Title: How to Develop a Business Strategy (1)
1How to Develop a Business Strategy
The fall is right time to start thinking about
your business goals and then engage your team in
developing a new business strategy. Winging it is
NOT a strategy, yet too often business owners
venture into new markets without a specific
target or value proposition, hoping to come
across someone in need of services. If you are
looking to identify new business targets, outline
a growth plan, determine your product roadmap or
plan your funding needs, you will need a clear
business strategy. It is one thing to know your
business needs, actually developing a strategy is
not so easy. This is the first article in a
three-part series on building a business strategy.
STEPS TO DEVELOP A NEW BUSINESS STRATEGY
- Examine Your Current State
- Before you start looking to the future, you
should review your past business performance, or
the current state. Look at your annual revenues,
customer lists, and average revenue per
transaction and review your most popular
services or products. Then look at how your
business operates. Look at your market position,
employees, sales processes, profit margins and
customer satisfaction. Use a SWOT - (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats) analysis to conduct your review. You
must determine what worked well, what could have
been better, outline your weaknesses and consider
what new opportunities are in the marketplace.
When you look at your business, bring your team
together to make sure you are collecting all the
relevant information that you need. - Look at External Factors
2- There are things that affect your business that
are not under your control such as industry
trends, government regulations, legal
compliance, political policies such as
international tariffs. - Technological advances as well as environmental
concerns such as a neighborhood community
protesting your restaurant getting a liquor
license, can also affect your business results or
expansion - plans. External factors can either be threats or
opportunities depending on how it impacts your
industry, your business or your location. - Develop or Refine Your Mission Statement
- Your mission defines your business purpose. It
outlines your companys primary objectives. It is
the core off your Why story. It should be big
enough that it is something that you are
continually striving toward. Your mission must
focus on your long term goal. Your mission
statement should answer the questions - What do you do?
- Who do you do it for?
- What problem do you solve?
- Develop or Refine Your Vision Statement
- You mission and vision statements work together.
For the vision statement, you want to answer the
question Where do you want your business to be
when it grows up. Your vision is supposed to
push you. This statement should describe what you
want to be known for and the future direction of
the business. It is value statement that is
achievable that gives direction in the medium to
long term of your business. - Define Your Strategic Objectives
- You want to develop a set of objectives for all
areas of the business. They need to highlight the
priorities that will deliver on the companys
vision and mission. Create SMART goals for your
business (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic and Time-Driven). Your objectives must
also include factors such as KPIs, human
resource allocation and budget requirements. Use
the data from your the SWOT analysis in Step 1,
to help identify strengths and weaknesses that
you can build into your objectives. - Develop an Execution Plan
- Now is the time to turn your new business
strategy into a detailed execution plan. This
plan will require actions from you and your
team. You may also need new reporting structure
or project management software to keep everyone
on task. When you are focusing on achieving new
results you must communicate to do and by when
dates, so that everyone is clear on their role.
Be sure to schedule weekly staff meeting to
reinforce tasks keep all key documents and
deliverables in one place where everyone can
access. - Source https//nigerialisting.com/how-to-develop-
a-business-strategy/