Six Ways Your Company Can Profit From Your Vacation … Yes It Is Possible!

In our Value Builder series, we explore the eight key factors potential buyers review when looking to acquire a business – maybe yours

Six Ways Your Company Can Profit From Your Vacation … Yes It Is Possible!

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” – Alan Cohen, Previous Owner of the Florida Panthers Hockey Team

Spring is here and the warmer weather is on the horizon! It will be summer before we know it but you may find the idea of taking a well-deserved vacation is too good to be true. In fact, taking that break from it all is a perfect way to increase the value of your company. There’s also the bonus that taking time out can do wonders for your mental fitness – something both you and your company will benefit from long after your return!

The most valuable businesses are those that can survive without their owner. A buyer will pay a premium for a company that can continue operating in top form without the owner’s everyday involvement.  Potential purchasers can levy a steep discount for a business that is dependent on its owner if the owner will not be part of the equation going forward.

Consider taking an extended Spring break to see how things run when you’re not in the building.  Some things may go wrong, but those are opportunities to make the adjustments so that your business operates more independently of you.

Here is a six-step plan for profiting from your vacation time.

Step 1: Schedule your vacation plus one day

Whatever day you plan to start working again after your holiday, tell your staff you’ll be back one day later. That way, you’ll have a full day of uninterrupted time to dedicate to understanding what went wrong in your absence.

Step 2: Bucket the mistakes

When you return, make a summary of the things that went wrong and categorize them into one of three buckets:

• Mistakes: errors where there is a right and wrong answer;
• Bottlenecks: projects that had difficulties because you weren’t there to give your feedback;
• Stalled projects: initiatives that went nowhere while you were gone because you’re the person leading them.

Step 3: Correct the mistakes

The first and easiest place to start is to simply correct the mistakes that were made. Usually mistakes are due to a lack of training rather than outright negligence. The right answer may be crystal clear in your head but not immediately obvious to your staff. Write up some instructions for next time the employees face the same situation. Make sure your instructions are clear, and share them with your team so everyone has them (a file sharing service like Google Drive or DropBox can be a helpful repository for your instructions).

Step 4: Unblock your bottlenecks

If you’re being asked for your personal input on projects, there will likely be a bottleneck if you’re not around. Make sure your staff is clear on the projects where you need to have a say and the projects where you don’t. Some employees may wrongly think that you need to approve all decisions. Make it clear when you want them to act alone and when you still need to have a say.

Step 5:  Re-assign stalled projects

The hardest part of making your business less dependent on you is dealing with projects that get stalled when you’re away. Start by asking yourself if you’re really the right person to lead the project. As the business owner, projects often fall in your lap by default, rather than because you’re the best person to lead them. Categorize your stalled projects into two groups: a) strategic projects you need to lead; and b) non-strategic projects you are leading by default. Hang on to the strategic projects, but delegate the non-strategic projects to someone on your team who is better suited to drive them forward.

Step 6: Give every employee a blank check

At Ritz Carlton Hotels, they give every employee discretion to spend – without approval from their general manager – up to $2,000 on a guest.  The $2,000 figure is a large enough number to make the message clear: front line employees should act first, make the customer happy, and ask questions later. Many employees know how to make a customer happy but lack the confidence to act. Giving employees some spending authority will speed up the resolution of customer issues and empower your team to do the right thing when you’re not there.

The sunshine is beckoning, so go ahead and plan to take that vacation to recharge your batteries. Follow the six steps here and you could end up with a tan and a more valuable company!

Getting a complimentary Value Builder report through The Osborne Group is an effective way of finding out what else you should be doing to increase the value of your business. It all starts with answering a 15-minute on-line questionnaire developed by internationally recognized small business expert John Warrillow. Your answers will generate a personalized report based on findings from over 17,000 companies and covering eight key business value factors.

To find out how your company is performing, click here to take the Value Builder questionnaire: http://www.thevaluebuildersystem.com/osborne-group

To learn more about Value Builder factors and their impact on your company’s worth, see other blogs in this series:

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