How to create an effective workplace learning culture

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, business planning, competitive advantage, VisionPosted on No Comments

In today’s workplace an effective learning culture is not a “would like to have” it is becoming a “must have” to successfully compete for many businesses for both talent and customers. 

A learning culture creates not only a better place to work, but also reduces key staff turnover, while driving productivity and growth.

This is why workplace learning is at the top of the do list in 2026 for HR managers and L&D directors. 

The importance of developing an effective workplace learning culture today’ has never been more important to leadership teams or more able to be delivered. 

Let me share a few thoughts about why and how this can be achieved.

The Challenges for L&D in 2026

The Workday Global Workforce Report identifies key HR’s challenges for 2026

Many still view HR through lenses of hiring or firing role, but today its value is in helping shape an organization’s workforce for success both now and in the future.

Modern HR and its L&D professionals are data interpreters, change facilitators, and advisors, connecting people strategies with business outcomes.

Their work is a driving force in how effective companies are at adapting to rapidly changing markets and emerging opportunities through people development.

  • Talent acquisition and retention: Attracts talent to not only fit current roles but also support future growth, while creating an environment that motivates employees to stay and build careers. Workday global workforce report
  • Keeping pace with rapid skills evolution Udeny 2025 Global learning skills trend.
  • Making Learning Strategically Effective – Does learning make a tangible difference to the organisation results
  • Integrating New learning Wisely – 94% of learning leaders see digital learning as central to their strategy – Elucidat Digital learning 2025

Delivering personalised learner centric experiences – engagement needs to be a key focus for learning and measured 

Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

The CIPHR report from 300 companies in January 2026 reported their biggest challenges: that 85% of companies report skills shortages, 87% reported struggling to find the right talent and 79% reported building capable managers where major challenges.

Skills Shortages

Struggling to find talent 
Capable Manger Challenge

Today’s top talent expects competitive pay and benefits but also meaningful work and connection to the organisations forward strategy. Being engaged from the start is now the expected normal. This trend originally documented by Dan Pink’s in his research on motivation at work called Drive defines the new way today’s employees look at employment opportunities. Employees perform when they are left to develop mastery of their subject. That culture shift leads towards ROWE work environments (Results Only Work Environments). Which many companies now adopt headlined by global brands Facebook (Meta) and Google. 

That means that LD need to develop employee retention and engagement within the workplace for earlier, than was traditionally thought.  

62% of organizations struggling to find qualified workers, impacting sectors like construction, manufacturing, and health. This gap, which has more than doubled since 2017, is hindering growth, driving up wage costs by billions, and delaying projects. 

Key Sectors of the UK Skills Shortage

Impacted Sectors: Construction (52% vacancy issues), manufacturing (42%), and health/social care (40%) are heavily affected.

Economic Consequences: Skills shortages are estimated to cost the UK economy £39 billion annually, according to The Open University Business Barometer 2024.

Root Causes: Key factors include a post-pandemic rise in economic inactivity (e.g., long-term sickness), an aging workforce, and the end of free movement following Brexit.

Response Strategies: Businesses are increasing salaries (67%), hiring at lower levels, or struggling to adopt new technologies like AI, The Access Group notes.

Future Outlook: Skills England is being established to address these gaps, with projections suggesting 20% of the workforce could be under skilled by 2030, according to Grant Thornton UK.

Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

Workday Global Workforce Report 2025 shows that are losing top talent. 75% of industries are experiencing voluntary turnover of high potential employees. 

Voluntary Turnover of High-Potential Employees 75%
75% of companies loosing voluntary High Potential Employees

That talent drain holds companies back, while driving wage inflation and slows company growth. This talent loss reduces organisation’s ability to grow and develop. The big challenge is that employees are not just going to the competition. Research shows that talent is not just going to direct competitors over 40% of it is moving across sectors.This gap, is hindering growth, driving up wage costs by billions, and delaying projects.

FOMO to FOBO

Why are key people leaving companies? Well pay is not the highest factor for employees today. You’ve heard of FOMO – FEAR OF MISSING OUT has a new L&D big brother FOBO. The McKinsey survey 2025 identifies that 45% of employees are worried by FOBO, affecting mainly younger employees with digital skills and outsourcing. 

