The business fitness checkup is designed to help you come up with a score that approximates how healthy your business is in each of ten key areas. Below we’re going to look at what particular scores mean, but first I want to talk a bit about the scoring method itself. As mentioned earlier, the scoring system has been tested on hundreds of businesses and has never failed to bring some insight about the health and fitness of the business in question. Each business is slightly different, however, as is every business owner, so the scores need to be thought of as a kind of snapshot taken from a particular vantage point. From a different perspective at a different time, the score a business receives might be very different. This is why I so often recommend that business owners ask key team members to take the checkup, then compare scores.
Another factor to keep in mind when reviewing your score is that the age of your business affects some fitness keys more than others. A young business may score high on product and service due to the owner giving personal attention to every detail, but it may score low on reputation or alliances due to the brief tenure of the business. A newer business also won’t have much history, and this will affect the owner’s ability to “know the numbers” or to predict profitability. In fact, one might argue that for reasons like these, it will be impossible for a newer business to achieve a topscore. Regardless, it does not change the validity of the criteria for a fit and healthy business and the usefulness in creating a fit business. That said, the scoring system is designed to be a useful diagnostic tool, whether or not independent scores agree, regardless of the age of the business being examined. If you believe your score is correct and agree with my interpretation of what it means, then you are ready for the prescription for improvement. If, on the other hand, you are not confident with your score or you disagree with the interpretation, then you may want to repeatthe checkup or solicit a second opinion. If you still end up with conflicting or contradictory scores, you can still benefit from the improvement chapters. In fact, you can use the points of difference to focus your thinking and analysis. Either way, the more open you are to this evaluation, themore useful the scoring system and recommended steps to improvement will be. It is only natural that most of you will look first for the scoring range that covers your score. Once you’ve done that, however, I recommend you read through the interpretations of other scoring ranges both above and below your own. This is particularly helpful if your score is close to the top or bottom of a particular scoring range, where a small change can easily move you up or down a level.
Please click below on your corresponding score to see what it means.
