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s.o.a.p.

DEVELOPING BUSINESS STRATEGY

development

Business Development And Planning

What does this picture have in common with business, what does it have in common with a GREAT sporting side like the mighty All Blacks, Real Madrid for soccer, or the Chicago Bulls in the NBA world?

The commonality is they, like all of us, have to head down that foggy road (the future) with some uncertainty about what lays ahead. But GREAT sporting teams and GREAT businesses have a solid, formal strategy in place that has been exhaustively worked through so they are able to deliver when and where it counts most, even though the road may be foggy.

How is your business strategy? If it only lies in your head, you don’t have one! If you would like to double your chances of creating a successful business, for your hard work to pay off, you need a business strategy, on paper.

The quick acid check you should be applying to your strategy, assuming that you have one:

  1. Does your business strategy add value to your customers - do they actually want what you have?
  2. Does your business strategy effectively differentiate you from your competitors?

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Sales Training Course

Formulating A Business Plan

(start with your S.O.A.P.)

S.O.A.P.  stands for Strategy On A Page. Ready to double your chance of business success? If yes, then you have two options.

One, download the cheat sheet below, use the helpful hints and start creating your strategic plan. Or,

If you would like the skills of an experienced business strategist on your team, I can work with you to create your personalised business strategy. Choose from the options below.

Template Sheet + tips to develop my S.O.A.P.
Work with me virtually on developing my S.O.A.P.
Work with me in person on developing my S.O.A.P.

strategy

Business Strategy and Planning

Congratulations on giving priority to creating an effective strategy for your business. In fact, many successful people create a S.O.A.P. for both their business and themselves personally.

The reality is that you will become what you focus on. If you focus on your goals, the activities that are required to achieve these goals, and you are true and honest to yourself, then you will double your chances of actually getting there.

But the reality is that far to few businesses actually develop a strategy, in terms of the Eisenhower matrix, creating and executing an effective strategy fits into the important, not urgent quadrant - and this also explains why most businesses fail or at best are "average." Do you have the determination to take action now for a different future?

 

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Benefits of a Business Plan

Clarity comes from creating your S.O.A.P.  Clarity is just a simple word that has massive consequences; and is a prolific challenge in nearly every business I meet. With a business strategy and plan in place, you will gain clarity (and results) in the following areas:

What are my true values and convictions, are these in unison with my current business activity? The more honest you are to yourself in achieving unison between your personal and business values, the greater the likelihood of you achieving the results you desire and to feeling fulfilled and satisfied with your efforts.

What is my big WHY? What is the purpose of my business beyond the immediate product or service that I sell? How can I tap into the emotional needs of my customers rather than just being a “me-too”.

Where do I want my business to go, what does it look like in 3 or 5 years’ time? Do I have a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal)? Do I have buy-in from my partner; employees; bank manager etc

Although it is great to sell to everyone, who really is my avatar, my A-grade customer?  Where do I find them and how do I communicate with them?

I believe in the 80/20 rule, what do I need to do to ensure I am amongst the top 20% of businesses that generate 80% of the profits in my sector? What are the key strategies that I absolutely need to ace?

Any objective that takes longer than 90 days to achieve becomes increasingly difficult to actually achieve as they tend to merge into the “wishful thinking ” field, rather than the “achievable field.” It is for this reason that not only should your entire S.O.A.P. document be revisited every 90-days, but so to do we have a rolling 90-day Outcome, Projects and Activities list.

 

Ready to consider what next? There are two ways I am able to assist you with your strategy creation and ongoing maintenance.

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Developing A Business Strategy

Ready to consider what’s next? In my role as a business advisor, there are two ways I am able to assist you with your creating your business strategy and its ongoing maintenance.

[A] Virtual S.O.A.P. 

Understanding the fundamentals of your business. What has worked in the past and what have the lessons been? How is your business structured and what are your aspirations?

Start developing your S.O.A.P. We address your Purpose, Vision, Values and Convictions statements.

What words or phrases do you own? Understanding your customers and your brand, what unassumed brand promises do your customers believe in and what brand guarantees could you implement and would this add value to your business? Lastly what is your core summary matching up what your A grade customers really want to how you are providing them.

What are the key strategies that I need to implement in order to be among the top 20% in my sector? Do these strategies pass the sniff test of ensuring they add to my bottom line?

Creating 90-day KPIs and ensuring that these tie back to the overall strategy that you have set in place.

Every session includes an online training module with examples and clear instructions. The 1-1 call that we schedule after each week is long enough to achieve the outcome, typically this will be around 90 minutes. I am not a clock watcher; the objective is to achieve an outcome, and this will dictate the actual call length.

Note, although this programme runs over 5 weeks, the days and times to schedule the calls will be made by mutual agreement.

Creating an effective S.O.A.P. is not an exercise that can be rushed, the process requires a certain amount of introspection, innovation and careful consideration. Mental buy-in from yourself and those other important stakeholders cannot be forced if you want to create lasting benefit. So, although the program can be held over a shorter duration, it is not recommended.

My guarantee: You cannot buy a strategy for your business from the Internet or the local book store.

Your business strategy is made up of two parts. Firstly, the journey of how you created it and secondly your effectiveness in executing it. For you to have an effective strategy, you need to commit 100% to it and in return, as a business advisor and coach I will commit 100% of my focus, experience and energy to ensure that you are successful. If, however, after the completion of week one, you would like to opt out for any reason, you will get a full refund of the purchase price.

Let’s get going, I am interested in getting going with my virtual S.O.A.P.

[B] Create your S.O.A.P. with me in person

 

I develop a limited number of S.O.A.P.'s 1-on-1, with local businesses where the business owner prefers to work on the business strategy in person, rather than remotely. If you would like to enquire further about this, please submit your details and we can have an initial strategy call to see if we are a good mix.

Developing a business strategy puts your business on the road to success. Get in touch, we can formulate your business plan remotely or face to face.

Call 029 427 4980.