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Does your business strategy meet the needs of your business?

Large businesses invest huge amounts of time and effort into ensuring their policies and procedures meet the expectations of the stakeholders. A large number of small businesses that I deal with do not have a business strategy or a small business strategies that does not fit the model they operate under.

In terms of small businesses it is absolutely critical to have a strategy to ensure your success. Small businesses that do not have a strategy are running blind, have huge over expenditure on routine items and generally customer service is poor. So how do we move away from this operation model and implement a small business strategy that works.

The first thing I suggest is to review the things that annoy you most within your business. Find the one thing that is giving you the most grief and then put a procedure or policy around that process. It may be your returns policy or your recruitment process.

The next thing is simply to find the next thing that annoys you in your business and put the policy or procedure around that item to develop your small business strategy.

Once you have repeated this process you can then allow these procedures to feed into your business strategy and begin to develop a model that your small business can operate under.

I have used this simple process in multiple businesses around the country with great success and there is no reason why you can not implement this yourself to begin to develop a small business strategy that works for you.

By: Simon Maselli

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business strategy

Every company aims to formulate good strategy and execute that strategy well. But many times it is found that it was either good strategy, bad execution or bad strategy and good execution. Why and how to avoid this?

Let us begin with what is a strategy? In simple terms, it means the plan to achieve the desired goals or results. If any organization has well defined goals, and can develop a strategy to achieve them, it should be half the battle won. But it is seen that execution fails. Why should that be so? It may be the fault of the team that executes the strategy, or certain unknown factors that unexpectedly or unknowingly creep in while executing the plan.

What should be done? Ideally the team that forms the strategies should consider the factors such as who are the people who will execute, does the company have the capacity to execute, what if any unexpected change or event occurs while executing, what are the risks involved, and so on. No strategy can be created without taking into account the ability of the people who will be executing it. One may create a great marketing plan but if the field marketing staff fails to understand and execute the game, it is bound to fail and then the blame game begins.

Can a company make a single team that not only creates the strategy but is also responsible to execute it? This will eliminate many such hiccups on the way. The problem is expertise. I am a good strategist and not a good executor. You are a bad strategist but a good executor on the ground. What if such arguments are presented by the team under formation? All right, how about creating a strategy and keep the execution team in the loop throughout the process of creating strategy? This creates another set of problems. The views of both the teams may be so different that no positive outcome will ever result.

I have discussed in brief about these factors above. In real life, more complications arise and especially in large organizations, the complexities increase. The only solution for the top management is to set goals and discuss them with every one. After getting every one in confidence, create strategies and let every one participate in the strategy formation. Decide about what is totally achievable and why may be achievable. Let the team that will execute commit itself to achieve what is totally achievable and promise them with rewards if they manage to achieve the other part also. The synergy between the strategy makers and the executors will ultimately decide the final outcome.

By: CD Mohatta

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The main business strategy that has reduced the amount of hours I work in my business is implementing business systems. By putting systems in place I am able to run one of my businesses from home in only two days per week. This has happened without taking a cut in my income… in fact my earnings have increased.

To me systems means having a routine, having a structured method to follow that leads to a pre-determined outcome. Having a procedure to follow. Having tools to use, having checklists to follow, knowing the right words to say, using the right equipment, knowing what order to do the job in. If I follow these steps, using this equipment and these tools and say these things, I am likely to get this result.

Let’s look at an example of a marketing system. Imagine you had a revenue target of $20,000 per month. Now imagine you have a systemized, cost-effective, proven marketing system that generates and converts sales opportunities of $20,000 per month. You would follow it wouldn’t you. If someone can along to you and said ‘if you follow this routine, using these checklists, templates and scripts, allow two hours per day to make ten phone calls per day, send ten letters per day, attend one networking event per week, talk to ten additional people per week about your business and make two appointments per week, you will achieve $20,000 per month’,… you would do it, wouldn’t you.

Now imagine you have a 12-Month Marketing Calendar detailing what marketing activities are planned for each week. For each marketing activity you have a checklist, tool or template on how to complete that activity. The Marketing Calendar plans each week of the year. So every day you go to work you know what marketing activity you must do on the day and you have a checklist, template or procedure to follow. And if you followed that Marketing Calender, you would achieve a minimum of $20,000 every month.

You would follow it, wouldn’t you, because that is what your goal is!

