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Tag: growth strategy

The Strategic Planning Checklist

by lauramills
The Strategic Planning Checklist

Our Ultimate Guide to Strategic Planning

Part A: Strategy Check List

1. Analysis of Existing Situation – Organisational Philosophy & Mission & Value

  • Does it reflect what you stand for?
  • Do your people understand its true meaning?
  • Does it make it clear as to how you have to compete and against whom?
  • Is it simply written? Is it clear and unambiguous?  Is it believable and realistic?
  • Does it motivate people? Does it attract pride or cynicism?
  • Does it give us some indication of what we should be doing and how we should be doing it?
  • Do all the constituent parts fit and hang together?
  • “Identity Pyramid” – do you have clarity around all the issues?

2. Internal Appraisal of Company

  • SWOT analysis – revisit previous analysis & ensure it is complete & current
  • Distinguish between endowments and core competencies
  • Assess and audit core capabilities.
  • Gauge fit between external environment and core capabilities
  • Identify fit between customer requirements and core capabilities

Having identified what you perceive to be your competences ask yourself the following questions:

  • Will this give us any source of long term sustainable competitive advantage? Clarify the how? (ie. how relevant is it to the needs of our customers (actual and potential)).
  • Do customers (broadly) agree with our findings (ie. the market place)?
  • Can competitors (present/future) emulate or do better? Do they share our perception?
  • How was this list of core competences arrived at (eg. Training, innovation etc)?
  • Any weaknesses/shortfall still? If so, what further investments will be required?
  • Is there any impact on the strategic balance sheet (ie. Intangible and human assets)?
  • Can it be levered, onto other applications and/or markets?
  • What happens next?

3. Competitive Analysis

  • What is the current process for this task?
  • The Positioning Statement (competitive positioning) – refer below
  • Scan present competitive position but focus also on future competition.
  • Do you really know your competitors strategy?
  • Understand changing face of competition
  • Who could be a future competitor?
  • Is your strategy and your competitors becoming more alike or more divergent?
  • What is the most radical thing that your competitor(s) could do?

4.Value Proposition

  • Consider or revisit the current Unique Sales Proposition within your Marketing plan & ensure it is complete and up-to-date.
  • Do you know why your customers buy from you and not you competitor(s)?
  • Have you asked them?
  • How can you improve customer experience?

5. Environmental & Industry Analysis

  • Consider legal, social, political, economic, technological, markets, labour position, society, pressure groups, and any other environmental issue.
  • Assess potential impact of any change(s) and consider timing implications.
  • Conduct intensive industry analysis.
  • What is the long-term viability of the industry as a whole?
  • What could change the industry dynamics?
  • What is the nature of current industry changes i.e. radical, creative, intermediate or progressive?
  • What could be the impact on your strategy and source of competitive advantage of such changes?
  • Five years or so from now how will the industry leaders look and act?

Part B: Strategy Selection

 

1. Identify Strategic Alternatives

  • All options to be examined – growth, acquisitions, alliances, JV’s, innovation.
  • Upside and downside risks identified

2. Strategy Evaluation & Selection

  • Clear choice to be made
  • How will we compete?
  • Evaluate impact of each option
  • Will it give unique competitive advantage?
  • Can it last? Can it be sustained?
  • Will it differentiate us from our competitors?
  • Can it be converted easily into a set of business objectives / KPI’s?
  • How will competitors react?
  • Easy to implement?
  • Contingencies in place?
  • What about the next wave?
  • Is it consistent with customer requirements and industry changes?
  • Will it create shareholder value?
  • Is it financially viable?

Part C: Strategy Implementation

 

1. Matching Strategy & Organisational Structure 

  • Do we have the necessary resources?
  • Is there a logical fit?
  • Is current structure adequate? Assess extent of change. Do not ignore culture effect.
  • What about the organisation’s values?
  • Is strategy personalised enough? Assess flexibility and robustness.

2. Allocation of Resources & Responsibilities

  • Planning, Plans, budgets, controls, appraisals etc….. all to be consistent with strategy
  • Strategy well translated into clear objectives
  • Priorities and constraints identified
  • Time horizons clearly laid out
  • Management information systems to dovetail strategic choice

 

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

How to Outsmart Your Competitors with a Business Plan

by lauramills
How to Outsmart Your Competitors with a Business Plan

Most business owners know that without a comprehensive, up-to-date business plan and an implementation timetable, they may be missing out on opportunities for growth and not realising their full potential.  However, around 30% of SMEs don’t have one. To ensure you’re ahead of your competitors, it’s imperative to find the time and/or resources to create and implement a plan for the start of the new financial year.

A formal plan can be an extremely valuable tool for managing and growing a business. It allows a company to recognize its strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, research has shown that SMEs that have a business plan in place are consistently more profitable than those who don’t.

A Formal Plan

Planning is the key to the success of any business, no matter its size or age.  Yet many SMEs don’t have a plan. The majority of those without such a plan say they don’t believe it’s necessary or that they keep their plans in their head.

It’s concerning that so many small and medium-sized businesses don’t have a formal business plan. Without clear direction, they may be missing out on opportunities for growth and not realizing their full potential.  A plan is invaluable and should see out the company’s:

  1. Strategic direction
  2. Main operating and financial targets;
  3. Actions it will take to achieve those targets,
  4. New initiatives and investments planned;
  5. And their impact on the company’s performance

Creation and Implementation

Creating a well thought-through, comprehensive business plan is an arduous task. Thinking through objectives and likely outcomes which may occur many years down the line is challenging. But it is the hard work up front which makes for lighter work down the road as all of our team of part-time CFOs will attest to.

