Main Idea
Do you or your spouse do a spring cleaning at home? Why? As part of the spring cleaning, do you pitch stuff that has accumulated? How did it accumulate? Sometimes it just seems to show up, especially with kids. When was the last time that you went through your business and pitched the stuff that was not working? This could be customers, product lines, systems, and maybe employees.
Expansion of Idea
The idea of abandoning something such as customers seems like a stupid idea on the surface. We are trying to grow our business and yet I am suggesting that maybe you should abandon something that is important to you. What I am really saying is that we should see what is no longer productive. If it can be fixed, that is fine. But sometimes, it just needs to be let go. I know I have clients that have actually cost me money in the past, not to mention a lot of wasted time. And those customers were typically ones that were slow in paying bills and eventually will lead to bad debts. I could have used that time to better serve my other clients, train employees, develop systems, take a vacation, etc. I know that when I have severed relationships with customers in the past, it has not cost me money. On the contrary, my business runs smoother and is more profitable.
Areas to Look At
Customer profitability analysis
Priorities & Goals
Product and vendor profitability
Systems
Business plans
Changing business dynamics
Feedback and accountability