In the marketing example, who am I accountable to on a daily basis? No-one except myself. If I don’t make the ten calls per day, or send ten letters per day, or attend a networking event, or make two appointments for the week, what are the consequences?

There are no immediate consequences. However the biggest consequence is that we may not achieve $20,000 revenue this month. We can justify our daily actions for not making the calls. For example I was busy responding to emails, I had to get on top of my accounts, I’m behind on my administration, I’m recruiting a new staff member and had to write the advertisement, etc, etc, etc.

However it is the regular commitment to action that will eventually reap you rewards. The rewards may not be immediate. But work out a system, commit to it for as long as it takes. Create a system that is easy to follow and commit to. That person may not knock on your door with the proven marketing system that will generate $20,000 per month. You need to create it.

Here, I believe lies one of our challenges. Creating the system that works… finding the time to develop the system that will work for your business. This is what working ON your business rather than IN your business is all about.

Once the system is in place, someone else other than you can follow it.

Let’s stay with the marketing example and imagine you put the time and effort into developing a systemized, cost-effective, proven marketing system that generates and converts sales opportunities of $20,000 per month. You can now recruit somebody else to follow the system and generate $20,000 revenue per month for you. Your earnings potential is then only limited by the amount of people you recruit. As long as the system still works in the current market conditions. Your job is to ensure the system still works, then recruit others to work it. The earning potential of the business is no longer dependent on you.

By: Suzie C Crawford

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Entail to learn CityVille business strategy

A person would find everything in the game of CityVille on Facebook that one normally finds during developing a city. Make sure that you serve the city’s population and earn more coins and rewards by developing business buildings. An important aspect in CityVille is that the businesses are nourished by the products obtained from farming. Entail to learn about the CityVille business strategy tips in order to keep your business running.

Entail to follow these business strategies and tips in order to make your city more advanced and get the better of other players.

Make sure that you choose the right crop.

Entail to select the right crop in order to get a big boost to your business in CityVille. Entail to supply the produces from farming to the city business stores. Entailing to choose the crops carefully will be an effective CityVille business strategy. Furthermore ensure to learn about the strategies in order to expand the crop production so as to have regular supply in business.

Entail to learn about business options.

You will get to choose from a number of business options at different levels of the game of CityVille. You will only be able to unlock some business options in higher levels of the game. Entail to choose from some of these main businesses.

* Cosmetics Store
* Toy Store
* French restaurant
* Italian Restaurant
* Sushi Bar
* Wedding Store
* Cinema Hall
* Video Game Store
* Tavern
* Bakery
* Coffee Shop

Entail to know some terms in order to choose the right CityVille business strategy. The following are:

* Coin Income – Income made from different goods.
* Ratio of Coin Income to Goods Cost – It is recommended to choose the business with higher value for this ratio.
* Size: The two sizes for various businesses are 3×3 and 4×4.
* initial Cost – The cost required to set up any of these businesses.
* Goods Cost – Cost of the goods available at each of the business stores.

You will entail to get bonuses on the basis of the businesses you choose at each level of the game. Entail to the right CityVille business strategy in order to choose the best option.

Entail to be aware about the Business Options at Different Levels.

You will entail to have different amount of money at different levels of the game. Entail to choose the business on the basis of your investment capacity. Entail to choose the businesses needing low investments at the lower levels. Entail to decide which business to replace with another in the higher levels of the game. Entail to learn the CityVille business strategy in advance if you wish to be proficient in this.

Countless number of strategies are there for you to learn in order to have a profitable CityVille business. Entail to refer to the CityVille strategy guide before you start playing the game.

By: Jack A Bush

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There are many different strategies, to take, in business. And, while most strategies will seem extremely simple, on the exterior, people will find that those same strategies have far-reaching effects that can exonerate or decapacitate a company. To know which road, to take, is a difficult proposition for the untrained mind. There are several common roads that people pursue. All roads seek higher ground and yet – the way, in which the ground, is pursued, is the factor that determines winning or losing. The way to win, in business is to (1) seek the high ground, (2) plan for deception, (3) use spies, (4) and have a great leader.

Seek the Higher Ground

Commodity businesses are to be avoided since the profit margins are typically extremely narrow. The only way to get great returns is to occupy the high ground. So, what does that mean, in business?

