Director’s quiz: How attractive is your operation?

At an international conference last year, I asked the audience of around 200 Systems Integrators how many of the following questions they could answer “yes” to. They did well, to their credit.

This alternative questionnaire indicates the evolution of an organisation and how attractive an operation is to an outsider (customer or acquirer). Many of the subjects you will recognise from prior newsletters.

How do you score out of 20?
  1. Our business is broken up into non-overlapping, operational, customer facing, well defined business modules.
  2. We report a P&L account for each of these business modules.
  3. The multiple P&L accounts are produced each month.
  4. Line managers other than owners and directors set employee pay reviews.
  5. We have an all inclusive employee profit sharing scheme.
  6. Our purchasing sign-off limit is greater than £250 for any staff member.
  7. We actively populate notice boards in our hallways showing, amongst other things, company performance.
  8. We track at least five non-financial performance indicators each month.
  9. We have our own branded solution for a specific vertical market.
  10. We have an agreed elevator pitch.
  11. We have at least two “Unique Selling Points”.
  12. We know our win-rate for last year.
  13. At least three people get to properly interview potential candidates, including a subordinate to the role in question.
  14. We have a named and branded continuous improvement programme.
  15. We conduct regular improvement groups and this initiative has a name.
  16. We know our staff turnover rate for last year.
  17. Greater than 50% of the CEO’s time spent is of a proactive nature.
  18. When we lose a job, we always regard it as our fault so we can apply hindsight next time.
  19. We have a written business plan.
  20. When the owner-manager disappears for a month, nobody notices.

If you need any help decoding some of the questions, feel free to send an email.
 
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