Business owners are often so busy working in their business that they struggle to find enough time to step back to work strategically on their business.

As a business coach I work with clients who are business owners and have acknowledged this need to spend more time working on their business. I usually start with new clients by discussing their business strategy. If their is lack of clarity on their overall strategic plan, I find that answering the following seven questions will help frame the discussion and allows the owner to document what they have visualized for their business.

1. Why does your business exist? Being able to clearly articulate your business purpose  in a short paragraph, using language that would resonate with prospective customers is a key starting point for the documentation of your strategic plan. This becomes your business mission.
2. Do you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your business in 5 or 10 years? Having a vision of the status of your business down the road allows you to set goals that will move you in that direction. This question deals with growth, capability development and the establishment of sound business processes.
3. How will you conduct yourself in achieving your vision? In other words, what is your company’s desired culture and values?
4. What key strategic goals must you achieve to realize your future state vision? Generally 5-8 long range goals are sufficient.
5. What hurdles must you overcome to achieve these goals? Understanding your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are key to overcoming hurdles and capturing opportunities.
6. How will you achieve these goals? This question requires that you develop and execute your strategies in several key categories, including sales, marketing, HR, financial, and operations, etc, designed to specifically deliver the results you need to achieve your goals.
7. Finally, do you have detailed tactics and action plans to execute these strategies? Have you established key milestones and timelines? Are you prepared to deal with course correction if a particular strategy is not working as you had originally envisioned?

Working on the execution of your strategy can be a long journey, but having a clear and concise plan will go a long way to ensuring who have a road map to follow. Don’t forget to celebrate milestones!

If you would like to pursue the development of your strategic plan with my assistance, contact me at elio@achievebizcoach.com to schedule a free initial consultation.