The following are some pricing models you may decide to
adopt in your business. You may also opt for a combination of pricing models to suit different services
or clients especially if you do have a range of services. This strategy may also be effective where you
have group differentiation for your clientele which classification may be based on other indicators
within your business model.
11.2 Pricing Models
Cost-Plus Pricing
This model is frequently used to maximise profits within the business. It entails adding up all of your
costs associated with offering a product or delivering a service and adding on a percentage for profit.
Value-Based Pricing.
This model entails setting your price for your products and services based on the perceived value to
the customer. The price to one customer may be different than the price offered to another customer.
Hourly Pricing (time and expense)
For businesses that offer services, you may choose to offer hourly pricing (time and expense) for your
services. In such a situation, you invoice the client for all expenses (such as mileage to client site,
etc.) and for each hour of work at a set hourly price depending on the services being offered.
Fixed Pricing
This model charges the client a set price for a service offered. For example, a project-based company
may charge a client a price of R 200,000 to complete a project regardless of how many hours are
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expended or how many resources are involved. In determining your fixed price model you will want to
consider the complexity of services and, on average, how much time and resources must be
committed to the project. Without a true understanding of the costs, a business can lose money on
fixed-price contracts.
Performance-Based Pricing
In performance-based pricing, you invoice your customer based on the performance of the product or
service you deliver. Such a pricing model might only be used for certain clients and in specific
situations as it requires significant agreement (in writing) between you and your client. You must
spend the time up front setting guidelines for performance-based pricing models and developing very
clear and unambiguous metrics for achievement of the objectives. If you are in a rush, or getting
pressure from the client to move forward, do not attempt performance-based pricing models.
11.3 Effective Methods of Marketing Professional Services
In addition to the methods highlighted above under-pricing models, a service provider may also look
at the following ways of marketing its services:

Productising your services

Create a strategic marketing plan

Craft a payoff line that captures the possibility of making something intangible; tangible

