Turbulent Times & Business Strategies
Business Strategies For Turbulent Times
By Brice Alvord
Turbulent times require a firm anchor point from which to lead your organization. That anchor point must be an effective strategy that is properly communicated across the entire organization. A strategy is a broad statement of planned activities which, when effectively performed, will most effectively accomplish a given objective.
The Strategy of the Business (or other Enterprise)
The term “strategy” was adopted from the military. The “strategic plan” of an army is a broad plan to destroy the enemy’s ability to wage war. This may include the elimination of his factories, ports and transportation as well as his fighting forces. It is an all encompassing plan for accomplishing the mission of winning the war. The “strategic plans” of the divisions would support the broad plan of the army.
Before a business can plan how it will accomplish its mission, it must first define that mission, – the purpose for which it now exists.· Through similar reasoning each division and department has its own mission designed to support the parent organization.
Other strategies are then developed from the mission statement. These strategies identify opportunities that favor accomplishment of the mission…and how those opportunities will be approached.
The Strategic Plan
The Strategic Plan is the instrument through which everyone’s attention is focused on those opportunities; enabling the organizations strengths to be exploited while its weaknesses are neutralized. Thus, the first step in the preparation of a strategic plan is to define the mission of the organization – the purpose for which it was created (or now exists).·
While there may be many ways a mission statement could be written, the one presented here, is believed to be the simplest form that will satisfy all of the requirements· It is termed a Primary Objective and is described below.
As a Strategic Objective the Primary Objective takes a different form and serves a different purpose than other objectives typically found in most management processes· Because of its unique roll and the fact it is not quantified it could also be considered a “primary strategy.”· The term objective is used only because it is more commonly used by managers.
Primary Objectives
The Primary Objective is a statement of the mission which an individual, group, or company is organized to accomplish in terms of its essential work, its products, its markets, and its territorial interests.
Your Primary Objective is intended as a continuing guide to all who work under your direction…to this extent it is permissive. Also, to those above you, it provides assurance that efforts are being extended in the right direction…to this extent it is restrictive.
A Primary Objective should be prepared for the organization as a whole and for each division, department and position. While stated as the objective of the position it includes all the work for which the incumbent of that position is accountable…not just the work he (she) does personally.
While the Primary Objective can be changed at any time to reflect changes in the direction of the operation, it should not require change except where that direction has, indeed, been changed. Thus, the Primary Objective could conceivably stand for a period of several, or even many years.
Because it is designed to stand for a long period, its terms are not quantified. It is constructed around the following five Fundamental Obligations:
- Survival Obligation – States the need for (Why?):
- Essential Work Obligation – States the work to be performed (How?):
- Principal Products Obligation – States that which is produced or acted upon (What?)Stated as a “product” or service
- Principal Markets Obligation – States for whom the “products” or “services” are produced (Who?):
- External markets (customers)
- Internal markets (other dept’s)
- Principal Territory Obligation – Defines the geographic area in which the work is performed or services offered (Where?)
Structure of the Primary Objective
Survival obligation: Survive, grow and be profitable.
The Survival Obligation specifies why work is to be done. For a profit oriented company, the Survival Obligation will normally declare recognition of the need for survival, growth and profitability.
For the company:In almost any profit oriented company, the Survival Obligation may be adequately expressed with these few words: “To survive, grow and be profitable.” The extent of the profits and the direction and rate of growth will be specified in other objectives that grow out of the Primary Objective.
For a department:The Survival Obligation for a department would be expressed differently· The objective of a department is not to survive, grow and be profitable on its own; hence, the survival obligation of the department might be expressed: “To contribute to the survival, growth and profit.”
Not-For-Profit organizations:In considering the survival obligation of a not-for-profit organization, it helps to view this as an entity that has length, width and breadth…all expressed in terms of survival, profit and growth.The not-for-profit organization would also have three components. One of the components is “survival.” Whatever other purposes this organization might have, it must first survive if it is to perform its assigned function. Thus, the word “survival” will normally be included in the survival obligation of the not-for-profit organization.
Secondly, the organization must remain financially sound. Whether its operating funds come from sales (as in a business) or from a budget allocation, the organization’s continued success, and therefore its survival, depends on getting its work accomplished within its allowable expenses· Thus, the survival obligation of the not-for profit organization will normally include a reference to remaining financially sound …instead of “profit”.Inasmuch as the not-for-profit organization was created to fill some defined need, the survival of this particular organization will depend on how effectively it serves this need. Thus, the third element should contain a reference to fulfilling these needs·
Typical statements of the three components which comprise a survival obligation are shown below:
- Essential Work Obligation – The Essential Work Obligation states HOW the Primary Objective will be accomplished. As the word “work” implies activity, this obligation is always stated as a verb…in just one or two words. Yet, these few words should encompass the work done by all the people under the direction of a given manager (not just the work done personally by the manager).For the manager of a defined “line” department this obligation will reflect the Essential Work of the business as a whole, as in the example of “manufacture” and “sell”.For all other departments the Essential Work Obligation would be to advise and serve in the areas of its work specialty. These words apply for every staff manager.
