|
TAKING AIM: THE STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS
By Will Lindquist
When I was a boy, my father and I hunted pheasants and ducks. I learned early that to hit a bird, particularly one in flight, you have to use a shotgun. Rifles, though they have laser accuracy, just don’t work when you’re aiming at a moving target. A shotgun spreads its controlled pattern of projectiles out over a small area, so it is the tool of choice for hunting fowl.
What does that have to do with business strategy, you ask? Note that I said controlled pattern spread out over a small area. Shotguns don’t just fire a cloud of projectiles randomly into the air; they fill a small, concentrated section of the sky with pellets to increase the likelihood of hitting the target. Similarly, a business strategy is the focused, well-thought out, written set of statements that describes the direction and methods you plan to use to run your business.
Like a shotgun, your business strategy should target a small area of the business environment and focus on those actions that will be most important to your success. That way, you rivet your attention and resources on just the types of effort that will grow your business. It’s just not possible to be expert at everything, but it is possible to be very expert at something, maybe even a few key things. Pursue those efforts, and your resources will be better used and your business development efforts more likely to succeed.
Your business strategy should include your business’ position in the market, clearly stating what business you are in. But, like the shotgun, the description need not be laser-like. Rather, it should describe a small grouping of business areas in which you concentrate your pursuit of business.
Successful companies focus their efforts and husband their resources carefully. Companies that perform well in the long haul identify and design successful business strategies, right-sized for their business, and aimed correctly for success. What do they do that makes them so effective? It’s not complicated. They simply focus, considering business of these three types:
Foundation Business. Carefully define the work you can do with the certainty of little or no risk. This is business you could do in your sleep. Often people refer to this aspect of the plan as your past performance or your project descriptions. Equipment and staff are in place, fully trained to perform. You know suppliers and prices, and market channels are in place.
Easily Growing Business. Also identify those activities you can do with just a bit of stretching. You want to grow carefully, not by a forcing a fit. In these areas, you might have to acquire some new skills or slightly modify your plant and equipment. I’m not suggesting anything radical: as a locomotive maker, you shouldn’t try making microchips, or become the engineering company that also bakes cookies. A light stretch, though, would be cookie bakers expanding their line to include bread.
Complementary Growth Business. Define the areas where, by learning just a few harmonizing skills, you could succeed in expanding your business. In these areas, you may need to hire new people or learn new skills. If the stretch is slightly more challenging, you might have to subcontract for part of the effort.
To make your business grow, you must consider which actions increase your business development success ratio; look at the reality of each opportunity and assess its possible effect on your business. Consider the risk factors, profitability, market positioning, industry growth, competition, your business strengths, and the investment required to succeed.
Don’t take a scattershot approach here. Select only a few market areas to concentrate your intense effort on. Think about investing in complementary marketing in which marketing in one area helps you gain exposure in another then focus your efforts there.
Business strategizing will result in advantages to your organization for years to come. Among these benefits:
You will spend less money and time chasing projects you can’t win. You can use that time more productively and have more reasonable work schedules.
Because you’re concentrating on market areas where you are already knowledgeable, you can propose your services with confidence, knowing you have the experience to back up your claims.
You can accomplish business development and proposal activity based on your objective knowledge of the business and your solid reputation, allowing you the luxury of increased profit margins.
The days of ad hoc disorganized activities are greatly reduced. Everyone in the organization knows the goals and develops strategies to pursue them.
You reduce risk and outcomes are mostly predictable. You are in control of your business destiny.
A complete business strategy will put you on the leading edge of success. Businesses can only make the myriad of required decisions and take effective actions when they have a defined strategy as a basis. Keep in mind that you may stretch sometimes in your pursuit of new business to bid on work that you don’t fully understand. While you may need to take risks, that stretch should be fully planned and fit into your larger business strategy.
About the Author
Will Lindquist, President of The Management Link Incorporated, is a sought-after expert in the field of business management. He has a broad background and experience in business strategy, finance, and operations with both large and small corporations such as L-3 Communications, Orbimage, and Fleishman-Hillard. Will approaches every problem with an appreciation for the bottom line and how to grow his clients’ businesses. He brings both strategic and tactical know-how, focusing on financial considerations, business development, and operational excellence. His solutions are practical as well as innovative. Contact Will at Will@TheManagementLink.com. You can find out more about The Management Link at www.TheManagementLink.com
|