Use social media to generate support / leads for your business
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12. Financial Administration and Management
12.1 Accounting
Poor Accounting - You cannot be in control of a business if you do not know what is going on. With
bad numbers, or no numbers, a company is flying blind, and it happens all of the time. Why? For one
thing, it is a common -- and disastrous -- misconception that an outside accounting firm contracted
primarily to do the audit and taxes will keep watch over the business. In reality, that is the job of the
chief financial officer, one of the many hats an entrepreneur has to wear until a real one is employed.
Even If do you have an accountant that keeps your books, you still need to ensure that s / he is doing
a good job and that you have the information to run your business effectively, when you need it. Also
with the downsizing and the tightening of the belt that we have discussed, the staff that you may have
relied on to give you the data to feed the accounting system may not be readily available. Also with
the relaxation of administrative systems and controls you will need to ensure that you do not lose
control over timekeeping, that drives your charge-outs and feeds the accounting system
12.2 Cash Management
Lack of a cash cushion - If we have learnt anything from this recession, it is that business is cyclical,
unpleasant situations may arise; - the loss of an important customer or critical employee, the arrival of
a new competitor, the filing of a lawsuit. These things can all stress the finances of a company. If your
company is already out of cash and you have exhausted your borrowing potential, your business may
not survive.
As we discussed earlier, if you are experiencing a cash flow shortage, then you need to manage
billing very carefully as time and resources not billed timeously are sometimes overlooked and lost to
the business. Also we need to look at interim billing if we have a long billing interval, such as at the
end of the project, which can run into months for larger clients.
Ensuring that the debtors are collected timeously is also an issue that can affect cash flow. All our
debtors are experiencing the same financial pressures as we are and will therefore probably try to
extend or stretch their credit terms. If you are not already giving an incentive to prompt payment, e.g.
payment discount if paid within 7 days, it may become necessary to ensure prompt payment.
12.3 Business Compliance Management
With the enormous number of new laws passed in the last 10 years; we need to ensure that we have
an effective manner for monitoring which new laws have been passed and how these will affect the
business. Ignorance of the law in not an excuse and some of the new laws carry heavy penalties
should they be breached. So on-going analysis of new laws to understand the requirement for
compliance and then putting in place the necessary controls to ensure compliance is imperative.
However, this in itself presents an opportunity as this matter of compliance is also affecting all our
clients and if we do this effectively, we can leverage a business opportunity by supplying our clients
with an analysis of all new laws that affect them, derived for the work that we already need to do for
ourselves, and thus have our clients pay for the vigilance and analysis that we already need to do.
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The next step is to put in place a mechanism that will verify our compliance to the laws and
regulations that we have identified as relevant to us. If we can do this effectively for ourselves, then it
is possible to sell this mechanism to the client to use in their own businesses for compliance or to
appoint us to act as “interim compliance officers” to monitor their compliance, report any noncompliance and recommend actions to address the deviations.
12.4 Computer System Management
Most businesses cannot survive without their computer system. In fact, internationally; statistics show
that 60% of all companies that have a major IT disaster do not survive and close or never reopen their
doors. We need to ensure that a major part of the management of our IT (Information Technology)
systems is aimed at averting a disastrous loss of data or processing ability. It is important that every
business, irrespective of size should have a disaster recovery plan in case things should go wrong.
Data security has become a legal minefield due to the latest regulation dealing with protection of
personal data, which include the data that we hold on our staff and clients, suppliers and other
stakeholders. We need to delve into our systems to see exactly what data we actually hold, to assess
if we need to hold this data and to delete data which we no longer require on our system. We however
need to consider data retention requirements.
In addition, it is important to consider logical and physical access. The management of logical access
starts primarily with password control. You define a role profile and give a unique access to people
based on their role profile. An audit trail is utilised to monitor activities on the system. Logical access
should also be spelt out in the user agreement that should be signed by every staff member, stating
the rights and duties of the firm and each user for protection of passwords and assisting with logical
and physical access.
Logical access also includes access to data from outside the company premises. This has become a
bigger problem as the access to internal and e-mail has spread to almost every user, and thus
specialised protection is needed to protect the company’s computer systems and data – this is
provided by firewalls that are installed to prevent any unauthorised access to company systems.
Managing physical access includes protecting the system from attack by hackers intent on causing
harm to the system and the best protection against this type of attack is the use of anti-virus
protection. These systems are however still vulnerable as they can only protect against known viruses
and as the hackers do not relent in developing newer and nastier viruses. Therefore, the virus
definition needs to be continually updated.
Physical security of computer assets is never easy, but is complicated in professional firms where
employees take their Notebooks and peripherals with them as they travel from client to client.
Insurance for these assets is normally quite expensive as it needs to cover all risks. Thus, some firms
have placed the onus on the staff to provide proper protection, passing some of the risk on to them by
getting them to sign for the IT assets and by acknowledging their liability in signing the user
agreement which clearly states their responsibility. Others have gone the whole hog by giving the staff
computer allowances and expecting them to buy their own hardware. While this does to some extent
cover the protection issue, the problem still exists with access to company software and company
data. Also the fact that the computer belongs to the staff member does not protect firm from its liability
