Your Business Advisors - What Should You Be Asking Them Now

If you are reading this blog you have either survived the last year and are ready to ride the next wave, are starting something new and are paddling hard to catch the next wave, or you are sitting on the beach wondering what to do next. In any case it is a very good idea to have a team of business advisors on your wing ready to guide you toward the next big win.

The question we pose here is what should you be asking them, or what should they be talking to you about. What are the important answers you should be getting from your Accountant, Attorney, Tech and New Media experts that will boost your success in the decade ahead?

Your accountant is an essential player. Did you file your corporate return or an extension? I’ll bet the later. Nevertheless, are you talking to him or her about maximizing your cash flow, tightening your cost management, getting referrals, adding staff or outsourcing your bookkeeping or payroll? These are all important angles to pursue. If your accountant is not offering interesting ideas and sparking your interest, perhaps you should be talking to a new one.

Your attorney, of course is a trusted advisor to most. Today we are concerned about contracts, human resource / labor compliance issues, and new regulations that may be coming your way. Now is not the time to have your head in the sand. Get potential problems out on the table and develop a plan.

Both your lawyer and your accountant are very important if you are taking on partners or active investors at this point of your business life. The sad consequences of bad or short sited agreements can be avoided by getting good advice before you sign.

If you are taking on new import/export opportunities your accountant and attorney are a good source of guidance.

I have a client who reformed her business last year and began outsourcing manufacturing operations. All has gone according to plan, Luckily her attorney put excellent exit provisions in the outsourcing agreements. If there is one one thing that is critical in today's business world is the ability to respond quickly to change.

In the area of technology, believe it or not, you should have one or two trusted advisors. One who knows your computer infrastructure, your servers, network, security, backup and all that goes along with that. You also need another expert, someone who knows application software, the system that you actually use to run your business. Rarely are these the same person, in some cases it may be three, there are many specialties in business application software.

More than ever technology is essential to your business success. On the hardware network side it is all about performance and reliability that is easy enough. The part we too often neglect is security and disaster recovery. The dangers are ever present between the upsurge in criminal hackers and the crazy weather trends that have become normal but not necessarily expected or prepared for.

Just the other day a buddy of mine, not a client unfortunately, posted on his Facebook status that his brand new computer was underwater. The freak storm last week in New Jersey left a lot of people wishing they had spent a little more time and money on backup and disaster recovery. You could be next.

Software is the area of real potential gain. Your software gal or guy should be talking to you about ways to streamline operations, expand your reach, and deliver better customer service. Local out-sourcing, getting onto the cloud, unified messaging, all strange terms you ought to be learning about. Talk to your software advisor about the incredible array of new technology that is available to you.

There are great opportunities and equal risks doing business on the web, all your experts should be able to provide advice and direction on this.

Now in the marketing realm you used to be able to get away with just have an advertising gal, a PR guy, maybe a little in house marketing? Oh no, not today. Today there is new media. Everything is on the web, especially your customers. You need another expert on your team. You need to be talking to someone or several people who know all about making your place on the web and in the world of social media. This may be your most important expert yet. If you haven’t noticed, Facebook and Twitter are almost everywhere. Every solid business has a blog and are engaging with their customers and potential customers on line.

The bottom line is this, you are very good at what you do. You know your industry, your customers, how to make it all work, that combined with a team of specialists who ask you the right, tough, questions will be your platform for success in the next decade.

Need some expert advice on technology or new media. Give me a call Peter Conway 212-997-5200 ext 4333 or pconway@netatwork.com