Will Your Strategy Last 10 Years?

It’s a tough question to answer, I know, but it’s one that needs to be answered more and more regardless of the type of business you’re running. Once reserved for the Coke’s, McDonald’s or Apple’s of the world, today any organization of any size needs to have an extremely well developed Corporate Strategy if it hopes to stay in business during today’s incredibly multi-sliced marketplace.

In order to build a foundation for your organization and its brand there are four knowledge areas you should consider focusing on.

Know what you are really selling. One of the toughest things senior leaders often have to face is their product no longer cuts through in the market. Pointing to past years’ successes are great for benchmarking, but not enough to produce valid projections for the future. It’s just difficult to say goodbye to products! But in a very real sense, selling involves knowing what market you are in and deciding what products are going to keep you growing in it. Are you in the business of always coming up with new products or the replacement business that provides an adequate solution to those who are looking for alternatives to the leading brand? Knowing this can easily spell the difference between success or failure.

Know your target market. The more specific you can be about the market you serve, and those you don’t serve, the better. This allows you to focus your brand messaging based on micro messaging and eliminate as many unqualified prospects as possible. As one CEO client of ours recently shared with me, if I have to first educate a potential customer and then sell him on our services that’s one too many sales we’re making. Instead, target prospects that are already educated in what you have to sell and go after them with a clear and compelling strategy.