under the protection of personal information act.
Maintenance and protection of computer assets is a very important aspect of asset management.
Preventative maintenance is a foreign concept to many as the most common approach is “we’ll fix it
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when it breaks”. However, with computer assets this is never enough as the loss of data is quite
possible when it “breaks” and the down time will negatively impact on productivity or service delivery.
One of the challenges of small firms is the fact that majority of small firms do not have computer
rooms which are access controlled and environmentally controlled against power fluctuations,
temperature, humidity and fire. Most small firms have the server in the manager’s office or in a small
cupboard or room. This lack of protection does put the firm at risk for many types of attack or natural
disasters. While there is a cost connected to providing proper protection, it is mostly a once-off
expense and the question is “what is your computer system worth to you.”
12.5 Client Stability
While this is actually the responsibility of the client, we are often better able to assess this and to give
a heads up to their management before they notice it. Also and possibly more important to us, is that
without our clients we do not have a business.
The stability of our clients can also be a business opportunity for us as professionals for we could act
as advisors to our clients in a professional capacity in a process before the client is forced into
business rescue or bankruptcy.
Business Rescue is another business opportunity that is provided by the new Company’s Act;
however, it is not an area that should be entered into lightly and without a lot of research as the
penalties for failure could be dire.
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13. Making the Most of Information Technology
13.1 Work Smarter, Not Harder
We all have heard the saying “work smarter not harder” and one of the opportunities to do this
effectively is by using IT systems to speed-up and simplify our business processes.
As we mentioned earlier, automated working paper systems are very much part of today’s business.
Some aspects of business processes are being automated, and businesses may take advantage of
process automation to improve service delivery, reduce business expenses and enhance
professionalism. However, business growth is about clients’ relation management, therefore, the
importance of personal touch in business cannot be over emphasised. Examples of business
automation include using pre-set spreadsheets and word templates and documents to assist auditors,
use of Teammate, to mention but one, that fully automates the audit documentation process and
allows sharing of documents and files across networks and the web in relative safety and with version
and review controls built in to the software. In a decentralised environment it can save a vast amount
of traveling for reviewers, time lost in traveling to provide supervision at remote sites. Also even in a
closed office environment there are benefits in using an automated system. The use of these systems
takes time to learn and master properly but are generally well worth the effort, if the systems are
correctly set up and managed.
There are numerous other systems that can be applied to make our lives easier, such as e-mail,
which most of us could not live or operate without any more, as well as specialised systems for risk
management, asset management, knowledge management, compliance, decisions support, client
relations management, board packs, minute taking and archiving of documents.
WARNING!
“Computerising a Mess only gives you a faster Mess”
Before commencing the computerisation of any business process, you need to understand the
basics of your business process.
A number of companies have almost or totally wiped out their business by trying to computerise their
company systems without actually understanding exactly how their business operates. A computer
can only do what you tell it to do and its advantage is that it will do it exactly the same way every time
in those specific circumstances, except a lot quicker than the manual process.
13.2 Competitive Advantage
One of the main reasons why management tend to look to computerisation is that they are looking for
completive advantage. However as so many firms are computerising, especially the larger firms, it is
more of a competitive disadvantage not to computerise than an advantage. Computerisation has
come so far that it is almost not possible to compete with the large computerised companies unless
you also join in the move to computerisation.
But what does this mean to companies that do not have vast capital resources to join the
computerisation drive? Gone are the days of the Mainframe that only a select few could afford to
computerise. Nowadays, laptops, notebooks, desktops are everywhere; the move is in favour of
server technology. Now, there are servers that are much cheaper and 10-times more powerful than
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the largest mainframe of the past. Today each household has least 3 to 4 computers or computerised
devices. The smart phone has put the internet in the reach of even the simplest of people.
In fact, with the growth of internet access and social networks, not being on the Web is a distinct
disadvantage, as the marketing researches have shown that 11 % of all marketing hits are from the
Internet and although only 2% of the respondents said they derived the hit from social media, 71% are
from personal referrals and in today’s modern times, the majority of those referrals will happen via
computerised devices such as e-mails or via social networks.
Social networking is good for business. As business managers and entrepreneurs, we need to begin
to be pro- active and think ‘out of the box’ to discover practical ways of growing our businesses.
Social medial is the way of the future.
13.3 Recovering Your Investment – Making It Work For You
Making sure that the IT investment actually works for you is easier with some software solutions than
others. Your accounting or office automation software is possibly the easiest to measure as they
make a noticeable difference in time taken to complete a task. However software that aids you in
completing professional aspects of your business, such as risk management software are more
difficult to assess. It is difficult to assess the actual value derived from a negative event not occurring.
13.4 Disaster Recovery, Data Storage and Back-Up
Disasters come in many forms from a simple loss of power to total destruction of the system, but no
matter how great the impact; is the solution is the same – Plan, Prepare and Test.
Principle 5 in Chapter 5 – the Governance of Information Technology (IT) of the King III Report on
Governance for South Africa - states that IT should form an integral part of the company’s risk
management. One of the sub-sections of this segment of the report requires that:
IT Management needs to ensure that they can demonstrate adequate business resilience. It is
