The Business System
Six areas decide how a business performs.
The Business System is the methodology behind my advisory work. It looks at a business as one connected system, finds the area holding it back and fixes things in the right order.
Why a system
Fix one area and the constraint moves.
Most owners work on whatever is loudest this month. Leads dry up, so marketing gets attention. Sales fall, so the sales team gets training. A key person resigns, so leadership suddenly matters.
Each fix helps for a while, then the pressure shows up somewhere else. That is because the areas are connected:
- Fix marketing and sales capacity becomes the constraint.
- Fix sales and delivery becomes the constraint.
- Fix delivery and operations becomes the constraint.
- Build a team and leadership becomes the constraint.
The Business System looks at all six areas together, so effort goes where it will make the biggest difference.
The six core areas
Where business performance comes from.
Each area comes with the questions I ask when reviewing a business.
Marketing
How demand gets created, and whether the right customers arrive predictably or by accident.
- Who is the business for, and why should they choose it?
- Does marketing produce a steady flow of the right enquiries?
Sales
How demand becomes revenue, and how much opportunity is lost between enquiry and signed client.
- Is there a clear sales process the whole team follows?
- How many good opportunities are lost to slow or missing follow-up?
Delivery
What customers actually receive, and whether it holds up as volume grows.
- Do customers get the same experience every time?
- Will delivery hold up if sales double?
Operations & Systems
How work gets done consistently without the owner standing over it.
- Is the work documented, or does it live in people's heads?
- What still needs the owner to happen?
Leadership & People
Who does the work, how they are led and what they are held accountable for.
- Does every role have clear outcomes and an owner?
- Are leaders developing people or doing the work themselves?
Financials & Growth
What the numbers say, what they will fund and where growth should come from next.
- Which numbers does the owner watch each week?
- Is growth profitable, and what will fund the next stage?
How it is used
Review, prioritise, improve, repeat.
- Review. Look at the business across all six areas to see how each one is performing.
- Find the constraint. Identify the area that is limiting everything else right now.
- Prioritise. Decide what to change first, and what can wait.
- Improve. Make the changes, with clear owners and follow-through.
- Repeat. Review again as the business moves and the next constraint appears.
Put it to work
Apply the system to your business.
In advisory, I use the Business System to review your business, agree the priorities with you and work through them together.
Prefer to learn the methodology yourself? Courses and business education are available through Inner Results ↗.