Benchmarking

Have you ever wondered how your business is performing compared to your competitors? Are you spending too much on advertising? Are you paying too much rent? Are your staff costs too high? What is the average bottom line of your competitors?

Survival in today's business climate requires you to spend more time working ON your business rather than working IN the business. It's also important to know what is working in your business and what needs working on. This is where benchmarks can help you.

What is Benchmarking?

Benchmarking is a way of assessing your business' performance by comparison. Most businesses compare financial results with budgets and history - usually last month or last year. But all these comparisons are internal.

On the other hand benchmarking compares your performance with others in your industry or related industries, so that you can measure yourself against the best, average and poorer performers. Benchmarking also allows you to assess where other businesses are doing things differently which may help you to improve your own business practices and results. We generate comparative reports and graphs that are easy to understand and we spend time with you making sure that you understand your industry averages and analysis.

Benchmarking Characteristics

You can benchmark your business against a variety of characteristics including:

• sales and turnover
• profitability
• overheads
• key performance indicators such as Gross Profit, Wages to Turnover and Net Profit
• pricing structures and fees
• number of customers
• staff turnover

Benchmarking is of limited value unless you use the results to improve your business. Having identified where there are weaknesses in your business, the next step is to make changes to strengthen those areas.

All business owners seek to recession proof their business and improve their profitability. The combination of value-added consulting with business intelligence software is the solution because it will produce an action plan to improve your profitability.

We primarily work with committed and ambitious business owners who recognise the importance of marketing and are willing to invest in their business. They are prepared to work hard but they also want to work smarter. If you’re looking to make your business more profitable, valuable and saleable contact us today.

We also invite you to book a free, one hour introductory consultation to discuss your business needs. You can expect practical business, tax, marketing and financial advice designed to help you accelerate your business success. To book a time, call us today on (03) 9383 2700 or complete your details in the box at the top of this page.

Linda McGowan - Strategies & Solutions for Business Owners