Don’t Wait to Ask for Advice

What do Canada’s most successful businesses do differently than the less successful businesses? Why do even successful businesses run into financial difficulties that, if unresolved, can lead to failure?

These are two questions that the article – The Five Do’s and Five Don’ts of Successful Businesses – written by Business Development Bank of Canada was trying to answer. Of the ten points outlined in the article, two especially seem critical to any organization’s success.

They are: “DO ask for outside advice” and “DON’T wait too long to get help.”

As accountants and business advisors, it is our job to help our customers make critical decisions and set the direction and strategy for their organizations. But how can we be experts in all things? Simply put, we cannot – as the article says, “It is virtually impossible for any one person or group of managers to have the best knowledge in every situation.”

Another important question is: How can we effectively assist the management of our customers’ organizations without seeking assistance in our own weak areas?

According to the article, a large majority of companies that are classified as successful use outside advice significantly earlier and more often. The managers of these companies have advisory boards and consultants to fill in the weak areas of the management’s skill set, providing the company’s management team with sound advice based on years of knowledge. Improved knowledge leads to improved decision making, which leads to more success.

If your customers’ accounting and finance skills are weak, they hire us as expert accountants. However, if our customers’ operations or system processes are weak, do we help them hire other consultants in those areas or try to handle it ourselves, even though those are not our areas of expertise? Or do we choose not to help the customer at all in these areas?

My consulting firm – full of accountants and management consultants – hires an expert marketing company called Leading Results, Inc. They assist us with our marketing functions because our management team simply didn’t have the marketing expertise to take us to the next level; working with Leading Results allows us to handle our marketing like pros. We are proof that seeking outside advice is beneficial – our firm continues to grow even though the economy is not.

Therefore, look at your customers’ management teams. In what areas are they weak and could benefit from outside assistance? Don’t wait until the company is in serious distress before you reach out to help them yourselves or get another expert who can help them. It is critical that we assist our customers in getting access to the skills they require so their management can make better decisions in a timelier fashion.

If our customers are successful, we are successful, so let’s help our customers join the ranks of successful companies and ensure they get the help they need when they need it. We will all win for it.

Want to talk more about this? Contact us today.