What is Success?
Ever wondered why a restaurant you don’t really believe in or enjoy visiting is always packed with customers, day in day out, while your very own favourite spot doesn’t enjoy anywhere near the same loyalty? The former may even be more expensive and a lot fussier, yet people don’t seem to change their minds or back it down. Why just won’t they? To make this more apparent, we are referring to two restaurants of the same type (i.e., local businesses), thus comparing “apples with apples”, because comparing a franchise to a local business would be disproportionate and unfair.
Success on a personal level in life may come in many ways and forms. It acquires different meanings and essences for everyone. In business, however, it consists of a rather more standardised set of trends. At business level, there is no doubt that success as a prerequisite almost always must involve the ability for an entrepreneur or owner of a business to guide the way to continuously and consistently generating net profits and positive cash flows, needless to mention the quality of products/services and a good reputation.
Overall, business success is not usually achieved by adopting one straightforward procedure. It entails a series of efforts, requirements and tick boxes for the above main targets to be fulfilled. Sometimes, even the element of luck for a business which is prepared to take its educated risks and chances, plays its own superficial role.
Despite being a mediocre place in some people’s eyes, the restaurant in our example would be considered a successful business, conditional of course upon translating its customer loyalty, through performance, into results. For such loyalty to exist, the restaurant must be doing at least something right on a regular basis in the first place. There is no doubt that a number of tick boxes are being filled in. These possibly being a consistent customer service, a decent food and beverage quality through the years, a friendly and clean environment and a professional philosophy, maintaining a defined identity and targeting the right audience. It might also be placed at a prime location, too. It could also be a combination of any of the above.
The Big Picture:
Of course, the “food and beverage” sector is just one of many. Criteria and tick boxes to achieve success often have common trends between industries and sectors, although there are unique characteristics depending on the nature of the business and the products/services on offer. Our experience through the years has taught us that at least the following elements are a must-have for a business to be successful in the long run:
- Be active in a sector where the products/services on offer are met by adequate demand levels (selling the right product/service – be active in the right market at the right time).
- Consist of a capable Management Team in terms of sufficient knowledge, an entrepreneurial mindset and interpersonal skills, able to set goals and identify and implement accurate and suitable short-term and long-term strategies to accomplish these.
- Develop, nourish and communicate a common vision and story to all members of the Team.
- Remain flexible to changing and adapting with times and technological advancements, while keeping true to the Company’s initial values.
Our experience in Cyprus has also shown that, more often than not, family-owned businesses are made up of shareholders working at core positions in the business, who might have mastered the technical aspect of their profession through the years, although still lack a deep (or even basic) understanding of the concepts of Corporate Governance, analysing Financial/Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the essence of Strategic and Succession Planning. In other words, they are not Managers.
Is There a One-Size Fits All Solution?
Such issues may exist in any business, irrespective of the spectrum of activities it is engaged in. Solutions may sometimes be simple, but they may also be tough, challenging, and may often require radical and urgent actions, depending on how serious the problems are. Examples of corporate actions to that effect could be to seek advice from a professional business consultancy firm, dedicated to facilitating such procedures. Another option could be to introduce alone some newly appointed (or not), capable members at different Managerial positions within the firm, where the issues have been identified.
Nevertheless, for a small or medium sized Company to carry alone from within such process of identifying weaknesses and then advise people in charge to step down, only for them to be replaced by new members and/or swap roles, is an unusual event. It is even more rare if it’s not part of the advice coming from a dedicated third party, appointed to consult on the matter. This is because decisions made solely by business owners themselves may lack objectiveness. It takes a whole lot of self-awareness, acceptance of the situation, courage, determination and effort to actually change the situation around. Also, to aim for the right people for certain positions, rather than assigning these to favourites / relatives.
The above, however, are just a general set of examples of the frequent challenges which businesses in Cyprus are facing in their everyday struggle for a successful place in the free market economy. But such issues don’t just affect businesses in Cyprus. The discussion could be endless if not linked to the case of a specific Company, as there are infinite possibilities and parameters affecting the performance, sustainability and viability of a business in today’s world.
The critical part is for all stakeholders to understand the common trends that lead to success and determine how these can be applied to the unique nature of their own Company. Most importantly, to keep an open mind to adaptability. It is always a tough inner battle at first, before it is externalised. Those who have watched chef Gordon Ramsay’s famous TV series, “Kitchen Nightmares”, might be able to grasp the spirit of our words. Acknowledgement of the situation is always the first difficult step and is often as important as half the turnaround. Only when this acknowledgement battle is won does the road to Success become a true possibility for any business in the world, including our very own little restaurant above.
“THE REVITA TEAM”
Σημείωση: Τα άρθρα και τα δημοσιεύματα της εταιρείας μας, σκοπό έχουν να παραθέσουν στοιχεία για συγκεκριμένα θέματα καθώς και απόψεις που βασίζονται σε εμπειρία και γνώση που έχει αποκτηθεί. Απώτερος σκοπός μας είναι η επιμόρφωση των αναγνωστών στο σύνολο τους και όχι η παροχή συμβουλών για συγκεκριμένες περιπτώσεις. Για όλα τα προηγούμενα Newsletters της εταιρείας μας, μπορείτε να επισκεφτείτε την σελίδα μας στο Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/revitaconsult.
