Keeping Your Strategy “Live”

Michael Port in his book “Book Yourself Solid” wrote

"One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: 'I am blind, please help.'
A marketer was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.
He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the marketer returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins
The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.
The marketer responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way.
The new sign read: Today is Spring and I cannot see it.

Sometimes we need to change our strategy and positioning. If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always gotten. That used to be the case. In today’s economy, we will not get what we have always gotten. We are going to go out of business. Companies must change the way that they do business.

We have written often that many companies either don’t have full written business plans or have ones that are very loosely constructed. Some companies, even well run companies are wedded to the once a year strategic planning process. This is not only cumbersome, but also causes the company to miss out on many opportunities. The same holds true on positioning and the way that companies communicate their message. In trying to save costs, old materials are being used and the positioning in today’s economy just won’t resonate with customers. The example above is a very good illustration.

Is your business plan a “live” document?

How often do you review the basics of it?

How relevant is your company and brand positioning? Is it working? How well and how do you know?

We are now into Spring and you may be able to “see it” better if you check out the business plan and the positioning.

Thanks.

John

John Maver
President
Maver Management Group
(925) 648-7561
Maver Management