You might get it but…
…do your customers?
Do your customers fully understand the benefit of what you offer? Do they? Really?
Have you ever been in a situation where someone is explaining something to you and you’re just not seeing it…that light bulb just isn’t going on? (If this has never happened to you, check out quantum physics.) People are stimulated through different mediums. I’m not great at understanding a concept that is aurally described to me (ask my accountant) but do pretty well if it’s written down.
You may see things clearly but others need it presented in a different way in order to join the dots and for that light bulb to burn brightly.
I’ve been looking at my messages and have been refining and testing them and have now created a new process which breaks the 4 strategic planning phases into 7 steps. The positive feedback I’ve had from those I’ve shown shows that this paints a much clearer picture of why strategic planning is vital and how to get it right. This process will become central to the help I give from now on.
When was the last time you looked at your messages and considered if there may be a better way to communicate them to customers and prospects? Have you lost opportunities or possibly not captured as much customer value as you may have done because the prospect or customer didn’t fully appreciate all you could do for them?
If you’re in Q4 of your annual cycle you should be assessing where you are now (step 1) and identifying your strengths and weaknesses before forming new ideas and goals to make your next year more successful than this one. As part of this exercise, take a long hard look at your messages and make sure your customers and prospects really do understand why they should engage with you and why their business will be better for doing so.
If you value your business No. 2 – make a decision
What’s worse, making the wrong decision or making no decision?
Every day we instinctively make decisions. If we didn’t, then we and those around us would grind to a halt. If we couldn’t decide what to eat we would go hungry. If we couldn’t decide what to wear we wouldn’t get dressed. If we sat in our car not able to decide which way to turn at a junction we would never reach our destination (and you would inevitably create a jam and become pretty unpopular).
If you make a wrong decision you may get stomach ache, get questioned about your dress sense or make a wrong turn and need to turn around. Nothing drastic but its clear that making the wrong decision is preferable to making no decision at all. And yes, these are trivial examples in order to make a point.
As subjects become more important and decisions more difficult the question of which is worse – no decision or the wrong decision? – becomes more prevalent. Making the wrong decisions, be they personal, business, political, can have dire consequences. But would making no decision be better?
Take politics…right now it appears that the European political leaders don’t know what to do about the Euro crisis and those countries that cannot pay their debts. They appear to procrastinate whilst the situation gets worse but one thing is certain, if they do nothing then this house of cards will collapse all around them and who knows where this will leave Europe and the rest of the world. Doing something has to be better than doing nothing.
When in 2008 Alistair Darling sat on the decision to suspend stamp duty the sales of houses plummeted and the already stricken property market arguably worsened as everyone waited for him to make a decision.
We can all think of many examples (including I’m sure in our own lives) of situations made far worse when no decision was made over the wrong decision. A wrong decision may be damaging but at least it is a decision that you can learn from and would more likely be better than making no decision at all.
In your business you have to make decisions. If you don’t, situations will deteriorate and your people and partners will lose confidence in you. If you make what turns out to be the wrong decision but can demonstrate good reasons for making it then your business may hurt for a while, but you will learn from the experience, your people and partners will in the main understand and appreciate a decision had to be made and you can always do something to rectify it. Strong leaders are those who can admit they made a mistake. Strong leaders are not those who cannot make a decision for fear of making the wrong one.
Today, in your business, are there decisions you need to make that you’ve been putting off? If so, then take time out, weigh up the pros and cons, talk to others if you need to and make a decision.
Whether it turns out to be right or wrong you’ll feel better for making it than you will if you sit on it.
What tough decisions have you had to make recently?
Image:sodahead.com
Try something new
Yesterday I did something new in my business…I created a video. Now this may not sound particularly exciting but, from a personal perspective, when you do something you’ve not done before, and it goes well, the feeling is tremendous.
It’s like when you were a kid and you rode your bike for the first time without stabilsers, or your first kiss or passing your driving test or your first trip on a plane. These things are done every day by thousands but it doesn’t take away the buzz you feel when it happens to you.
