Strategen’s Newsletter Archive

We have developed the “What we sell” and “To whom we will sell it” and we feel good.  We have determined that there is a market for “what we sell” and the market is, in fact, large enough to support the Strategic Plan. Now what?

How do we get it going and keep it going?  Focus and follow up are the key words to implementation and these are the most common areas of failure for most managers and business owners.  Keeping people focused on the areas that will promote the implementation of the Strategic Plan requires continuous follow up and this function is an extra, mostly bothersome hassle for most managers and business owners.  They don’t have or take the time and they hate the activity and view it as “babysitting.”

Owners and managers generally do not believe that they should have to “follow up” to be sure that their people do, in fact, do what they are supposed to do.  They cannot understand why follow up is necessary.

Well, follow up is necessary; follow up is the key to success.  Developing the skills that are required to “manage” the implementation of the “Plan” is what makes the plan happen.  Without these skills the “Plan” does not happen.

Last month we discussed “Making the Strategic Plan Happen” and how this is difficult because most owner/managers believe their people should somehow “know how to do their jobs” and get it done.  This is frustrating to both employee and owner/manager as the employee is lost and the owner/manager is at a loss as to how to get the plan implemented.

For the most part neither, the owner/manager or the employee, has successfully implemented a Strategic Plan before, and they both have a pile of day to day work that “takes all their time.”  So, their position is; “how am I suppose to get all this new stuff done?”

If neither party has the “know how” then what are they to do?  The short answer is “learn.”  Take the time and spend the money to derive the benefits that both the owner/manager and employee believe they will derive from the plan implementation. Learn the planning and implementation skills necessary to stay on top of the Plan and Get It Done!

Making the Strategic Plan happen frustrates most business managers and owners.  This, we believe, is because most Owner/Managers do not like to or are not oriented to manage the people to “Do THEIR JOBS”

Many Owner/Managers, we know, do not believe or want to believe that they should have to manage people to “DO THEIR JOBS”.  They believe that people should “know what to do” and just “do it”.  These Owner/Managers know what They are supposed to do and they do it.  So they cannot understand why they should have to follow up with their people to make sure their people know what to do and make sure that they do what they are suppose to do.  Sounds complex and frustrating, right?

Well, this assumption or mode of operation is the crucial point of why the beautiful, 5 pound, Strategic Plan book does not get implemented.  Follow up and management are the keys to “Making the Plan Happen”.  It’s what we do.

Last month the newsletter topic was reviewing your company’s “strengths” and developing a
“SWOT” analysis.

The obvious next step after the development of your companies “strengths” is the development of your company’s “weaknesses” or better said, in today’s politically correct environment, you company’s “areas for improvement”.

This takes us to the next step, the development of areas of “opportunity” for the company and then the development of “threats” to the company.  Consequently the development of the “SWOT” includes the “strengths”, “weaknesses”, “opportunities” and “threats” of your company.

All this takes time and energy and it is hoped that this time and energy will yield something valuable.  In most cases the time and energy yields a beautiful document, weighing 5 pounds that contains well thought out prose and nothing else.  The “Action” step is the failed step in most cases because few know how to make the plan happen.

Making the plan happen takes away from day to day and therefore is relegated to “tomorrow” and never gets done because business owners and managers are so wrapped up in “making money today” that you forget about tomorrow.

The biggest part of our business is making sure the things that are supposed to happen today “HAPPEN!

So how do we turn a “Target” into a customer? While there is no “Magic Method”, there is no substitute for hard work focused on the objective.

The objective is clear; there is a list so the end game is focused. Keeping the end game in focus is difficult because day to day business gets in the way of making progress penetrating the “Targets.” Both the sales people and management must keep the focus on the proactively develop “Targets. Failure is guaranteed if focus is lost.

Developing the “Targets” requires a combination of well designed and focused market communications, cold calls and follow up to secure appointments. Yes cold calls! There is no substitute for these steps used in concert, using one or two will not get the job done.

Again there is no magic. In today’s electronic media age there are many “magic methods” hyped as “The New Market Solution.” All these method miss the pivotal truth that people, in your market, buy from people not the internet, telemarketers, ads or direct mail. People buy from people they know, like and trust, so sales people must be the driving force! It is not easy but it can be and is done every day and we teach these methods every day!

We are having great success teaching and implementing these methods and our clients love it!

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