I took over a business in October 2010 and in that month it made sales of £126,000, whereas in the last month we acheived £271,000!

I acheived this by applying some of the 7 ways to grow a business and, just in case you are reading this and thinking turnover is all very well, it is not just about turnover, as within this larger turnover figure, I have increased prices also (sometimes by 40-50%) to make the business more profitable also.

I am looking at putting together a business seminar on how firstly to go about buying a business and then on if you have one, how to grow it by applying the 7 ways to grow a business and will be titled ‘Success in business’.

If you are in the UK and are interested in these business seminars please post a comment on this article or email me at info@in-business.org.uk.

Good luck with your business in the present economic situation.

If you are a business owner and looking for a good business development system you might be wondering what to look for.

This article is aimed at helping you make that decision, by firstly explaining what we understand by ‘Business Development’.

So what is Business Development?

- It involves profit improvement or profit increase.

- It involves improving business processes in order to reduce costs.

- It involves looking at the systems within the business and then reviewing ways of improving those systems together with adding in more and better systems.

- It means looking at the involvement of the business owners and how to help make them less involved in the day-to-day running of the business and of how to make the business less dependent on the owners, thereby making the business more valuable.

- Essentially business development is about creating value from an already existing business both in terms of profits and in terms of shareholder value.

Now that we have defined business development what is a business development system?

Simply answered it is a system that would help a business owner look at all or some of the above areas and one that is designed to help focus on different aspects of the business.

Some of the process might involve using business performance management software, whilst others might include employing business consultants or specialists in this field.

One important aspect never to be overlooked is the involvement of the employees of the business, as they are the ones on the ‘front-line’ as it were and possibly more importantly, are the ones that will be operating the systems to be implemented.

Web business development is at the top of the list of things to get right with your business and even today it amazes how many businesses still operate without a website or with one that does not work.

The balance to get right with any website is the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the design of the site so that it looks pleasing to the eye.

So to optimize your website for search terms for your business you need to incorporate those words on your pages, in the title and in the description. Web Business Development is an ongoing process – so even if you have optimized once you will need to keep working on your site. One important side to website development is link building as this is one aspect of SEO that all search engines take account of.

Using blogs to build links is one good method as this can build ‘link-power’ if the links are ‘follow’ links, but even if they are not then you will help to build your Alexa rank by having people visiting your site from as many places as possible.

Napoleon Hill talks about the wisdom the billionaire Andrew Carnegie shared with him some hundred years ago.

Napoleon Hill talks about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie

It is worth listening to this video and making notes about how to think yourself into a better and richer life,or as Napoleon Hill put it – ‘Think and Grow Rich’!

Business Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis or SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture.

A business can use a SWOT analysis for the business as a whole of an individual venture and by using a SWOT analysis helps a business to focus on that project in such a way that highlights both sides and not just the upside.

This technique was originally developed by Stanford University by taking data from Fortune 500 companies and accredited to Albert Humphrey.

The analysis is designed to identify both internal and external factors that affect your business or the venture and is an extremely powerful planning tool.

For a SWOT analysis template tool in PDF format for you to use for your business. A SWOT analysis can be used for setting up a business, buying a business, starting a new project, launching a new product or service and many more reasons. They are a relatively simple thing to complete and work by getting you to think carefully about all sides of the project, both favourable and unfavourable, at hand.

When you consider the analysis keep in mind the following:

Strengths: The attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objectives of the venture.
Weaknesses: The attributes of the person or company that are potentially harmful to achieving the objectives of the project.
Opportunities: Any external conditions that would be helpful to achieve the objectives of the venture.
Threats: All the identified external conditions which could be damaging to the objectives of the project.

Free sample SWOT analysis tool (pdf format)

There are many business performance management software products out there and each working in a different way, so depending upon what you are looking to do will depend upon which software product you buy.

If you are looking for business performance in terms of identifying your key performance indicators and your key profit drivers then Bowraven’s Increase Profit Software is the ideal product for your business.

As with having a business plan, having accurate and appropriate business intelligence is critical in the attainment of both the short- and long-term goals of a business.

Having a piece of software that helps to make you focus on data about customers, how much they spend, how many customers you gain each year and how many you lose. How often do your customers return to your business, for example is another crucial statistic to give an enterprise the ability to make the best decisions to ensure their present and future success – to make sure the profits are maximised.

Business performance management software that is designed to increase your businesses performance and one of the key steps down the business development process.

Small business software is an essential part of and successful business aligned to identifying and monitoring your key performance indicators.