I can’t say that this gave me the same buzz as riding my bike or my first kiss, but it still left me with a smile on my face for the rest of the day and a feeling that I’ve achieved something that I was very uncomfortable with. I feel far more confident and will now do more and get better at them….watch this space. (And thank you to Dexter Moscow, who, apart from having the best name ever, gave me invaluable guidance.)
When was the last time you and your team did something different in your business? If you use the same tactics and initiatives for finding prospects, engaging with customers and marketing your products and services then why not get together or take yourself away be creative and come up with something new.
Don’t change your strategy plan without a good reason but there is more than one way to achieve an objective, so get creative. Do something a bit different, try it, test it and, who knows, it might return better results than your old method.
Have you done something different recently? Share them and inspire others.
Image:tomleininger.net
Hope is no longer an option in these unchartered waters
Last week over $1 trillion was wiped of the world’s stock markets and as of writing this, they continue to fall. The USA’s credit rating was reduced by one agency and the possibility looms that it may be reduced further. The politicians in the Euro zone are papering over cracks that continue to spread and grow. There are renewed talks of a double-dip recession and all the makings of a “perfect storm”. There is nothing to indicate that things are going to get better any time soon but every indication that things could easily get much worse.
With the prediction that unemployment in the public sector will rise it is the private sector that politicians are looking to for growth. With the bank’s profit results looking grim there is little chance that they will be lending anytime soon and help the private sector invest for growth.
Business-as-usual makes no sense in these unchartered waters that we find ourselves in. And make no mistake, these are unchartered waters. No-one really knows how this is going to turn out and there are no historical events quite like what we face today to learn from.
As business owners and leaders, we are “navigating” through these treacherous waters on our own. We cannot hope that we will get through this; instead we must do everything we can to make sure that we get through this.
What you need to do right now is step away, thoroughly assess your business and strengthen as many areas of it as you can. (I understand that for very small businesses this can be difficult but you must find the time to do this and seek help if you need to.)
Carry out a thorough assessment of your company, markets and risks. Think about how you can make sure your business not only survives but comes out stronger.
Here are 7 things to consider to get you going:
- Your company – Are you on course to hit your goals? Are there weaknesses in your company that you really must address before they hurt your business? Are there strengths that you can exploit further? Are your processes aligned and working effectively? Do you have the best business models which help you capture as much customer value as possible?
An annual self-assessment is a vital part of setting the right goals and plans. Regardless of where you are in your fiscal year, in these extraordinary times, don’t wait, do one now.
- People – your people are your best assets…look after them. Make sure they’re motivated and achieving their targets. If they’re not then take responsibility for that, find out what’s wrong and help them. You don’t want to lose them and so make sure they have the training, tools, direction and support they need to return the business you need.
Do they know and embrace your vision and do you empower and involve them when deciding how to implement your plan? Make sure they know how they contribute to the success of the company and how much you value them.
- Relationships – Your relationships are crucial, are you looking after them as much as you could be? What would be the effect on your business if they closed? Are you delivering what your customers need? Could you be doing more? Are they struggling in any areas where you could help or introduce another organisation who could help? Aim beyond demand creation.
What of your other stakeholders? If you will struggle without them then speak to them, check to see how they’re doing and what help you might be able to give each other. Form stronger strategic partnerships that will help you both survive and grow.
- Your markets – Are you delivering what the key players in your target markets need now and are likely to need in the future? Are you aware of what your competitors are offering? You may not need to deliver something better but you need to know if what they offer meets customer needs better than your solutions.
Technology advances at an ever faster pace. Are you abreast of these changes? Can you exploit them? There are a number of external influences that can impact your market segments. Don’t be caught out by them; prepare for them and use them to your advantage if you can.
- Strategy – If you don’t have strategic planning system for setting and implementing the goals that will strengthen your company and steer it towards your vision then establish one. If you don’t have a strategy plan that details these goals and the objectives and means for achieving them then develop one. If you do have such a plan and the supporting processes then check they’re working and adapt if necessary.
