Using a Professional Business Advisor
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Running a business is all about doing the things that need to be done to sell enough profitable products to enough profitable customers to turn a profit.  Succeeding in business is all about doing what is needed when it is needed.  Too often in business we get bogged down in doing repetitive tasks that we know how to do or because we are good at doing them.  We tried something once and it worked so we do it again and again, hoping it will bring us the same results or better.  That’s called being in a rut.

Many businesses in the global diving business community are small businesses run by independent entrepreneurs who have a talent, skill, or desire to be in the recreational diving industry.  It all starts with Dive Industry Professionals who take their hobby and turn it into a small business, not only because of their passion, but because there are very little “barriers to entry” in the business.  It is relatively easy to start your own business in the United States.  If fact, it’s so easy that one may get the impression that anyone can do it.  But take it from someone who has been advising small business owners for over 40 years.  Starting your own business should not be your end goal.  Staying in business should be the goal you work to accomplish.

At a major university I taught a marketing program called; Do you have what it takes to start a business?  It was an introductory course for entrepreneurs who were thinking about starting their own business.  We called this course a foundational program because we wanted to set the stage for first time entrepreneurs and explain the pros and cons of business ownership.  It was an integrated marketing approach to starting, growing, and succeeding in your own business.  The integrated marketing approach worked very well for me and the hundreds of clients I advised, because we were able to present and discuss the big picture of business ownership, broken down into smaller components.

Over the years, I was able to see a common flaw in the old way of looking at business start-ups.  I noticed that my clients faced one major obstacle in common, and it was a shortcoming that is almost impossible to detect when it comes to attempting something new for the first time.  In my opinion, the major obstacle to a successful business start-up is having a myopic approach to starting a business. This critical error in thinking is usually developed by an over reliance on a single business skill that an entrepreneur has, coupled with their lack of understanding of the other skills that are needed to create a successful business.   I used to chuckle when I heard a person explain how they knew they would be successful at starting a business because they had worked for a large company and had experience managing a multi-million-dollar department.  Of course, they had people to do all the hard work for them and their company supplied the capital to finance the operation.  Most companies that we know in the diving industry don’t have tons of staff working for them and they certainly don’t have unlimited capital to back them up.  Entrepreneurs are self-starters and they wear many hats in their business.  There is a big difference between asking your Chief Marketing Officer for their annual marketing budget and creating one yourself.

I like to think of a business as a collection of components that are parts of systems and subsystems.  Much like an automobile or the human body.  Many successful Business Plan templates break down a business into systems, subsystems, and components.  It’s a Professional Business Advisor’s job to help their clients understand the complexity of the system as a whole and show them how the individual components integrate with each other.  It’s important to know the details of the business components so that you can have a complete understanding of the big picture.  That is why we say there is never a single “magic bullet” that will solve your business problems, but a series of little things that you must do correctly to achieve your planned outcomes.

Types of Professional Business Advisors:  In the recreational diving industry I can think of a few different specialty professions that you need to have on your team.  Not as general consultants or advisors, but as paid professionals on a contractual basis. Degreed and licensed Professionals such as Accountants, Attorneys, and Tax Attorneys are at the top of my list.  Degreed Marketing Professionals are next.  Specialty Professionals that have skills and abilities that are critical to your business may be graphic artists and social media specialists.  While these professionals don’t need to have a degree in their profession or be licensed by a professional board or bar, they do need to have a history of knowledge, training, and experience to do you any good.

Dive Industry Professional Advisors:  To be an effective Professional Business Advisor in the recreational diving industry, an advisor must have a broad-based understanding of business operations.  The marketing profession addresses the foundational business disciplines needed to run a business quite thoroughly.  Marketing Professionals understand the sales and marketing aspects that a business must engage in on a daily basis to be successful.  We also are trained in the foundational disciplines that go into creating and operating a business.  If you were a race car driver, you would need to know how to drive your car better than anyone else racing against you.  But if you had the wrong car that was not up to performing like you needed it to, all your great driving skills would be in vain.  So, let’s look at both sides of the business equation that deals with operational planning and the sales and marketing process.

Creating the Ultimate Business Model:  Most business managers want to jump to the sales process because that’s where the money comes from.  While I admit that sales are the final planned outcome, nothing is going to happen until you create a company that can supply the customer with what they need, when they need it.  A company that is in the business of selling a program, product, or service has to be created from the ground up, to create a product that potential customers need, want, and can afford.  Before any sales are attempted, we have to build the machine that creates the magic.  If your sales are not up to expectations, management needs to bring in an outside Professional Business Advisor to conduct a business audit to see where your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are.  Once you know where you are, it is much easier to create a plan for where you need to be.

The Sales and Marketing Process:  This is the part that most new business entrepreneurs want to focus on first.  Sorry.  That’s not a good idea.  First of all, the marketing part of the process starts first.  We all know that great sales are a result of good marketing.  Marketing paves the way for sales.  Marketing Professionals must demonstrate their knowledge of the products being sold, the customers being sold to, and the marketing vehicles that communicate the sales message to potential buyers.  In order to do that, marketing professionals must understand the market.  A market is made up of buyers and sellers.  A marketplace is where buyers and sellers get together to conduct business.  A marketing vehicle is what sellers use to communicate what they are selling, where & when they are selling it, and how a buyer can obtain what the sellers are offering.  With a good marketing campaign preceding the sales effort, the customer will be able to consider the purchase of a product they are familiar with and from a company and a salesperson they know and understand.

Contract with a knowledgeable Dive Industry Professional Business Advisor to conduct a business audit for you.  You will want to look at both internal and external variables that affect your business.  Your internal variables will be how your company is set up to manage the flow of products, finance, vendors, customers, employees.  It will also show how effective you are at managing your resources of time, money and manpower.  From a product management perspective, you will want to look at the flow of products you sell, from conception to consumption.  You will want to focus on customer management aspects of acquisition, retention, and recapture.  An analysis of your customer history is a critical data aspect needed for future sales and marketing strategies.  An internal marketing audit of the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing systems and subsystems is always a high priority.  These are just a few things a Professional Business Advisor will look at.

External factors that affect your business are usually not considered in finite detail because many businesses think of them as a non-revenue-generating activity.  Unfortunately, your understanding of the market you sell to, and your competitive positioning can often mean the difference between success and failure.  A Professional Business Advisor can shed some light on your market penetration, market share, and competitive edge.  Only when management knows where they are and where they want to go, can they set a course to get there.  Having an experienced navigator may be just what you need.

For more information about using a Professional Business Advisor, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director of the Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

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