How an Advisory Board Increases Sale Value
An owner of a training and education company believes that working with her Advisory Board helped her to double the value of this business over a four-year period.
When this Buiness Owner’s Advisory Board began, it was originally formed with her accountants who used the Advisory Boards NZ method to run their meetings.
The Business Owner reflected, “when I attended my first Advisory Boards NZ workshop in April 2016, I realised [my Advisor] had structured the meetings in the way that Helen recommends.”
Advisory Boards NZ provides workshop attendees with templates for a Charter, Agenda, Minutes, Board Member Profiles and other formalities for attendees to use in their own Advisory Boards. The business owner found these helped keep meetings focused and added a sense of professionalism, which she also implemented into other areas of her business.
Meeting Schedule and Structure
Denise’s Advisory Board conducted:
- Bimonthly three-hour face-to-face meetings, focused on overall structure and strategy
- Bimonthly 1.5 hour Skype calls to cover operational issues.
Many people find they experience more benefits from their Advisory Board than they anticipated. This Business Owner found that her Advisory Board helped:
- Make her accountable – having a regular meetings, where you report back on your progress, gives you the motivation to complete tasks.
- Support her in her personal life – the Advisors encouraged her to prioritise getting enough sleep to avoid making mistakes and possibly burning out. Her Advisory Board reminded her that ultimately your personal health will begin affecting your business if left unchecked and untreated.
- Bring structure to the entire company – a structured Advisory Board will teach you organisational skills which can filter into every aspect of the business.
- Provide moral support – there is comfort for a Business Owner knowing she or he can ring the Advisory Board at any time. An Advisory Board will help keep you up to date on issues you may not have time for, e.g. regulation changes, human resources, accounting, advances in technology and more.
The Business Owner began with a small Advisory Board; just herself and her accountant. But as her Advisory Board grew bigger, so did her business. To deal with each new challenge, she brought in new members with the relevant skills and knowledge required.
As each challenge was resolved, the business owner was able to finish working with the Advisory Board member assigned to that challenge, and replace them with someone with relevant experience for the next task.