This strategy plan isn’t your business plan but lies at the heart of it. It isn’t your marketing strategy but includes it. This is the plan of the goals you have set and how you aim to achieve them. You cannot stay in control and keep your business on course without one.
- Leadership – Lead from the front, inspire, listen, make sure your people and partners know your vision and embrace it. Show drive and determination, show the confidence you have in your people, products and services to win and grow. Know your weaknesses and address them either yourself or with others.
Focus. Know what you need to do and keep on course, don’t be deflected. Guide your people, listen to their concerns and help them. Empower them to be leaders in their own area of responsibility.
- Think – If you don’t allocate time for you and your people to think about your company, about your customers and about your markets you will simply keep doing the same thing year-in, year-out and at best survive. Especially in this current economic climate, that’s not good enough.
Creative thinking is needed now more than ever. Whether it’s your products and services that your customers and prospects need, your business models to capture more value effectively, your marketing strategies to attract more opportunities, the deals you make, the relationships you build, the targets you set or any number of aspects of your business you should look at, take time to think.
Creative thinking is often seen as a luxury which is sacrificed in favour of managing day-to-day pressures. It is NOT. It is vital to the success of a business and, like now, to its survival.
This is possibly the strongest message I’ve put out. But I feel compelled to as I feel a sense of urgency. If things do turn around, if those parts of the economy which are growing continue to do so, if the Euro zone is sorted out and no more countries go bankrupt, if countries start to reduce their debts, if banks start lending, if… then carrying out these 7 things and more will still help make your company stronger which is no bad thing and no waste of time.
If you need help then take a look at the tools, guides and eBooks. The Strategic Planning Health Check tool will help you carry out that vital assessment.
If you’re a start-up, small business or a manager of a group in a larger company then the Strategic Planner tool will help you stay on course and achieve your goals.
The Strategic Planning for Success eBook will help you establish your own strategic planning system.
The Beyond Demand Creation eBook will give you some ideas on how to build stronger relationships.
If you don’t need help that’s great but if you do then get it and do what you can to protect your business against all this uncertainty.
Start this today; arrange a time for yourself or with your people and begin this process.
Hope is the positive face of uncertainty. Do not hope that things will turn out fine for you and your business. Make sure it does.
What advice can you give to help others strengthen their business and eliminate uncertainty? Please share.
Image:stockmarketview.com
When you’ve thought of everything – COWS!
Have you ever experienced the moment when you’re sure you’ve thought of everything, covered all the bases and checked from every angle only to have someone make a comment that just hadn’t occurred to you? If you answer “no”, think about past relationships, I bet there’s an example there somewhere.
For example, in business, when it comes to simply naming a product, huge amounts of money are spent by large manufacturers to check what the name of their new product may mean in other countries. A classic example of not getting this right is the Vauxhall Nova car, which apparently failed in Spain because “nova” means “It doesn’t go” in Spanish.
No one person can think of everything, which can a problem for small businesses comprising one or two people. You are so involved in your business that as time goes on you can become blind to what others may see. Always seek the opinion of others. Have a group of confidants that you trust and who you know will give you their honest opinion and not just say it’s brilliant because you’re family.
For larger organisations, the same problem may arise as employees tell the CEO what he wants to hear because they fear saying anything else could be detrimental to their career. The best leaders are the ones who know they don’t know everything and who welcome the differing opinion of others because they know their company will be stronger for it.
I am lucky to have a close group of people who support me and are happy to check stuff I’m doing and offer their honest opinions. They all help me refine what I am developing and to them I am eternally grateful. One in particular makes me think long and hard when I ask his opinion. He’s one of the smartest people I know and will come up with thoughts that kick-off long debates. If I don’t agree with him, the debates will continue until one of us sees the other’s point of view. It can be exhausting, frustrating and demoralizing, but it is ultimately the best exercise for me in order to have the confidence that I have created something that will be of worth to others. (When I send him something to look at I always hesitate and take a deep breath before doing so.)
This happened with my new software tool the Strategic Planner for Small Businesses and, even though he finally saw my point-of-view, the exercise made me question some fundamental aspects of the tool and in doing so cemented my belief that I had developed something which can really help small businesses. (With the Health Check tool his observations led me to re-writing the way the tool was partitioned and is far better for it. Thanks Phil.)
