Sometimes the most useful person to look at your business is someone who doesn’t work in it every day.
Business owners and management teams naturally become close to the detail. You know your customers, your people and your industry better than anyone. But that can also make it harder to stand back and question how things are done.
An external adviser doesn’t necessarily need to be an expert in your industry.
In fact, sometimes it helps if they aren’t.
They can look at the business without the history, habits and assumptions that build up over time. They can ask questions that may never have been asked before.
- Why do we do it that way?
- What would happen if we stopped?
- Could someone else do this?
- Why did it fail last time and is anything different now?
- Do we really know our customers wouldn’t buy it or have we just assumed they wouldn’t?
Every business develops phrases such as “we’ve always done it like that”, “we tried that before” or “that wouldn’t work here.”
Sometimes those views are right.
Sometimes they simply haven’t been challenged for a long time.
A good adviser brings experience, perspective and an independent view. Their job isn’t to know your business better than you do.
It is to help you look at it differently, challenge the thinking and ask the questions that might help you make a better decision.
“My job isn’t to know your business better than you do. It is to help you look at it differently.”
