The Diagnostic Phase: Looking at Your Business Through Your Own Eyes

When a business owner finally decides to stop letting business happen to them and start making business happen for them, the first question is always: Where do we start?

At Business Development Machine (BDM), the approach is divided into two distinct parts: a business diagnostic phase and an implementation phase. You cannot fix a machine until you understand exactly how it is currently running.

Through Your Eyes

The diagnostic phase is not about an outsider coming in with cookie-cutter services and telling you what to do. Instead, it is about looking at your business through your eyes.

We team up and enlighten you to a new way of controlling your business, but that enlightenment starts with your perspective. We need to learn what is working and what is not working from the person who took the "Entrepreneurial Plunge" and built the company. This collaborative "working with you" methodology ensures that the analysis is grounded in the reality of your specific operation, not in generic management theory.

Identifying the Low-Hanging Fruit

The primary goal of this initial analysis is to identify problems, opportunities, and low-hanging fruit.

Many owners are so overwhelmed by the "run around" of Survival Mode that they cannot see the hidden profit leaks draining 10%, 20%, or 30% of their gross revenue. By stepping back and conducting a thorough diagnostic survey, we can pinpoint these leaks. We also identify the financial veins of gold—the areas of the business that, if optimized, will yield the greatest return. These findings are documented and used later as the foundation for the implementation phase.

Assessing Strategic Deployment

To find this low-hanging fruit, the initial analysis assesses the strategic deployment of your resources. Specifically, we look at human, physical, financial, and management resources in relation to organizational effectiveness.

Are your variable and controllable expenses benchmarked to a 90% performance factor? Is your management style a residual process, or are you driving toward predetermined profits? By answering these questions during the diagnostic phase, we set the stage for the Throughput Process Journey, moving your business from chaos to a smooth, easy-to-control machine.

Are you ready to take a hard, objective look at your business?

Take Control

Download The Purpose-Built Playbook today to discover how the BDM diagnostic phase can help you identify your low-hanging fruit and start the journey to optimization.