Regardless of business maturity or infancy it’s always worth evaluating your strategy positioning, sometimes it is easy to become caught up in the day to day running of business and indeed internal activity that you forget to look around you and of course look ahead! A clear definitive strategy, complimented by strong sales focus, supported by a coherent marketing strategy provides the essence of business growth, essential in tough competitive landscape we operate within. This overview sets out to provoke and generate direction. Our next overview will explain how to align a marketing and sales strategy with business growth.

1. Take the strategy test

2. “Tactics is the art of using troops
in battle; strategy is the art of
using battles to win wars.”
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831)

3. A good strategy
Strategy essentially deals with the
interplay of three forces
Forces
Customers
Corporation
Competition

4. A good strategy
Good strategy is characterised through
Clear market
definition
Definitive match between
market need and service
Superior performance in
the key success factors of
the business

5. What are the key issues that impact your business?
PESTEL
Analysis
Political
Environment
Social
Environment
Economical
Environment
Technological
Environment
Legal
Environment
Environmental
Environment

6. Review your company
SWOT
Strength
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Match internal strengths and weaknesses with external
opportunities and threats

7. “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind
is favourable.” (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

8. Location, Destination, Journey
Where are
you now?
Where do you
want to be?
How will you
get there?
How will you
measure ?
• Financial performance
• Customer insight
• Marketplace SWOT
• Brand perception
• Internal capabilities
• Internal resource
• Business growth
• Client retention
• Service proposition
• Brand positioning
• Efficiency gains
• Market segmentation
• Sales targets
• Marketing activity
• Client satisfaction surveys
• Competitor analysis
• Internal vision
• Frequency reporting
• Monthly analysis
• Client surveys
• Competitor monitor

9. Location, Destination, Journey
Where are
you now?
Financial performance
Are you consecutively hitting your financial objectives?
Have you highlighted areas of revenue growth?
Have you segmented your sales growth ?
Customer insight
Are your customers satisfied with your product/service?
Would they recommend your company?
Do you have all their business or do you share with competitors?
Marketplace SWOT
What are the challenges within your industry?
What are the opportunities within your industry?
How saturated is the marketplace?
Brand perception
Are you known within the industry?
What are you known for?
Are you ever approached for your opinion?
Internal capabilities
Are you satisfied with employee performance?
Are you satisfied with internal skill levels?
What do you seek external assistance for?
Internal resource
How do you identify resource needs?
How do you measure skill capabilities?
Do you match growth plans with resource needs?

10. Sense check
Perceptions
Client
Perspective
Process
Perspective
Growth
Perspective
Financial
Perspective

11. Location, Destination, Journey
Where do you
want to be?
Business growth
Do you want more of the market share of your current products/service?
Do you want to provide additional products/services?
Do you need to break into new industry sectors?
Client retention
Will client retention provide sustainable growth?
How confident are you that current clients will re-sign contracts?
Could you increase the longevity of your contracts?
Service proposition
How do you want to be perceived by your clients?
What do you want to be recognised for by your clients?
What do you want to be recommended for by your clients?
Brand positioning
How do you want to be perceived within the industry?
What sets you apart from your competition?
Where do you want to lie within the market-place?
Efficiency gains
How effective is your supply chain?
What improvements could be made to your operating processes?
How flexible is your business?

12. Sense check
Evaluate
Feasibility
Does the company
have the resource,
finance and skills
Vulnerability
What are the risks
and contingencies?
Consistency
Ability to continue
business as normal
despite external
drivers
Sustainability
Is there a sustainable
competitive
advantage?

13. Location, Destination, Journey
How will you
get there?
Market segmentation
Segment areas of growth within the market (including product/service)
Create prospect target list and company profile (identify their vision, financials, activity)
Identify key influencers and decision makers, be clear about their trigger points
Sales targets
Define business value of the potential segmented market
Establish percentage of conversion rate needed to achieve growth plans
Agree timescales, set key milestones and maintain a system of visibility
Marketing activity
Agree value proposition (key benefits , what makes you different from competitors)
Identify how you will reach your target audience (online, offline, sale tools)
Create unified campaigns, execute, manage, monitor and evaluate in sync with sales
Client satisfaction surveys
Establish client satisfaction survey cycles
Share results and acknowledge actions points
Introduce monthly service barometers
Competitor analysis
Identify your top 5 competitors, perform SWOT analysis
Monitor their marketing activity
Know their future business and growth plans
Internal vision
Share your goals and objectives
Develop best practise and sharing of ideas system
Establish consistent communication flow

14. Sense check
Good
Segmentation
Identify
Ability to identify and
measure relevant
characteristics
Scope
Sufficient numbers.
No rapid changes
relating to needs
Access
Ability to reach target
segment , within
economical way
Responsive
Segment responds
homogeneously to
specific marketing mix

15. Location, Destination, Journey
How will you
measure?
Frequency reporting
Establish system for evaluating, don’t wait until half-year to realise you’re behind
Introduce a coherent and consistent method of reporting for every department
Set realistic timescales particularly with initiatives relating to client surveys
Monthly analysis
Monitor and analyse departmental activity, particularly sales and marketing
Evaluate and change if it’s not working, don’t wait 12 months
Share performance results with all employees, including client survey results
Client surveys
Companies gravitate towards those suppliers that listen, share your results
Analyse your results, identify any correlation with company changes
You can learn far more on how to improve your service from a dissatisfied client than a
satisfied client.
Competitor monitor
Establish monthly competitor analysis criteria, set a couple of benchmarking elements
Identify your competitor client re-signing schedule
Understand their aspirations and company vision

16. You cannot manage, what you cannot measure
Manage
Measure
Performance
measuring system to
include and quantify
intangible assets
Perspective
Client perspective,
internal processes
and learning as
building blocks
Finance
Financial performance
as ultimate indicator
Vision
Company vision and
mission stand above
providing overall
direction

17. “Predicting rain does not count – building arks does.

18. Increase ROI
Financial
Perspective
Customer
Perspective
Process
Perspective
Learning & Growth
Perspective
Improve operating,
quality and efficiency.
Improve productivity
Increase revenue in
existing segments
and market
Grow revenue in
new products and
services
Be a leader in quality
and reliability.
Grow high-value
customer relationships.
Accelerate product
innovation.
Provide valued service
application expertise
and support.
Introduce innovative
high-performance
products and solutions.
Improve supply chain
efficiency and
effectiveness.
Improve quality, cost, &
flexibility of operating
processes.
Optimise customer
profitability.
Expand channels,
offerings and markets.
Build and maintain
strong customer
relationships.
Excel at technology,
product development
and life cycle
management.
Identify next-
generation market
opportunities.
Expand and build
strategic skills,
capabilities and
expertise.
Develop leadership and
execution-driven
culture.
Enable and require
continuous learning
and sharing of
knowledge.
Create a high-performance culture

19. Next we will explain how to align marketing and sales
Strategy
SalesMarketing

20. www.studio10design.co.uk
email - claire@studio10design.co.uk
Mobile - 07554 661927