PLANNING FOR SUCCESS – PART 3 – CLARITY IN YOUR BUSINESS (Continued)

There are some very specific questions that you need to honestly ask yourself if you want to have the necessary clarity to move your business forward. In Part 2 of this series we discussed the first six. We’ll finish up with the final five CORE questions that are so essential.

In review our key clarity questions so far are;

• What business is your company in?
• What is the core competency of your business?
• What is your core product or service?
• Who is your core or ideal customer?
• What does your ideal customer consider value?
• Who is your core competition?

Now, take your time and answer these questions and challenge yourself with each step. More than likely patterns will begin to occur and hopefully you’ll have some major “aha” moments. Now that you’re beginning to have some breakthroughs, let’s start challenging ourselves again with our final set of questions.

• Who are the core people in your company? Identify your keepers! If you have problem team members or slackers, now is not the time to have anyone that isn’t a major contributor! Deal with it!

 

• What are your core sales and marketing methods? Millions of advertising dollars are being wasted today because “That’s the way we’ve always done it!” Marketing effectiveness has changed and your consumers have changed. If you’re not getting results…stop that strategy now and build a new strategy that works. Be flexible enough to change and change quickly. It could mean life and death for your business.

 

• Ask yourself, “What can I do NOW to protect my core business from the worst thing that could possibly happen?” A key component of surviving and thriving is preparedness. It’s tough but you must ask yourself what is the worst thing that could happen to your business? Be aware and then plan ahead to prevent it from happening or at least how you would deal with it.
• What are the core strengths that I have as a person? Leaders always know…
  1. What they’re good at…
  2. What they’re bad at…
  3. What they like to do…
  4. What they don’t like to do.

 

• What are my core opportunities? Open up your eyes and understand what opportunities are staring you in the face. Be aware of them and don’t miss them, act on them now. The market and your customers and prospects will not wait on you to figure out what to do!

So there you go. Eleven questions that most business people have never asked of themselves or of their business.  I don’t care how long you’ve been in business you owe it to yourself and your business to honestly dig down deep and see what you find. You just might find a new and vital piece of information that will dramatically improve your business and your life for whatever lies ahead.

Next up we’ll discover the ultimate test for Clarity in your business in Part 4 of this business planning series. Watch for this next installment on January 6, 2014.

Of course if you need help with this process write me or call. This is what I do as a professional business coach. I’m open for business. Until then,

Be GREAT!

Coach Dan