For major decisions it could be well worth seeking the views of someone who has no relationship to you but has experience and knowledge of the industry. Paying for this kind of professional, objective opinion is an investment that could save a lot of wasted effort, time and cost.
Where do cows come into this? This post was triggered from a conversation I had with a near neighbour a few days ago. We bumped into each other early one morning when walking our dogs and had a rare 10 minute chat. She told me that she would soon be losing her job and was thinking of starting her own business. We talked it through and she said she was going to have a look at my site.
In case she hadn’t remembered the name, I told her “Anchorage” and she said “Yes, I remember…cows.” “Excuse me? Cows?” “Yes, cows…milk…butter…Anchor butter…Anchorage.” I burst out laughing and said, “No…stability in the tumultuous ocean of business.” “Oh…I straight away thought of butter and pictured a field of cows.” We chuckled some more and I told her she’d made my day.
Apart from the city in Alaska I only thought of a ship’s anchor and how apt the name was for the products and services I offer. Cows?…Never occurred to me.
Have you been so sure of something only to have someone come up with a view-point that hadn’t occurred to you?
Image:ecolocolizer.com
If you value your business – walk away
How often do you “walk away” from your business? Do you ever?
Do you give yourself some time to think about it from a distance, to look at it from afar so you can see it in its entirety?
It’s not always an easy thing to do when you’re busy spinning plates and reacting to the demands of your customers, people, investors and partners. But it is essential. You really are doing your business, your people and yourself no favours if you stay close all of the time.
As a leader you need to lead from the front and inspire your people to follow and your partners and customers to trust in your judgement. You must steer your ship to keep it on course and be aware of potential hazards along the way. And you need to innovate to stay ahead. You can only do this if you step back and take “time out” from the business. When I say “time out” I’m not talking about your holiday and about re-charging your batteries, vital though that is, but whilst you’re still working.
You can’t simply turn on your creative juices like a tap or be inspiring on demand. For me, creative juices tend to start flowing when I’m driving, walking the dog or down the gym. These juices are distinctly absent when I’m at my desk or in front of a whiteboard.
Recognise those moments when you seem to have ideas and try to use them for thinking. Again, you can’t “think” on demand and it may not always work, but thinking about your business is vital and so put yourself in the best situation for this to occur. If you don’t, how can you possibly innovate? If you want your people to come up with good ideas (and you should) then encourage them to think.
If you want your “brainstorming” meetings to be just that, don’t simply set the meeting and expect your people to be creative on demand. Give them the subjects you want to discuss a couple of weeks in advance and send out a couple of periodic reminders to help keep the creative juices flowing. If possible, aim to have two meetings with a few days in between. The first meeting will hopefully highlight some great ideas, which should then float around in yours and their heads, for the second one to build on. Great ideas may then become brilliant ideas.
This is particularly important when you’re in the fourth quarter of your fiscal year when you should start the Think phase of your stategic planning cycle and set the goals and objectives for the following year.
Really, do your business and yourself a favour and walk away.
When do your creative juices start flowing? Let me know it’d be interesting to hear.
Image:closedfast.com
5 tips for a relaxing holiday
As the holiday season fast approaches will you, like millions of others, tell your people that they can contact you if they need to and that you will periodically check you emails?
Whilst on holiday do you tell your family that you just need 10 minutes to check your emails? You may think its OK to allocate 10 minutes a day but you are in fact you’re allocating far more than those 10 minutes. Even if, best case you open and scan your emails and find all is well. Your head is now in work mode, your thoughts are with work and your body language is such that instead of breakfast by a beach you could just as well be having it in the kitchen before setting off for the office.
And these “10 minutes” don’t just affect you, they impact on your family. It’s not the fact that it only took 10 minutes it’s the fact that your head is now somewhere else and this somewhere else is more important than taking a break with your family. Even if you are sitting with them around the table and engaged in exciting conversation about what you’re going to do for the day, your family will feel that you’re not 100% with them.
