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Welcome back everyone. In the sixth and final part of my blog series, I want to discuss something that affects all of our financial journeys: Superannuation. Perhaps you’re concerned about your retirement savings? Or maybe uncertain about how to make the most .....
Businesses spend a great deal of time working on their strategies. It’s one of the most-discussed topics at business meetings, and yet, most organisations are making some critical mistakes.
These mistakes can mean lost opportunities, rocky relationships with customers or vendors, or a hit to your bottom line. Let’s take a look at 7 business strategy mistakes you’re probably making and some tips on how to rectify the problems.
One of the most basic business strategy mistakes is simply failing to integrate strategy with existing operational plans. You may have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t integrate them with your day-to-day operations, they simply won’t help.
Encourage integration by including key people from each department in your strategic planning and implementation. Ask for their input and listen carefully to the details they provide. Offer ongoing support as they work to make the changes required by the new plans, and follow up on a regular basis.
Successful strategic planning is built on reliable, current data. If you don’t have reliable data, you don’t have a sturdy jumping-off point on which to build your plan. Charge your CFO with the task of producing a set of current data points that will allow you to get an accurate snapshot of your company from many different angles. This will help you to take a holistic approach to your strategic planning.
Running a business requires lots of different systems and processes: developing your website, marketing your brand, organising events, streamlining manufacturing, etc. But if you don’t have consistent sales, your business will flounder.
Prioritise sales over other aspects of your business, at least until you have enough liquidity to spend time and attention on parts of your business that don’t have a direct impact on revenue. Even then, revisit your sales regularly as a part of your business strategy.
A big part of your business strategy should be to collect the talent that will help you to achieve your goals. Hiring mistakes are common in business, but they can derail your business strategy if you’re not careful.
Recruit and support the kinds of people who embrace your vision for your company. If you don’t, your people may steer your business in a different direction than the one you set out to pursue.
There’s a common perception in business that says if you’re the biggest company in your industry, you’re also the most profitable. This may be true in some cases, but bigger isn’t always better, and if you focus exclusively on size, you may run into trouble.
Economies of scale do provide significant benefits, but economies of scale are usually exhausted after achieving a relatively small share of industry sales. In the meantime, you can run into the many problems associated with very large businesses: communication issues, branding problems, management flows, etc.
High-growth markets can look very attractive, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be profitable, and if chasing after these high-growth markets is at odds with your overall business strategy, you could get pulled off course.
Be very careful about moving into new markets. Do your due diligence, and find out how many other companies are trying to move into the same market. Try to keep your business strategy balanced and focused on what you do best.
This is one of the most common business strategy mistakes. It’s not easy to include lots of people in your strategic planning, but when you leave the stakeholders out, you miss out on important opportunities.
People support what they help to create, so when you include key employees from all levels, as well as suppliers, vendors, and other important stakeholders, you build something that’s difficult to achieve any other way: ownership.
If you’re currently making some of these business strategy mistakes, don’t worry. Most mistakes are fixable, and as you change the way you strategize, you’ll learn, grow, and mature as a business owner.
For insight into the current state of your business' health, try our Healthy Business App by clicking below:
Set your business on the right path with this simple guide.
Make sure you’re on the right track with this online checklist.
© 2022 Altus Financial, All rights reserved.
Altus Wealth Pty Limited ABN 55 649 956 212 is an Authorised Representative of Altus Financial Services Pty Ltd ABN 24 637 026 825 an Australian Financial Services Licensee (AFSL no. 520266). Altus Financial Services Pty Ltd is not responsible for the advice, products and services provided by Altus Accounting. Julie Azzi is a credit representative (CR No. 366834) of BLSSA Pty Ltd ABN 69 117 651 760 (Australian Credit Licence 391237).
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