I grew up around football. Of my grandfather’s seven siblings, five of them played for their University. Some went on to coach at a Uni level. One brother played professionally for awhile before joining the army. My father, my brother, and my husband all played football and coached in some capacity or another.

If you have ever spent any time in a locker room, you know that strategy is the key to winning the game.

A plan can tell how the program will grow; how the stadium will house so many fans; how the club will raise money; but, a strategy tells how the team will win. All those X’s and O’s with arrows pointing in a variety of directions are the strategy that puts points on the scoreboard.

It is really no different in business although most businesses only have a plan and simply jump into the deep end of the pool with no real strategy to get to the other side. A strategy is the nuts and bolts that keep a business focused directionally, productively, and with profitability. While a business plan helps investors to understand the vision, mission, and financial hopes of the company, the business strategy is the GPS that completes the plan.

Use our guidelines to create your own business strategy or improve the one you have.

1. How is your cash flow? What is the fair market value of your company? What do you need them to be? By evaluating your current state of being and comparing that with your plan for the future, creating a strategy to get from point A to point B is essential. Most businesses do not consider market value until it is decided to sell the company. Some do not even know how companies are valued or ways to improve the value. Investigate all levels and areas of your market, including the value of your competitors. By understanding the fundamental of estimated valuation, one can focus on how to apply those criteria to the current company setting.
2. Study individual team members and scrutinize his/her significance to the growth of the business. By using benchmarks in a positive and productive manner, you can implement goals which will improve cash flow and take your company to a higher level. Benchmarking will identify areas of strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to change, grow, or eliminate. Visual graphing or a tactical manner of reporting improvements and declines is important to ensure that all players are on the same bench.
3. Any strategy must be evaluated and changed as the conditions that surround it modify and adjust. All the tactics and maneuvers in the world are of little use without assessment. Consider what it takes to win a war. No country ever won a war based on the first strategy presented; on the contrary, it is won by repeated reevaluation and adjustment.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” Do not limit yourself to a simple business plan. Stretch your business to the limitless possibilities of a business strategy and see where it takes you.

Have a system in place so that you control what is happening or not happening and the reasons behind the outcomes. For business planning & strategizing contact our experts at The Bean Countess