Tweet

Think Small! How To Focus Your Business Strategy

Guest post by: Meridith Elliott Powell

Article Overview: Used to be strategic planning sessions took 3 days & strategic plans lasted 5 years. Gone are the days of a predictable economy & the long-term strategic plan.

Think Small! How To Focus Your Business Strategy

Drastic times call for drastic measures! It used to be that strategic planning sessions took three days and strategic plans lasted five years. Well, gone are the days of a predictable economy and gone are long-term strategic plans that went with them.

If you want to grow your business, if you want to expand in this economy, then you need to think small, get focused and strategize often. Face it: no one knows what is going to happen in this economy. One day we hear things are improving, the next we hear the bottom is about to fall out. The only thing certain in this economy is uncertainty. Markets are volatile, times are changing and customers are more demanding than ever.

So how do we position ourselves for success? How do we get above the turmoil? How do we make this ever-changing economy work for us? We think small, we get focused and we shorten our strategic plans.

In a fast-paced world, you need to be ready to change on a dime, to jump at opportunity and be strong enough to overcome the obstacles that will be thrown in your way. You can't do that if your goals are numerous, your decision-making process is complicated, and your "change committee" meets one time per year.

You need to turn your business on its head, and you need a radical approach to the traditional strategic planning process.

First, Narrow your scope! Yes, you need goals, but who says they need to big, hairy and audacious? Save that for your vision. In a fast-paced economy, your goals need to be designed to keep you moving forward, but not so cumbersome and involved that you can't expand or change them if new opportunities should arise. In a fast-moving economy, goals that are small in number and narrow in scope keep your team moving forward while still leaving plenty of room for flexibility.

Second, Commit To Action -- Once you know what you want to accomplish, you need to decide how you are going to accomplish it. The value of a strategic plan is that it establishes direction; the power of the strategic plan is in the steps you design to take action. You need specific, detailed steps that lay the path of exactly what actions you are going to take to accomplish your goals. Steps that you can measure and steps that you can hold yourself accountable to achieving. It is through action that new ideas and opportunities will arise. Yes, MotionFirst is the best way to keep your strategic plan on track, your team moving forward, and your company prepared and ready for opportunity.

Then, Get Out Of The Weeds -- Yes, there is more to building and implementing a strategic plan than making sure it takes hold in your company. You need to get out of the weeds, take your head out of the day-to-day, and see what is going on in the rest of the world. What happens outside your business has just as much, if not more, impact than what happens inside your business. Every other month you need to take a breather. You need to slow down, set aside some time, round up your team and some outside advisors, and brainstorm about what is happening outside the walls of your business. What is going on with the economy? How have our customers changed?What trends are we seeing in society? How will the changes in our political world impact our business? And the list goes on. If you want to stay ahead of the game, if you want to drive change instead of having it drive you, then you'll need to get your head out of the weeds and get ready for what's coming.

Lastly, Change Your Plan -- If every three months your plan is not changing then you're not paying attention. You designed this plan to be flexible, and this economy will make sure you have plenty of opportunity to bend, shape and redesign it. If your strategic plan is working, if you're taking action, if you're getting out of the weeds, then you'll have no choice but to revisit your plan and consistently make small adjustments that allow your team to jump at opportunity and sidestep pending obstacles. In a shifting economy, a strategic plan needs to be anything but static. It needs to be a "living" document that is actively used, regularly updated and easily adjusted.

Yes, if you want to grow big in this economy then you need to think small.

Related Articles
  Why Businesses Succeed
  How to Make Sales and Marketing a Doable Strategy
  M is for Marketing Strategy
  Business Teleconferencing Networking The Up and Coming Business Trend
  A, B, C's of Execution
  Do you have the sales force your strategy needs?
  Entrepreneurs – Do You Really Need A Marketing Strategy?
  What is a marketing strategy and why your business should have one
  All Customers Care About Is Price?
  Can Social Media be a value proposition for you and your customers?
  Making it Easier for Your Salespeople to Succeed
  The Importance of Strategic Marketing Consulting in Marketing Vendor Management
  Part 5: Marketing and Sales Strategies
  Is strategic planning for small businesses, or only the “Fortune-ate”?
  9th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
  Does Your Website Jingle
  Strategy vs. Fundamentals
  12 Steps to Implementing Anything in Your Business : Step Three: Organise your Staff and Create a Strategy
  Let's get strategic
  Eight Powerful Strategies To Retain Clients, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

Article Tags: effective strategic plans, how to implement a strategic plan, MotionFirst, Strategic Planning, strategic planning in the new economy, writing a successful strategic plan



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Book: Secrets of Six Figure Women - Secrets of Six Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to up your earning and change your life Barbara Stanny, 2002 Jacket: Maybe you've noticed - a subtle trend is gathering steam. Quietly and steadily, the number of women making six figures or more is increasing, and it continues to rise at a rate faster than for men. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives, from white collar executives to free lancers and part timers, women are forging careers with considerable financial success. Through extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including dialogs with more than 150 high earners whose annual incomes range from $100,000 to 7 million, Stanny discovered that ...they all had certain traits in common: 1) a profit motive 2) Audacity 3) REslience 4) Encouragement 5) Self-awareness 6) Non-attachment 7) Financial knowhow She amplifies on these in the book itself. Table of Contents Intro: Welcome to the era of the six-figure woman 1. The Queen in the Countinghouse 2. The Lowdown on low earners 3. Raising the bar 4. Strategy 1: The Declaration of Intention 5. Strategy 2: Letting go of the ledge 6. Strategy 3: Get in the Game 7. Strategy 4: Speak Up 8. Strategy 5: The Stretch 9. Strategy 6: Seek Support 10. Strategy 7: Obey the rules of money 11. Claiming our power Appendces: Resources and websites Tips for getting out of dent Investing Basics: Wealthbuilding 101
These maybe the coldest franchises out there: - Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops. WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure % 1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56% 2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94% 3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18% 4 COPY CLUB 36.36% 5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71% 6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71% 7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59% 8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78% 9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48% 10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33% 11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33% 12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33% 13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33% 14 BLIMPIE 31.39% 15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77% Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Biz Plan Competition - i just wanted to say that posting Small Business Events on CanadaOne is a great resource. Thanks Julie!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Email Marketing Made Easy #11 - Avoiding Spam

Resolving A Conflict Between Two Sales Staffs

The Future of Online Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.