imperative that IT management ensures not only that they have Disaster Recovery Plans for the
Company’s IT systems, but that these are tested regularly and that they are able to demonstrate to
the management, adequate business resilience.
13.5 Internet Fraud / Computer Crime
Computer crime refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may
have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Netcrime refers to criminal
exploitation of the Internet. Cybercrimes are defined as: "Offences that are committed against
individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to intentionally harm the reputation of the
victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly, using modern
telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms, emails, notice boards and groups) and
mobile phones (SMS / MMS)". Issues surrounding this type of crime have become high-profile,
particularly those surrounding cracking, copyright infringement, child pornography, and child
grooming. There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is lost or intercepted,
lawfully or otherwise.
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It is natural that you would want to avoid being such a victim, and there are a number of things you
can do to protect yourself and your business. If you use a computer, you are vulnerable to malware.
And if you are vulnerable to malware, you are enabling crime on a mass scale.
Malware refers to viruses; trojans, worms and other software that get onto your computer without you
being aware they are there. Back in the early part of the century, most of the people who wrote the
destructive programs did it just for the fun of it. The people writing the software found it amusing to
write a program that exploited security flaws just to see how far it could spread.
Today the incentive for making such software is generally more sinister. In some cases, a piece of
malware will pretend to be a legitimate piece of software, and will ask you for money to remove it.
Never, ever give money for programs you do not remember buying.
Not all malware tries to extract money from you directly; many simply embed themselves into your
computer in order to make use of it. This sort of network is referred to as a botnet, and is a key tool of
the trade for a number of Internet crimes. Black-hat hackers may intend to launch an attack against a
government or institution, and will use a network of compromised machines to do so.
Whatever the motivation, such software is a drain on your computer’s resources so it is best to be
protected against it. A note of warning is not to download software from sites you are not sure you can
trust, regardless of what operating system you run. Avoid pirated software, it may seem like a good
way to save money, but frequently you are also getting some malware thrown in.
Be careful not to open a file or download an attachment from an unknown source. This is to avoid
compromising your system.
13.6 Identity Theft
Identity theft easily makes the list of the top five computer crimes. All over the world, there are millions of
victims of identity theft every year.
The concept is simple; someone gains access to your business or personal information and uses it for their
own benefit. This could range from a black-hat hacker stealing your online banking account login and
password to getting access to your identity number and using; pretending to be you. Such people can make
themselves a lot of money with your personal information, and destroy your credit rating in the process.
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14. Available Business Support for SMMES
Over the years, many large corporations or enterprises have restructured and downsized. In the same
light; small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) have come to play an increasingly important role
in South Africa's economy and development.
Research has shown that SMME sector contribute over 60% to the GDP which means that
approximately half of the people in formal employment are employed by SMMEs. To this end; SMMEs
have received significant attention and investment, ranging from the establishment of state-initiated
projects to supportive legislation, a variety of funding institutions and government incentives through
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The National Small Business Act, passed in 1996,
helped to establish many of the supportive structures now in place.
The following are some of the governmental and non- governmental organisations offering financial
and technical business support to SMMEs:
14.1 Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP)
The Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) is a cost-sharing grant offered to
black-owned small enterprises to assist them to improve their competitiveness and sustainability to
become part of the mainstream economy and create employment.
Incubation Support Programme (ISP)
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) initiated the Incubation Support Programme (ISP) to
develop incubators and create successful enterprises with the potential to revitalise communities and
strengthen local and national economies. In continuing to strengthen economic development through
broadening participation in the economy, the ISP aims to ensure that small, micro and medium
enterprises (SMMEs) graduate into the mainstream economy through the support provided by the
incubators. The ISP is one of the support measures to encourage partnerships in which big business
assists SMMEs with skills transfer, enterprise development, supplier development and marketing
opportunities.
Seda Technology Programme (STP)
Seda Technology Programme (STP) is a division of Seda (Small Enterprise Development Agency)
focusing on technology business incubation, quality and standards and technology transfer services
and support to small enterprises.
Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII)
The Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII) is designed to promote technology
development in South Africa’s industry, through the provision of financial assistance for the
development of innovative products and / or processes.
Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP)
The Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) is a partnership programme
funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and managed by the National Research
Foundation (NRF). On a cost-sharing basis with industry, THRIP supports science, engineering and
technology research collaborations focused on addressing the technology needs of participating firms
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and encouraging the development and mobility of research personnel and students among
participating organisations.
For general queries, please contact the dti Customer Contact Centre
Working Hours: Monday – Friday, from 08h00 until 17h00
National callers: 0861 843 384
Email: contactus@dti.gov.za
14.2 Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)
The Development Fund Department in IDC support projects that will eventually contribute to the
development of the economy through:

