In the last issue of strategy and growth I talked about the benefits of scenario planning – the ‘tool’ that many successful businesses use to help them look into ‘the future’. This helps business leaders and owners create a picture of what might happen.

A question you might now want to ask is – “It’s all very well looking at the future – but what do I do with the information?”

The simple answer – identify the the opportunities for growth and the things you need to be great at to win in your game!

Avoid the scatter gun approach…

I was reading the newspaper at the weekend when I came across an article about a business owner and how much effort he had put in to growing his business in the last three years. It was a mid-tier SME business with a  number of directors. They had spent a significant amount of money on business development. Now in this case “business development” covered anything that helped grow the business – and not just directly getting more customers.

This company had spent money on Public Relations to enhance their reputation; had invested in online advertising and search engine optimisation to boost their web presence. They had also invested in a new logo and brand image – although in their case I got the impression all they now had was a nice graphic image on their stationary and above their door (Give me a call if you want to talk about this!). They had even increased the size of their sales force to help them capture more of the market in anticipation of the extra demand.

By the end of the article I came to the conclusion that this company had basically read a text book about how to grow their business – and done the lot. They had applied a one size fits all approach to business development but had started in the middle of the “journey”.

So what could they have done better?

I help my clients to identify and understand the content of their scenario analysis – this helps them identify the “future success factors” for their business – in fact for any business in their industry or market. The other principle we work with is to ‘look at’ and ‘listen to’ the market place and make an assessment of what the customer needs and wants.

An assessment of these factors helps you assess what you need to be doing to “excel”. It helps you understand what you need to focus on, and be excellent at, today … and tomorrow … for success.

Here are some simple steps to help you do this:

1. The first step in the process is to review the environment in which you work using the STEEPLED analysis and scenarios you have created (download the Market analysis tool here). Then with your team (if you have one, or with external help) identify the key factors that you know will influence your industry and your business. (you might need additional research to support this but I generally find most business owners ‘know’ what’s important).
2. Then ask yourself a series of questions to identify the key factors that will influence your success in the market:

• What is it that our target market demands from our product or service now and in the future?
• What does our product or service bring to the customer and what about it makes our business successful?
• What are the standards that are expected by our clients and customers?
• What extra services could we provide?
• What are the key factors that contribute to making our business successful? (these could be skills and capabilities, partner relationships, technical knowledge, distribution channels, customer support)

1. Next review the list of factors and narrow it down to the top 10-15 factors that you must excel at.
2. Re-review these and further narrow the list down to the top 7-10 – these are your “Critical Success Factors”.
3. The final step is to assess yourself today against the factors identified:

• how well do you currently perform against each one of these criteria?
• how well do your competitors perform?

To help with this process have a look at www.malabarconsulting.co.uk/downloads – and download the CSF template – this will help you assess your current and future positions.

Once you have answered these questions you will have view of what you need to be and what you are today – the next step is to identify any actions that you want to undertake to close the gaps and make you even more successful.

Remember that CSFs are not the same as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – however you can use the CSFs as a basis for developing your KPIs – after all if these are the things you want to excel at then measuring yourself against them will ensure you focus on them.

Final Success
Following this process will help you understand what you need to focus on for business success. It will help guide your decision making and can help with day-to-day planning. If what you’re doing does not contribute to delivering one of your CSFs you need to ask what relevance is it to your business – it may be that your CSFs have changed or it might be that you’re doing the wrong things!

Need support?

This is issue 8 in a series of articles created to help you achieve your vision and build equity in your business - by taking time to build your business strategy you will enhance your performance and GROW your business. If you would like more information on any of the issues in this newsletter or the series please call on +44 1844 208802, email me at philip at malabarconsulting.co.uk or visit the website at www.malabarconsulting.co.uk.

2010 is well and truly here and, with January behind us and February almost done, we’re already 1/6th of the way through. It’s this time of year when business owners really start asking “what does the year ahead really have in store?”

I’m asked this question a lot. Until Apple develop an iCrystalBall it’s hard to be precise.

“It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong” (As John Maynard Keynes is often misquoted as saying. (He actually said “It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong” – but I guess people got it roughly right).

What do you know for sure, and what are you ‘fairly certain’ of? It’s these things that will help you make the right business decisions, take the right direction and reach your business goals.

We talked in a previous article about how an analysis of the ‘business environment’ (I called this a STEEPLED analysis) both now and in the future can help with your crystal ball gazing (if you haven’t already read it then read it now). You can also download a STEEPLED template from our new downloads area here.

