Strategic vs Tactical

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me for feedback on their strategic vision......and then proceeded to describe how they were going to 'drive up sales with out new marketing campaign.' I could retire in peace and quiet, or at least pickup a good set of Bose noise-cancelling headphones to tune out life's background noises.



Businesses run on 3 levels: Strategy, Tactics and Logistics. This may be simplistic for many of you, but it's a good place for first-time business owners or entrepreneurs to start.



Strategy: long and short term goals. Where you see your business going, who your customers are, what products and services you will sell, what market need you will meet and possibly create, how your business fits in your defined environment, what your relationship with capital and staff will be. Goals, what you aspire to and target. What should be the end result of your plans.



Tactics: How you will reach those goals. The steps that you put in place and the procedures that a business can execute that should lead to achieving  your goals. This includes everything from customer identification and acquisition to sales procedures to where to place items in your store to follow-up customer management processes. Which marketing campaign to execute and how to do it. How to successfully run product and service R&D.



Logistics: Money. The lifeblood of a business. Money keeps the bill collectors at bay and the employees happy. Logistics is the financial aspect of your business--something which usually is separate and distinct from your production and management tasks. It's important enough and distinct enough that it deserves its own section. Managed properly, your finances can provide you with the cash needed for expansion, to weather the down times and to exploit the good times.



And those are the big 3 for your business. Get those right and the rest falls into place.







--Shawn

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Memorial Day - musings and thoughts

Today's political climate is poisoned and toxic like never in the past. With censorship and oversight running rampant and unchecked (who watches the watchmen?), with patriotism in the US being blended with political parties and beliefs, with no highly visible 'bad guy' (someone along the lines of Hitler or Stalin, two of history's more recent mass murderers) the current perception of the military world-over is a muddled concoction of personal fears and national ideals.



Here are my thoughts on the Significance of Today:



In the US, today is Memorial Day. Democrat or Tory, Canadian or Kiwi, Red-State or Blue-State, if you live in a country, a geographic area defined by borders and governed with rules, you owe a debt of gratitude and appreciation to a veteran. Be you a Dove or a Hawk, in the past, someone fought for the right to call the land where you live a country--and today is a good day to offer them a silent word of 'thanks.' Virtually no location in the world today is inhabited by its original 'founders' (they being killed off by homo-sapiens over the course of millennial history); that means that nearly every 'country' today was colonized--which meant struggles, wars, fighting and ultimate 'success' (existence) for the current spate of nation-states (in time, some will fall and new ones will arise to take their place. it happens.) Ultimately, someone in the past struggled and sacrificed for the ideal and the reality that is your current country (Russia, China, USA, Mexico, et al). It is in their honor that we celebrate this day.





     Back to business thoughts tomorrow.





-Shawn

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Trust in the Marketplace

     An interesting situation arise this last weekend. An individual with whom we had professionally (but informally) partnered left his original employment at Company A to go out on his own. (Company A was failing in its business model and looked like it was not long for the world.) As part of his severance package, he was given a contract on which RTBS had provided minor verbal assistance. The contract was large enough that it would have kept him afloat for a marked period of time as well as providing him with a great entre into other business opportunities.

    This individual physically relocated to another area of the country, registered his own DBA and then started operating on his own, contacting us for advice and partnering opportunities regarding this larger contract--we were asked to provide guidance, project management as well as some technical implementation. Not a large contract for us, but an interesting one with significant growth opportunity. After working through the discovery process with this individual, we submitted a response to the RFP and awaited a formal response.

     To my surprise, I heard through the grapevine that our solo-operating individual had decided to return to work for Company A, that Company A had 'taken back' the entire contract and that we were going to receive a verbal 'thanks for your assistance' on the project. Normally, I would chalk it up to my foolishness, trusting individual A without anything in writing from him yet, however the risk at the time was minimal because of the personal relationship factors between the individual and Company A had become so toxic as to, in my judgment,  ever permit Company A working with the individual again.

     In this case, we will do a quick exploratory research into the causes of our intelligence failure--were we taken for a ride or was there a random chance event/something that we missed? Regardless or the ultimate cause, the end result of this scenario is that any dealings with Company A and this individual will be on a cash first, paper-deal only.



Surprised but not shocked

-Shawn

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Thought for the day - Where's your dog?

In an ever-commoditizing world, where do you stand out? I don't mean 'how do you sell yourself' or 'how do I catch the eyes of the best potential customers' but 'what do we do better than everyone else around?'.



This is the 's' in a SWOT analysis, and it points you, as an individual  and as a corporation, towards areas and situations where you will be able to shine.



The catch here is that your strengths are in what you do; they are not limited to where you are. For example, if you've built up a successful business repairing TVs, you must have mastered the details of running repair teams, building customer rapport and driving repeat and new service business--you're not just a TV repair business. Those strengths offer you the opportunity to grow into new areas and create new customer demand well outside the TV repair task list, but within your strength set; high-end home entertainment design and installation is one example of a complimentary industry that has sprung up over the last 10 years which would play right into your business and personal strengths.



Take 2 minutes and list out your personal strengths and your business's strengths. Be honest with yourself and you may be pleasantly surprised with what you find.



Remember, know your strengths and you will find your opportunities.



-Shawn

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Thought for the Day

If you're a political hack: when life gives you lemons, you find a way to enact legislation increasing the recommended daily citrus intake while requiring an increased consumption of lemon-based drinks in public schools across the county.



If you're a marketer: when life gives you lemons, you find a way to position lemons as the most 'environmentally-friendly' fruit in the marketplace.



If you're an entrepreneur: when life give your lemons, you find a new use for lemon rinds that helps cure warts and improve complexion.



If you're a parent: when life give you lemons, you teach your children how to make lemonade.



-Shawn

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Strategic Tip #1

If you get this right, everything else falls into place.



Define your customers' optimal or improved value at the intersection of a newly-created nexus between either: pricing, customer need, product innovation, delivery innovation, or marketing innovation. Don't rest on where the market sees their value today but find where you can make them stand out--and know that you will have to keep moving, keep innovating, keep finding new customer value and new combination values.



Your competitors will copy you--which is a good thing. It means that they are spending their time trying to be like you and not finding where their next value point lies.



Next tip later-

Shawn



Ambush Idea: always ask a customer or lead 'who should I talk to next?' find a reason (for example: you're only in town for a day but have an extra 2 hours.) It exposes what they think of you, where the see your value in the marketplace and most importantly, it gives you a live ,referral lead.

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