The basics of strategic advice: why your business needs an evolving strategy

Are you spending enough time working on your business strategy?

Past research from The Alternative Board found the average entrepreneur spends 68.1% of their time working ‘in’ their business (tackling day-to-day tasks, putting out fires, etc.) and only 31.9% of the time working ‘on’ their business (e.g., long-term goals, strategic planning).

Revisiting and updating your business strategy is vital for a growing business – and that means making more time to focus on strategic thinking.

Key things to revisit in your current business strategy

→ Test your financial scenarios, cashflow and budgeting:

Stress-test your cashflow by creating worst-case scenarios and adjusting your operating budgets to reflect the current rising costs for raw materials or labour. Look for any non-essential spending and set clear targets for preserving your cash levels and working capital.

→ Revisit your customer value proposition

Re-evaluate your customer value proposition (CVP) to confirm it still meets the changing needs of your market and target audience. This might mean simplifying your product offerings, adding a high-value service tier or putting money into deeper customer research and development.

→ Diversify your product/service offerings

Diversify your products and services to help you engage with new or underserved customer segments. Reducing your dependence on a single revenue stream stops you ‘having all your eggs in one basket’ and helps you reduce the overall risk to the business.

→ Match talent and resources to your growth strategy

Review your team structure to make sure your key talent is focused on growth and high-return activities.

Putting money into targeted up-skilling and training can improve your overall capabilities, while outsourcing to fill any critical gaps will help you capture new opportunities.