Why write a strategy?

One of the most important reasons for creating a Strategic Plan for your business is to define exactly what you want out of your business, and precisely how you will achieve that. 

The coaching process starts with asking you a series of very specific questions about your product /service, your revenue target, your staffing needs, how much time you want to spend working, etc. Once we have all the answers in place, you will be able to write a 2 page document that acts as a game plan for everything you will do in your business for the next 3-5 years.

Having a clear Strategy is not just about defining your business, it is hugely about having a benchmark to which all questions and decisions about running your business can be tested up against. In other words, each time you need to make a decision on how to proceed, your question will be “is this course of action in line with my business strategy?”, if yes, then go ahead. If you answer no, then you must ask why? You may find that you would need to adjust your Strategy or you may find the simple answer of “no, not in line with my strategy, hence scrap it”.

To give you a simple example: you are a car dealer who sells mid size family vehicles. You decide you would like to branch out into selling tires and wheels. So the Strategic question here is “will selling tires and wheels support the plan I created for my business? “. If you have diligently completed the entire Strategic Planning Process, you will find it very easy to decide whether to go ahead with the tires & wheels, or pass on this one.