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DEVELOPING YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY

To develop your business strategy, you need to work through each of the sections of the plan we outlined just now. To help you, we will suggest a process to follow. But don't try to develop your plan alone. We suggest you involve not only your partner(s) or business associates, but also any key employees you have brought in to help you run the business.  If you haven't started your business yet and you don't have a partner, ask some of your friends or relatives or your spouse to help you develop your strategy. Try to assemble a group of at least four or five people to work with you.  Developing a business strategy is a thinking process. You'll do your best thinking if you have someone to work with - someone you can bounce ideas off and who can ask you good questions and give you good advice.

Your Basic Values and Fundamental Beliefs
If your business is to succeed in the long run, it must stand out from the crowd. There must be something about your business that sets it apart from all of the other businesses in your community or even in the world. Here, we aren't just talking about the kind of products or services you offer. We are talking about something much more than that. No matter how unique your product or services, there will always be someone else who can provide the same product or service, perhaps as cheaply and as well. Your business, if it is to stand out from the rest, must have some special difference - some flair. Deciding upon that special quality which will characterize your business is your final step toward developing a business strategy.

How do you define that special "flair" for your business? You and your team should answer the following questions.

How should we treat our customers?
Obviously, customers are the lifeblood of every business. In fact, it can be said that the sole purpose of a business - any business - is to attract and keep customers.  Really successful businesses are characterized by the special relationship they establish with their customers. Many businesses have survived stiff competition and hard times largely because they had a loyal customer base that stuck with them. Thinking about that "special relationship" you want to establish with your customers, consider businesses you have worked for or conducted business with. What did you like and dislike about the way they treated their customers?

How should we treat our employees?
Next to customers, perhaps the most important asset you will have in running a business is your employees. You will have to attract and keep the best people if you hope to make your business a success. Attracting the best people won't be easy. They're in great demand. Obviously, one way to attract the best people is to offer really attractive salaries and fringe benefits. But money is rarely enough. Anyway, as a start-up business, you may not be able to afford to pay the highest rates. You'll have to offer something more than money if you want to attract the best. What is that something more? We think it's the kind of work environment you create. Today, most people want a lot more from their job than just a paycheck. Most want respect, to be listened to, to feel a part of the business, to feel as if they are accomplishing something of importance with the work they do. Think about how you can create that kind of special work environment in your business.  Make a list of things you should do to create that special environment. For example, you might list such things as:

• Keep communication informal
• Work as a team
• Have open exchange of ideas (even those I don't like)
• Treat people fairly

How should we treat our suppliers?
Another important group for the success of your business is your suppliers - all those companies and people who will provide the products and services your business will require to serve its customers. Just as you can't run a successful business without good relations with your customers and employees, you can't be a success without a good relationship with your suppliers. Every business occasionally must call on its suppliers for some special favors - to extend a little more credit, to make a priority delivery, to provide a special service. If you have built a strong, positive, working relationship with your suppliers, they will be much more likely to respond to your special needs. Ask yourself how you should treat your suppliers to ensure that you build that relationship.

What is our responsibility to the community?
Obviously, you are in business to make money. But making money shouldn't be your sole objective. You should also be in business to provide a service to people in your community.  Your efforts to help your community are not just good public relations, or something nice to do. In the long term, the economic, environmental, and social welfare of the community where your business is located will have much to do with the success or your business. After all, both your employees and customers are likely to be drawn from that community. If the community as a whole thrives, your business can't help but benefit. As a small, start-up business, your ability to help the community may be limited. But think of the kinds of things you can do to help the community right from the start, such as setting up bins to recycle paper and other recyclable waste materials created in your business operations.

What are our responsibilities to our investors and other financial partners?
Chances are you obtained financial support from others to enable you to start your business.  Now is the time to be specific about your responsibilities to people and institutions that provided your business with financial backing. Obviously, you have a responsibility to provide them with a reasonable return on their investment, repay loans, provide financial reporting, and so on. But you should also be concerned about the relationship you build with these people. As your business grows, you will need additional funding for such things as expansion, modernization, and the purchase of new technology. You will greatly enhance your ability to obtain this additional funding if you have built a strong and positive relationship with those who put their trust in you in the past.

What should our relationship be with other major stakeholders?
In addition to customers, employees, suppliers, your community, and investors, you may have other major stakeholders - people or institutions that have an interest in and influence on the success of your business. For example, your business may be governed by federal, state, and/or local regulators. Or your relationship with and/or participation in professional associations may be critical to the success of your business. Discuss the kind of relationship you want to establish with these other "stakeholders" and how you will create that relationship.

When you have completed answering these questions, you should have a fairly complete inventory of your responsibilities, obligations, and the dos and don'ts of how you want to run your business. You should write up a statement outlining what you have discovered.  This document spells out what you believe in and what makes your company special. It's a document you should share with your employees and one you should refer to frequently to guide you in your day-to-day decisions.

With your value statement in hand, you have finished the first section of your strategic plan. Next, you need to decide upon a "mission" for your business.

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