Each day small business owners are faced with having to make decisions that affect their operations, their staff, their office and their bottom line. The decision making process is not an easy one but it's much more manageable if entrepreneurs develop a specific process or system in making a decision which can help them reduce the level of stress.

Business.gov, the official business link of the U.S. government, has identified 10 steps to wise decision making. These include defining as specifically as possible what the decision is that needs to be made, writing down as many alternatives as you can think of, thinking where you could find more information about possible alternatives, checking out your alternatives and visualizing the outcomes of each alternative. There's also a reality check.

Having these guidelines behind you is all well and good but when it comes right down to it, only one person can make the decision for the business owner and that's the owner themselves. Fiducial experts emphasize that entrepreneurs must avoid making any decisions on the spur of the moment. They suggest that business owners set their sites on their targets; seek advice from reliable sources, pick out the most urgent decision and prioritize working on one thing at a time. Above all, they need to determine whether the return on investment justifies the decision.

No more winging it

Down in LaPlace, LA, Fiducial franchisee Richard Drexel tells his clients that he's the person that they need to run decisions by first. Drexel provides them with options and one of the biggest is marketing. He advises using a three-pronged marketing approach that includes direct mail, advertising in flyers and newspapers and utilizing Business Network International (BNI), a business and professional networking organization that offers members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and referrals.

Clients who want to do direct mail need to define who their target audience is.

"There is no shotgun approach to marketing but a rifle approach," said Drexel from his office located 25 miles west of New Orleans where he's operated his own business for over 20 years.

One of his clients operates a silk-screening and an embroidery company that seeks attorneys as clients since many area law firms want their employees to wear white long-sleeve shirts with the logo of the firm embroidered on it. The company receives weekly printouts of every area law firm looking for any additions to the list of attorneys.

"Narrow it down to the right thing you want to go after—the more law firms, more partners, the more shirts they need," he said.

Advertising in flyers and newspapers is acceptable for marketing, he says, but these have to be consistent campaigns done on a quarterly basis—not hit or miss projects. No small business should be making any decisions on the fly these days.

"You can't just wing it—you have to plan ahead," Drexel said. "The problem now is you cannot make a snap decision anymore." That's because when it comes to marketing, the return on investment must be calculated to determine whether the expenditure is worth it.

"Marketing is an investment, it's not a cost," he said. "The biggest thing is with escalating costs you have to take a hard look at how much, for example, this new equipment is going to cost. You have the weigh that cost with your return on investment."

What was the toughest business decision Drexel ever had to make?

"It was whether or not to continue my Errors and Omissions Insurance after 9-11," he said. "The costs jumped from $500 to between $1,200 and $1,500. I had to make a decision to bite the bullet and go ahead and spend the money then you're covered. But if you don't you take your chances. So I went ahead and bit the bullet. Yes, it cost money but you got peace of mind."

One thing at a time

In Georgetown, IN, just about nine miles outside of Louisville, KY, Fiducial franchisee Lewis Reyman says it's a very stable area for small businesses. As a sole proprietor, he has no one to answer to but himself especially when it comes to important financial decisions about his practice. But in other matters involving his business, he seeks the counsel of business associates and contemporaries. In short, he takes his own advice.

"I do what I do for clients," said Reyman who has been in business over 34 years including 24 running his own office. "I encourage them to seek out advice and ideas from contemporaries and form alliances which are generally more effective for discussing things one on one. I try to get clients to use their own financial information in making business decisions."

Reyman believes in educating his clients in certain areas where they keep their fingers on the pulse of their business. Tax issues are probably the most predominant area of his counseling that's called into play when business owners are considering making major economic or organizational structure changes in their operations by either buying another company or opening another location.

In the past he says many small business owners flew by the seat of their pants in directing their business. And by the end of the day they were exhausted. His role is to try and get the owner to see the importance of making the right decision—not having them swallow the whole enchilada but to encourage them to do something as opposed to nothing.

"One of the main things I do is to have them pick out what's the most urgent decision they have to make and try to get them to prioritize working on one thing at a time," he said. "We try to develop into getting annual budgets and doing projects."

Reyman is currently providing his expertise to the owner of an electrical contracting supply company that's considering selling the business to an employee. While it's a profitable business, the owners are tired of running the materials company from an operational standpoint. Among the questions to be answered are whether the employee is capable of running the company, how it will be managed and how will it be financed. The conclusions will help the owners decided which course of action to take.

But this deal won't be made overnight. The process began a month ago and Reyman says it probably won't be done for another 45 to 90 days. As it stands right now, there's a 50-50 chance of the sale taking place.

It's not a matter of size

Bob Critelli, a Fiducial franchisee in Voorhees, NJ, works with the major oil companies and has a number of clients who own service stations and convenience stores. He meets with his clients on a monthly basis and they let him know what's on their agenda. Often, these station/store owner have plans to either sell their business or acquire another one. So he finds out who the buyers/sellers are and their profit needs.

"I analyze what business they're going into," said Critelli. He does this before any deal is struck which is a far cry from how most small business owners view these proceedings which are done after the fact.

"We always approach it from the underside, from the profit standpoint," he said. "If they're not going to enhance their lifestyle or get a return on their investment then it's not worth it. Sometimes that's bad news."

Does the decision making process differ for a small business as opposed to large one?

"I think the pressure is the same for both," Critelli said. "It's not a matter of size and quantity because you're still dealing with competition, overhead and unforeseen changes in the market. All these things impact on business decisions that have to be made by both large and small companies."

Always look at everything

Fiducial franchisee Peter Kennedy takes care of his clients in Shrub Oak, NY, located about 40 miles north of New York City. He also has a number of clients in the service station industry including one large one that has 46 service station locations whose operations are closely monitored.

Since this is a business of small margins and high volumes, Kennedy watches the gross profits. Thanks to the sales reporting feature offered in Advantage, Fiducial's proprietary software, he and his staff get a line by line account of all the products sold at these stations which is part of a consolidated report which gets the owner's attention.

"There's a lot of eye opening expenses that they really didn't comprehend," he said.

Having been in the industry for 24 years and owned his own shop for 18, Kennedy acts as a sounding board for his clients who, like lots of small business owners, are stymied by their inability to make decisions.

"When they deal with someone like myself or see it on paper it helps them make a clear decision," he said.

Having owned a number of small businesses, Kennedy considers himself more than just an accountant analyzing data for his clients. He imparts on his clients the significance that if they measure their business only from a checking account perspective "they could easily be led astray if they don't look at everything."

STEPHEN PAREZO is the Media Manager for Fiducial.