SME Strategy Guide - Introduction
- josh58306
- Nov 11, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 18, 2024
Having a clear business strategy boosts your chances of success. There is no right or wrong shape, size, or subject within that strategy, but having one is a key indicator of success. 50% of business fail within their first three years, and 65% fail within their first ten years. I want you, if you’re reading this, to beat those odds.
My aim is to help you build your first strategy, without the fear of getting it wrong. You don’t need an external consultant like me to build your strategy or even implement it for you, although it is useful to have external perspectives. As I say, you can’t tickle yourself, but at least with this guide, you can start to understand your own business, direction, and vision with more clarity.
Who is this for?
You. If you’re reading this I imagine you’re someone in a position of some authority or leadership within your organisation, business, or a start-up. You’re probably trying to figure out where you want to get to and how you’re going to get there. In that case, you need a strategy.
Who am I to talk about this?
Why the hell should you listen to me, I don’t even have an MBA?!
No MBA for me, and limited references to theoretical studies either, this guide comes from developing and implementing business strategies across different sectors, scale, and budgets for over a decade.
Every organisation I’ve worked with, has been better off as a result of following my advice. In mid 2023 I set-up my own business, following my own strategy design frameworks, and I’ve exceeded my own expectations, metrics, and goals for success. This stuff works.
What does strategy cover?
My Innovate_Strategy framework. This brings together theory with tangible experiences and puts it into a single methodology that is easy to understand, and practical to implement.
I’ve two main components that go into developing a strategy. First, we have the eight questions that will define a strategy:
Where are we today?
Why we exist, and where we’re going?
Who are we for?
Who are we?
What and how do we deliver?
What goes great look like?
How will we know we’ve done great?
How do we get to great?
Answering these questions is enough to build a good strategy. To build a great strategy, you need to consider the second component - the three points of differentiation which are crucial to success:
Values
Distinction
Fit
All of this is nothing without action, so I will outline specific actions within each section to help you along with turning this into a practical strategy you can begin executing today.