Even Better If…

The STEEPLED analysis can be further enhanced through the use of scenarios. These are ‘views’ of the future, that, if done creatively and systematically, can provide a wealth of information that you can use to grow your business. You can build them by either developing your own view of what ‘your world’ might look like in the future or by researching those used and created by other ‘futurologists’. Here’s a link to a pre-developed scenario from an Australian organisation as an example and here’s one to a sustainability organisation (This one is from Forum for the Future who I have been working with and developing a Sustainability Strategy for a client recently).

To create your own view of potential futures for your industry start by simply using the ideas and factors generated from your STEEPLED analysis. It may seem difficult at first but once you get into it you’ll be amazed at how much fun it is and how easy it can be.

Remember, none of your scenarios will be precisely right or precisely wrong, but if you use the information around you, there will be elements that are ‘roughly right’. It is within these ‘roughly right’ elements that you will unearth opportunities for your business.

The future holds the opportunities…

Review the scenarios and understand their implications for your business. Ask yourself, and those around you, some key questions:
• What must we do to take advantage of the opportunities?
• What risks/ threats to our growth need managing?
• What can we see that no one else has yet noticed, or done anything about?
The answers to these questions will help you identify the opportunities – and threats – that face your business. By understanding them you can then develop the plans to maximise your chances of growing your business in the future and of ultimately achieving your vision.

Remember where you were this time in 1999? Now think of the massive changes we’ve all been through in the last 10 years!

Think what your business has achieved?

Were you running your business in 1999? If so, congratulations on achieving another 10 years – I take my hat off to you as not many businesses manage to achieve such a milestone.

If you’ve set up your business within the last ten years – congratulations too – you are one of the few people who do what they plan!

Strategy and Growth

This is issue 6 in a series of articles created to help you achieve your ulitmate business (and life) vision - by taking time to build your business strategy you can achieve what you set out to do.

If you would like more information on any of the issues in this newsletter or the series please call on +44 1844 208802, email me at philip@malabarconsulting.co.uk or visit www.malabarconsulting.co.uk. (We’ll be adding loads of new content to this over the next few months so please take a look and let me know what you think.)

Take time to look ahead to the next 10 years… and the coming year too… “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” – Edith Lovejoy Pierce. This quote is more than apt for today. Take a look at the last year: what have you achieved? what are you proud of for your business? what could have gone better? how can you improve on last year? Now look at the blank page ahead of you for 2010… What do you want to achieve by December 31st 2010? What will it take to get you where you want to be? What do you really want your business to look like? What do you want people to think about when they hear about your business? What do you want your employees to think – how do you want them to act? What steps do you know you need to take that you have so far put off? We’ll be looking at these questions and what you can do to further grow your business in the next few issues of “strategy and growth” – watch your email! The only way your business will progress is if you work on it and take action – so why not take the time to plan for your future now!

]]> http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-6/feed 0 http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-5 http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-5#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:55:21 +0000 admin http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/?p=746 Want to know where to look for golden opportunities for your business?

Looking at the news over the last year I’ve was shocked. I couldn’t believe how many businesses had failed! I’m not just talking about going under – I’m talking about failing to notice the signs and take advantage of their position.

Many business owners complain that they’re at the mercy of their environment – that they can’t change a thing. Now for some businesses this may be (partly) true. But I think if you look hard enough you know what’s on the horizon – the signs are often there!

How many businesses do you know of that take advantage of a downturn to win more customers? Or how many directors sit back when their business is on the up and think it will always be like this? It may seem strange but some do – just look at the banks at the beginning of the 2008 recession.

So what can you do better?

This is issue 5 in a series of articles created to help you achieve your vision - by taking time to build your business strategy. If you would like more information on any of the issues in this newsletter or the series please call on +44 1844 208802, email me at philip@malabarconsulting.co.uk or visit the website at www.malabarconsulting.co.uk.