The high ground is your intellectual property. For example, your company secrets and experience, in how to do things. The intellectual secrets may be patents or closely guarded (like the Coke recipe). For most companies, the way to generate high returns is to focus on creating some intellectual capital that can only be used by that one company. A great example of how to do this is Apple Computers. They create better products that can’t be distributed or replicated by other people due to intellectual rights. This enables Apple to make wide profits with only a small share of the market.

Many people go about this the wrong way. If you were in battle, you wouldn’t try to climb up a steep rocky hillside to take out a bunker filled with machine gunners. The casualties would be very great and the chances of success too low. Instead, you might call in for an aerial attack and hold your position.

Many companies try to take the high ground by simply copying the market leaders. This strategy does not work. It is akin, to trying, to take out a bunker, on a steep slope. When you are focused on copying someone else, you can never be the leader. You will always be one step behind. You will find that many people try to copy Apple mp3 players. What typically happens, is that Apple just comes out with a new and better version that blows the other copycats away. Instead, the competitors should focus on their own technology and innovate, in their own way. That is the only way to become a market leader. It makes sense. If you use your own brain and make your own decisions you may become a leader. As long as you follow other people around for ideas and information, you will always be a copycat or market follower. This is significant because market leaders make much higher profit margins that copycat followers.

The other gnawing question, to have, is about whether to advance up the hill or not. If your company is small and weak, it doesn’t make sense to try to advance up a steep well fortified hill. You probably can’t win and the casualties will be high. Instead, maybe you should find a steep hill that isn’t currently occupied. It may be difficult to get up the hill, but once you are there it will be difficult, for competitors, to advance against you. Many companies forget to use their imaginations. There are lots of unoccupied hills and sometimes people fight unnecessarily because they assume that this is the best hill and the only hill that matters.

Plan for Deception

When it comes to serious things that matter, people will do just about anything to win. In a real war, you will do whatever it takes to win because it is a matter of life and death. In business, winning and losing have dire consequences. Succeeding, in business, is really a matter of life and death because it takes money to live and survive.

When the stakes are so high, people will use deceptive tactics to aid their winning strategy. Like war, learning to guard against deception is an important part of any good strategy. As a business strategist, you must know how to handle deception and use it to your advantage. If you don’t, you will leave yourself vulnerable.

If you aren’t quite convinced, don’t be surprised. Many people do not realize the nature of society and people. There are many games out there that attempt to show how cooperation breaks down. People are known to break a long-term deal for a short-term gain. When cooperation breaks down, it usually involves one person deceiving the other to gain an added benefit. It is not a good way to be, but it is prevalent in society and a good business person should know how to defend against deception.

There are many entrepreneurs that have brought their inventions to large corporations trying to make a deal. What often happens is that the larger company steals the idea and gives the inventor little or nothing, in return. What we learn from these past mistakes is that a good defense is needed. In football, it is often said that a great defense wins championships. In any team sport, people often focus almost exclusively on offense. In reality, great teams have a good defense and a good offense. Business is a team sport and both a good offense and a good defense is needed to make a go of it. The most important thing, when getting started, is to closely guard company secrets and intellectual capital. This is what makes your lifetime bread and butter.

Using Spies

Using spies is an advanced military tactic. There is this war over intellectual information that determines the winner and the loser. Many countries have found great success with that of spies. Since many countries are underdeveloped, they must resort to the use of spies to learn about how to build technological weapons.

In business, the idea is the same. Many large corporations will hire people away from their competitors. In many cases, one of the main hiring decision factors is the proprietary information that the individual holds. One example is that of hiring sales personnel. A smaller company might hire a sales person from a large company that has all the industry contacts so that entering into that field is much easier. In other words, the sales person is hired for their little black book of contacts.

Goldman Sachs is the ultimate company, when it comes to spies. They have loyal people working, for lots of different companies, and also, in the government. They are one of the top investment forms because they have the best information. They have an awesome network of people throughout so much of the economy that they can always know what is going on. Many other companies follow this same strategy. They want to have key people at lots of different companies looking out for them. These are modern-day business spies.

Some churches have a similar advantage. They can ask virtually any of their loyal members for advice or help on almost anything. With a church, of millions, of members, you can get pretty much any expert advice or help that you would ever need. Likewise, should you associate with a church, the same members may help you personally, as well.

