Covenant Consulting Group principal Mike McCraw gives seminar on business leadership and improvement.

TUSCALOOSA, AL, August 22, 2010

Michael D. McCraw, Principal, of Covenant Consulting Group LLC delivered a presentation to Cobbs Allen & Hall's RiskWISE Academy: The Non-Profit, Social Service & Church Sector on July 15, 2010 entitled "Making the Call." The main focus of the presentation, delivered to these organizations, was to address the indecisiveness of leaders and how that can paralyze a business and team. Organizations of all sizes and kinds struggle with many similar issues. Lack of leadership is usually the most common thread found between lower performing and unsuccessful organizations.

For certain successful corporate leaders, such as Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC, business improvement means to move forward from the current situation. That could mean to increase profits, reduce losses, get more customers, expand markets, become more visible in the community, and go public or a number of other items deemed desirable. In this article, Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group provides a few pointers on how to improve your business.

A key point is the fact that to improve, you must have a vision of what you want to achieve, where you want to go, and what you want the business to become.

If you, as a business leader, have an idea or vision of an area to improve, you can set that process in motion by following these five steps:

•Measure Where You Are Currently
•Organize The Business Operations
•Reduce Costs
•Get Grow or Expand Various Business Segments
•Measure Progress To Verify Improvement

Measure Where You Are

Although you can get a certain feeling that your business is improving, the only real way to verify this is so is by some valid means of measurement. Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC explains that this is done both before and after some improvement effort.

Measurement criteria must be real and hard, based on Key Performance Indicators (PKI) or return-on-investment (ROI). Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC advises you to keep in mind that measurements of such things as customer satisfaction are soft measurements and may or may not lead to better profits. That is not to say you should not measure such items, but there must be a definite, measurable correlation between it and monetary gain, explains Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC

Organize Operations

By defining your goals, planning, and using the certain standards, Mike D. McCraw, consultant of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC, believes that your company can become better organized. By organizing or re-organizing your operations and processes, Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC points out that you can make your business more effective.

Few companies consider making a new organization chart (otherwise known as an org chart) a way to re-organize their business. All that really seems to happen is that the same people are doing the same work, but now they have different titles.

Reduce Costs

By analysing costs against budget and agains prior years, as well as other similar concepts, you can reduce wasted material, effort, and time in making, selling, and delivering your product. The result, Mike D. McCraw notices, is an improvement in the company's bottom line and an increased competitive advantage.

There have been a number of similar initiatives such as re-engineering, six sigma, and such, since TQM became popular in the early 1990s. Mike D. McCraw of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC would like to make you aware of the fact that some have been successful and some disastrous. Common sense and good business practice is the most important thing in applying these concepts.

Grow or Expand

By making your customers satisfied with high quality products and services, you will get repeat business and referrals. Mike D. McCraw, consultant of Covenant Consulting Group, LLC, knows that its obvious that your price must be competitive, and that customers must have easy access to your product or service.

Measure Progress

Tools must be put in place to measure progress against goals. Any improvements will most likely be short term if not carefully measured to insure progress.
Covenant Consulting Group LLC, a regional CPA firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a highly professional and dynamic certified public accounting and consulting firm that provides unique solutions to a diverse and successful client base.

CCG is a full-service CPA and consulting firm with the expertise to guide your business through typical CPA services, such as, audit, tax compliance and representation before the IRS. However, at CCG our service model extends well beyond standard accounting services to include mergers and acquisitions, business valuations, outsourcing, expert services and transaction advisory services. For further information visit http://www.covenantcpa.com/index.php.