Strategic Business Analysis
Define Your Path to Business Success
What do you want to achieve or avoid? The answers to this question are objectives. How will you go about achieving your desired results? The answer to this you can call strategy. William E Rothschild
Many small business owners spend most of their time running their business. But it can pay big dividends if you take the time to think about longer-term and more strategic planning, working on your business rather than in your business.
Does any of this ring true with you when considering your business:
- are uncertain about how well your business is really performing
- don’t know if you are getting the most out of your business
- feel you aren’t making the most out of market opportunities
- feel your business is moving in a different direction to the one you had planned
- feel your business is becoming unmanageable or unresponsive to market demands
If you feel ready to take a serious look at your whole business and maybe embark on a journey of ensuring you can achieve your dreams for your business, then a really excellent business coach and consultant can help!
Strategic Businss Review
Take a detailed look at your business performance in all areas when you review the following aspects of your business.
Vision
When your intentions are fulfilled, and the business becomes what you want it to be, how will things look, feel and be?
Mission
How will your business get to where it wants to be?
Market performance and direction
Look at how you are performing through your sales results and how to improve your market penetration and gain and retain customers.
Products and services
Look at how well your current products or services meet your customers needs and your plans to ensure they continue to meet your customers future needs.
Business Operations
Look at your premises, methodologies, technologies used, processes, IT and quality. Identify any internal issues that are impacting on your performance.
Financials
Take a detailed look at your Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and cash flow.
Organisation and People
Look at your organisation structure, employee policies and procedures, recruitment challenges, people planning challenges, health and safety procedures, employee training and employee development.
Quantify your business
Strengths and Weaknesses from an internal view point
What internal factors are having an impact on your ability to achieve your business objectives? These factors typically cover Product, Price, Place and Promotion as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities etc
Opportunities and Threats from an external view point
What external factors are having an impact on your ability to achieve your business objectives? These could include technology change, legislation as well as changes in the market place or your competitive position
Then prioritise those areas your think you will gain the most advantage from addressing first.
Finally, it would be a good idea if you:
- write the Business Strategic Review in language that you understand.
- sit down and work on making sure you understand what has been found.
Business Development Plan
Your Business Development Plan:
- builds on the Business Strategic Review.
- provides your business with a comprehensive strategic plan for business improvement and future growth opportunities.
- helps you identify and develop processes that will help you achieve your business objectives.
- helps you put together a comprehensive plan for the future.
It is a basic road map of where you want your business to go and what you want it to be.
Business Action Plan
Your Business Action Plan:
- aligns itself to the Business Development Plan.
- lists detailed actions that need to be undertaken to help you achieve your business objectives.
- prioritises actions so that you see the benefits faster and achieve your goals sooner.
Implementation Support
You may be able to get many items in the Business Action Plan done on your own. You may need help with some tasks to supplement the skills or knowledge you don’t have.
A professional business coach and consultant can bring the expertise and actually assist with implementing what needs to be done to achieve your business objectives, so you don’t have to go it alone.
Business Performance Measurement
There is no point making changes if you don’t measure how effective they are.
Insist that your business coach or consultant will help you develop a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that will show you how your business is performing on a regular basis.
For each KPI you set a target and monitor how well you are doing in relation to that target.
There are some essential KPI’s each business should monitor regular on a business wide basis. You may set up others at a department/supervisor level as well.
