The best advisory boards are made up of business owners and professionals who will ALL benefit from its formation. Here’s how to put one together:

Itemize the “give and take.”

Make two lists: one of the skills and expertise that you have to offer others, and another of the skills and expertise that you need (from others) to better operate your own business.

For instance, are you a whiz at dreaming up great promotions but a bust at understanding the tax laws that affect your business? Can you cold call with the best of them, but unsure of how to put together an impressive client presentation?

Knowing what your strengths are and where your weaknesses fall will help to determine whom to approach about forming your mutually beneficial advisory board.

Seek out potential board members.

Finding your board members may be easier than you think.

Do you belong to an association or the local chamber of commerce? Don’t just attend the meetings – network to find good board member candidates and to spread the word about what you’re trying to accomplish. Ask contacts for other names of entrepreneurs, chief executive officers of small, privately held companies or consultants to small businesses. Talk to your banker, vendors or accountant and ask them for leads. Review the business section of your local newspaper or specific business listings from the yellow pages of a telephone directory.

Contact each prospective member individually.

Once you’ve chosen candidates, call each one to introduce yourself, discuss your objectives and determine mutual benefits of forming the board. If you do not personally know the individual, invite him/her to lunch to get acquainted. Tell prospective board members about your business, market and specific challenges. Invite them to tour your offices and meet your employees. Give them your company brochure and relevant industry information.

Know what you want to accomplish.

How often you meet will be determined by what you want to accomplish. There may be times when one-on-one meetings will be more productive, but schedule full board meetings no less than quarterly to solicit input and feedback about your specific business objectives, progress and accomplishments. Remember that members are there to ADVISE you, not to do the work FOR you. While you may eventually decide to barter for services with other members, that is a separate action from the intent and purpose of an advisory board, and should be negotiated outside of the board meetings.

Be prepared to get what you ask for.

Understand that when you ask for advice, honest feedback and others’ opinions, criticism will often creep into the mix. Suppress your natural reflex to defend your actions, listen to your peers and use the information constructively.

Final thoughts . . .

If an advisory board sounds too formal for your fledgling business, but you still need access to one-on-one expert advice, contact the nearest chapter of SCORE. This organization of retired executives can prove to be an excellent resource to help answer your questions and connect you with free or low-cost resources.

I’ve recently received an increasing number of emails from micro business owners and independents sharing the many fears that come with such economic uncertainty. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to survive the downturn, a good place to start is to “read between the numbers.”

How?

We are all quick to notice that the economy is affecting profits. Yet, it’s important to identify what’s really going on by examining the numbers of your own sales reports more closely. Compare your most recent report to one that was more profitable, then ask yourself questions like:

• Am I making fewer sales-per-customer?
• Am I making the same average sale-per-customer, but getting fewer customers?
• What products or services attract the majority of sales?
• What products or services attract the least amount of sales?
• How much business came from new customers? Where did those new customers come from? What are they buying?
• How much business came from repeat customers? How often do those repeat customers come back? What are they buying?
• What promotions spiked sales, but resulted in minimal profits?
• What promotions contributed to my greatest profits?

Gathering and comparing this kind of information puts control back into your hands.

Then what?

The worst thing you can do is sit back and hope the economy will turn back in your favor. The best thing you can do is take action and move your business in the direction your research points you. Armed with this comparison information you can:

Reassess what your customers are doing. Customers and clients are moving targets. What they wanted yesterday may not be what they want tomorrow. Ask yourself:

• Does my target customer still exist?
• Can that target customer still afford, or still want, what I have to offer?
• Has a different target market emerged BECAUSE of the changed economy? If so, how can I revise my marketing strategy to reach them?

Reassess what you’re doing. Are the products and services you offer still valuable to your target market? The products and services you offer must be valuable to your customers. If they aren’t, no amount of promotion will significantly change the numbers you found on your profit and loss statement. Ask yourself:

• What product/service do I count on for the majority of sales? Has there been a significant decline in demand for this product/service?
• How can I update, add to, or reposition this product/service to add value for the customer?
• If I can’t, is there a secondary product/service that is a potential candidate for becoming the primary?

Implement change. By reassessing your target market and your products / services, you’ll be able to determine what, if any, changes need to be made to get your business back on track. Do you need to:

• Change your target market to better fit your products and services?
• Change your products and services to better fit your target market?
• Change your methods for reaching – and keeping – new and repeat customers?

Being able to ask yourself honest questions and adapt to the changes you can’t control, by implementing changes you can control, will keep your business strong, and force you into practicing the kind of flexibility needed for long-term existence – and growth.

I’ll be first to admit that I’d rather devise some incredibly creative marketing promotion than stare at and analyze numbers all day. Yet, I’m also willing to concede that, by taking the time to ‘read between the numbers’, that creative marketing promotion is destined to bring in far more profitable results in a challenging economy.