This is all best case…let’s hope there isn’t a problem that needs your attention. If there is then 10 minutes will stretch, you will feel the stress that’s been flowiing out of you flood straight back in and your family will feel alienated and second best. Being physically with them is no good if your head is elsewhere.
This is your holiday, your time to relax. This is your family’s holiday and they want you with them. I have known so many people reflect years later on how much QUALITY family time they missed because they struggled to get their head out of work mode.
Here are my 5 tips to have the holiday you and your family need.
- Tell Everybody when you’re going to be away. If you have a boss make sure he or she knows and that if there is anything they’re going to need, to tell you now so you can deliver before you go or delegate to another. Tell your people for the same reason. Tell your key clients…ask then if there is anything they think they’ll need whilst you’re away that you can sort out now. Give them a contact to speak to in your absence. Make it clear to everyone that once you’re out of the door then that’s it…no contact.
- Have them tell you when they’re going away. Work with your people to make sure that all will be looked after in their absence. Make sure your customers know when those in your team, whom they work with, will be away. For example, make sure your sales people and engineering support people tell their customers when they’ll be away and who will be covering for them. This is especially important for your people. You want them to return, relaxed, full of energy and motivated. Have the same conversation with your top customers. Who are your key contacts in these companies? What do they need to see happen from your company or team when they’re away? Who will be their replacement contact?
- Do not give anyone permission to call you. So many times you hear managers say, “If there’s a problem then call me or send me an email.” NO. Don’t do it. If you do then you’ll be contacted. They will leave a message or send an email and the problem becomes yours to action. If you tell them not to contact, then they will try to figure it out for themselves and leave you alone. Empower your people to make these decisions in your absence with the reassurance that you will support them if something later hits the fan.
- Do not take your work mobile phone or laptop on holiday. Of course, there could be situations that really need your attention and when contact will be necessary. Give a personal mobile phone number to one person at work with permission to call you if there really is no other way. Empower them to say no to others, as per your instructions, if they don’t think the situation merits disturbing you. Tell them you will support them. If you take your work phone or laptop then you are going to be tempted to use it and won’t fully let go of work. Your work phone will be called. Many people have it and some won’t know the arrangements you’ve made or won’t care.
- Tell your family what you have done. Tell them of the arrangements you have put in place, including the personal mobile number in case of a real emergency. (Give the phone to your partner if that helps.) Make sure that they know that you want this family holiday as much as them and that they will have your undivided attention. If you do then get a call on the personal number, they will know that it must be a good reason and you really should take the call. If you have children then have this conversation with them too. Children may not say anything but they usually know more than we give them credit for and they need to know that mum or dad is there with them too and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Holidays are important for you, for your family and even for your people. (Better the boss who is relaxed and happy.) If someone within the company (or outside like a customer or strategic partner) is not happy with the arrangements you’ve made, highlight how it’s better for them, as well as for you, that you’re able to let go of work, spend quality time with your loved ones and re-charge your batteries.
Have a great holiday.
If you have other tips or expericences, please share.
Image:alfresco-brighton.co.uk
How much of your most precious resource do you waste?
Yesterday evening I asked my daughter to help me prepare dinner. It’s something we enjoy doing together. She was however submerged in a video game and I heard “5 minutes I need to get to a save point”. This game has a lot of side missions and 20 minutes later it turned out that she’d come across one of these side missions and off she’d trotted to save the day. “What happened to 5 minutes?” “Oh yea, I forgot.”
She’ll call me “AD Dad” when I go back into a room not having done what I left the room to do. “Where’s your cup of tea?” “Oh yea, I knew I went into the kitchen to do something.” “What did you do instead?” “Whilst the kettle was boiling I noticed I hadn’t taken the clothes off the washing line. As I was doing that I noticed some strawberries were ripe for picking so got a bowl. Then I noticed the dog’s water bowl needed filling and then I came back… minus the tea.”
We all suffer from attention deficiency to a certain degree which is fine when playing a game or when making a cup-of-tea (or not), but can be a real problem in the workplace. People are distracted all the time, especially by email, and waste so much of the one resource you can’t replace, time.
