Best Practices of an Advisory Firm:

Entrepreneurs may be more focused on business building than they are employee development, but learning how to manage a team and help individuals grow is at the heart of creating a strong, skilled organization. Conducting periodic performance reviews is a major part of overseeing a group of employees and ensuring they continue to improve and acquire skills. My colleagues have shared tips on how to assess employees' work and offer guidance so they can...

Taking on a new enterprise is a hefty endeavor. Entrepreneurs and business builders must not only take a concept from idea to reality, but also develop strategies to sustain long-term growth in volatile and ever-changing markets. By testing out tactics and monitoring industry trends, entrepreneurs should establish best practices to build a strong company - standing firm to major decisions while remaining flexible and adaptive to market conditions and...

Building a business is a lot like juggling. Small team operations force entrepreneurs to juggle a lot of small items. These may be tasks that are not difficult, but are time consuming and distract the owner from bigger-picture pursuits such as mapping out an infrastructure or setting one-, three- and 10-year goals. As your organization grows and you add support staff who take on the lower-stratum functions and activities, you may find yourself juggling fewer,...

An advisory firm offers valuable services to clients, helping them preserve a stable future, feel secure and plan for major transitions or events in the short and long term. Financial advisors must discuss with clients their immediate needs, what their future plans are and how they want to achieve these through financial strategies and planning. There are many factors that may influence client decisions with regard to savings, retirement, investing and...

No company can be the best in class regarding every aspect of its operations. Some firms specialize in how they manufacture their products, others put the most investment into customer service. They choose to focus on particular areas as a means of differentiating themselves from competitors and properly allocating the limited amount of available resources. Should a company stick with the methods it knows, or invest in experimenting with new avenues? Is it OK...

Many businesses pay lip service to the idea of putting their clients at the center of everything they do. But how many actually follow through with that concept? As a business builder , it is your job to not only dream big and create a company mission that prioritizes client relationship management, but to put the processes in place to achieve that goal. Doing so will require paying attention to the small details, such as whether your team responds to client...

It is an easy trap for an entrepreneur to fall into - believing that there are certain activities that can only be completed by the business owner. In reality, there are probably a lot fewer tasks that must be performed by you than you think. It's time to take a hard look at your daily schedule. While it may require a bit of humility, you must admit to yourself that your employees CAN take on some of the responsibilities that you previously thought only you...

Large, publicly traded U.S. corporations have the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as their shareholders, to hold them accountable to their performance and regulatory compliance. But what about smaller firms that have yet to launch an initial public offering? Who is ensuring that they engage in equal hiring practices, run their accounting honestly and give back to the community, all while reporting annual growth? It may sometimes seem as if there is...

As 2012 came to a close, a young man working as a trader for UBS in London was sentenced to seven years behind bars for committing fraud. He engaged in unauthorized trading that ended in a $2.3 billion loss, which he and his lawyers had argued was a result of corporate culture and management attitudes that encouraged risky activities if they delivered profits. This situation is a sad affair. The man, Kweku Adoboli, will be going to jail, the banking industry...

To advance prospects through the marketing pipeline and eventually guide them to the sales process, salespeople in any industry need to keep their targets "warm." Do you have a strategy for how you ensure you are at the top of prospects' minds? What have you done to guarantee that they associate your name with a particular service or product? Maintaining contact is only half of the sales process - you also need to constantly evolve what you are...

In the past, client relationship management was treated by some companies as a process that was inflicted upon the client, rather than something that involved input from all involved parties. Yet this setup is not a good way to foster closeness or lay the foundation for a long-lasting relationship. It is better for organizations to strive for interactions with clients that represent a two-way dialogue. The old model of businesses dictating to their clients is...

Most entrepreneurs understand that there are (sometimes conflicting) scientific and emotional elements to running a business. Blending the uniform components of running a company - administrative, sales, marketing - with the more artistic, subjective ones - client relationships, engaging prospects - can be a challenge. To strike a balance between the two, it's important to first create a client service scaffolding that ensures the basic parts of running...

Competition is a fact of life for entrepreneurs . There will almost certainly be another company that appears to be offering a better version of your signature product, or that has a more efficient service delivery model. In order to stand apart from other organizations in your sector, you have to strive to add value for your clients at every opportunity. Doing so will not only help you build client capital with existing partners, but also enable you to...

Even if, as the owner of your business, you do not have a close relationship with all of your employees, you should work to engender trust among the entire team. Small efforts to show that you have their best interests at heart can inspire greater loyalty and lead to a better working dynamic. Regardless of your best intentions to have a strong rapport with every one of your employees, the reality of building a business will get in the way. As the founder...

Every business builder quickly learns that staff must wear many hats to keep burgeoning companies afloat in the early phases of growth and development. While a large business has access to resources and manpower to fully equip each department with optimal employee levels, small companies must manage their operations with limited tools and workers to achieve significant growth and innovation. Entrepreneurs, as well as other members of the small business team, must...

In a hyperconnected world, we're in danger of using technology as a crutch and an excuse not to connect with clients in the meaningful ways we once did. At The Covenant Group, we all discuss the importance of delegating to technology - researching online to learn more about prospects,  using software to track client information and send regular communications to clients or prospects . But that is not to suggest that these tools can be used in lieu of...

Small business leaders and entrepreneurs are always on the hunt for ways to reduce spending while driving up productivity. This includes finding a balance for optimal use of manpower and resources. Burgeoning enterprises have limited funding, tight budgets and a complicated road to success that can be riddled with unforeseen problems and obstacles. Entrepreneurs must plan ahead for such expenses along the way, leaving financial wiggle room to accommodate for these...

There are bound to be instances when a client is unhappy with the product, service or experience when interacting with a business. Yet when clients voice their displeasure with your company, that does not mean the relationship is doomed to end entirely or continue with a sour tone. There are a lot of components that make up a client relationship - the marketing and sales work that went into attaining the client, the quality of service you deliver, the potential for...

I have discussed the role that volunteer work and philanthropy can play in an organization, enabling entrepreneurs and their staff members to pursue causes near to their hearts while providing the added benefit of boosting the companies' image. However, sometimes charity runs and volunteer days are not enough to make a sustainable difference. Michael Porter, a professor at the Harvard Business School, has been advocating a different model of running a...

In any business, regardless of industry, the C-suite's main role is to provide the broader vision for the enterprise and determine the corporate culture. Essentially, the attitudes of CEOs, CFOs and other leading executives will serve as an example for those operating beneath them. This is why it is so important for top leaders to create and follow a set of ethical guidelines, which can then trickle down to the managers and team members who oversee the...