Strategy Development – Where do you want to be

The TDT team provides strategy planning and guidance to help your company determine where your company should be and how to get there.

We help plan for today with tomorrow in mind. And, we have proven successes under our belts that translate to valuable experience and longevity.

Whenever you must create or reinvent the direction of your organization, there are six questions, in order, that you must answer truthfully.

1. Where are you now? What is your current situation?

If your business was in trouble and you hired an outside strategy consulting firm to come in to help, the first thing the consultants would do would be a complete performance evaluation. They would determine your exact levels of sales in every product/service area, the relative profitability of each of your products and services, the trends in each area, the amount of money you have and will have in the foreseeable future, and your position relative to your competition. These are all pieces of information that you can and must generate for yourself and form the basis of your strategy.

2. How did you get to where you are today?

What were the factors and decisions that led to your current situation? Be your own strategy consultant. Refuse to flinch or exaggerate, especially when you have problems with sales and profitability.

You cannot resolve a problem or resolve a difficult situation unless you have the courage to face the current facts squarely, whatever they are. Re-evaluate all your business activities. Is everything you are doing necessary to win and keep customers? What savings could you generate by partnering with other companies to do work or carry overhead? Could you share a warehouse or manufacturing plant with a neighboring firm? Can you share an accounting department? What activities could you outsource without reducing quality or service to your customers?

3. Where do you want to go from here?

What do you want to accomplish? Clearly describe the ideal desired outcome for your business. Project forward three to five years and imagine that your business was perfect. The greater clarity you have about where you want to be at a specific time in the future, the easier it will be for you to create a great business strategic plan, or blueprint, that will enable you to get from where you are today to where you want to go. Be specific about your future goals and desired outcome. Remember its your strategy

For instance:

• How much product would you be selling five years from now?
• How much would you be earning (gross and net), and how does that compare with your competitors?
• How many people would be working in your business?
• Who would your customers be, and where would they be located?

4. How do you get from where you are today to where you want to be in the future?

What are the steps that you will have to take to create your ideal future business? Make a list. Write down every single thing that you can possibly think of that you would have to do to achieve your goals in the future. As you think of new actions, tasks, or steps, add them to the list. This information then becomes your recipe or formula for achieving your business goals.

5. What obstacles will you have to overcome? What problems will you have to solve?

Of all the problems or obstacles standing between you and your desired future outcomes, what are the biggest or most important? What is holding you back? What are the critical constraints or limiting factors for growth?

6. What additional knowledge, skills, or resources will you require to achieve your strategy and objectives?

What additional competencies or capabilities will you need if you want to lead your field in the years ahead? Every business begins and grows around a set of core competencies, but there are almost always additional core competencies that you’ll need to acquire or develop over time. If your company is already the market leader, then explore what new areas you can excel in. And most of all, ask yourself what you can do, starting today, to begin to achieve those core competencies to create your business of the future.

TDT Your Strategy partner