I went to a presentation last night put on by the local GA/SC Coastal NKBA chapter. The presenter was Ammie Dover of Larek Point Consulting. She did a nice job of presenting (without the crutch of slides) concise and actionable steps to improve small business success. Many of the things she emphasized dovetailed nicely with Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Main Takeaways:

Have a specific goal, a plan to reach that goal with deliberate actions.

Make sure everyone in the company is on the same page. Everyone and everything is a representation of you and your brand.

Put processes in place, she is a big fan of checklists, so that there is continuity and clear expectations.

Script and practice for conflicts, this was also talked about in Habits by Charles Duhigg.

Make processes measurable and hold people, including yourself, accountable.

Know who your ideal customer is. Not every dollar has the same value.

Have a clear vision of who you are, what you do, why you do it and who you do it for.