After having trained and certified more than 3,500+ business advisors in 49 US states and 60+ countries, this is our take on how to be the best business advisor you can be.
Being a first rank business advisor requires you to become a trusted advisor to your clients. An advisor who understands all aspects of the business focuses on the most important decisions and leaves the client with clear actionable steps after every meeting.
#1 Take a 360° View on the Business
From a glance, it is difficult to know the root cause of a client’s problems or which key decisions will take them to the next level.
The best business advisors take a holistic view of a business before they give advice.
In practical terms, this can be done by using different kinds of assessments, like the GrowthWheel 360° Screening, or other tools like Business Model Canvas, SWOT analysis, and similar.
#2 Focus on Key Decisions
At any given time every business has 100 decisions it could be working on, but some of these decisions are better left for another day.
The best business advisors define the scope of work and focus on a few key decisions at a time.
The way to do this can be to make a list of decisions that are on the agenda and indicate the timing for when a decision should be made. The GrowthWheel 30-60-90 Day Plan can be used for this.
#3 Give Each Client a Custom Experience
All businesses in all industries in all life-stages and of all sizes have the same basic challenges. The solutions, however, are not the same.
The best business advisors assemble a custom toolbox for each client.
The business advisor’s toolstack will consist of anything from presentations, PDF-files, documents, spreadsheets as well as links to online resources. Ideal platforms to keep the tools are cloud-based platforms like Dropbox, Google Drive, or our own GrowthWheel Online.
#4 Create a Process with High Productivity
Many business advisors interact with 50 to 100 client companies a year. Each of them requires special attention.
The best business advisors constantly seek ways to increase their productivity to produce more outcome or to produce the same outcome with less effort.
When working with productivity it may be useful to look at the framework “6 Steps in the Business Advisors Workflow” which is also used in the GrowthWheel Certification Course.
#5 Always Conclude with Action Steps
Entrepreneurs have little patience for conversations that do not produce actions to immediately move them forward.
The best business advisors are action-oriented and always conclude each one-to-one session with a list of next steps.
Many tools can be used to keep track and follow-up on agreed actions. When using the GrowthWheel 30-60-90 Day Plan advisors make sure to check that actions are planned for all decisions.
#6 Track Client Progress
Business owners can easily be distracted from focusing on the most important decisions and action steps.
The best business advisors know they might be the only person to hold clients accountable, and they help keep clients on track.
This can be done by creating and maintaining a list of Ambitions at the beginning of each quarter and end each quarter with a list of outcomes. This the key element in the GrowthPlan on GrowthWheel Online.
#7 Build Consistency and Quality Throughout the Organization
Client companies build trust in an advisor when they experience quality and consistency throughout the organization.
The best business advisors take part in building a quality brand around themselves and their team.
Teams who are committed to using the same platform and the same tools have already taken the first step. If GrowthWheel is that tool it even comes with a world-class training program that allows advisor teams to share the same approach while being able to customize their work to both their own style and the clients’ needs.