Goals, Strategies and Tactics

By Richard L. P. Solosky

Some 25 years ago, I got my first real job selling office equipment. I was fortunate to have the top salesperson in the company take me under his wing. Perhaps he saw a hidden talent, or maybe I just reminded him of his little brother, nevertheless, I still remember a thing or two he taught me.

Like, “smile when you’re talking on the telephone, it will come across in your voice.” Plus little time management things like, “When is the best time to make a phone call?” Right Now!” And, one really important thing, “plan your work and work your plan.”

To that, I’d like to add… “And, any plan is better than no plan!”

I’m guessing many of you are technicians, were once, or are at least technicians at heart. Remember when you were first starting out? Maybe you had a great idea that you just had to run with, maybe you developed a killer application for a client and knew that everyone would want it, or perhaps you just realized you could do it better than your boss. No matter the circumstance, you did one of two things. You just started, flying by the seat of your pants, or you created a business plan, because that’s what was expected.

Maybe that business plan is in your head, or maybe it’s gathering dust on the shelf. If I were a betting man, I’d wager you haven’t looked at, or thought about it in years. There are three things that every successful business does: Spend less money than they earn, learn from their mistakes and plan for the future.

Every business needs a game plan. Not that formal thing you wrote when you first started out, with lots of statistics talking about the market, but a basic game plan of what you want to do for each year. It’s a living, breathing document, one that you revise and tweak all the time.

It’s never too late to get started and with ’07 just around the corner, today is a great day to plan for tomorrow. In writing a plan, the most important thing to do is to write! Don’t fool yourself, because until you do, you don’t have a plan. Don’t worry about format, or whether you’re a good writer. It’s your plan, who cares how it looks?

In order to develop this plan, you first need to look at the big picture. The big picture through the eyes of a thing called SWOT Analysis.

SWOT Analysis
This core business development tool is where you determine your strengths and weaknesses, which are internal to your company and uncover opportunities and identify threats which are external to your business.

Let’s take a quick look at each category:

Strengths: What do you do better than anyone else? Can you identify what is unique to your application? Exactly what advantages does your company or product have? Do you know what people in your market see as your strengths? In determining your strengths, think about what unique resources to which you have access and then play them up.

Weaknesses: Take a hard look at your business and identify where you can improve. Poll your customers and vendors and find out what people in your market see as your weaknesses. Then, think about what you should avoid. Are you really ready to introduce that new software module?

Opportunities: What’s your market doing? Are you aware of any interesting trends in your market or field? Useful opportunities can come from such things as: changes in technology and markets, or changes in government policies related to your field; does Sarbanes Oxley come to mind? What about changes in social patterns, population profiles and lifestyles, do you have a blog in your industry?

Threats: What obstacles do you face and what is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position? Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?

Consider whether any of these threats or weaknesses seriously menace your business, either now or in the future. Once you identify them, you can plan to take action.

With your SWOT analysis completed, you can begin to craft a strategy that helps you distinguish yourself from your competitors. This is also known as positioning and it helps you compete successfully in your marketplace.

Strategy
What exactly is your marketing strategy? Are you the most cost effective solution? Are you on the leading edge of technology and forging ahead of the competition with innovative products and services? Are you the solid conservative voice of reason in your industry, or is great customer service your hallmark?

You probably have several corporate, or product advantages in your head. But, have you compared them to where your competition is aiming? A critical element of every strategic, marketing, or game plan is figuring out what the competition is doing.

If you’re confident in your strengths, you may feel strongly about facing your competition head-to-head. On the other hand, you may want to take a close look at where the competition isn’t focused. Employing this strategy, you carve out a specific niche in the marketplace, work hard to own it and then expand it to a position of strength. Whatever your strategy, you must define your position in the marketplace and that boils down to your value proposition.

Value Proposition
What value do you bring to the marketplace? How do you differ from the competition? Why should anyone buy your product or service? A value proposition is a clear statement of what a customer, or client receives from using your products or services. The best value propositions are very specific and they clearly define what you do better than anyone else. Or another way to look at it is from the customers’ viewpoint, “what’s in it for me?”

