There are so many things that can come into play when you are focusing on building a strategy for your organization. Which can make it really tough for you to be clear about if you are doing your strategic planning right or not.
To help give you a framework to think around, here are 10 important things to keep in mind while you are building your strategy.
1. Have you answered the 3 essential strategic questions?
These questions should guide you throughout the strategic planning stages:
- What is the value we create or want to create for our clients and prospects?
- Who can use this value and is willing to buy it?
- How do we reach them?
2. Do you understand what your value is exactly?
A lot of times we are confused about what it is our customers are actually buying from us. Do you know what it is that your clients value?
Is that value in alignment with the value you want to create in the future?
3. Who is my buyer, really?
Often times we can get confused about who our buyer is really and that causes us to make poor strategic decisions.
Do you know exactly who is buying your value and using it?
4. What are you going to do to reach these buyers?
Is your marketing strategy likely to get you to the buyers you want to reach?
5. What’s your action plan?
How will you move your strategic plan from theory to action?
Is everyone aware of the plan?
6. How much flexibility do we have?
It is unlikely that your strategy is going to never encounter a road block. What are you going to do when that happens?
7. Is this strategy consistent with our brand?
The worst thing you can have happen is having a strategic that is inconsistent with who and what your business is as a brand.
8. What are you going to do if you fail?
Have you thought through what is going to happen if something goes wrong? Or, if the strategy fails?
9. Are these ideas just recycled?
Did you do a good job of looking to outside ideas or outside industries for your ideas? Or, are you just sucking your own exhaust and rehashing things that haven’t worked in the past?
10. Does our vision reflect our strategy?
In the end, your strategy should reflect the vision you have for your organization.
Is that apparent in your strategic planning?
If not, how are you going to fix that?