(Rajiv Talreja is the Founder of Asia’s Largest MSME Business Coaching Company- Quantum Leap Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd, Author of the Bestseller book – Lead or Bleed, Investor, TedX Speaker and Founder of DreamCraft Events and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, and DreamCatcher Investments Pvt Ltd. )

 A successful business has many elements. It has to be cash-rich, it has to have the necessary capabilities to achieve the goals that bring success. But, there is one secret, underrated ingredient that is vital for any business to grow significantly!

CONSISTENCY!

As a business coach, I have worked with 1000s of business owners who have a core challenge of not being consistent. They may be very creative or capable but a lack of consistency prevents them from building a cash-rich business. They are unable to transform their creativity and capability into positive cash flows.

Why is consistency important in business? Contrary to popular belief, success in business is not magical or mystical. Neither is it based on the luck factor. Success in business is a direct result of being consistent in the fundamentals of business.

When Marketing is consistent, it generates consistent leads, when you are consistent in Sales, revenue generation becomes consistent and when you add value to your customers through your business consistently, you have raving fans and happy customers!

So, consistency is the key. Most entrepreneurs that I come across struggle because they are unable to apply the rules of consistency and they attempt to do everything by themselves. But, one person alone cannot do everything consistently no matter how talented, hardworking or committed they are; something or the other will slip out!

So, here are 5 Rules of Consistency that every business owner can apply and make the changes that are necessary to get consistent results in business-

1. Time Focus- Time is a critical activity to provide to any business to make sure it becomes consistent. No matter what the activity is, you need to have enough time to finish that activity. You need to create ample bandwidth to make sure that all the activities that need to happen in your business. You need to hire according to the tasks and the time they need so that a specific person can give focused time and effort to your business activities.
2.  Talent- You need to have the required skills and capabilities that a task needs to be fulfilled and for that, you need the right talent.  Check within your teams- do you have the people who have the right talent to give focused time to get the jobs done in the various aspects of your business? If you do not have the right talent then hiring won’t make sense in your business. If they do not have the talent, they will always be distracted and you will never get the desired results.
3. Tactics- You need to have clear strategies to get the results in that particular area. If you have an outdated tactic, approach, or strategy, you will never get consistent results. Ask yourself- what tactics are we using to get consistent results? Check if you are applying the required tactics, the updated strategies, innovating in your approach towards getting consistent results or are you depending on the same old methods that have become obsolete?
4.  Tracking-  It’s very easy for people to lose sight of their goals and get lost in their challenges, daily firefighting, and distractions. A tracking system brings you back to your goals. It tells you how each and every member of your team is also performing and where they are in terms of achieving their goals and ultimately the overall goals of your business; where do they stand? So, an efficient tracking system is absolutely essential to check where everyone falls in this quest for getting consistent results.
5.  Traction- Nothing is more motivating than getting the desired traction, the desired results. When you get the result, you know that something is working right and you don’t let go of it. So, all the above 4 Ts get you the traction you need and when you get the results, you get the confidence to keep on being consistent in your various efforts.

So, in summary, the key to consistency is 5Ts- time + talent + tactics + tracking + traction.