Strategy Simplified: What It Really Means for Your Business. (The Worksheet)
What is strategy, anyway?
Many people equate strategy with having a plan or thinking deeply about an issue. However, strategy has a specific definition and plays a crucial role in driving success within your organization.
Let’s look at the most recent evolution of the definition.
What strategy was
In the past, strategy was often simplistically defined as any action that increased sales or reduced costs.
There’s just one problem with this definition.
A business has many moving parts that have to work together in harmony. Focusing solely on one aspect, such as sales or cost-cutting, leads to imbalance and undermines other critical areas of the business.
It’s a classic goal-setting mistake: putting all your effort into one thing.
What strategy is
I prefer the approach used by Swiss Harvard professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee.
He focuses on two main areas: increasing willingness to buy and increasing willingness to sell (and he doesn’t neglect relationships with supplies, which I wrap up in the first two questions).
This view of strategy is more effective because it focuses on people—those people buying and the people selling—and it forces you to account for all areas of your business.
Where your strategy begins
Building a full strategy includes a close look at and analysis of your business plans (contact me to find out more). But you can get started on your business foundations by defining how you make people want to buy and how you make people want to sell.
This worksheet is the first in a 3 part series, so come back for two more weeks to get the full picture.
Start with today’s homework, defining:
- Why do you exist: why does the world need another _____ (your business type)?
- How you transform clients’ lives: what change do you allow for them?
- How do you recognize success: what is happening in your business when business is going well?
What next
A business strategy defines your company values, business process, and targets towards your goals. Contact me today to get started.