Your business strategy is one of the most important documents you’ll create for your business, so it’s well worth the time and effort (and sometimes money) you’ll spend to get it right. Today we’re taking a look at exactly what a business strategy is and what ingredients need to go into yours.
Goals
Not a part of your strategy as such, but an important layer of foundation that needs to be laid before you can start work on it. If you’re going to build a useful strategy, you need to know what you’re working towards. Think about your business ambitions, but also what you want from your personal life – you won’t get far with either if your ambitions in these two areas are fighting each other.
There are no right or wrong goals to have (within the bounds of legality!), but you do need to put some time into crystallising what you want from your business and why. Think about your endgame for your business – do you see yourself winding it up when you retire at 65, or selling it to a bigger player in the industry within 5-10 years?
Prioritisation
One of the key things to lay out in your strategy are your priorities. No business has infinite resources, and you can’t pursue every opportunity. Encoding a decision about where your priorities lie into your strategy document helps you decide between competing opportunities when they come up. For example, if you’re following the standard start-up model, growth will almost always be a high priority for you. As long as you have the capacity to serve more customers or clients, you should be chasing them.
If you’re a more traditional operation, growth may only rise up the ladder of priority when more important needs to do with security and sustainability are met.
Culture
You can also use your strategy to crystallise the culture you want to create in your business – both customer facing and behind the scenes. If you want to create an open business that’s a safe place for ideas to be challenged and talent to rise to the top, you can’t leave it to chance, you need to work at it, and this is the place to start.
Getting Help
Considering the kinds of expertise that need to go into a strategic plan for a business, it’s well worth getting some help. If you search London strategic consulting firms with experience in your industry or business model could be the step you need to take things to the next level.
