Every business needs to set goals. But what comes next? Learn to strategise your business to achieve your goals with less daily effort.
Dominating the market you're in has less to do with the actual day-to-day operation of your business than you might think. In fact, dominating your market is largely about strategic planning. Forming a clear plan for the future is the key to achieving your business goals.
Consider the following list which looks at a business in terms of business direction and execution:
- Great direction, great direction
- Great operation, poor direction
- Great direction, poor execution
- Poor direction, and poor execution
Where do you want - and need - to be? Obviously number one! Many start up businesses are in the number three spot, great concept and growing quickly, but struggling to execute.
Many mature businesses find themselves at number two. Their operation is in good order, but they are not innovating their business direction, and as such, are in danger of becoming obsolete.
Needless to say none of us want to be at position number four.
A mission statement is the foundation of any business. In many cases, customers never see this statement. It is a short document that lays out in very clear terms what the business is all about. A mission statement focuses internal attention on what sets your business apart from every other business in the market.
While a mission statement will get you started on strategising your business, it's not the whole picture. Determining a clear path to your overall goals and communicating the details of this path should follow.
Those who choose to strategise their business will no doubt learn the term GOSPA. It stands for Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Plans and Actions. When developing a strategy for your business, it will be your mantra. Following the GOSPA path involves taking calculated steps toward an overall goal, starting with a mission statement.
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Goals - Goals set out a statement of intent without naming specific parameters. Where do you want the business to go? What are you trying to achieve?
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Objectives - Every project or venture should involve tangible objectives that team members strive for. An objective is clear and definite, such as "increase sales by five percent before the end of the quarter".
- Strategies - An objective-specific strategy should lay out exactly how you plan to reach the objective. The entire team should be involved in setting strategy. A brainstorming session with the team will give impressive collaborative results.
- Plans - The plan will lay out specific steps to put in motion the strategies that will get you closer to your objectives. Everything starts falling into place during this step, and the team understands what must be done to make the magic happen.
- Actions - Actions get the proverbial ball rolling. The team takes steps to carry out the plans and reach the objectives that were laid out.
Unfortunately, the best-laid plans will fail to get your business off the ground if your critical success factors are not in place. What are the vital elements that must be present before you can achieve your goals? These can be anything from effective advertising to excellent customer service. In order to move forward and make a difference, your Critical Success Factors (CSFs) should be a top priority.
The CSFs that you must master, differ based on your business concept. For example, some business concepts are based around sales method. Therefore they need great sales systems, and salespeople. Where another business concept revolves around stores, so they need stores on every corner.
Once your plan is in action and you are making progress toward your goals, keeping track of that progress becomes a priority. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track how much closer you are to your goal today than you were yesterday. KPIs are tangible measurements of progress. How much have profits risen? How many new customers have been obtained? When your plans are progressing, KPIs become a main focus. Monitoring them constantly allows you to catch variations and steer your plan back oncourse.
This all seems overwhelming at first to many business owners. However, it can be made simpler by splitting up your strategies. Long-term strategies may affect the business indefinitely. Short-term strategies affect the business immediately. Medium-term strategies fall anywhere in the middle of the two. Prioritise your strategies and your plans to make the process a little easier.
You will find that management and daily operations are easier when a clear strategy has been laid out for the entire business. Instead of running on daily instructions or objectives, the entire workforce will work toward the bigger picture. You'll then be free to focus on what you do best: growing your business to be the next big thing.