10 Crucial Business Questions To Ask Yourself

VOCABULARY

Feature
Set reminders
Stress
Be chilly
An ounce
Be helpful
Run a successful business
Launch a business
Revenue drivers
Cut back on costs
Boost revenue
Monthly profit
Loss statement
Profitable
Resources
Cost of goods sold
Net profit of items
Cash flow
Pricing strategy
Make a large gross
Payroll
Overhead
In the long run
Client retention rate
Marketing
Referrals
Recurring customers
Valuable customers
Costly customers
Waste of time
A huge time suck

Entrepreneurs and business veterans alike, here are 10

questions that are crucial to analyzing and improving your work.
Barry Moltz Small Business Expert, Shafran Moltz Group
One of the coolest new features on the iPhone 4S is Siri, Apple’s new personal assistant. It lets you
use your voice to send messages, dial calls, schedule meetings and set reminders. Apple stresses
that "Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back." It can answer
questions like, what is the traffic in Chicago. Can you text my friend that I will be 30 minutes late? Is it
going to be chilly in San Francisco this weekend? or how many cups are there in 12 ounces?

These are all good questions, but what would really be helpful is if Siri could answer the questions
that are essential to running a successful business.  Here are the top 10 most critical questions that
all small business owners should be able to answer.

1. What problem does your business solve?

Why you need to know: If you don't know the answer to this question, how do you know if your
product or service is working? It is one of the most basic questions that every business owner should
ask himself, even before he launches his business.
Where to find this information: Ask your customers why they choose to buy from you (it will also help
improve your customer relations).

2. How does your business generate income?

 
Why you need to know: What parts of your business are the biggest revenue drivers? If you want to
cut back on costs and boost revenue, this will help you understand where you should be focusing
your resources—and where you should potentially cut back.
Where to find this information: Monthly profit and loss statement under revenue.
 
3. Which parts of your business are not profitable? 
Why you need to know: Resources are limited. Your business should only support the sales of things
that actually make money.
Where to find this information: Monthly profit and loss statement under revenue, cost of goods sold
and net profit by item.

4. Is your cash flow positive each month?

Why you need to know: Again, your resources are limited. So if there's an area of your business that
is generating a negative cash flow, you may need to re-evaluate your business plan.
Where to find this information: Monthly profit and loss statement under revenue, cost of goods sold
and net profit by item.

5. What is your pricing strategy and why?

Why you need to know: Customers pay for value. It is difficult to make a large gross profit on a
commodity.
Where to find this information: Split test new higher prices with customers.

6. How much time do you and your management team spend on generating revenue?
Why you need to know: If you are not generating revenue because all of your money is spent on
payroll, then your overhead is too high—and a high overhead sinks companies in the long run.
Where to find this information: Review your payroll and categorize each employee as income-
generating or overhead. Be honest.
7. What is your client retention rate?
Why you need to know: If your business lets old customers leave as you bring in new ones, then you
are not building a stable company. Your goal should be to increase both new and repeat customers.
Where to find this information: Track individual customer revenue year to year, and monitor how it
changes.

8. how to make that your customers refer other people they know to your company?
Why you need to know: Marketing is expensive, and getting referrals from existing customers is
cheap alternative.
Where to find this information: Ask your customers. If you get a new customer from an existing one,
keep track it so that you can give those recurring customers special offers—and an incentive to refer
more customers.

9. Who are your most valuable customers (and which are the most costly)?
Why you need to know: Those revenue-generating customers may be monopolizing your resources
and preventing you from being able to service others and increase profitability.
Where to find this information: Review your gross profit by customer, and ask your employees which
customers are the biggest abusers of company resources.

10. What is your social media strategy?

Why you need to know: The World Wide Web can be a worldwide waste of time. Social media must
be part of your marketing strategy, but it also can be a huge time suck.
Where to find this information: Set Google Alerts or DEX Reputation Management to sample social
media mentions and determine which critical success factor your social media strategy supports.

Questions

1. How beneficial is to repeatedly ask yourself these questions at different moments of your
business life? Why?
2. Do all these questions above apply to a business in Colombia? Why? Why not?
3. What other question(s) would you add?
4. How would you address it (them)
5. Which one of the ten questions above is the most useful for you? Why?
6. Which one of the ten questions above is the most useless for you? Why?