The purpose of business management should first of all be to at least maintain and to increase the most important number in any business... the net profit margin.

High net profit margins ensure finance viability better than anything else.

With this purpose in mind the key it to then focus on two sides of management, people and systems. So let's break this down further.

People need a feedback loop to perform at their best. A manager or business owner can do this, but people are prone to disagree, especially on the subject of performance. So a better solution is to have every employee accountant to a K.P.I. By implementing K.P.I.'s for each person both the manager and the team member can agree on what is ideal or acceptable performance.

The K.P.I.'s are a measure of the system and team member's performance combined. So this means systems are needed for every position, including systems for measuring.

A manager's role is thus to focus on improving the systems and improving team member's performance, who are simply a product of systems coming under the role and responsibilities they have for their position in the company. The outcome and measure of the skills of any manager should be net profit margin.

This is based on a powerful principle of business which is, profit margin increase comes from refining and improving what your business currently does, not from doing something new. How your team greet people on the phone, their rapport building skills and how you write out your quotes, or what words you use in your signs or on your website, these are the areas along with many others you should be continually trying to refine and improve.

Having documented systems in the form of policies and procedures for every individual position in your business is critical to improve the business's net profit margin. A procedure is simple an identified "best way" or carrying out a task that others can learn from and use to duplicate similar results.

Management is about understanding people's personality and how well they respond to various challenges. The more you study personality profiles the more you will realise how powerful it is to match a person's personality to a role within the business, instead of putting round pegs in square holes as they say. Extroverts are better at multi-tasking roles such as sales or management whereas introverts are better at high detail and quality work necessary for production.

This is a simple summary here for the sake of this article, however it is based on a personality profile that has stood the test of time better than any other, which is 2400 years old. This profiling system now known as DISC profiles is the most powerful tool in business there is.

Why do I claim this? Because I have seen my clients businesses triple their turnover in 30 days teaching them how to recognise a prospects DISC profile on the phone in 30 seconds. DISC can also be used for recruitment candidate selection, by matching job roles to profiles. Plus when you master DISC profile understanding you master managing people their best way dependent on their profile, which increases your skills dramatically.

By studying DISC profiles you realise that each person in your company needs systems at varying levels, you also understand you need to communicate and teach each person their own unique way. Combine that with The 7 Emotional Needs and you become an exceptional manager. Unfortunately there isn't space here to go into DISC profiles at the necessary level to become a masterful manager, nor to go into the emotional needs (especially when matched to DISC profiles), however I'll leave you with these thoughts...

The most important number in your business, net profit margin, is what you should be focusing on more than anything else as a manager. The way to increase it is to improve on numbers generated by people's activities. In fact the more numbers you know in a business the easier it is to make empowered decisions that lead to an increase of net margins. Measuring is proportional to margin increases.

To conclude, let your team become a product a "best way" systems, held accountable by numbers and you'll truly become a manager that understands something few others in the world of business do!

Tim Stokes has been a business educator and mentor to hundreds of business owners over 13 years. He was awarded the title of "Worldwide Business Coach of the Year 2000". His company specializes in small business management with a pioneering small business management training service that achieves extraordinary results for all sizes and types of SME businesses.

To find out more about Tim Stokes and his company's unique business training services go to: http://www.7stepstobusiness.com.au