Great Leadership

The greatest leader, of all, can win with ease. They make winning easy. The best leader will inspire the people to give their best efforts. These are the kind of people you would willingly “take a bullet” for because, of your profound respect and admiration, of the person.

The highest form of leadership is to balk the enemies plans. The greatest leaders avoid confrontation. They want to preserve their strength and only fight when they know they can win. It takes a great degree of skill to know when to fight and when not to fight. Great leadership is fighting, winning, gaining a lot, and taking few or no casualties.

So, how do you apply this to business? The greatest leaders know what markets to go into. They know who to market to and how to reach buyers. They know how to keep competitors out of their chosen market and are also good at preventing competitors from gaining traction. The art is to know, given your set of circumstances, what is best for your company. A large company will have a much different strategy than a small start-up.

There are many traits to look for in a leader. They must be moral, strict, a good example, and brave. They must have experience and take things seriously by working hard to accomplish their goals. There is much more to this topic that can’t fully be discussed in this article.

Final Thought

Simple strategic ideas often lead to huge consequences that are often ignored by companies because of their simplicity. In business, learn to know what kind of competition you can deal with and, above all, seek the high ground.

By: Kristy Snow

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business strategy

Business strategy implementation is the name of the game in small and large companies today. Due to a revolving door of management mantras and fads, and increasing “guru fatigue”, there is increasing recognition that the ability to successfully execute new strategies and programs is the real key to competitive advantage in business in the 21st century – not strategy development.

The ability to implement business strategy successfully is dependent on proper alignment of strategy with internal and external business conditions. Here are 4 factors that business leaders must consider and connect to their road maps during the strategic planning process and beyond.

1. Customer Marketplace Realities

It’s no longer enough to respond to the articulated needs of the marketplace. If you do not have a process for empathizing deeply with your target customer, profits will eventually migrate to the first competitor who is able to articulate the “silent priorities” of your marketplace and provide for them.

Sustained success today requires spending almost as much time in your customer’s strategic space as you do in yours. If you’re a business leader, assign a team that has continuing responsibility for delving deeply into the strategic challenges of your customer.

Another technique is to create an infrastructure of continuous customer interaction in which customers get used to sending you a stream of information about their business, their challenges, and even their plans.

2. Macroeconomic Realities and Trends

Macroeconomic trends have the important characteristic of being able to shift customer patterns and priorities. The ability to consistently spot these trends early and accurately analyze them is a mark of a great leadership team. Whether your organization is a small or big company, you must keep a close eye on macroeconomic conditions and draw up strategic and operating plans that acknowledge them, as well as contingency plans to execute if some of your fundamental assumptions prove to be wrong.

3. Competitor Positioning And Strategy

One of the most startling realities of today’s globalized, digitized and rapidly evolving business environment is the ever-changing definition of who constitutes your competition. A local spa business that once had to contend with 3 other competitors in a small town today competes with dentists (dental spas), chiropractors, and maybe even allergists.

As a business strategist, you must develop “funnel vision” – the ability to monitor adjacent industries both for ideas and for the possibility that a competitor might be rising from there. You must also commit to regularly scanning value chain neighbors to identify strategic moves that could seriously affect the viability of your business model.

4. Internal Resources And Ability To Execute

Your business strategy implementation process will stumble if you do not have a very clear grasp of the capabilities of your business team and the resources your leaders have available to successfully execute strategy.

Do your product lines and service offerings represent the past demand or the future priorities of your industry? Does your company have a culture of execution, accountability and adaptability? Is your organizational structure updated to the current needs of the marketplace? How does your sales force compare with those of the competition in terms of length of time in the industry and in profile? Is your organization structurally and culturally focused to be clearly understood by potential partner companies? Does your organization have a deep enough network of strategic alliances to respond nimbly to market changes?

Perform an audit of your business – your core competencies, your structure, culture, marketing and core processes. Examine your budget. Dig deep into the reality of your organization’s position.

Successful Business Strategy Implementation Depends On Realism

Effective strategic implementation depends on your ability to incorporate these factors into your planning process. Do not permit yourself or other leaders in your organization to merely pay lip service to these areas and move on.

Much of what passes for business strategy development activities today are merely exercises in “educated visioning” (or even worse, “guessing”). Good strategy is more than just vision-crafting. Your process must look for facts, robustly question and debate assumptions and have a continuing element of follow through and feedback to account for an increasingly dynamic business environment.

By: Gogo Erekosima

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