You are in business so maybe you know it all, but probably not. Those who think they do are the scary ones for the rest of us. The bailout packages are painful reminders that money and success are not always tied together, nor does a top tier position validate one’s ability. 

Here are 5 “Money Shots” you must not only know as a business owner, division manager, or team leader, but you must live, breathe and dream. They must be innate.  You must have them, control them, and co-exist with them. No matter your industry, or segment in this industry (builder, associate selling to builders, realtor), these are must-haves for you to be a profitable leader. 

1)-Communication
If legislation changed tomorrow, and you know it will at some point, are you able to immediately reach out to every contact type with a custom message to out maneuver your competition? Your ability to effectively communicate in mass at a moments notice is a crucial element tied to profitability. There is dysfunction in most companies, large and small, when it comes to communication. Whether internally to dozens of departments or your staff meeting of 4 people, since immediate effective communication is tied to your profitability you must position your company for success. Yesterday would have been a better choice, but you still have today. 

2)-Efficiency
As your business struggles both with downsizing now and then the upsizing that will follow, do you have systems and processes to make all those adjustments, efficiently and profitably? If you don’t, you are assured to use more money than you have to if you were more efficient. The problem with efficiency is you must have it before you need it, and even large amounts of money later do not guarantee you will ever get efficient. If you are not already in process to reposition your company, when do you expect you will ever have the time? Extra time may be an asset you have right now that needs to be invested properly. 

3)-Control Intellectual Capital
Whether you make donuts or mansions, you make money on information and people, pure and simple. Information includes managing data, such as prospects, customers, contract documents, trade partner pricing, budgets and much more. People, or at least the knowledge they have, are part of your business intellectual assets. You can only control one.  You have had, and will have more, changes in your staff. Since you can not totally control your staff, you must control the data, contacts, information, processes, workflow, standards and much more. If you don’t already have total control of what you need, get it now. Business is both art and science, and businesses rise and fall. But control is often the envy of those without it; it is your choice. 

4)-Plan, Prepare, Profit, Protect
Builders lose money, sometimes even before construction starts and let profit slip through the entire process from marketing to warranty. You no longer have the luxury to “turn a blind eye”. There is profit in planning. Even in the good times, some companies fly by the seat of their pants. If you can not find the time to properly plan and prepare now, when are you going to find the time to repeat your mistakes? Properly preparing and planning helps protect profit. Silly alphabet, but serious make or break decisions to get you to the fun level: deciding what to do with your money! 

5)-Real Time Accurate Decisions
We see children make decisions without all the details, or even knowledge the details exist. Businesses, regardless of size or length of operation, make the same mistake.  Access to real time accurate data, allows for real time accurate decisions, and therefore, profitability.  To succeed and thrive, position your company with some system or standard processes to allow you to know what is really going on, right now, this minute.Since you are likely not psychic, your decisions are a reflection of your skills, and the data you are processing. Imagine what decisions you would have made differently in life if you knew what was really going on at that time. If you think systems are hard to place trust in, try people. Position yourself, if not your whole company, to know what is really going on with every aspect of your operations, preferably with a system or software.