A weak value proposition is the death knell of the mediocre business. Voice your value proposition out loud and then add the words “so what?” “XYZ Company offers the fastest software in the industry.” “So what?” When defining your value proposition you might try this neat little trick; define it in terms of tangible results. Our software routinely reduces our client’s corporate overhead by 15% per year. In a quantifiable way, your value proposition needs to speak to the critical issues your customers face every day.

But, don’t jump the gun, because before you get started on your journey, the first thing you need to know is where you have been, where you are now and where you are going. So, it’s time to set some goals.

Objectives/Goals
They are crucial to any viable business. Without them, you have nothing to measure success against. The key is to make your goals realistic and measurable, so you can easily evaluate your performance.

Goal setting is the easy part of your planning. One way to get started is to look at your sales over the last several years. Have they gone up, down, stayed relatively stable? Just take last years’ number, or find a reasonable average and increase it by a modest percentage. Congratulations! You have just set your goal!

Ok, you’re getting closer to writing your plan, so the next thing to think about is, “what are you going to do to get the word out and increase business?”

Tactics
Your tactics will include all the actionable steps you plan to take for advertising, public relations, direct mail, trade shows and special promotions.

There are all kinds of tactics you can use to get the word out about your products and services. In today’s technological marketplace, the rules change daily. You can stick to the tried and proven and choose the traditional, like print advertising, mail campaigns, brochures and good old fashioned cold-calling.

Or, you may choose to work with some of the newer tactics from email blasts and blogging, to streaming web video. Whatever tactics you choose, make sure everything points back to a well thought-out website. In today’s world, your website is the cornerstone for marketing your business, services and products. Make sure that it captures the reader’s imagination in the first few seconds they arrive and don’t let them go until they understand your message.

Overall, keep in mind when you are designing your marketing materials and campaigns to remember a marketing basic; play up your benefits (not features). Many confuse the two, placing too much emphasis on descriptions of the company and/or product rather than on what practical results the product will deliver.

Lastly, it’s important to schedule your tactics; stick to your calendar and follow through.

Putting it all together…
So you have done your homework. You know what position you want in the marketplace, you know what numbers you plan to achieve and you know what tactics you will employ and when. You’re almost done, now it is time to put it all together.

Situation Analysis
With all this information in place, the next thing to write is an overview of your situation as it exists today. Nothing fancy, but it will provide a useful benchmark as you adapt and refine your plan. It should contain a short description of your current product or service offering, the marketing advantages and challenges you face, and a look at the threats posed by your competitors, or other outside forces that will affect your business in the coming year.

Budget Breakdown
Now it’s time to mix all the ingredients together. Add your goals, strategy and tactics to the plan along with your calendar and the final section of your plan, a brief breakdown of the costs associated with each of your tactics.

You’re done, that’s about all there is to it! You now have a plan. It’s not that daunting a task. While your first version will take some effort, you will find as you continue to define your products and services and refine your plan, it will get easier and better. Most importantly, don’t forget that a plan on paper is only useful if it's put into action.

So, with the plan in place, there is one last thing to employ…

Measurement
Track your game plan progress throughout the year. Create a regular schedule of meetings, and make adjustments to the plan based upon verifiable progress indicators.

Stay tuned; because in upcoming articles, we will dissect many of these puzzle pieces and demystify some of the ABC’s of growing your business and taking it to the next level.

“Richard L. P. Solosky has been involved in sales and marketing since 1980. Over these past 25 years he has been a principal in two software development companies, enjoyed titles of President & CEO, V.P of Sales & Marketing, V.P. of Operations, Director of Business Development, and Director of Marketing; as such, he thoroughly understands the day-to-day challenges faced by the typical SMB. He is President and CEO of Questus Strategies, a business development consultancy dedicated to assisting small businesses focus their vision, allowing them to effectively work on their business, instead of simply working in their business. www.questusstrategies.com.”

* Published in the 2006 September/October issue of International Spectrum Magazine