Preparing for the Future

By Hank Moore Corporate Strategist

The business climate ahead is tough and filled with uncertainty. Those who believe the old ways still work shall fall by the wayside. Innovation and the ability to fill new niches signal the successful businesses of the future.

Take this quick test, as part of your strategic planning for the next two years:

•  Does your company have a cohesive business plan, with results-oriented positioning and marketing objectives, updated every year?
• What is the nature of your business now, as compared to when you entered it? What has changed, and who are the new entrants?
• Which marketplace factors are out of your control? Which do your competitors control? Which are within your company’s grasp?
• How well does the marketplace understand your profession and its value to the business bottom line? Are there misperceptions that need changing?
• Are you active in a professional association or chamber of commerce? Are they meeting your business needs?                                                                
• How much has your company given back to the communities that support you? Is there an organized plan of reciprocation, with a business development design?
• How well trained are your employees? Do they have the company vision? With some fine-tuning, how much could you multiply the effectiveness of your workforce?

The successful manager identifies and meets emerging issues before they take tolls. In an era of downsizing, cutbacks and a reluctance to expand, the same four principles of market dominance are still applicable:

1. Sell new customers. Without adding to the base, the business goes flat.
2. Cross-sell existing customers. They are easier to convince and see great credibility in your company. Most customers do not know all the product-service lines you offer. It’s your obligation to enlighten them, to facilitate their making wise buying choices.
3. Create and market new products and services. Having that mousetrap does not mean the public will automatically beat a path to your door.
4. Form joint ventures to create additional marketplace opportunities. By combining disciplines, you can attract new business and pursue new, creative solutions for clients. We can no longer do business as Lone Rangers.

Based upon studies of the business climate, counseling with top corporations, and insight into business problems and challenges, I have identified the major emerging issues of the next two years. These factors will open new doors for those companies that are prepared:

• Workplace literacy. Half of the corporate workforce is functionally illiterate, making costly decisions and failing to conserve company resources. Continuous quality improvement can and should be effected.
• Workforce diversity. We do not look the same anymore. Ethnic, cultural, and societal differences should be studied and understood by management. Issues of age and handicap status should be addressed in a proactive manner.
•  Global economic development. Long before the passage of NAFTA, we were a global economy. Hiding our heads in the sand will bury us. Open and cultivate new markets.
• Customer service orientation. We must always make the customer a priority. That means developing business coaching and mentoring abilities. Clients hire us to lead them.
• Downsizing. People who were formerly employed in the corporate world need retraining to function in an entrepreneurial environment. Corporations need to be trained on effective use of outsourcing. Privatization of services needs to rise to a new plateau.
• Strategic repositioning. Companies must utilize objective counsel outside professionals to detect problems, create opportunities, and monitor that evolution takes place.
• Niche marketing. Not everyone is your customer. First, determine what your market niche is not. That will save countless wasted energies. Studying why some customers are not for you will help streamline the short list of likeliest customer niches.
• Cause related marketing. Unless a company gives back to the community, it has no right to be in business. The skill of determining applicable, business-oriented philanthropic objectives requires outside counsel.                                   
• Teambuilding. People are your organization’s most valuable commodity. Reduce wasted effort by empowering employees. Encourage training, professional development, service in professional associations, and community involvement. Employees work better when they think highly of their company and vice versa.
•  Joint venturing. Put three parts together and come up with a five-edged arsenal. Matching disciplines (complimentary or non-traditional) will create endless opportunities and give marketplace advantage.
• Ethics. Prepare and distribute a company ethics statement. The process will dramatically bolster your company, if conducted properly.
• Government relations. Be sure you understand and maintain effective relationships with public officials, regulatory agencies, and other public sector entities that could hurt or help your business. Communicate with them before you need something. Become a credible resource of expert opinion, not just a special interest.
• Utilize outside advisers. It’s lonely at the top, and most corporate executives are hard pressed to know where to turn for informed opinion. Charting the course of a company is a lofty responsibility, with so many factors riding on the outcome.

Strategic planning facilitates a total and cohesive business approach. It signals the future and new, creative ways of doing things. Think to the future, and analyze where your company wishes to be. With strategic planning and implementation, success is attainable.    

A regular contributor to www.trainingmag.com, Hank Moore has advised 5,000-plus client organizations worldwide (including 100 of the Fortune 500, public sector agencies, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations). He guides companies through growth strategies, visioning, strategic planning, executive leadership development, Futurism, and Big Picture issues that profoundly affect the business climate. Moore conducts company evaluations, creates the big ideas, and anchors the enterprise to its next tier. The Business Tree is his trademarked approach to growing, strengthening, and evolving business, while mastering change. His current book is “The Business Tree,” published by Career Press. Moore also speaks at conferences and facilitates corporate retreats on strategy. He has advised two U.S. Presidents and spoken at five Economic Summits. To read his complete biography, visit http://www.hankmoore.com.