Small business software is an essential tool for any business and we have two examples of excellent software designed for good business management.

Business management software would include forecasting software and business software designed to improve profits together with having a good business plan, which does not necessarily have to be produced using software.

Forecasting software

Cash Forecaster is great easy to use small business software designed for cash flow and profit planning. If your small business needs a quick projection for the next 12 months then you could purchase the Basic Version.

However, if you are looking for some longer-term financial projections then other versions will forecast for three, five and seven years forward.

It is important to have an excellent tool to project those cash flow highs and lows that running a small business has.

Many small business owners think to use forecasting software only at a time when they are looking to raise finance or to borrow from a bank, but this is not the case. All small businesses should have a business plan with a detailed cash flow forecast attached.

Profit improvement software

Another element of running a successful business is to manage the profits and to work on ways to increase those profits. Understanding the business Key Performance Indicators and the 7 ways to grow the business is half of the journey to having a truly successful and profitable business.

Understanding how to increase business profits aligned to projecting profit and cash flows of your business will be like having a Satnav (GPS) to direct your journey to a chosen destination.

This might sound a little abstract, but if you understand the importance of using an efficient tool for your car journeys, i.e. a Satnav (GPS), so that you do not waste time getting lost on the way, save fuel and arrive on time, then you will understand how important it is also to have the rights small business management software too. By having the right small business software, your business will not get lost on the way, save money and arrive on time at your chosen profitability level!

The business development process is important for any business to begin, but unfortunately one that not enough businesses start!

If you have a business and you are considering the business development process for your business, you might be wondering where to start – this article is to help you with your first steps to a successful development process.

The way I see any business development process is in two parts, with the first one being to increase business profitability, and the second to make the business less dependent upon the owners of the business. Both of these steps will make your business more valuable and will undoubtedly make your business a much better business to have.

Step 1 – Increase business profits
The best way to start this process is to firstly understand the 7 ways to grow a business, which includes getting more out of your existing customers by getting them to return to your company more often and in getting them to spend more when they visit. If you, as a business owner, can begin to focus on the profit drivers of your business and in understanding your Key Performance Indicators, you will then be able target profit increases.

Step 2 – make yourself redundant
This is an essential step to making your business more valuable because by making the business less dependent upon you (the owners) the business is a much more valuable proposition to would-be buyers. The reason for this is several-fold, and one mistake that many business owners make is to have significant relationships with the clients of the business, thereby tying them to the business and making it more of a risk when the business is sold to the new owners. So if the business owner puts distance between him or her and the customers this will remove the risk and help to add value to the business.

Another mistake is where the business owner remains involved with the areas of the business that require certain key skills. At the point the business is put on the market for sale and the owner is still involve with these key skill areas, this will require the potential purchasers to have those same skills to replace the owners at the point of sale, thereby reducing the value of the business.

If you begin these two steps on your business development process you will be happy you started.

Should a new business have a startup business plan?

All businesses should have a business plan and new startup businesses are no exception. When you first start out it is not easy to know how to write a business plan, but you can get software to help you with this or you can ask your accountant, or simply search the Internet for guidance on writing a business plan.

A startup business plan is not really any different from a business plan for an established business and has the same function – i.e. to give the business direction.

By having a direction for the business in the form of a business plan you will know where the business is heading – and the research shows that businesses with a plan are less likely to fail!

If you are looking for startup finance for your new business from a bank, you will asked to produce a plan together with a cash flow forecast for your business, before they will consider advancing the money. So why not do this anyway even where you are not looking for funding.

Most business owners still ‘Work in’ their businesses when instead they should be aiming towards ‘Working on’ them.

So what is ‘Working In’ a business?

‘Working In’ a business is when the owner is doing the day-to-day stuff that the staff should be doing, or put another way, if the staff are not doing it or do not have the time then they should be or higher more staff.

If you are getting involved in speaking with customers, answering the telephone, raising the invoices, paying the bills and other work within the business then you are not being efficient with your time.

What is ‘Working On’ a business?

‘Working On’ a business is when you get involved in the business planning and strategy behind what your company is all about. It is about planning where the company is heading and essentially relates to the ‘Bigger Picture’. As a business owner you should be looking at whether or not you expand the business organically or by acquisition; How you go about increasing business value; and on the overall business strategy for growth.

Creating business value

Where business owners stop working in the business and focus on the strategy, the business will become more valuable as a result. A business that is less dependent upon the owner for the day-to-day operations is far more attractive to investors and more likely to sell; you will have more potential business buyers interested in your company.