What would you do with your own ’crystal ball’? The first step is to look around you – to review the environment in which you operate. This helps you spot Opportunities and in doing so also helps you identify potential Threats to your business - one comes hand in hand with the other. The best way to assess your environment is to carry out a ‘environmental analysis’ using a process called STEEPLED. You can download a STEEPLED template from www.malabarconsulting.co.uk/downloads or simply send me an email to downloads@malabarconsulting.co.uk.) STEEPLED simply breaks your ‘environment’ into manageable chunks – Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legislation, Ethical and Demographic. This generally covers most of the factors but you can always add others in if you need to. Take time, either with your team, or alone to brainstorm what’s happening or probable to happen in your ‘world’ – i.e. your environment against each of these factors. For example in Political you might say “change of Government at the next election” or for Technological you might say “Greater use of Social media by the over 40s”. Have a think about where you can get this STEEPLED information – what’s the media saying, what are your customers, suppliers and competitors talking about? What’s happening in other industries, or even countries, that might happen to your industry or your country? You could commission research or attend a seminar to help get your thinking started. The internet obviously also provides a great source of information. For each of the factors you initially come up with keep an open mind – as in any brainstorming session these first ideas contain valuable information. REMEMBER Malabar Consulting runs STEEPLED workshops 4 times per year – check the events page of www.malabarconsulting.co.uk/events for information of the next one. Once you have created a list under each heading you can then assess the factor in more detail – think about the impact on your industry, your competitors and your business specifically. Is the factor a constant or is it likely to change – if so when? This helps you ask the ‘So What?’ question – and it is within the ‘So What?’ that lies the benefit of the STEEPLED analysis. The ‘So What?’ leads to the breakthroughs in the market place and also to the downfalls. For each factor assess whether it could be an Opportunity or a Threat to your business. In a previous newsletter we discussed SWOT analysis – but only focussed on the Strengths and Weaknesses part – now we are looking at the OT – the Opportunities and Threats. This is now where the real benefit of the STEEPLED analysis comes in – if done correctly it can really help you gain a picture of what your world could look like in the future – and there in lies the success of any business – predicting the future. Now, this is not a crystal ball but with the knowledge from a STEEPLED analysis you have the information you need to make informed decisions about how to form your business strategy to take advantage of the Opportunities that exist and also how to put plans in place to minimize the impact of any Threats on the horizon. Once you have completed your STEEPLED analysis and assessed your Opportunities and Threats you also have all the information you need to assess your ‘Critical Success Factors’. We’ll go into these in more detail in the next issue. Remember the world is constantly changing – and so is your market place. Your customers’ tastes are evolving. The only constant is change itself. So, to keep up with the Opportunities and be aware of the Threats I’d recommend you carry out a STEEPLED analysis at least twice per year. Why not call Me to help facilitate your next session – it might help you predict the future – and what would that be worth? Until then good luck, happy crystal ball gazing.

To paraphrase Isaac Asimov (again): “The only constant is change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” By regularly reviewing your environment, using this simple tool, you can start taking account of the world as it is – and as it will be and that WILL help you find Opportunities and become aware of Threats before they affect your business.

]]> http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-5/feed 0 http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-4 http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/newsletter-issue-4#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:49:33 +0000 admin http://malabarconsulting.co.uk/?p=741 Dedication, perseverance and planning…

Things are looking brighter – people’s attitudes to the economy and their businesses are picking up. I don’t know about you but I’m definitely hearing more positive stories than a month ago. But ask yourself is this just your mindset. Remember we can hear, see and feel what we want to see.

I overheard a conversation last night

Two friends were talking about the traffic on the M25. One said “I’m glad I wasn’t working in Dartford today as I would have been stuck in that traffic on the way home – some people were there for over 5 hours.” To which the other replied, “When I’m in a traffic jam I think to myself it could be worse, I could be the cause of the traffic! I’d rather be held up than in the crash.”

What would you rather think?

It’s a matter of mindset.

I was reading a training book this morning – for my other passion – sport. The book is the “Triathlete’s Training Bible” by Joe Friel. A fellow triathlete gave me it when I first started training for a triathlon. I regularly delve into it for tips on training better. The section that caught my eye today was about ‘Mental Toughness’. Friel discusses Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. And asks the question is it ‘genetics or opportunity?’

He says that it’s hard to separate innate ability from hard work. But one thing he says with certainty is that they all have a dedication to improvement. Research suggests it takes ten years of focussed work on one’s sport to reach the ‘threshold of greatness’.

He concludes by saying that in his experience the key to this hard work is more mental than physical. It’s the mental toughness that produces the high-level performance we’re all looking for. This applies to business as well as sport.

Have you got it, and what does it take to get it?

Ask yourself these four sets of questions:

• A desire to succeed

• Discipline

• Belief in self

• Patience and perseverance

My experience of working with business owners (large and small) is that if any of these mental toughness qualities is lacking then they and their business will not achieve their career goals. As in sport understand your weaknesses and think about where you could and need to improve. What needs to change in your attitude to move your business forwards. Do you have a plan for it? Take time out to create the plan and most importantly to work the plan!

“Success is the progressive realization of predetermined,
worthwhile, personal goals.” Paul J. Meyer.

Good luck!

Reports in the media say that the economy is improving, and some forecasts point to recovery in the next quarter – but are you ready to take advantage of the added business and consumer confidence?

