Last week we looked at the two key variables when it comes to increasing the value of your business. We also uncovered the most often missed opportunity for driving up the worth of your business.

Many business owners focus on increasing their profitability as a way of enhancing their business worth, but overlook reducing their risk. This results in significant wealth creation being lost, literally flushed down the toilet.

How then do we reduce risk? What are the other benefits that come with risk minimisation?

There are many ways to reduce risk; the one that I’d like to focus on here is systems. This is where I believe you’ll get the greatest return on your investment and a bunch of other benefits too hard to resist.

Systems reduce risk in your business because your business isn’t wholly reliant on your team members. We know how challenging it can be attracting and retaining great quality team members. Your business structure is built around a combination of your people, who can come and go, and your systems – which stay!

The other benefits of having great systems are extensive, here are some of them:

Your systems free up your team members to be the best they can be – your team members will know what to do and how to do it, freeing them up to deliver the very best in their performance in your business.

Your systems are a great internal training tool – managing your costs is critical at the best of times, and whilst I encourage training to occur internal and external to your business, your systems offer a very cost effective opportunity for internal training for your team.

Your systems will create consistency – one of the key factors in highly successful businesses is their ability to be consistent. Do your customers get the same experience every time they deal with you?

Your systems add to the culture of your business – your systems are ‘the way we do things around here’. Consistency in the culture of your business is also a key success factor.

Your systems allow you to delegate – would you like to be doing less hours in your business? Your systems combined with effective delegation will allow you to do less hours and focus your energy on the high value tasks for your business.

Systems give you less risk, higher business worth, happier team members and greater work / life balance.  Does that look attractive to you?