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How to Build a Business Strategy That Works

  • March 2, 2022
  • 6 min read
How to Build a Business Strategy That Works

Winston Churchill once said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” And most people will agree that the point of any business strategy is to get the best results in a competitive environment. 

So if you want a business strategy that works, look no further! In this post, let’s check out some expert steps to help you develop an effective strategy for your business. By the end of reading this, your business compass will point you in the direction of success! 

Use SWOT Analyses

A good starting point is to use strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses. We use the plural analyses because it’s worth doing one for each aspect of your enterprise.

Begin by looking within your company for all the strengths and weaknesses you can identify. It’s also worth getting an outside opinion to look at the state of your state of affairs. For example, a business strategy consultant may be able to identify things you cannot. 

Then, look outside of your business for opportunities and potential threats. One opportunity that many companies are exploring is the concept of automation. Strategyexe.com offers some excellent automation solutions for business strategy development.

Utilize PESTLE

Another way you can explore external factors relating to your business is by using the PESTLE framework. PESTLE stands for political, economic, technological, legal, and environmental. 

By categorizing external factors into the PESTLE groups, you’ll be better able to determine your future business strategy. The idea is you can incorporate these groups into your SWOT analyses by looking at each category’s potential opportunities and threats.

Get Your Vision Statement in Order

Having a solid vision statement is crucial for you to define your business’s future activities. And once you’ve run thoroughly through your SWOT and PESTLE analyses, you should be in a position to change your vision statement to fit the new criteria. 

Alongside developing your vision statement, you can also create your mission statement. One opinion that business leaders take nowadays is that these two elements do well to stand side by side.

Your Mission Statement

Where the vision statement summarizes your directions and general aims, your mission statement expands on this. In your mission statement, you should include your main objectives to get where you want to go.

So your vision statement might proclaim what you want to achieve in a five-year period. Your mission statement will tell you how you will achieve your vision inside that period in a more practical sense. Plus, you might want to outline how your mission statement objectives the value they will bring to your firm.

Develop Deeper Strategic Objectives

Your mission statement outlines your general objectives. Now you need to get your hands dirty and develop more detailed strategic objectives and their timeframes.

One great way to develop strategic objectives is to make them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-related (SMART goals). In addition, you should attempt to factor key performance indicators into your objectives. You can also add in budget requirements and allocation of resources.

Discuss and Delegate Tactics 

This step is all about discussing and implementing short-term tactics to help you achieve your objectives. Some of these tactics may be your responsibility and others you may have to delegate. Thus, meetings and teamwork are essential for you to communicate your new tactics.

It’s also important that you have these short-term tactics clearly written down with any relevant KPIs. These tactics need to be measurable so that your step-by-step approach to your major goals is efficient.

Be Consistent With Performance Management

Once all your planning is in order and everyone knows their roles in each department, it’s time to keep all your plans in check. Remember, your initial strategies may look great on paper, but in reality, they might not work out as you envisioned. 

Therefore, it’s crucial you have a framework in place where you monitor the performance of all your departments to ensure they are on the right path.

You may have a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly review of your objectives. Then, if some strategies are failing refer back to your vision and mission statements and make necessary changes to your strategies in line with them.

In our modern world, performance management is becoming easier. New technological tools can deliver superb insights to business leaders. There’s also automation and how it can give you a competitive edge in your specific industry.

Know Your Business Type

To finish up, here are three key business types to think about. Then, afterward, there’s a discussion about some general goals you might want to consider for each type. And you can see these goals as a business strategy template for your business type.

So the three business types are: 

  • Start-ups
  • Small to medium-sized businesses
  • Large enterprises

If you are a start-up, scaling up and growth will be at the top of your agenda. You should be looking to develop brand awareness, custom retention, and have the ambition to become a market leader.

If you are a small to medium enterprise (SME), then you are likely to already be juggling so many factors and responsibilities. At this point, you might have goals such as reducing business expenses to become more efficient. You may also want to try and increase your employee’s productivity toward the same ends.

If you are a large enterprise, you might have outgrown or completely changed your vision and mission statements. And when threats affect you at this level, they can have huge repercussions. Some of your goals may include gaining a larger market share and trying to retain staff for longer.

Develop a Solid Business Strategy

Whether you are a start-up, SME, or large enterprise, you need to ensure your business strategy is serving you well. There’s nothing wrong with going back to the drawing board and running through the essence of your business to see if you need to make changes.

So thank you for reading through this guide. If you liked it, please also consider taking a look at some of our other helpful blog posts.

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