Opinion: Welcome to Extreme Makeover – Small Business Edition

It airs on Sunday nights on ABC. Carpenter Ty Pennington and his design team descend on a down-and-out family. Due to some twist of fate or circumstance, this family’s home is a total wreck. Tears flow, hugs happen and the family takes off for Disneyland. They enjoy a week of vacation while the design team tears down the old and rebuilds a new home.

I LOVE this show. I love it that the show gives a hand up to a family in need. From here on, things are going to be different and better for the family.

Need a fresh start?

Recently, I reviewed financial reports from a small-business owner who is down-and-going-out. As we dug through the financials, we confronted the nasty truth: The company is a wreck. The reports are not current or accurate, and the financial foundation is weak. A major money leak has gone on too long without getting fixed. There is mold all over under-performing family members. And the owner is working around the clock to make ends meet.

Sound familiar?

Wouldn’t it be cool if you helped yourself to an Extreme Makeover – Small Business Edition?

How would you do it? Start with a plan.

Now, if you have a plan already, use it. Dust off the one you showed to the bank 100 years ago and start with that. If you don’t have a plan, here’s the basic approach.

Get a nice three-ring binder. This binder is going to house your business plan; call it your Biz Plan Binder.

Get a set of tabs that fit into your Biz Plan Binder. Get the customizable, write-on kind. Tab up your binder like this:

Setting Sight – This tab describes your ideal business, your target market, your goals and how this business serves you, your family, your team and your customers.

Building the Team – Who does what? Why, how and when? Use this section to store your organizational chart and position descriptions.

Making Money – Are your books a mess? Craft an action plan for getting to KFP – a known financial position. Build a budget and set goals, in dollars and percentages, for sales and expenses. Get real about your selling price. Crunch the numbers, and commit to implementing higher prices.

Getting it Sold – If you are going to charge more (and, face it, cutting costs won’t make up for years of financial losses) you are going to have to BE more – be faster, nicer, cleaner and more organized, professional, timely and loving. And you will need to discover better ways to communicate the value of your service to customers and prospective customers. Craft an action plan for improving your sales skills. Store your marketing plan under this tab.

Getting it Done – As you develop your sure-fire systems for delivering on your promises, store copies of your procedures under this tab. Create a Top Projects list and assign projects to team members. Be sure to include the due dates. Note the employees who rise to the Extreme Makeover Challenge. These are folks you want on your team.

Making Sure – Are you on the right track? Are you delivering what people want? Is this working? Ride along with your field team. Sit side-by-side with your inside team. Ask your customers to give you feedback – what’s working and what needs to be made over?

The big push

For the next week, you are going to work like Ty Pennington and the design team. You will go over, under, around or through any obstacle that stands in your way. You are going to dream BIG and put the foundation in place to support that dream. You are going to work with your team and make it happen.

What can you accomplish in seven days?

As I watch “Extreme Makeover” on Sunday nights, it warms my heart to see the outpouring of help and gratitude.

Yet, I also wonder if the new home triggers a new life for the family. Or, if six months later, the home is a disaster again? People are resistant to change.

What about your new business? If you give yourself a fresh start – from the paint to the warehouse to the uniforms to a new budget and rates – could you keep it going? Will you?

Why not make a new start? Why not be fabulously successful doing what you love to the delight of your customers and the well-being of your wonderful team?

Why not do an extreme makeover on your business?

Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant who offers systems for getting focused and organized, making money and having fun in business. Her latest book is “The Bare Bones Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@barebonesbiz.com.