Consistent Consistency

I have been watching "The Bear," a drama on Hulu about a famous chef that moves back home to Chicago to save his late brother's failing restaurant. He had a quote I found humorous. 

"It's about consistency and being consistent. We can't operate at a higher level without consistency." - Carmy Berzatta on the "The Bear."

After thinking about this further, there is much truth to this statement, no matter how redundant it sounds. People go back to McDonald's because of consistency. It isn't the best hamburger, but it is consistent. Likewise, Chick-fil-A is always packed and maybe not the biggest chicken sandwich, but it is consistent and tasty also. 

As a business advisor, I want to find the critical factors that help businesses meet their potential. I believe consistency is a key factor.

Here are three ways consistency helps a business.

Positioning

Recently my marketing consultant wanted me to improve and fine-tune my position statement. 

We provide outsourced CFO and business advisory services for SMBs, service firms, and marketing agencies with a focus on increasing your business's income, efficiencies, profitability, and value. 

This message is being spread across my website, social media, and other content. Even Google likes consistency and will rank you higher when this happens. The more I communicate this message to others; the better others will understand what we do and can communicate and refer business. 

Your business is no different, and I recommend a consistent message across all sales and marketing platforms.  

Process

In the show "The Bear," the head chef sets up a process to call everyone "chef" as a sign of respect. He also worked hard to clean the restaurant, even with a toothbrush. These are processes that ultimately set the culture. They talk about the menu, the ingredients, how the food is made, and who does what and when. 

A professional service-oriented business needs a consistent sales process to get new leads, set meetings, and ultimately get new customers. Once you have a new customer, you need a consistent approach to providing quality service.  

Our team has developed a Finance & Accounting Best Practice Checklist that we use to review everything from Billing and Collections to Payroll and Payables. Ultimately, consistent financials will make your business's bankers, investors, and potential buyers happy. Even if you don't want to sell your business one day, consistent processes will help you forecast your Income Statement and cash flow so you can make the most informed decision. 

Peace

There does not seem to be much peace in "The Bear" in the initial episodes. It seems like chaos. There is yelling and much cussing (you have been warned). The employees are not getting along. There is a scene of them arguing in front of customers during lunchtime. How embarrassing. We all want peace in our lives. Consistency brings peace to your life. This doesn't mean you can't have the flexibility to try new things, but it is in a controlled setting. 

There is a personal finance course called "Financial Peace University" by Ramsey Solutions. Why is it called financial peace? We all want this. It promotes a consistent methodology for people to easily follow to get out of debt, save an emergency fund, and ultimately build financial wealth and give more. When finances are chaotic and spending is not budgeted, it is easy to overspend and lose cash. Although this course is for personal finances, many concepts apply to businesses.

Once you understand your current finances, you can more easily create a budget or forecast. Of course, other elements such as Accounts Receivable, capital expenditures, inventory, or even distributions make business finances more complicated the larger you get. Why not have a consistent system for measuring this and comparing actual finances to a forecast to see how you are doing? There is more peace in a consistent approach to your finances. I write about this much more in "Forecast Your Future, How Small Businesses Exchange Stress and Chaos for Cash and Clarity." 

Conclusion

What is your dream for your business? Do you want to grow and become more chaotic or even lose money? Nobody wants that. You didn't start a business to lose money and peace. Make sure you first position yourself in the marketplace in a consistent way. Set up good processes that are efficient and can be followed and delegated to others. Finally, build more peace with your business finances by developing consistent ways to measure and track them.  

Bender CFO Services are experts in establishing consistent ways to measure and track business finances. Contact us today so we can start building efficient processes to help your business stay on track.