Hey!
I was reading a book analyzing Peter Drucker’s approach to teaching and at the end there was a section on things to consider.
That got me thinking about sharing a few ideas about what we should all be considering when we think about strategy.
- What does success look like? This is the core question. If you don’t know the answer to this question, nothing else matters.
- Focus on the customer. This gets a ton of lip service, but the customer is the start and finish of where your attention needs to be.
- Why you? You might call this your value proposition. You might call this your USP. I call it, “Why You?” What makes you different and why should people pick you?
- What in your market is the same? Things come and things go, what is always the same. My guess is that it is probably a lot fewer things than you realize.
- What is different? This is likely much more interesting and things change a lot more than we give them credit for. What is going to be different? What implications does that have on your business? Your market?
- Does this strategy give you more power? Over your customers? Over the competition? Over the suppliers? If it doesn’t, go back to the drawing board.
- Do you have the resources to be successful? If you don’t have the tools you need to implement your plans, you need to get them. The most damning thing for most strategies is not putting the resources behind it at the start.
I’ve been drawing some diagrams and grids lately.
Here’s one that shows where I’m putting my attention these days.
See you next week.
Dave
BTW, on July 15th at 1 PM, I’m doing a free video session on pricing called, “Set the Right F!@#$%^ Price”. Sign up and join me…share it with your friends.