Did you know: Research points to the fact that those businesses that fair best after a downturn are those that actively plan their future and not just “let it happen”.

How well do you understand your business? Do you know what your strategy looks like post recession?

In this issue of Strategy and Growth you’ll learn more tips on how to develop a better understanding of your business that will allow you to dramatically increase your chances of standing out from the crowd in the eyes of your customers.

Many people have heard the term SWOT analysis. Many business schools talk about it; coaches and personal development professionals rave about using it – but what’s the point of it and when should you use it.

The point is this – a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis helps you look at your business and understand:

• Your strengths – these are the things that make you successful. They are part of the reason people buy from you.
• Your Weaknesses – are just that – areas where you’re not as competent as you would like to be.
• The Opportunities  - these are the “elements” that are out there that might help you drive the business forwards
• The Threats – these are the things that will / may stop you / your business growth in your tracks!

So, it’s pretty simple really isn’t it? Well, Yes and No actually! It’s simple to review who you are – your strengths and weaknesses but then making sense of the information and doing something useful with it can be the hard bit. And what of the Opportunities and Threats? How do you know what these might be?

The answer: ‘brainstorm’ all the factors in each category with your team (or alone if you need). Get all your thoughts on paper – don’t worry if they are wrong or right at this stage.

There’s a template to help you with this process available for download from www.malabarconsulting.co.uk/downloads.

You could even ask your customers and suppliers what they think are your strengths and weaknesses – you might be (pleasantly) surprised.

Once you’ve identified your strengths try and narrow them down (assuming you’ve got many) to the 5 to 10 items that you think are your top strengths – these are your core competences – the things you and your business is excellent at. (We’ll look into more of how these can help you form your strategy in a later newsletter.)

To identify the Opportunities and Threats you need to understand what’s happening in the world around you and your business. Listen, see and sense the changes that are happening – what will help you in the future – what will hinder you? The next issue of this newsletter will provide more information about understanding your market place using a tool we call STEEPLED analysis – the factors that this analysis generates will help you understand the key Opportunities – and the threats for your business – (although beware – an engineer I once worked with at Rolls-Royce when talking about Threats and Risk analysis said that it was the issues that you don’t consider that are the ones that will cause the problems – and we know from recent experience we can’t predict the future – so this analysis won’t provide you a perfect crystal ball!)

Once you start to really understand your strengths and the opportunities you can start to form a clear picture of how you can move your business forwards and to help you stand out from the crowd.

We used to worry a lot about our weaknesses – remember those corporate personal development plans that sent you on courses to brush up on your time management?* My view now is to think differently – how can you find ways around those weaknesses? Can you outsource these things? Can you eliminate them? – you might even need someone to come in and specifically review that area of your business and put actions in place to put things right.

The key is to put actions in place that will maximise your strengths and manage your weaknesses.

By now you should be forming a great picture of what your business is, how it works, makes money and satisfies your clients needs. Remember everyone is driven by a need to move towards a benefit or avoid a loss – you job is to work out what you do for each of your customers!

Here you will find all the information you need to build your business -simply download the template you need.

Templates Available:

• Strengths and Weaknesses analysis
• Marketing, Operations and Finance Review
• Strategic Review Checklist
• Vision, Value and Purpose
• Strategic Direction Template
• STEEPLED Analysis Template

I hope you put time in your diary to focus on growing your business in the last month. This month I want to give you some thoughts and tips on reviewing where you are today.

To understand the journey you need to take with your business and to help you get where you want to go you first need to understand where you are today.

Many people use that analogy that business planning and strategy is just like setting out on a journey. However it’s not as simple as driving a car to a known destination and asking for directions or reading the map, it’s actually very different.

Chart the course now…

You cannot just step into the business, think about where you want to go and make it happen. Charting a course for the success of your business is not that simple. There are no laid out roads to follow for certain success.

Also you need to remember:

“Success is a journey and not just a destination”

Understand your business…

Think of your business journey as a voyage of discovery. But not a voyage by car, a voyage by ship. The outside elements can easily push you off course. You need knowledge, either personally or among you crew, of how the ship operates, how to set the sails, how to manage the tides and make best use of the winds, and how to navigate your way through uncertain waters.

It’s no good just knowing where you want to get to, you also have to know where you are setting out from and also to understand your current abilities, the abilities of your team and the strengths and weaknesses of each element that make up your ship.

In a car you can follow the signs or your GPS. In a boat, just like in business you need to think further than just the roads you will follow. Following a GPS blindly in business is likely to take you down the wrong path and get you stuck! So, why am I telling you this today?

