4 Effective Ways to Build a Team That Earns You Money, Not Drains You, as an SME Owner
As an SME owner, your biggest challenge is building a reliable and productive team.
Until your annual net revenue reaches 1-1.5 million TL in Turkey's market conditions, you can manage your business alone (this figure may vary across industries, but we have observed it as a generally applicable number for Turkey).
Once your annual net revenue hits seven figures, it is time to aim for eight figures and start building the team that will help you achieve that goal.
There is a dangerous trap that many SME owners fall into during the team-building process: placing the wrong person in the wrong role.
According to KOSGEB data, 99.7% of businesses in Turkey are SMEs. More than 80% of these businesses are family-owned. When SME owners reach the scaling point, they often get caught between professional decisions and family relationships.
Many SME owners take on the responsibility of supporting not only their immediate family but also their extended family, bringing family members into the company as part of their team.
This is where emotions and traditions mix with business.
It is perfectly fine to consciously train a child or a relative to join your family business in the future. However, even in family-owned companies, and certainly in professional companies, owners tend to hire based on trust rather than competence. Instead of hiring an external expert for a position, they avoid bringing in a stranger and instead place family members in positions without considering their qualifications.
Result: The business stagnates, starts to decline, or is sold at a lower value (if it can be sold).
This should not be taken as a sign that every family-owned business has these issues. Most of the large, successful companies in the world and Turkey were once founded by a few family members. What makes large companies truly successful is prioritizing competence over family ties when building a team.
If you are the owner of an SME aiming for growth, please note that one of the two key pillars in scaling your free cash flow will be your team (the other is systems, which we will address in a separate post).
Here are 4 effective strategies used by large companies to build winning teams that you can apply to grow your SME:
Define what kind of organizational chart you envision for your business 10 years from now. Specify each role in the chart.
Identify the competencies required for each of these roles based on your current knowledge. Although different competencies will be needed in 10 years, if you hire people with the necessary competencies today, they will take you to the organizational chart of the future.
Since, as an SME, you are not yet an employer brand like large companies, have an "Inbound Marketing" strategy to attract talent. Create compelling reasons for competent people to choose to join you rather than a large company, and continuously promote your organization.
Identify family members you would like to bring into the company and create a competency development plan for them. When hiring family members, make professional decisions based on their skill set, not just on family ties.
Your team will be the most important lever for generating free cash flow for your business in a sustainable way. Contact us today to identify the competencies and positions you need in your team to make your future setup a reality.
The only way to take your business to the desired future is to design it and implement your design.
To your peace and success in business,
Business Coach for CASH
Your Business Coaching Team