A recent Forbes survey found that while 90% of business owners believed that businesses need a strategic plan, only 46% were engaged in strategic planning. It’s like eating more vegetables, getting more sleep, and exercising more: we all know we need it; it’s just hard to start and stick to a new routine.

The events of the past few years have shown us the need to develop a robust strategy that can carry us through good times and bad. Pandemics, war, inflation, recessions, disruptive new technologies… we’re not even halfway through the 2020s and already the decade has hit businesses with enough surprises for a lifetime. With a sustainable growth plan, you’ll be able to weather anything life throws at you.

Growing a business doesn’t have to feel like setting out to explore a new continent without a map. The great thing about it is that many people have gone before. We can use their accumulated knowledge to grow our own businesses. At the same time, a good strategy recognizes that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to any business problem.

What Is Strategy?

A strategy is a long-term plan to achieve a goal. When done correctly, strategy defines a company’s differentiation and advantage, and how the company intends to exploit those characteristics to be more competitive. Strategies might encompass a number of tactics, which are short-term moves designed to achieve specific smaller goals. Strategic thinking allows you to take control of your business rather than react to issues moment-to-moment.

Why Is a Growth Strategy Important?

Imagine two ways to go on a road trip with a destination in mind. In the first method, you consult a map, you take note of tolls and how much they cost and make sure you have enough money, you identify traffic and construction and select detours ahead of time. You plan your stops for gas and snacks. You know exactly how long it will take and how much it will cost, and you know what you’re going to do if surprises arise.

In the second method, you get in the car, you follow the road signs, you make a spur-of-the-moment decision to detour around traffic or construction, you make new plans when you find that a bridge is out or the ferry is closed, you scramble to dig change out from under the seats when you come upon an unexpected toll booth. This sounds ridiculously stressful. You might get to where you want to go, but it’ll take you longer and cost you more money than if you had made a plan.

A growth strategy is your road map for growth, putting you in the driver’s seat. Rather than rely on the unpredictable winds of organic growth to carry you along, a growth strategy puts an engine on your business, one tuned to your business’s needs.

Growth Means Knowing Your Strengths

The foundation of growth is knowing what your business is and what makes it different. The first thing you have to answer is why a customer should choose you and not someone else. That is, you have to find your competitive advantage. Your competitive advantage might look like one of the following:

• You have a supply chain or technical advantage that lets you cut down on production time or offer products at a lower price.
• You have a style or aesthetic that is in demand but underserved by the current market.
• You offer hands-on, attentive customer service personalized for each customer.
• You have developed software that addresses an unmet need for businesses.
• You offer premium or luxury products that customers can’t get anywhere else.

While using your strengths as a differentiator and a value proposition, you’ll also want to identify and develop any weaknesses that will keep you from achieving your strategic goals. Part of your growth strategy involves assessing your level of customer service, your internal operations, and the quality of your products and developing plans to bring each up to the required levels of competence. The next step is to set achievable goals for the type of growth you want to achieve, given your budgets and projected revenue:

• Increasing your sales team with the goal of closing more deals
• Building your customer base through marketing campaigns
• Developing new products to meet the needs of the market
• Retaining existing customer base

In the area of operations, you’ll want to look at your tech stack, your procedures and process documentation, and data points such as cost per unit and inventory turnover. From the customer service perspective, you’ll need to assess customer satisfaction, market share, and brand awareness.

With this knowledge in hand, you’ll be able to develop a plan for developing the skills and efficiency of your team. It’s a lot to take in and is almost impossible to grasp all at once—that’s why we break it down into its component parts to get an idea of how it all fits together.

Helping You Develop Your “Secret Sauce”

How do you grow a business? There are as many answers to that question as there are businesses. The first step is to know what you offer that others don’t. Sometimes, getting this right requires an outside perspective. Let us help you find the recipe for your secret sauce with our growth preparedness assessment.