Do You Have a Strategy?

If you’re running a business, do you know what you’re building towards? It’s important to have a strategy in mind when you’re making business decisions so you can make sure each decision, however great or small, is building towards the same vision for the future.

Today we’re taking a look at the process of building a strategy for your business and the resources you can use to help you in this task.

Strategy and Tactics

As in the military, it’s important for you to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. Strategy is your high level objective – what you want to achieve in the long run. For some businesses, that might be a buyout from a larger company, for others achieving a national presence in towns and cities, for some it’s merely remaining competitive and profitable until you’re ready to retire.

Your tactics are the individual actions you take to work towards that big goal – the decisions about which products you add to your inventory and which you pass on, how you spend your marketing budget, and whether you rent this shop or that one.

It’s important to make sure your tactics serve your strategy, rather than allowing easy solutions to drive your vision for the future.

Self-Reflection

It’s important for you to reflect on what you want from your business. People get onto the path of entrepreneurship to recapture some independence in their working lives, and this is really where it comes into play: you don’t have to settle for a default vision of success. This is your most important opportunity to make sure your business really reflects your attitude, your ambitions and how you intend to approach it.

Taking Stock

There are lots of things that can – and should – make you revise your long term strategy for your business, and the tactics you’re using to achieve it. Your personal circumstances might mean you’re looking for a quicker exit from the market, or you might need to revise your plans upward to account for an increased hunger and ambition. A financial downturn might see you reign in your ambitions, or redirect them to what a vision of success looks like under these constrained circumstances.

Getting Help

Devising a strategy for your business that will stand the test of time isn’t easy and it’s well worth looking for help. There are consultants who specialise in helping you understand all the factors that influence your strategy from market conditions, to audience expectations, to your key competitors. If you’re interested in strategy consulting London hosts different agencies that fit most budgets and needs.-