FOBO or the Fear Of Becoming Obsolete, is now identified as a key driver for skilled people to move to better development and opportunities.

FOBO means that while we all know that the grass is NOT always greener on the other side of the fence, employees today are not taking the risk in missing out. Employers at the cutting edge of any sector are drawing in talent like never before. Today, AI investment is the buzz that is driving not only investment but also drawing people into this new world.  AI is being led by companies with cultures that enable employees to be more engaged, more focusing on continually learning.

Build Competitive Advantage: Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

Companies today are struggling to build and sustain competitive advantage. Loosing good people due to FOBO is hugely damaging and for L&D and yet The Workday Global Report also points out that 94% of employees would stay at a company if it invested in their learning.  

94% of employees would stay at a company if it invested in their learning.

UK employer investment in training fell to £53.0bn in 2024, a significant decline from £59.0bn in 2022 and down 18.5% since 2011. Expenditure per employee correspondingly dropped to £1,700, a 29.5% decrease since 2011, making it one of the lowest levels in over a decade. While some of that decline is a shift to online learning rather than in person learning, many larger public sector organisations have pulled back on investing in their people. The Learning and Work Institute reports that around 40% of employers offer no training at all.

According to the Workday Global State of Skills report, the majority of business leaders are worried about skills shortages in the next three years.

Only 32% believe their organizations currently have the skills they’ll need in the immediate future.

Only 54% of leaders have a clear view of the skills within their organisation.  That is a major issue in competitive global markets. 

With that snapshot now in your mind this is why building a learning culture within your organisation really matters.

Benefits of An Effective Learning Culture

What are the benefits to having an effective learning company? Creates improved performance 

There are many benefits in creating an effective learning culture, here are just 6 that make the point so well- 

  •  Innovation: They are 92% more likely to innovate.
  •  Profitability: They are 17% more likely to be a market leader. 
  •  Skills: They are 58% better prepared to meet future challenges.
  •  Time to Market: They are 34% better at responding to customer needs.
  •  Quality: They have a 26% greater ability to deliver quality solutions.
  •  Productivity: They enjoy 37% greater employee productivity.

Other key metrics which companies with a learning culture consistently delivers.

They have on average 59% lower costs of recruitment and retention 

Absenteeism is around 40% lower.

And 72% Higher employee engagement 

Source The Access Group 

So how do organisation start to develop a learning culture?

First Steps Towards Creating High Performance Company

  • High-performing companies are shifting their focus from roles to capabilities. 
  • Mapping Critical Skills rather than job titles
  • Creating clear progression pathways to retain and develop talent

Organizations that fail to plan for future workforce needs often find themselves reacting to crises instead of leading through change. 

Most HR leaders recognize the criticality of better and more holistic planning, but Gartner reports that today only 15% are engaged in it at a truly strategic level. 

Making it an HR priority and planning effectively in collaboration with other stakeholders across the company will be a strategic differentiator in the future, both for optimizing budgets and resource allocation and for retaining top talent that drives performance.

By forecasting demand, analysing skills inventories, and running scenario planning exercises, HR leaders can align their company’s people strategy with long-term business goals.

The question for 2026 is no longer:-

         “How do we recruit better people?”

It is:- 

         “How do we build and protect the skills our business depends on?”

Creating a learning culture is a competitive advantage not only in winning the right new talent into a workplace but also in retaining it.

A learning culture creates and sustains a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Requires a clear vision and support from the leadership team to make it happen.

Understand the benefits from doing it and the risks from not adopting it.

Develop a whole team culture to make it work. 

L&D Creating an Effective Learning Culture 

A true continuous learning environment isn’t created by hanging motivational posters or offering the occasional webinar. It’s baked into daily workflows. 

Hallmarks include:


Provide company wide learning – developing everyone simultaneously – move the whole not the few

On-demand, ongoing training: Learning is accessible anytime, not relegated to annual workshops.

Microlearning integration: Short, focused bursts of training that fit naturally into busy schedules.

Leadership advocacy: Leaders model curiosity and growth, encouraging teams to follow suit.

Engaging Content – Genuine learning not simply tuckbox compliance with pathway options towards specialisations

Modern LMS platforms can help address these challenges by making learning more flexible and accessible. Quick, ongoing updates and bite-sized training modules transform the experience — shifting from overwhelming to manageable.

