Stop Being a Wimp: Business Decisions You Can't Put Off
Last year I wrote about some of my father's favorite business quips. Today I want to elaborate on one in particular: "What is bound to fall must be pushed." In other words, when a problem has a foregone conclusion, bring it to that conclusion immediately.
I have always struggled with this myself. I hold out hope that something will change, or I think I'm too busy now but will get around to it eventually. Sometimes, it's just plain old discomfort or fear. But business problems rarely go away on their own, and usually they just get worse when not dealt with quickly and decisively.
Certainly some can be solved Â-- after all, problem-solving is an inherent part of running a business -- but some can't, and those are the ones that you need to push forcefully to their inevitable conclusion.
Here are three situations that demand your immediate attention:
The bad eggs on your staff: There are employees who will improve with training, guidance and other developmental action. Then there are those who won't; these are the ones who don't fit with your culture and never will, the ones who break serious rules. Let these employees go without hesitation. Every minute you keep a person who shouldn't be there is bad for your company, coworkers, and very often for the employee himself. No one likes firing people, and we all make understandable excuses for putting it off. But if there's a person whom you know needs to go, do it now.
The bad eggs in your inventory: Non-moving inventory is cash that's not being put back into your business, and it doesn't get better with time. Cash flow comes with turnover. Marking down or closing out bad product seems academic, but many business owners (including yours truly) hold on too tight and too long. We think it will sell "somehow," or that we can get more for it than we really can. If you have products that aren't selling -- whether they're duds, overstocks, or discontinued items -- move aggressively to get rid of them. Don't take a lame markdown, thinking you'll get lucky and won't have to lose money. Price them to get rid of them, unemotionally. You may well have to lose money, but you will also lose dead weight and recover cash in the process. Don't get attached to the boxes on your shelves. Get rid of them now.
Bad business deals, projects, and initiatives: Not everything you try will work out. Partnerships go bad, deals fall through, projects don't materialize, money gets wasted. The key is to identify when things aren't working, determine if they can (or should) be fixed, and if not, pull the plug without delay. Every minute you hold onto these things costs you time, money, and opportunity, or hurts you in some other way. If a deal, relationship, or project is going irreversibly badly, end it now.
Most of us instinctively hope and try to "rescue" things, but there are some things that can't or shouldn't be rescued. The short-term pain of doing what must be done is far less than the long-term pain of burying your head in the sand.
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