The path to guide you to what you need to build a successful business is comprised of 5 building blocks.
1.
Identify
a Trusted Advisor/Sounding Board
Find the right person for your
advisory team who has built a company and successfully transitioned it through
the many phases of building a business. This “been there, done that ally” will
help you anticipate the obstacles & requirements for success ahead.
Supporting your need to stay rooted in the present guiding you through the
operational challenges for getting to the next level. This person will help you
stay focused on the right mix of working on your business vs just working in
it. Too much time working in the business will increase the odds that the light
at the end of the tunnel you travel through from one phase of business building
to the next will be a train coming right at you rather than a successful
journey to the next stage.
2.
Ownership
Planning
Those who do not find time for
planning … will find time for crisis! If you own your business, begin with
getting some clarity on why you are in business. Often
people jump right into business
planning when it is important to start with ownership planning. Business
planning should take into account the personal objectives of the owners. The
answer to the following questions will begin to guide your disciplined thinking
towards decisions and actions.
a.
Why
have you chosen to own this business? What are the Desired Outcomes you and
your partners want to attain through ownership? Choose a planning horizon as
far out as you can currently envision. Attempt to push your thinking out at
least 3 to 5 years.
b.
What
are the obstacles that stand in your way of reaching those outcomes?
c.
In
order to reach those outcomes:
i. What “must” happen by when?
ii. What “cannot” happen?
The responses to these questions
will identify additional questions and provide the clarity you need. Review
this thinking quarterly or at least every 6 months.
3.
Diagnose
Your Business.
Use a simple thinking/planning
framework to organize your thoughts for where you want to take your business
and how you will get there. Get started with your disciplined thinking.
Identify current needs & anticipate what’s required to get your business to
the next level.
Looking Within
Assess
Markets & Products/Services.
Identify where your
products/services fall within the Life Cycle (intro, growth, maturity, decline). Are your products/services
addressing the needs of your target audience? Do you have a strong value
proposition and are you clearly communicating it? Is your position so apparent
to your customers/prospects that they can qualify or disqualify themselves?
What product/service adjustments should you make going forward? What are your greatest strengths &
weaknesses in relation to your competition? What actions should you take to
leverage the strengths and minimize the weaknesses?
Basic
Recurring Problems (BRPs).
Identify each basic recurring
problem you have that keeps happening every year. Identify the root cause of
the problem. List committed actions plans of improvement for each BRP.
People.
Some people have the spark of
genius … others have ignition trouble.
What people concerns do you have?
What people would you rehire? For those people you wouldn’t rehire, what will
you do to support them to guarantee they will not be in the same condition in
90 days?
Profit.
Identify all the causes for you
not reaching your profit goals. List what can be done to fix the cause of each
profit problem.
Looking Around
& Ahead
There are four levels that
companies can choose to spend their management energies on.
1.
Planning
Assumptions
2.
Management
by Objectives
3.
Activities
4.
Budgets
Most companies start at the bottom
of the ladder with budgets. As they learn to get to the top level and begin
spending their management energies on management by planning assumptions, they
will truly be in an elite group of successfully managed companies.
Identify the favorable
(opportunities) and unfavorable (threats) external trends that will have the
highest impact on your company. For each trend, identify the predetermined
level in the trend that will cause you to take action and do something (trigger
point). What impact will the trend have on your company if you take no action?
What action should be taken to take advantage of the opportunity or to minimize
the threat?
4.
Execution
- Making Ideas Happen.
Once your strategies have been
developed, create the future with a tangible and orderly path to follow.
Implement a systematic approach to address your operational and management
systems. They provide the foundation for accountability & execution.
Determine the best structure to achieve strategy. Define the roles and skills
required along with performance expectations needed to effectively implement
your strategies. Determine how to track expected performance.
5.
Resource
Development.
Create access to exactly what you
need when you need it at the right level of affordability. What strategic
partnerships do you need to create? What key staff do you need that are not
already on board? What key suppliers do you require? How much capital do you
need and what will you use it for?
No matter what size business you are or what stage of development you
face, there will always be a need for more of some kind of resource. You can’t
allow this to be an obstacle to success. The key is to be creative. Lack of
resources requires you to be more resourceful.
Building your business to the next level is a very exciting journey.
Make the commitment today to get started!
Follow @PatAlacqua
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