- Principal Products Obligation – The Principal Products Obligation defines that which is produced or acted upon by the organization…WHAT it is that the organization offers its markets. For example, the product of a steel mill would be steel. The products of an insurance company might be “policies” or “financial protection”.The products of a manufacturing plant would be the products produced by that plant; the products of a producing department in the plant would be those products that are supplied to the next unit in the production process. The products of a sales department would be orders or sales contracts.The products of a staff department are the services that the department supplies to other departments…i.e., “Human Resources”
- Principal Markets Obligation – The Principal Markets Obligation specifies WHO will receive or benefit from the products or services offered. The “market” for a sales group would be its customers. For a production operation that fabricates parts, the “market” might be the “assembly” department; the “market” for maintenance services would be the departments served. One test to help identify the “market” for an internal service would be to determine who has the authority to accept or reject the work performed. The “market” for a staff group would be those departments or positions for which this group provides advice and/ or service as its normal responsibility.
- Principal Territory Obligation – The Principal Territory Obligation states where work is to be performed. For the company as a whole, this statement would be broad enough to cover all activities at all locations. The same would be true of a division or a department. For a plant or factory, this obligation would identify those locations at which products were produced but also may specify those areas where field servicing is provided. For a sales group, this obligation might reflect the area in which customers are located or where salesmen travel . . . for a staff group, it would reflect the location of the departments served.
As we have seen, the Primary Objective may apply to a total entity or to a department or position within that entity. In either case the Primary Objective deals with three elements: survival, growth, and profit. Where the operation has been in existence for some time, the first step is to define the obligations as these exist now. One advantage of this is that a manager at any level can write his own obligations without having to wait for any other member of the organization to write his. Later, as others prepare their Basic Obligations, differences can be rectified.After the present obligations have been defined, the manager can then begin consideration of anticipated changes in each obligation. These may be in response to pressures beyond the manager’s control or they may be the result of his strategic choices for the future. In either case, the Basic Obligations provide a way to define the future of the business in a way that minimizes the impact of turbulent times.
Brice Alvord has over thirty years experience as an internal and external performance improvement consultant and business coach. Mr. Alvord has extensive experience in designing and developing performance based training programs that get results. He holds a BA in Sociology/Psychology from Central Washington University and an MBA degree from City University of Seattle. He is the author of over two dozen books on continuous improvement and training.
For more information, visit our website at: http://www.aleragroup.com
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Financial Insights and Strategies During These Turbulent Times
Dr Jim Collier over at Drjimcollier.com just started a series of articles that you may find enlightening. How many of us really understand the FDIC and the limits of insurance coverage on our deposits. Venture on over to the website for more. Financial Insights
Business Advice Just for the Asking
Business Advice for the Asking
Every year people in the U.S. start thousands of businesses and most of them fail. Some of them would probably succeed if they took advantage of a major resource that is available. There are literally major sources of business information and assistance waiting for those who will ask.
The Federal government maintains a huge internet portal called USA.gov and on this site there is a Business and Non Profit gateway. On this site you can find information about how to buy from the Government or how to sell to them. There is also links to statistical information that is invaluable when starting or operating a business. All of the resources on this site are two numerous to mention but three must be included in this article. When you visit the site take notice of the links for launching a business, managing and growing a business, and the one for state programs.
To keep this article a manageable size, I will only look at the last link for state programs. When you click on your state which is listed you will see numerous resources but the one I suggest you click on is the one for SCORE.
Would you like to find a mentor for your business? You can find one at SCORE. Would you like to find seminars about your business? Take a look at the resources that SCORE offers.
Business advice and information is available to you for the asking. Why don’t you start asking today.
Free Online Marketing for Your Product or Business
Ways to Market Your Product Or Business on the Internet For Free
By Teresa Hudson
In today’s world, the internet is a powerful tool for marketing for free, but there are so many different choices. How should someone know which one is the most effective? In truth, all methods of internet marketing can be effective, but it takes different amounts of time and commitment to be successful. Here is a general overview:
1.Traffic Exchanges: On these sites you “surf” through many different advertisements. In exchange for each site you load up, you get a certain amount of credits. With these credits you can buy your own advertising. Different sites have slightly different programs, but usually you can spend your credits on banner advertising, text links, or putting your site into the pile of sites to be surfed.
