Benchmarking

In a financial context, benchmarking is the process of anonymously comparing the financial information of your business to the aggregate of that information for other businesses in your industry or market.

So why would I want to do that?

Consider an elite athlete who continually tries to beat their personal best (PB). It is sound practice to measure improvement; but until their PB is compared with the performance of competitors, the athlete will have no idea how much they need to improve in order to win on the day of competition.

In business, would you want to wait until you lose to find out that you never had a chance?

With benchmarking, your business can learn - in advance - what functions are costing too much, whether your pricing strategy is above or below market norms, whether you are spending enough on advertising, or whether your usage of equipment is as efficient as it could be. And those are just examples.

Benchmarking helps you set and achieve realistic goals. Benchmarking can also answer questions about whether trends are industry wide or unique to your business.

But my business is unique. Nothing compares.

Pleased to hear it! At Edensilk we constantly seek to set businesses apart from the rest.

It would be naïve to say industry comparisons will help every business; but we do find the majority of businesses get enormous benefits from benchmarking.

We want to help you move your business from being 'good' to being 'great'. Good businesses make excuses, while great businesses do a few things really well. When you see the advantages of industry comparisons and learn how to use them it will leave no room for complacency or mediocre performance; and that’s the platform for a truly great business.

So we get a page full of numbers. What will it all mean?

What’s the good of information if you don’t know how to apply it? Edensilk has spent considerable time learning how to analyse comparison data and present it to you in meaningful formats. Our reports are concise and practical. More than that, we spend the time to show you what they mean, to discuss with you possible strategies to implement best practice, and then put in place systems to monitor progress. We want to see your business prosper, so we show you how to convert the information into results.

Where do you get the information from?

There are several sources of comparison data (including the tax office!) but the most useful comes from organisations that harvest anonymous information from accountants all over Australia. This data is checked for integrity before being added to the database, which is regularly updated. There are also international databases available where necessary.

Why should I use Edensilk?

If it's just another useless report you want then don’t come to us! Edensilk Benchmarking is a process with one aim clearly in mind ... to grow and secure your business. We take great care to:

• Demonstrate what the report means
• Utilise our specialised consultants to help you develop practical and tailored strategies to improve your business
• Develop monitoring systems to ensure strategies are implemented and that they are effective

'Know your enemy' is one of the fundamental maxims of war; and you do well to consider it before you compete in any market, including the one in which you currently compete! Benchmarking will help you better understand what you are up against, hopefully before it's too late.

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