A good strategy will help a business enormously by providing the basis for moving the company forward. It should be used as the guiding principle for what areas of business to focus on, the types of customers to target, and the way the company conducts itself. It can be used as the fundamental document that all the company departments (operations, sales and marketing, finance, HR etc) base their own operations on.
A good strategy is not just for large organisations, and need not be very long and onerous. We have seen successful one-person companies with a strategy that was just one page long, but it still drove the direction the owner wanted his company to move in.
We recommend undertaking a regular strategy in every business. How often it should take place will depend on a number of factors such as how new the company is, and how fast moving its market place. However somewhere between every 3 months and once per year would be typical.
A review can start by asking just 5 simple questions:
- Who are you?
- What are you selling?
- Whom do you wish to sell to?
- Where will you find them?
- Why will they buy from you?
Many owners find it beneficial to have someone not involved in the detailed running of the company to help drive that review, so they can bring in a perspective from the outside.
If you would like help to undertake a strategy review that could fundamentally help your company move forward, then do contact one of our strategy experts.
