How to help your business see through the dark

Strange title for a blog article you might think. So what do i mean by 'help your business see through the dark'?

I have the pleasure of working with businesses of all shapes and sizes as part of my business consultancy work. I'm especially lucky to be able to support businesses through such challenging but equally opportunistic times like these.

With a real sense that things are becoming a little more stable domestically, business owners up and down the country will be looking to make up for any loss of activity they have experienced as result of COVID-19.

Some business owners will have done very well during the pandemic, but many others would have faired less well. Whatever your personal experiences, as a business owner, you'll be keen to crack on with your plan. And this is where the 'dark' may come in.

The post COVID business landscape will seem very different for many businesses, who will struggle getting back up to speed, and in many instances it will feel like trying to push forward in the dark. If that feels like you, and a reset and a reboot may be required, the following VISION EXERCISE will help you see things more clearly.

Ask yourself this question. Do you have a VISION for the next 3 years of growth for your business? If you answered yes, that's a great start but as always, any plan needs to be relevant to the operating conditions that it finds itself in. If your VISION for your business and your STRATEGIC PLAN are reactivations of your pre-COVID plans, revisiting them is essential.

All successful businesses understand their current markets and their place in the world, as they see it. They strive to always be highly relevant. Ask yourself if you are doing the same.

If you're keen to give your business the best possible chance of outperforming your competitors and getting on with the business of growing sustainably and profitably, consider the following 5 elements of your business:

Finance:

• GROWTH - What are your growth targets? Where will your growth come from?
• PROFIT - What level of profitability will you target? 
• FUNDING - How will you fund growth?

Market:

• INDUSTRY - What industries are you in?
• CUSTOMER - Who is your ideal target customer?
• COMPETITORS - What are the gaps in the market?

Products & Services:

• PRODUCTS & SERVICES - What products and services will you offer?
• STOP DOING - What will you not be doing by way of products & services?
• SCA - What will be your sustainable competitive advantage?

People:

• LEADERSHIP - Who is leading the business? Who are your key people?
• CAPABILITIES - What new capabilities in the team will you require to be successful?
• TEAM - Where are your team based? What is your structure?

Passion:

• PURPOSE - What will your purpose  ( your WHY ) be?
• IMPACT - Does your VISION excite you? If so, how and why? If not, why not and what has to change?
• GIVING BACK - What will be your community contribution?

 

Regularly taking time to review your VISION and making time for STRATEGIC PLANNING will always prove to be a valuable use of your time.

As always, if you would like some support with this, I'm here to help. As a MINDSHOP Practitioner, I'm trained to help business owners build effective plans like these and hold themselves and their businesses accountable to implement them. You will also have access to many relevant tools, systems and workshops to make that as accessible and effective as possible.

If you'd like to know more, drop me an email and I'll be in touch. As always, it starts with a FREE chat to help you understand your business better and how making some easy changes could really help move your business forwards.

Good luck with getting your business in the best shape possible, and I look forward to speaking to you soon.