Do you know who your key people are?

Sales Director or Manager
Do they run the sales team and have the years plan, targets and strategy? Or perhaps they are your lead or only sales person, brining in the essential revenue to your business. Without them, where does your income come from?

Business consequences – If your business relies on sales for income, then without the driving force behind the team or lead/only sales person , a considerable dip in income is highly likely. Staff affected by the loss of the person are likely to struggle with continuing to drive sales forward, even if only for a short period, but the effect will ripple through the business for some time.

The brains behind the business – scientists, software developers, Chief Technology Officer.
May well not be on the board of directors or responsible for management decisions & the running of the company – but without their brains, ideas and processes, where would your business be?

Business consequences – Losing the person whose ideas or knowledge created the business can be catastrophic. Without that person, particularly in the early stages of the business lifecycle could bring everything to a standstill and could even bring about the end of the company, giving rise to financial debt with redundancy costs, business loans and investors to repay.

Operations Director or Office Manager – the person who keeps your business operational
Whether its your Operations Director or your office manager, without them, could your business function? Who else understands the accounting system, who your suppliers are, your website provider?

Business consequences – Whilst there might not be an obvious financial impact, think about the time costs with other team members having to take on extra responsibilities to keep the business running. This could have a greater impact on smaller businesses where there isn’t a team of people that understand the processes and contacts etc and the time it takes to learn these, as well as finding a replacement, if that’s necessary, can have a cost impact.

Client Relationship Manager/Customer Account Manager
You’ve won clients, but who maintains your most important client relationships? If something happened to them, does your business have the capacity to continue nurturing those relationships?

Business consequences – Rightly or wrongly, clients can often feel their relationship is with the person they deal directly with rather than the business itself. If something happens to a key client relationship holder, there’s the potential that their clients will feel vulnerable and perhaps seek alternative suppliers.

Chief Executive Officer/ Managing Director/Finance Director
The key decision makers within your organisation. It’s likely that any investors will require key person cover as a condition of investment.

Business consequences – The loss of a business leader not only brings about uncertainty from clients and investors but will have a huge impact on the company itself. The leadership team will need to support and reassure staff as well as keep things running smoothly from an operational point of view. The financial impact – whether a drop in share prices, lost sales or the cost of replacing that individual can be significant.

HR Director/Manager
Whether a director and on the board, or the HR Manager who looks after everything employee related – and everyone, it’s likely that losing this person could have a significant impact on your business.

Business consequences – It’s unlikely that your business can function without HR support and hiring a replacement – even a temporary person – isn’t going to be a quick process. Whilst there are interim HR Directors out there – this brings an additional and unexpected cost at an already stressful time.