Decide What Your Business Needs
Use the B-I-GG-ER method to analyze the current performance of your business
At the beginning of each quarter, you need to write your plan for the next 3 months. Before you write your plan, it’s important to take inventory of where you are at. This exercise gives you a snapshot of what’s going well in your business and where you need to make adjustments.
Here’s how it works:
1. Take a piece of paper or a blank page in your journal and draw a rectangle. At the top of the page in big letters write: THINK BIGGER.
2. In the top left corner put a B, which stands for BRILLIANT. Write 3-5 points to describe where you are brilliant in your business. If this feels awkward think about it in another way. What do your customers say you are brilliant at what you do? What do their reviews say about you?
3. Next, in the top right corner put an I, which stands for IMPROVE.
Where do you need to improve in your business?
What are the things you are already doing, but they need improvement? This could be in the quality of what you are creating, the frequency of when you are doing these things, or the consistency of what you are doing. Write 3-5 bullet points and list what needs to improve.
4. In the bottom left corner put the letters, GG which stands for GET GOING.
What are the things that you know you need in your business that don’t currently exist? List the 3-5 biggest opportunities for your business where you need to get started.
5. Finally, in the bottom right-hand corner write ER. This stands for EVALUATE RISK.
Ask yourself, what is my competition doing that puts me at risk of losing market share?
How can you deliver more value to your customer compared to your competition?
Now decide what needs adjusting with these 5 questions:
The next step is to take another page in your journal and divide it into four. Based on what you said above, decide what you need for systems, support, schedule, and standards. These are the adjustments you need to make to bridge the gap of where you are right now and where you want to go. Write down what you need in each of these areas.
Systems: Where do you need a system that will save you time, make you money, and/or create a better client experience? Think of the things you are doing in a manual way that you need to automate. Think of the things you sometimes forget to do. This is because you are working from memory rather than a checklist.
Support: Where do you need support from someone to get things done? Do you need to hire a team member or an assistant? Maybe you have enough support in your business but you need help in your personal life - think cleaning team, personal trainer, help with meal prep…Do you need to consult with someone to learn a technology or skill? Who do you need to lean on for some expert advice?
Skills: What do you need to learn? Where do you need to improve your knowledge and have a better understanding of a topic? This could be time management skills, leadership skills, social media skills, financial management skills…
Schedule: What do you need to get written in your calendar at a specific time? What is essential to your own health and well being or the health of your business? What are the things you need to do today and every day this quarter no matter what to get you to your goals? Think how much, of what, by when. Schedule these priorities.
Standards: What minimal acceptable standards do you need to set and how are you going to track and measure them? Appointments, daily activities, marketing and prospecting activities, your workout routine, your sleep schedule. The things we track and measure are the things we improve.
This analysis is an excellent exercise to do at the beginning of every quarter.
YOU ARE NOW READY TO SET YOUR PLAN FOR THE QUARTER