Most CEOs and business owners simply don’t have the time to spend on quality strategic thinking or to document and communicate that thinking in a way which allows the whole business to buy into the vision.

Harder still is managing and implementing the business plan. Significant strategic course corrections are commonplace in fast-growing companies. These should be embraced. The tricky part though is in managing regular change. That requires a combination of time and specialist knowledge.

There is an art and science to effective business planning and getting it right brings a real sense of clarity and direction to business – this is where an experienced part-time CFO can make a significant contribution.

Not spending quality time on strategic planning usually leads to a chaotic working environment. Our clients often talk about ‘not feeling in control’ and ‘not really knowing what is coming around the next corner’.

Proper business planning is very liberating for the business owner, whatever their objective might be. A well-constructed and regularly reviewed business plan will instil real confidence that the goal is indeed achievable.

Key Benefits

Writing a business plan has many benefits for businesses of any size and in any industry. It can help owners and senior managers to:

  1. Clarify objectives and develop suitable strategies.
  2. Understand the market.
  3. Identify and overcome internal and external threats
  4. Organise the company
  5. Access external funding

Key Elements

The most important part of your business plan is its financial information. Your financial forecasts should include your cash flow predictions for the next 12 months or more. You’ll also need to include sales estimates and costs to ensure the business has enough working capital or to ensure you understand any needs to arrange additional financing.

You need to explain all assumptions in the business plan, with best and worst case scenarios. Detail the risks you’re likely to face and how they will be dealt with.

Conclusion

  • An up-to-date business plan or ‘roadmap’ in your business will allow you to experience a sense of control, which may have been absent since the day you started your company.
  • The business plan will remove a significant amount of confusion from your operating procedures. There will always be challenges contained within new projects but you will have a proper framework against which all decision-making can take place.
  • The plan provides the blueprint for delegating responsibility to your team and allows you to create some space in your own environment to work on growing your business.
  • You will move out of the chaos and into a more serene working environment where each of the gears, which make up the bigger system, is able to move in harmony.
  • Potential hazards will have been identified in advance and dealt with before they become unmanageable. You will be able to move from a culture of fire-fighting to a culture of fire-prevention and the benefits will be felt by each member of your team and most probably by your customers too.
  • A part-time CFO can assist with creating, implementing and reviewing your Business Plan, as well as be a constant guide and sounding board for you.

The business plan is the first key to profitable growth!

Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-doing-handshakes-3183197/

6 Keys to Successful Company Growth

by lauramills
6 Keys to Successful Company Growth

If you want to grow your business successfully, then you need to get the basics right. In this article, we’ll delve into our top six tips on how to grow a company successfully.

1. Clear Vision and effective communication

The most important thing that determines business success is the business owner’s thinking. Allowing yourself time to think, dream and get a clear vision is essential to business growth.  Without a clear vision and effectively communicating it, how will you and your employees know where they are going? If the business owner has a clear vision, and shares it with all stakeholders, it’s highly likely that the business will also go in the same direction.

2. Set your goals and develop growth strategies

Your goals for your business will provide an overall framework for everyone to follow. The strategies you’ll use to achieve those goals should serve as a roadmap. It will help you to build a structure and bring a focus to decision making.

Once you’ve translated your goals into strategies, you can develop systems and processes that will help with the smooth running of the business.

Many businesses fail in the execution of their strategy. Don’t be afraid. It’s better to execute a mediocre plan correctly than it is to execute a perfect plan poorly.

3. Employ or outsource top-performing talent

A successful business depends on its people. That is hard-working, determined people whose goals are aligned with the organisation’s goals.

The more your organisation is seen to trust employees with responsibility and to invest in their career development, the more likely it is to attract and retain top performers.

But rather than rush to hire people as you scale up, consider outsourcing tasks and using freelancers or temps. This could save you from hiring the wrong people and facing costly turnover.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, says, “There is little point recruiting great people if you don’t then give them the autonomy to take their role and run with it.  It also frees you up as the founder to focus less on the day-to-day activities and more on the over-arching objectives laid out in your roadmap.”

4. Attracting and retaining customers

To build your business, you also need to develop a system to attract and retain high-quality customers.  For that to happen, you must understand your customers’ needs and pain points. What burning needs do they have? What keeps them from falling asleep at night?

Your customers must believe that your products or services will meet their needs or overcome their challenges.

Many business owners make the mistake of focusing their entire sales and marketing efforts and budget on attracting new customers. They often overlook the needs of their existing customers.

Ignoring your existing customers is a huge mistake. People don’t like to feel as if businesses take them for granted once they’ve placed an order. If they feel neglected, they’re likely to move to another company.

It doesn’t matter if you run a small business or a large corporation. Your company must deliver an exceptional customer service experience.

5. Know the Hazards

Rapid growth might be desirable, but your company must be able to cope with its effects. For instance, can your company meet a sudden influx of orders? What impact would that have on your cash flow?  There are dangers of scaling up too fast. They include:

  •         Hiring the wrong people
  •         Losing track of your finances
  •         Management mistakes
  •         Not maintaining customer service
  •         Ineffective business operations
  •         Technology problems
  •         Cash flow mistakes

6. Stay Focussed

The easiest way to stay focused on what’s important during the scaling up stage is to have expert help from a part-time CFO who has big business experience.

For a fraction of the cost of a full-time CFO, the CFO Centre can provide you with a highly experienced CFO who will work with you on a part-time basis to help you with scaling up your business.

Get in contact with us today so we can book in a consultation meeting with one of our dedicated Regional Directors.

“Most people never pick up the phone and call; most people never ask. And that’s what separates, sometimes, the people that do things from the people that just dream about them.” – Steve Jobs, Apple’s Co-founder.

 

Photo by Basil James on Unsplash