Job creation;

Developing small and medium enterprises;

Developing rural areas and underdeveloped provinces and regions; and

Boosting Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment and empowering people who were
previously excluded from participating in the economy.
The funds IDC currently manages are:

Gro-E Scheme

Risk Capital Facility Programme

Support Programme for Industrial Innovation

Transformation and Entrepreneurship Scheme

Green Energy Efficiency Fund

Women Entrepreneurial Fund

Distressed Fund

Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme
Funding criteria
Projects must show economic viability and financial sustainability; must fit into the IDC's mandated
sectors; must meet the empowerment limits set by the particular fund; and should not be less that R1million.
Contact details:
19 Fredman Drive, Sandown
PO Box 784055
Sandton, 2146
Tel: 011 269 3000
Fax: 011 269 3116
Regional offices in Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Rustenburg, Durban, East London, Mpumalanga,
Kimberley and Cape Town
14.3 Fasset
Fasset is the Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) for Finance, Accounting, Management
Consulting and other Financial Services. The objective of Fasset is to influence the effective operation
of the labour market, through effective skills development, so as to ensure the appropriate supply of
competent labour necessary to compete in the global economy. Fasset is able to discharge this
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responsibility through learnerships and also in collaboration with employers. Fasset in compliance
with the Skills Development Act seeks to do the following:
Implement a sector skill plan by establishing learnerships, approving and monitoring workplace skills
plans, allocating grants to employers, education and training service providers and employees.
Facilitate the involvement of the relevant government departments in the activities of Fasset in order
to promote the training in SMMEs to enable them to qualify for public contracts.
The support it currently provides is:

Lifelong Learning Events

Development Projects

Mandatory Grant

Discretionary Grants:
Learnership Cash Grant
Pivotal Grant
Assessor and Moderator Grant
National Student Financial Aid Loan Repayment Grant
Application criteria
Eligibility requirements are provided on Fasset’s website.
Contact details
Building 3, Ground Floor, 299 Pendoring Road, Blackheath
PO Box 6801, Cresta, 2118
Phone: (011) 476 8570
Fax: (011) 476 5756
Call Centre: 086 101 0001
Fasset Fraud Hotline: 0800 205 054
Website: www.fasset.org.za
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15. Business Best Practices
15.1 What Are Business Best Practices?
The following are tools or guidelines for effective benchmarking and improvement in business
management which are applicable in any business venture or service sector. Many businesses adopt
specific business best practices in their industries to distinguish themselves from the competitors.
They become an integral part of your business in service delivery to your clients. They may even be
translated into your core values as an organisation.
Best practice is a feature of accredited management standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14001. For
any business best practice to work in your business; it is important that you design it to fit into your
business processes and systems. Such best practices must be woven into the business corporate
culture.
Some researchers in best practices have argued that the best approach to implementing them is to
ensure that the practices satisfy the following: That it is ‘a program, activity or strategy that has
worked within one organisation and shows promise during its early stages for becoming a best
practice with long term sustainable impact.
It is important that practice have some objective indication for claiming effectiveness and must have
the potential for replication among other organisations.
15.2 Benefits of Business Best Practices
Benefits of best practices cannot be overemphasised for small businesses that most times may not be
financially buoyant to commit to new product development or the discovery of new technology.
However, they can still take advantage of practices that are readily available in their industries which
have been tested and tried by the big corporates and which have been proven to work. Benefits of
best practices include improvement of performance, saving cost and avoiding costly mistakes.
Borrowing best practices even from your competitors can help build your brand and grow your
business, what is important is your innate ability as a business manager / entrepreneur to take in
those practices and ‘make them your idea’ in your ingenuity to make them relevant in your service
offerings and the delivery of same to your clientele. The following are basic guidelines to adopting a
business practice:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Identify one business practice or service you want to improve
Identify a key performance indicator
Identify businesses within and outside your industry that may have the specific best practice
you are seeking
Collect and collate information on the successful best practices of the companies
Modify the best practices to suit your business situation
Implement the process
Measure your performance over a period of time
Incorporate the best practice into your corporate culture
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16. Useful Links
16.1 Useful Links For Your Further Reading / Reference
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
www.fasset.gov.za
www.mindtools.com
www.businessballs.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.strategy-business.com
www.sigmamarketing.com
www.forbes.com
www.dti.gov.za
www.idc.co.za
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