People end up being busy doing little and wonder why the work piles up and extra hours have to be put in to meet deadlines. Productivity goes down, costs go up and people become de-motivated and stressed.
A coherent strategy plan can be broken down to monthly and weekly targets which can then be broken down into daily objectives and tasks if necessary. It can help you see what’s important and what needs to get done for the good of the company. You can turn off your email and the demands of others can wait because you know what you need to achieve. And if others ask you to do something which isn’t part of the strategy plan then you can question the need to do it.
As a leader, not only will your strategy plan and strategic planning system guide you, it will help you and your people do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, keep motivation high, stress low and will help you use your most precious resource, your time, as effectively as possible.
How do you manage your time more effectively? Please share your ways to help others.
Image courtesy of xscion.com
Do you have the right leadership attitude?
Strategic planning is a vital system to any business, the same as the engine is of a car or the wings of a plane. Like any system, it won’t work if there aren’t people, who know how it works, to look after it and it won’t do anything without people to drive or pilot it and, like a car driven by a boy-racer, could make things worse if managed badly.
When you take friends and family on a long car journey do you stress about the time it’ll take, how many times the kids will ask you, “are we there yet?” or want to stop.And do you just want to get it over and done with and get there as fast as you can. Maybe you’ll skip some breaks but tell yourself you’ll be fine.
As the driver of the car it’s your responsibility to drive legally and safely in the interest of your passengers, other travellers and yourself. Your attitude, along with your skills and other attributes, is crucial to getting you and your passengers to where you want to be in one piece.
It’s the same in business. As a leader, don’t ever forget your responsibility to your people (passengers) to your other stakeholders, including customers and partners (other travellers) and to yourself. And don’t forget how the way you steer your ship and reach your destination affects them.
A working strategic planning system, like your car, the fuel, your maps, will get you to your destination if you, as a leader, have the right attitude towards it. Appreciate that without it you are likely to get lost and struggle to reach your destination as planned.
An integrated strategic planning system is not a nice-to-have luxury when you have the time. It is fundamental to having a healthy business that achieves its goals. Make it central to your business and in return it will keep you on course and get you and your family safely to your destination.
Do you have an integrated strategic planning system that guides you and keeps you on course?
Quarterly reviews…last word
If, like most companies you’re at the half-way point in the year, you’ll be checking your progress against your business plan.
This month I have been focused on how to have effective quarterly review meetings in both this blog and my email messages because these up-and-coming quarterly review meetings will be particularly important. This is your last real opportunity to adapt your strategy plan and make any significant course corrections.
As you prepare for your quarterly review meetings I’d like to make a suggestion. I’d like you to think about how to make this and future quarterly reviews as mutually benficial as possible.
This aim might sound a little obvious but from my past experience, and in speaking with others, the vast majority of meetings tend to benefit the reviewer rather than the reviewee. (Just to be clear, the ‘reviewer’ is the one seeking the data such as a the silicon vendor and the ‘reviewee’ the one collating and presenting it, such as a distributor.)
As the reviewer who gains more from the meetings, speak to the other party prior to the meeting and outline why you need the information. Explain that it isn’t just a data mining exercise and outline how the findings from the meetings will also benfit the reviewee.
For example, explain that if a particular product isn’t selling well, then with the reviewee’s feedback as to the the challenges they’re experiencing, the reviewer’s company will discuss the problems and either improve the product, or the sales training or marketing messages or whatever else is needed, to help the reviewee meet future targets.
As the reviewee, if there are topics you wish to raise then explain why and get them on the agenda prior to the meeting.
Great leaders negotiate for mutually beneficial results and both sides need to be responsible for ensuring that these meetings achieve just that.
Enter the meeting knowing why you’re all there and the mutual gains to be had. Work as valued partners on the same level and adopt the attitude that these are vital meetings that are worth every minute spent on them and which will help keep both companies on course.
What do you think will help quarterly reviews be the productive, mutually beneficial meetings they should be?