ADA Consulting method6 steps
How we work
Six steps, in the same order every time. Find out before you decide. Decide before you plan. Plan before you spend.
The six steps
A one-hour check-up and a three-week business plan follow the same order. Only the depth changes.
Listen
You describe the business and what you want from it. We ask questions and write down the answers.
Find out
Facts before opinions: what customers say, what competitors charge and what the records show.
Decide
Up to three goals for the year, each with a number and a date.
Plan
Each goal becomes actions with a month, a person and a cost. The risks are named.
Act
You run the plan. It is your business and your decision at every step.
Review
Each month: what happened against what was planned. The plan changes when the facts do.
Nothing starts without your agreement
- You receive the scope and the price in writing before any paid work begins.
- If the work turns out larger than agreed, we stop and ask before continuing.
- You see interview questions before anyone is interviewed on your behalf.
- You decide what happens with every recommendation.
- What you tell us is confidential. See the engagement terms.
Four refusals
- Write a plan without your numbers. A plan you cannot explain is a risk at the moment you need it most.
- Promise funding. Lenders and funders decide. Anyone who guarantees their answer is guessing.
- Recommend something because ADA sells it. Advice comes first. You are free to take any plan to another supplier.
- Share what you tell us. Your figures and plans stay with ADA unless you agree in writing.
Ten habits behind the method
Research into how successful business owners behave keeps finding the same ten habits. They can be learned. Our services are built to exercise them, the three planning habits most of all.
Getting things done
- 01
Looking for opportunity
Acting before you are forced to, and noticing openings that others walk past.
- 02
Persistence
Trying again, or trying another way, when something stands in the road.
- 03
Keeping commitments
Doing what you said you would, and valuing a customer's long-term goodwill above a quick gain.
- 04
Quality and efficiency
Looking for ways to do the work better, faster or cheaper, and holding to a standard.
- 05
Calculated risk
Weighing the alternatives and reducing a risk before you take it.
Planning
- 06
Seeking information
Asking customers, suppliers and competitors yourself, and consulting people who know more.
- 07
Setting goals
Clear long-term aims and measurable short-term targets that matter to you.
- 08
Planning and monitoring
Breaking large tasks into small dated ones, keeping records, and changing the plan when results say so.
Working with people
- 09
Persuasion and networks
Building contacts, and bringing people with you by sound argument.
- 10
Independence and self-confidence
Holding your own view under pressure and trusting your ability to finish a hard task.
Where the habits show up
| Habit | Service | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Seeking information | Customer and Competitor Study | You hear from customers and competitors before you spend. |
| Setting goals | One-Year Plan | Three goals, each with a number and a date. |
| Planning and monitoring | Records Setup, Monthly Review | Daily records, and a monthly look at what happened. |
| Calculated risk | Business Plan, Technology Plan | The alternatives and their costs are written down before you commit. |
| Quality and efficiency | Process Review, Costing and Pricing | Better, faster or cheaper, without making the other two worse. |
Credit, and what we are not
The ten habits are the Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies used in Empretec, the entrepreneurship programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In Namibia the programme is run by the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade with the United Nations Development Programme. ADA's founder took part in the Empretec workshop, and the way ADA Consulting works draws on what it teaches about goals, information and planning. The wording on this page is our own.
ADA Consulting is an independent business. It is not an Empretec centre, it does not deliver Empretec training, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by UNCTAD, UNDP or the Ministry. If you want the workshop itself, contact the Empretec Namibia Programme.
Tell us what you are trying to decide.
You do not need a business plan to talk to us. Say what the business is, what you want from it and what is in the way. A Business Check-up costs N$199 and comes off any other service you book within 30 days.