Develop Strategy to Win in Business

To win in business, you must have a clearly defined strategy that is communicated to all levels of the organization. Strategy can be devised for an entire organization AND for individual business units within an organization. Yes, all managers can create and follow a strategy, especially when the organization's strategy is clear enough that business unit managers understand what their goals and mission are. A great business unit manager will go the extra mile to have a strategy that allows the individual business unit to set goals and break records.

In order to create a strategic plan, you must have a focused mission statement that motivates the organization to work together to accomplish the organizations goals. A great mission statement will bring out an emotional response from the reader. You want all members of the organization to not only be behind the mission, but to live the mission by taking it to heart. This emotional mission must also be customer-focused and customer-centered since getting new customers is the most important function of business.

After a mission, strategy depends on an acute understanding of the organizations SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. Build on strengths. Minimize weaknesses. Take advantage of opportunities. Defend against and attack threats. Strengths and weaknesses are primarily internal factors, while opportunities and threats can exist internally and externally. It is best to bring the top minds in the organization together in order to clearly identify and define an organization's SWOT.

Finally, after a clearly defined mission and SWOT analysis, the strategy is created. Remember, strategy should be focused on creating new customers. However, the other ways to increase revenue (other than creating new customers) is to create more sales per customer and to increase customer visits. Also, don't forget to get more efficient so that you can reduce costs and become more profitable.

Organizations need clearly defined strategies in order to win in business. So, first create the plan, then follow through and remember to set up feedback points to make sure the plan is working.