Warning: In this post I’m going to be super transparent and real about why any business MUST have a strategy. Regardless of what industry or niche you are in, you will not survive in business without one.
For example: if you are in direct sales and think PFFFT I don’t need a strategy, the parent company has one and my job is just to get sales and rank up, this couldn’t be further from the truth. This is your business, and you are responsible for your results. Not only that, with no strategy you are spending precious time and money on things that are not getting you the results you deserve.
Okay, I’m done with my rant, but I did warn you in advance that I’m pretty fired up about this topic!
Let’s look at strategy, what it is and what it isn’t. Why you need one if you expect your business to survive past year one (80% don’t) and join the 55% that make it to year 5. We are going to look at what you can do NOW to grow that biz and not be another statistic!
Don’t get me wrong, owning a business is not easy, you are going to have to invest time, you won’t be a millionaire overnight and may be never, you are going to have to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work, but with a roadmap it will be sooo much easier and sooo less time consuming and way less frustrating.
But first, let’s take a step back, inhale deeply, let it out, get rid of all the things in your brain that have been stopping you from moving forward and enter this with an open mind. Let’s get the juices flowing, the vision of where you want to take your biz and what is it you really want to achieve. Hone in on the why. Just because is not an answer!
Who is your ideal customer/audience? What is holding you back from getting the results that you want to see? How do you align your strategy with your niche for solid growth?
This is where I need you to trust me and put in a bit of work, journal about it, reflect on it, write what has worked for you and what has not worked for you, where are you investing your time, where should you be investing your time, but just don’t have the time to do it. Really dig deep. The answers aren’t going to come easy, and I can’t give them to you, I can only get those wheels turning. Trust me, continuing to read this post will provide clarity, you will find golden nuggets as to where to start.
Take a moment now and think about how you are using social media for your business (if not you should be). If you have no strategy and are just throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping something sticks. Grab my guide, on how to conquer radio silence and grow the right audience. It’s FREE and a great starting point. I wrote this focused on social media, but really it will start laying the foundation for any strategy in your biz.
So, Let’s Talk About What You Are Really Here for, the “S” Word
Shocker!! 70% of businesses are launched and running with no strategy (note I did not say successful businesses).
WHOA! I couldn’t believe it when I read it that, but when I did the market research for my own business my results were even higher. Houston we have a problem.
I’m not talking a business plan that you are taking to the bank to get money, but talking real strategy, like how will this business survive and be successful kind of strategy. What I’m going to do next strategy, and how the heck am I going to measure progress strategy! It doesn’t matter what the industry, what your niche is every business needs to have a strategy.
I’ve heard you, strategy is scary, boring, it’s too businessy (is that even a real word?) for me, I just want to do this. I have this “thing” and I want to share it with everyone, and it will make me money. WRONG! In your mind this is true, but let’s unpack this a bit.
So, what is a strategy really? It’s really become quite the buzz word in the last couple of years, especially if you are still working the traditional 9-5…..all the water cooler chats these days start with “what’s your strategy for this project, or you really should think about that more strategically, oooh that’s too in the weeds you need to have the 10,000 foot view and think strategically”, that won’t work it’s not high level enough, UGGGGH. But in all seriousness, people have started to throw the words strategy and strategic around so much that everyone is confused, and really to be honest, I have lost the plot on what strategy really is and isn’t. So, lets define it.
Let’s define strategy so it isn’t so scary, boring, overwhelming, however you want to describe it, and you can focus on the ONE most important thing, so you have a business that you are excited about, proud of, is solving a problem for your customer.
STRATEGY [ˈstradəjē]:
Depending what you are working on strategy has many definitions but let’s just take it down to the most simplistic form: a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals in unfamiliar environments.
That’s it, that’s all folks! It’s not rocket science, and it is not the specific steps that will get you there (those are tactics we will discuss later); it’s really nothing more than you planning out how you are going to survive the craziness of a grocery store the day before Christmas, so you can get what you need and get the heck out of there!
There is no single strategy in business, but there is only one overall, all encompassing, mega important, business strategy. That’s what we are talking about today, so you have a business to write all the other strategies for.
Some strategies that you will create along the way are just as important, they are going to drive different areas in your business, the difference between the overall business strategy and other types is that each one of the other strategies will be part of the business strategy. The additional strategies are part of that game plan, blueprint, guiding vision, etc…whatever you decide to call it, which will then determine the who, what, when and why so you are focused on the right things at the right time.
Some examples of other strategies are:
- growth strategy
- marketing strategy
- team strategy
- investment strategy
And so on, I really could go on forever.
Strategies continuously change and will be nested into a living and breathing operational document (could be a chart, spreadsheet, written document, there are no rules and no limits to how the information is captured). What strategy is not, it’s not like an Instapot where you set it and forget it, or pull it out 10 years later and blow the dust off it and show your grandkids what you created when you first started your business back in the day.
