Keeping Track and Keeping Up: Are You Focused?

It’s been a tough year for everyone. I’m guessing your team is leaner than it was only 12 months ago and each person is balancing a lot on their plate. As a result, the timing is even more critical for you to make tough choices about which things your company should focus on – and which things it should not.

Recently, I came across a great list of questions that can help you choose from among competing potential strategies.

1.Where are we now and where do we want to be in, say, 3 years? (consider 1 year if that is easier for you) Start at where you want to be and work your way backwards. If your long-term goal is to grow market share by 10% then list out the strategies that will get you there. How am I going to build my client list? How am I going to increase the size of my customers’ basket of goods?

2.Do I have solid research indicating there is demand for my direction? Do your due diligence. Is there more market share to grab? Have any of my competitors gone under? Is there a growing need for my product/service? Get testimonials from consumers or subscribe to market research report.

3.Do our main strategies leverage our core competencies? Determine what you have that your competitors wish they could steal from you. Leverage those strengths and ensure they are the basis for your strategies.

4.Are my strategies aligned with my company’s values? If one of your values is incredible customer experience then put the strategy most likely to deliver this at the top of the list. Perhaps now is the time to implement that CRM program to manage your information and amaze customers.

5.Can we realistically establish these strategies in the expected time frame? Don’t let your excitement blind you from the real world. Be rationale on how long it will take you to execute your strategies. Remember you have to get your team on board and gain momentum. Change is not easy.

This is simply a guideline to help you prioritize your ideas and opportunities. If you think it would be helpful, read your list of strategies to yourself everyday. By keeping them top-of-mind you’re more likely to stay focused.

9 Responses to “ Keeping Track and Keeping Up: Are You Focused? ”

1. Ron Ratliff
   
   Said on January 26th, 2010 at 12:51 pm

   Excellent set of questions for the owners of SME’s…particularly at a time when most are tempted to focus on fighting fires.

   I frequently find that the most difficult of these for many is determining the demand and the “price point” for their product/service. Although it seems obvious, the passion that SMEs have for what they do can lead them to ignore the need for a market.

   Thanks.

2. Carl
   
   Said on January 26th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

   Yes managing chnage and incorporating process and making sure they are adhered to is very challenging. If you are going to manage change effectively you need involve everyone from the start and get them involved. People don’t usually like change so if it can benefit them in some way they are much more likely to embrace it.

3. Sam
   
   Said on January 27th, 2010 at 4:50 am

   Nice checklist. I think planning ahead and working backwards is a great idea. I’ve found the last few years have just flown by without a plan, and as a result with very little progress. It’s scary how fast the years can go by if you’re not paying attention.

4. Dave Talbert
   
   Said on January 27th, 2010 at 2:03 pm

   In these tough times with the companies emerging out of recession, it is critical for the management to prioritize on certain things: where things ought to be in a few years’ time, a thorough market research to grab a share, leveraging strengths as the basis of strategies, their alignment with the company’s values, and be realistic regarding executing those strategies within the time frame.

5. Daniel John
   
   Said on January 29th, 2010 at 8:25 pm

   “As a result, the timing is even more critical for you to make tough choices about which things your company should focus on – and which things it should not”

   I agree that we need to identify the things that we should NOT focus on in order to truly know our direction. Great article.

6. Bob Levin
   
   Said on January 29th, 2010 at 9:20 pm

   Thank you for posting this guideline.

7. Joe Crawford
   
   Said on February 14th, 2010 at 9:06 pm

   Great post. Staying focused is possible when you have a goal, a clear path, and a plan on bringing it all together. I’ve spent the last couple years taking action, and accessing. The online world was new to me and I just ‘did anything” to get something going. Now I have results and focus is what will bring to my income goals in 2010.

   Thanks for the great post.

8. Lloyd Burrell
   
   Said on March 1st, 2010 at 7:57 pm

   This is a great post. Focus is important to everybody but even more so I think to small business owners. Being your own boss means doing what you want but this can also all too often can mean getting side tracked. Also we tend to work more in isolation and can easily lose sight of the big picture. Thanks for reminding us of this.

9. Chris Boshoff
   
   Said on May 26th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

   Great post.

   I like the following statement the best: “which things your company should focus on – and which things it should not”

   It is also important for us as individuals to focus our own energy on things that makes the biggest difference to our own productivity and bottom line.

Leave a Reply

I would love to hear from you, please let me know what your take on my blog post is. In order to stop spam on my blog and increase conversations, I had to implement some simple rules:

1. Please enter your real name, not your company, product or service's name.
2. If you enter your URL, your name will become a link to the URL.
3. We may send you a confirmation email to check you are a real person

We are sorry but any violation of the above rules will mean an automatic removal of your comment.