A lot of what business owners do is labelled as being part of a strategy: lists of short-term goals, making grand financial plans, and sharing ideas for growth, but that’s not to say that any of these things are actually what a business strategy truly is. These targets look impressive in presentations, and they certainly motivate people to work hard and strive for greatness, but that doesn’t automatically equate to strategy. They often fail to address the pressing, real challenges that the business is facing. A lot of business owners fall into the trap of focusing on strategic plans, but these plans don’t guide daily operations or long-term results, which is what a successful business strategy should do.
Strategic Plans Don’t Work; Business Strategies Do
One of the most common complaints about strategic plans is that they don’t work, and we’re not surprised. Strategic plans tend to focus on desired financial outcomes – such as increased market share or revenue growth – but they don’t address the challenges at the heart of the business, the same challenges that are actually preventing those outcomes. A lot of the time, business owners confuse financial goals with business strategy, even though they should be handled as two separate entities.
A business strategy isn’t about creating a wishlist of things that you want to achieve, nor is it about trying to do everything at once. If you want a business strategy to be successful, you need to navigate the hurdles and solve the problems that are standing in the way of progress. To do this, you need a business strategy that focuses on problem solving, and then evolves as challenges change and opportunities arise.
So, What Exactly is a Business Strategy?
To keep it simple, a business strategy is a plan that addresses a challenge. Without a challenge, there’s no business strategy. Think about it, unless you have a hurdle to climb over, there’s nothing too strategic about what you’re doing. You need to identify specific barriers to success, develop a way to overcome those barriers, and then change your strategy as challenges are overcome and new ones emerge.
Instead of focusing on a list of things that you want for your business – for example, the desire to make a set amount of money by the end of the year or hopes of doubling your customer base – a business strategy should look at immediate problems, immediate steps to overcome those problems, and an overall end goal. It’s important to resist the urge to have a business strategy that focuses too much on the bigger picture, as you’re bound to have obstacles to overcome beforehand.
The Recipe for a Good Business Strategy
There’s a lot that goes into a good business strategy, but the three main ingredients are:
- Knowing What Challenges Matter Most – You need to determine which challenges matter most. Not all issues that your business faces are created equal, and wasting resources on secondary problems takes away focus and impact from elsewhere.
- Knowing Which Obstacles Can Be Overcome – You need to assess which obstacles can realistically be addressed with the resources you have available to you and which are simply outside of your current capabilities. This ensures that you tackle the challenges with the highest likelihood of success and don’t waste time on others.
- Being Able to Focus – You might be tempted to spread your resources as far as they will reach, but you need to avoid this. Trying to solve too many problems at the same time usually results in poor results across the board. It’s best to focus on one or two main hurdles and overcome them before thinking about moving onto the next problem.
Why Focus Plays Such a Big Part in Business Strategy
One of the important parts of business strategy is focus, and this means applying your business’ strengths and capabilities toward overcoming an important and addressable obstacle and avoiding being distracted by long-term financial goals. It’s good to have big dreams for your business, but you’ll only reach them if you focus on what’s standing in your way.
Without Focus, You’re Unlikely to See Results
If you’re not focusing enough of your resources on a specific problem or hurdle, it’s unlikely that any progress will be made. A subpar attempt at overcoming a major challenge will usually result in wasted time and effort; you need to be 100% committed, focused, and determined.
Without Focus, You’ll Spread Your Resources Too Thin
Even a large, established business will struggle to succeed if it spreads its resources too thin. There’s no benefit to be gained from trying to dedicate resources to numerous targets. If you focus your resources on one hurdle, you’ll find it a lot easier to prioritise rising above it.
Without Focus, You Could Target the Wrong Challenge
You might have a lot of resources to throw at a challenge, but that’s not useful if you’re targeting the wrong thing. If you’re not focusing, you run the risk of dedicating time, energy and resources to overcoming meaningless, unimportant, or unsolvable problems.
A focused strategy is one that aligns the business’ efforts, ensuring that all resources and actions work together to solve the same problem. By narrowing down all of your attention to the right challenge, you can channel your business’ strengths into solving key problems and driving meaningful progress.
How to get your Business Strategy Right
- Don’t Start with a Goal – A lot of people approach creating a business strategy by starting with the goal and working backwards, deciding what needs to be done to reach that goal. But, it’s a lot more effective if you identify the problem that’s standing in your way, and create a business strategy starting with that. Instead of focusing on the financial result, focus on the main hurdles that your business is facing. Instead of deciding that you want to increase your revenue, determine why your revenue needs increasing. For example, is it being held back by something? If so, what?
- Be Prepared to Adjust – You might put a lot of time and energy into your business strategy, but the chances are it’ll need adjusting at some point. There’s always something changing in the world of business, and your strategy needs to be flexible enough to handle new problems. As circumstances, customer demands and market trends change, so must your strategy. Otherwise, it’ll quickly become dated and ineffective.
- Be Strict With Prioritisations – You need to decide what matters most for your business, and you need to be strict with prioritising that. This is where your time, energy and resources need to be focused. There’s bound to be other smaller hurdles that crop up along the way, but try to avoid being distracted from the main focus. You’ll find it a lot easier to overcome a specific hurdle if you’re dedicating the majority of your time, energy and resources to it.
- Track Your Progress – As is the case with a lot of business, you need to measure your strategy’s success. Look at how well you’re overcoming the challenges you’ve identified – and if you’re not overcoming them, why is that? – and don’t just focus on whether you’re meeting your financial goals. A lot of business owners make the mistake of feeling disappointed if a financial goal hasn’t been met, even though overcoming a major challenge is likely to be more important, and more lucrative, in the long run.
We can all agree that business strategy is a complex area, but it’s not something you need to tackle alone. With experts – such as the team here at Profici – on hand to help, getting business strategy right is instantly within reach. Find out more about what our business growth partners can do for you (and your strategy!) by getting in touch.
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