However, all of your advertising stays on the website you are surfing from, it does not broadcast all over the internet. Also, much of the “traffic” you get are just people who are quickly surfing through a site to get credits and not reading anything, so it’s hard to get quality leads.
2.Safelists and Classifieds: These are free and easy. However, thousands and thousands of people post to free classifieds and safelists, which makes it hard for your ad to stand out in the crowd. You have to flood the classifieds and safelists with your ad in order for it to be seen. This takes a lot of time and needs to be done every single day.
3.Social Networks: Social Networking can be time consuming, but it’s also more dynamic, fun, and a source of good leads. Social Networks, if done properly, fit into attraction marketing where people come to YOU instead of you trying to find them. Some popular examples of social networks are myspace.com, facebook.com, and zenzuu.com. The idea is to make a profile that tells people about you and is sprinkled with your business links and information. Join groups and discussion forums relating to your business and get talking to people! To get leads, make sure you are helping people and letting them get to know you, not blatantly advertising to them.
4.Article Marketing: Article marketing is great for people who enjoy writing, and it goes well with social networking too. In this category, you write blogs and articles and submit them wherever you can. Websites like Ezinearticles.com will let you submit articles. Once they are approved you can submit the actual article to search engines to help them get searched out. Article marketing is great, because once you write them, they are on the internet forever.
5.Web SEO: This is the art of writing web pages that are search engine friendly. The idea is to write a page about your product or service and get it into the top ranks of different search engine. This will get you a lot of clicks and hopefully a lot of sales. This is another time consuming way to market, but like article marketing, once the page is out there, it will be available and attracting people to you forever.
These are some of the main methods of free internet marketing. The best way to be successful is to pick one or two, preferably two that work together, and stick to it. If you try to do all five, it will be much harder to be successful in any of them, since they all require a lot of time and dedication to work properly.
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Develop A Great Tag Line
The 5 Qualities of a Great Tag Line
By Casey Truffo
A catchy tag-line can be a great answer to the question: “So, what do you do for a living?” I call this your “short answer” or your tag line. It is basically two sentences.
“I am a special kind of counselor.”
“I teach/help/work with (your target market and the problem that they see themselves as having)”
Below are some proven examples:
“I teach couples how to get along better.”
“I work with women who are tired of trying to be perfect.”
“I help people who are afraid of going to the dentist.”
“I teach singles how to find and keep a great partner.”
“I help frustrated parents and teens.”
Here are some best strategies that can help you create a great tag-line, but the first thing I want to suggest is that you get together with people who understand what you do, who will brainstorm together with you and who will give you honest, real-time feedback.
It starts a conversation.
The key to successfully marketing your practice is having a lot of people know what you do – and remember it when it comes time for a referral. So, when people ask you what you do for a living, it is a marketing opportunity. By sharing a quick few words that invites the other person to ask questions, you are on your way to building a new referral relationship!
It is simple to say.
Some tag lines look great on paper but don’t roll off the tongue easily. For example. “I teach women how to be heard by their mates” can sound like “I help women to be hurt by their mates.” Now, that can get you some really strange looks!
It uses simple language.
Are you still using “jargony” terms when you describe what you do?
I really notice this when I coach financial planners. When they use technical financial terms, I (as the listener) feel uncomfortable. Instead of increasing my faith in them (“Boy, she knows her stuff”), I feel stupid. This is not how you want someone who could be a referral source to feel.
You need to know what words to use and what words you should absolutely avoid unless you want to drive potential clients away.
It is interesting.
This is tricky. You want to encourage the person to ask you questions and maybe to tell you about their own struggle, but you don’t want to be doing therapy on the spot. One therapist who said “I work with women with body image issues,” found that people would act uncomfortable when she said that. She changed it to “I teach women how to feel better about their bodies” and started attracting crowds and lots of conversation!
You love to say it.
Far more important than the words themselves, I want you to love talking about what you do. I want you to light up when people ask you what you do. Have fun with it! Let your passion out!
People don’t care what you do until they know what you care. So, let them see that you love what you do and they’ll be more likely to ask you more about it. Far better to get connected with them than simply having a catchy phrase.
So, pick a tag line. Go test it – but test it with therapists and non-therapists and particularly people who don’t know you.
Casey Truffo, MFT is an award-winning speaker and coach to therapists on five continents. She is the author of Be A Wealthy Therapist: Finally, You Can Make a Living While Making a Difference. Founder of BeAWealthyTherapist.com, her vision is to teach therapists how to ethically and honestly earn a good living.
If you have any questions, please contact us at (949) 309.2590 or visit our website at http://www.beawealthytherapist.com
This article may be reprinted as long as full attribution is given.
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