Setting Up Your Pool of Business Advisers

Find people who will make your business decisions more effective. Follow the effective ways of setting up your pool of advisers.

Having finance experts give their ‘say’ on your business decisions can make a difference. So when building your pool of advisers, keep in mind the people who can truly analyse and contribute to the business. It is also important to establish harmonious relationships with your colleagues. While establishing rapport can improve the communication, co-workers must also perform professionally while at work.

Below are some helpful points to consider when choosing the members of your management core.

• Ask around. Referrals still serve as the best testimonies when looking for finance analysts and advisers. You can learn from the good choices (or mistakes) of the business owners around you. Ask your friends who have hired accountants, auditors or lawyers. They can give you an idea of who to look for and who to avoid. You can also ask one of your advisers about their colleagues who may be fit for the job. Aside from having a guarantor, you can also be certain that they can work efficiently together.
• Research. There are also instances when there are no available finance advisers within your reach. This is the time you can seek the help of professional head hunters and industry websites. You may hire someone that is totally new in your world with their credentials compensating the lack of familiarity. Make the most of modern technology by using social and business sites that can lead you to the perfect candidates.
• Communicate. Once you have narrowed the candidates, it is time to make some calls. Set up a formal meeting with the prospective advisers. This initial consultation should be free of charge. The first meeting is the opportunity of both parties (you and your prospective adviser) to plan and to come up with schemes on how the operations will be. These include the schedule of consultations, the frequency of consultations and the work to be performed by either party. This is also the time for the owner to introduce the firm so that the adviser will have a better view of the company.
• Ask questions. Aside from planning, both parties must ask questions. Some of the questions that must be addressed this early include fees and commissions (if any). Money is a sensitive topic especially during initial meetings but it must be addressed early on. It is also important to ask the potential advisers of their other affiliations. There may be cases when a conflict of interest may arise so it is best that both parties are aware. Even the fees charged by the advisers should be asked and finalized during this meeting.

Your pool of advisers will greatly help you in making your business decisions. As a result, you must ensure that you will be hiring effective and capable individuals that will contribute to the growth of the company. The future of your company lies in their hands therefore choosing them must be done critically and objectively.

To be a good entrepreneur, it is basic knowledge that we must know the maintaining cost of our business. Knowing the exact amount will not suffice here; but rather, we are talking about knowing the purpose and functions of each cent that we spend as overhead cost. Likewise, in order for us to become really successful entrepreneurs, we must also know how to cut on our overhead costs without sacrificing the operations and production performance of our business. How can we do this?

It is simple. It is just matter of knowing the marginal utility of each dollar we spend in our business. Knowing each marginal value each dollar gives will give us the insight into which is the best invested to profit ratio for our firm.

To further illustrate the point, let us take into consideration a business  that operates with a maximum number of employees. Most of the time, because of the diminishing value of labor, there is always a surplus of labor value that you pay without getting the optimal marginal value for it. In this case, you might want to shift into a pay per action system. Whereas, for example, a professional will be paid not in the salary system but based on the type and frequency of the services that he renders. This will cut the overhead cost for you by eliminating the unwanted labor salary costs.

Another strategy that you can employ is to cut the interest on your loaned capital. This can be done by using bank loans as capital source instead of credit cards whenever it is possible. This will cut the interest charge for credit cards because their interest rates are generally higher than bank loans, albeit readily available for short purchases.

Trying to ride with the marketing tide can also be one the things that could effectively cut your costs. This can be in the form of volunteer work for a church-based organization so that your company will have good publicity without actually paying for it. Another strategy is to ride with the popularity of the bigger players by affiliating your company with them. In doing so, just make sure that this will not compromise the identity of your company. A good publicity shot can give you the word-of-mouth boost that effectively cuts down your costs and even increases your income.

Planning ahead is also a good form of cost cutting. Buying in bulk and placing your purchase orders earlier can effectively cut your material costs. Furthermore, the other form of materials cost-cutting is by establishing a bidding system to the suppliers in the locality. In this way, these contractors will try to win your contract by deliberately lowering the price of their goods and services.

There are a lot of ways to survive in the business just by trying and playing every card that you can play; and cost cutting is definitely one of them. As a business owner, you just need to make sure that cutting your costs will not affect your quality of work. Thus, you still can deliver quality products and services to your customers.