small business gurus - the blog of Cat & Keith Matson

by Cat Matson

When I talk about the importance of businesses to have a clear strategy in order to survive (let alone succeed), I’m often confronted with

To me, this represents a misunderstanding of what a strategy is. Strategy is simply

    The plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.

In business, your strategy is the collection of tactics that work together to achieve a particular goal. So it doesn’t matter how small your business is, even if it’s a micro-business with just one person, you still need a clear strategy if you want to achieve your goals.

Designing your strategy doesn’t have to be complicated ... and the belief that it is complicated is what often gets in the way for small business owners. Really, your strategy is as straight-forward as

•    Where are you now? (often referred to as a Situation Analysis)
•    Where do you want to be? (Vision, Goals & Strategic Objectives)
•    How will we get there? (Marketing strategies, pricing & sales process, operations & financial management)

The key element of a good strategy is that it’s congruent – all the parts ‘line-up’ to effectively and efficiently move your business forward. It’s no good for example to pursue a ‘low-cost’ strategy when it comes to your product/service pricing, but then employ high-cost production and staffing methods at the ‘back-end’. But yet it is often this very kind of ‘disconnect’ that trips small business owners up ... the lack of clear strategy about who they are and what they’re striving to achieve leaves them struggling to find their unique path to success.

An objective perspective is priceless in creating your strategy – using a ‘strategic planning template’ that you’ve downloaded from the web won’t check your thinking or ensure the congruency of your tactics. And likewise, what works for one business won’t necessarily work for another.  So find a professional who can help you ... and straighten out your strategy for success.

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