Save your early blog posts, social media posts, marketing attempts for show and tell with your grandchildren if you want to show them the messy action you took in the beginning to get where you are today.
Business Strategy Must Haves
To have a successful strategy there are several components that they must contain. In my combined 30 years of retail and disaster and emergency management experience the following are the most important to have contained within:
- Vison and Objectives: A business strategy is written to achieve your goals and objectives. You cannot have goals and objectives if you don’t have a vision of where you want your business to go. A business MUST have a vison, or it will just flail around until it fails. A business strategy will become the guiding document of what needs to be done and who is going to achieve it.
- Core Values: You must identify what your businesses core values are (as an entrepreneur/solopreneur make sure these don’t go against your personal values). These guide what should and shouldn’t be done, in business according to what has been identified and established. When in doubt you can always return to them to aid decision making.
- SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis: This analysis MUST be in every business strategy. Your strengths allow you to know what makes you stand out from all the other businesses. This gives you the competitive advantage to clearly stand out amongst all the noise. This analysis also brings to the forefront any weaknesses that your business is experiencing and allows you to shift and strengthen your approach and remain the number one choice amongst your customers.
- Tactics: You may or may not include this in the actual strategy document, you may opt to have a separate document outlining your operational plan. However, this is an extremely important piece of your strategy and a MUST Defining your tactics clearly state the actions and the steps to get the job done and meet those goals and objectives. Having tactics included in your strategy clearly identifies who on your team is responsible for doing them. If you are a solopreneur, this is also important for you, the mighty team of one! This will highlight where you can find efficiencies and streamline/automate your processes.
- Measurement: Don’t miss this step!! I can’t stress that enough. Your strategy MUST include goals and objectives that can be measured. I’m sure you have heard of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) goals or KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). This is where you use all the measurement tools, analytics, insights, data, etc… available to you to paint the picture of how your business is doing. These give you the ability to know where to adjust without spinning your wheels trying things that you don’t know will work. This key step is also a HUGE time and money saver….I have to admit I’m a bit of a closet geek on this one, but it is so, so, so, important. I think you get it!
Why Business Strategies Fail
Reason 1:
Alignment: Business strategies that are not aligned with you AND your customer; they are too heavy on one side or the other of the strategic scale. To keep the scales balance there needs to be a common ground. There are four important questions to ask yourself as you start to think about your business strategy:
- Do you know who your ideal customer is?
- Do you know what problem your customer has and is trying to solve?
- Have you clearly defined the solution you have in your business that will solve their problem?
- Can you clearly explain how you are you standing out from all the other businesses that have the same/similar solution, so why should the customer buy from you?
- Do you know how to establish trust, rapport and demonstrate value with your customer so they want to buy from you regardless of the price?
Reason 2:
Goals: Business that don’t have goals or objectives (there is a difference, but for the purpose of this post they are interchangeable) or they are not well defined; they are either too broad, too pie in the sky, are not aligned with the business and/or the customer OR both. We have all heard this at some time in our lives goals need too be SMART. Whether we are trying to lose weight, quit smoking, establish, and run a business or win a hockey game. If we don’t have SMART goals, we will achieve nothing. So, what are SMART goals?
- Specific – Are clear and concise, not too wordy
- Measurable – Need to demonstrate how you can measure what you are saying
- Achievable – Can you do what you are saying in the timeframe you have set
- Realistic – No pie in the sky, legitimately define what you can/aspire to do
- Timely – Have a specific timeframe around them so you can measure and adjust
If your goals don’t follow this methodology or a similar one, you can’t establish whether you are accomplishing what you set out to do or not. If you are hoping you can just throw spaghetti against a wall hoping it sticks and you will magically become wildly successful over night, you can’t! Your business may run for a while, but then it will crash, and you won’t know why or how to fix it.
Reason 3:
Strategy Execution: This is where the tactics mentioned earlier in this post really shine and show just how important they are. If points 1 and 2 are not aligned then you must ask yourself the question, so what? That’s the question your customer will ask themselves. Are you just doing things for the sake of doing them? Why should your customer buy from you if you haven’t even taken the time to clearly know why you are running your business, running it the way you are, and what you are hoping to accomplish?
Alignment and strategy execution are the only two components that can produce your desired outcome.
This is the most important part of your business strategy to focus on to see results, however if reasons 1 and 2 are not aligned and clear your entire strategy will fall flat and your chances of success are about the same as throwing darts at a dart board in the dark, thinking you are going to hit bullseye.
Next Steps
Now that you are no longer scared of the big S word, strategy, and are starting to understand why some business strategies succeed and some fail, I’m sure your thinking, well all this is great, but now what do I do.
First, if you haven’t done so already, grab my Free guide to Conquering Radio Silence on Social Media: The 5W1H (Why, Who, What, When, Where & How) Strategy to Growing the Right Audience. Don’t worry if you are not on social media yet, this guide will get you thinking business strategy.
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