This issue of the Strategy and Growth newsletter provides more useful tips and tools that you can use to help you fully understand the ship you are sailing and then help you chart your course achieve your goals and ultimately achieve your vision.

Think again…

Dr. Stephen Covey says, “Start with the end in mind.” However, for this issue I am assuming, for now anyway, that you have a vision of where you want to get to. In a later issue we’ll talk again about crystallizing that vision – without it who knows where you’ll end up.

Understanding where you are today…

I have created a series of templates and questionnaires that you can use to guide your thinking to accompany this issue. These worksheets are available for download here – add link to web page or by emailing or calling or create your own.

Give a copy of the worksheet template to each of your team members that you want an opinion from – careful who you choose!

Answer the questions on the template individually – Remember, be honest with your answers.

My suggestion is to review your business in parts according to the key ‘functions’ that you carry out. Below I have suggested a number of points as a starter for you to work with:

Marketing and Selling

• What marketing do you do, how effective is it? What methods do you use – PR, advertising, seminars, email shots, newsletters, exhibitions etc
• How effective are each of your marketing projects. Are you getting the returns you expect? (We’ll be covering some of the methods you can use to communicate with your customers in a later issue – but if you want a list of 101 ways to market your business NOW please go to www.malabarconsulting.co.uk/downloads or email me at downloads@malabarconsulting.co.uk)
• What’s the perception of your brand in the market place? What’s your market position?
• How well do you sell your products and services?
• How many products have you sold this year? How many did you expect to sell? Are you happy with your results?

Operations

• How well organised is your business?
• Does it operate in the most efficient and effective ways?
• Do you have appropriate processes in place?
• Do you follow your processes to the letter?
• Are your staff adequately (well) trained?
• How’s your staff morale?
• Are your machines or people being adequately “utilised”?
• Are you meeting your Quality standards? Always?

Finance

• Are you hitting the numbers you want to be achieving?
• Are you as profitable as you want to be?
• Do you have appropriate performance measures in place?
• Is your Return on Investment what you expect?
• How well managed / organised is your finance team?
• Could you manage with a tax investigation?
• Do you have appropriate controls in place?
• Do you have ‘enough’ working capital?
• Are your invoices paid on time?
• Do you pay your invoices on time?
• Does your accountant understand your business?

As well as these key functions it is also helpful to look at the key areas of your business that support your performance and growth. My suggestion is to score your business against each of these areas:

Resources – Financial Resources; Physical Resources (assets etc); Human Resources – your staff or associates, the management team – what training needs do you have? What gaps exist in your skills?

Experience – experience of running / growing a business of this size; of employing people; in this marketplace; of selling to clients and customers; of introducing new products; in this stage of he economic cycle. Appropriate experience for the future needs of this business

Controls and Systems – related to financial measurement and control, hardware and software systems and quality systems. Does the business collect the appropriate information to make informed decisions? How appropriate is the organisational structure? What quality systems are in place? How relevant are they today and tomorrow?

Ideas and Innovation – ideas that can be turned into profit and for the benefit of the customer (and your business). How innovative is the business? How innovative is the marketing, the service provided, your processes? How do you stay ahead of the competition?Leadership – think about not just the business leader but also the direction of the business – vision, values and purpose. How well is the vision communicated across the business?

While going through this list you’ll find it helpful to make comments on areas that need attention and then to develop actions to do something about it. Knowing there is an issue is one thing – doing something about it is another.

Once you have completed this review you will (hopefully) have a much clearer understanding of where the business is today.

In the next issue we’re going to develop on this enhanced business knowledge to help you understand what makes it the business it is today.

We all know that a break has many benefits for our health, family and mental wellbeing. It helps us rethink where we want to be and how we are going to get there.

Have you also considered…

NOW is an excellent time to take your management team (or just yourself) away to do the same thing?

Frustrated your business growth has reached a plateau? Concerned your competitors are taking home your sales? Want a clearer vision of where you are going and how you will get there? Worried that the credit crunch is catching up with you?

Whatever size your business; chances are you haven’t taken as much time as you want to think about its long term health, or even the new ways you can attract, retain and nurture your clients for some time.

Think about it: How frustrated do you feel in your life if you don’t have time to plan? How much do you achieve if you don’t know where you are going? What more could your business achieve with improved focus?

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago so that you’d have the benefits of it now. The second best time is NOW!”
NOW is the time for you and your team to MAKE time to focus on the key factors that will make your business even more successful.

Take time out with your team, or alone, away from the heat of the moment to dramatically improve your success. Put time in your diary NOW to do it at least once per month for real benefit. Those business owners and directors who did this reported hitting more of their business targets than those who didn’t.