‘Get back to basics’ one more time…….what does this mean? Get on the floor with your team? Offer original ranges of products your customers bought before the boom years? Change your style of management and leadership? It can mean anything really – depending on your situation and on the industry you are in…..
I decided at a recent presentation to give practical advice as to how to drive resurgance of business focus and sucess without getting bogged down in detail (and yes – the devil is in the detail). These are summed up in three pillars
CLARITY
“The more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone else” Walt Disney
As a company – you need Clarity in two areas: Clarity of Purpose and Clarity of Position – know your market and know your product.
INNOVATION
•Innovation is using creativity to add value
•LET GO!
•It’s not just invention – its thinking, acting and living your business differently
There are different types of innovation which you can focus on:
•Product innovation
–changes in things (products / services) offered
•Process innovation
–changes in the ways things are created or delivered
•Position innovation
–changes in the context in which things are introduced
•Paradigm innovation
–changes in the underlying mental models describing what the organisation does
•Breakthrough innovation
–is a key component of the future strategies of companies looking to achieve sustainable growth
–is the creation of a new platform or business domain that has high impact on current or new markets in terms of offering wholly new benefits and high impact on the firm through expansion into new market and technology domains (O’Connor G.C. (2008), Grabbing Lightning, p11)
Of course – now you need to commercialise this innovation in order to create value for your business………..
COMMUNICATION
Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark: you know what you are doing, but nobody notices!
William Wrigley Jr.
•With your peers
•With your current customers
•With your potential customers
Of course advertising is NOT about taking out adverts at the Superbowl or All Ireland Final – or even taking an ad in your local paper – it depends on your market, your product and your value proposition.So keep this in mind when you are wondering about where to put your budget.
Mobile and online are where it’s at…..but that is for another day!
SUMMARY
So in summary, when trying to grab the reins of your business and get it over the hurdle rather than crash through it – take a BLUE SKY DAY – yourself and your team and work out:
1. Clarity of Purpose and Clarity of Position – the real position – not what you want it to be
2. What parts of your business model can you innovate to create, deliver and capture value?
3. How do you communicate this effectively – both internally and externally?
This should help you make sense of where your business is at, where you can go if you want, and give you the focus to channel your energies into getting there.
Feel free to
contact me if you wish to discuss any of this further.