How to Make Mentoring Effective in your Workplace

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business Values, competitive advantagePosted on No Comments

Mentoring is a long-term collaborative and confidential relationship where an experienced individual (the mentor) provides guidance, knowledge, and support to a less experienced person (the mentee) to foster their personal or professional growth. It focuses on building confidence, enhancing skills, navigating transitions, and empowering the mentee to develop their own solutions, rather than just providing answers.  Making mentoring matter in business creates a strategic competitive advantage.

That overall objective of empowering the mentee to develop themselves through guidance is ultimate measure of a successful mentor. Making mentoring effective in your workplace takes several key cultural and skillsets to make it effective.

Making Mentorship Effective

Making mentoring matter inside an organisation requires a culture of mentoring to be built within the organisation. Mentoring can create problems inside a vertically structured business as it develops new lines of communication often across, through and outside traditional business structures. Dotted lines of communication and support can threaten traditional structures of command and control. 

To make mentoring effective it must be a strategic decision. Led from the top to move those traditional vertical lines of command and control to a newer often called networked structured models of leadership support.

Making mentorship effective typically consists of several key components. Successful mentors have to be good listeners, not just to hear the problems mentees are facing but also to understand the backgrounds and perspectives that have shaped and formed mentees experiences. Buying into mentees, seeing their potential and learning how to share stories and experiences is central to making a good mentor.

Mentee to mentor matching is therefore a vital skill, knowing why a mentor was selected to be paired with a mentee provides not only confidence but also clarity of the overall objective of the mentoring programme. Good mentors should be clear to understand what mentees long-term goals are and how they see the mentor assist them towards achieving them.  That can be career goals, or skill and experience goals.  

Effective mentoring always starts with good matching that builds a good mentoring relationship. That does not mean simply getting on or having some shared interests, but in mutual respect that enables and challenges both mentor and mentee to grow as people. A relationship that can open up both parties and evolve over the long-term.

What mentoring does for the mentors

Mentoring is not just for mentees. While it is their outcome that matters as a measurable result of mentoring, there are several reciprocal metrics which are as important in soft skills metrics in modern organisations.  

The McKinsey’s S7 model of hard S factors, Strategy, Systems, Structure is now matched by soft S factors in Style, Staff and Skills. It is today that soft skills is where the biggest competitive advantage can be seen in organisation development. Mentoring, the style of supporting staff with skills is very much driving how shared values are being disseminated through, across and into a business today.    

McKinsey S & Model

McKinsey S7 Model by Richard Gourlay

For mentors learning about different people’s challenges within the business, from departments, backgrounds and generational experiences all open up new learning for even the most experienced mentor.  Working with the next generation of professionals creates new challenges especially in a mentoring relationship. It is not command and control, or even a direct line of authority but one built upon mutual respect.    

For many mentors it is an excellent opportunity to develop softer leadership skills and to use their know-how, valuable networks and experiences to shape new people into the company. Giving back is also a powerful motivator for many mentors, a chance to use their experience to grow new talent.

Successful Mentoring Framework

To achieve a successful mentoring programme there are four key P’s Framework. which provide the foundations of any successful mentoring programme. These successful foundations are the definition of where any mentoring programme designer should start.

The first P in the framework is a clearly defined PURPOSE. This should ask the question why are we mentoring someone? What are the meetings and possible structure for?  Both parties should clearly define the mentee’s specific goals, challenges and expectations.  The purpose of the matching mentor to mentee should identify what the mentor offers the relationship in resources, connections and relationship building.  

The second P covers PREPARATION. For a good mentoring programme both parties need to prepare, putting their respective and matched agendas together. From identifying initial goals, both some quick wins as well as longer development goals, from the mentee though to mentors identifying possible mentoring paths of support. Mentors need to prepare deeper questioning on key topics and what experiences to share to make key points.  

The third P is PARTICIPATION. Mentoring is a long-term, often monthly arrangement, it is distinctive period but requires ongoing participation and commitment. Do both parties really value it? Participation is therefore essential form both sides, seeing it as important. Being present, having an agenda, venue, active full listening throughout, ensuring notes and action plan are made and followed through.

The fourth and final P is POSSIBILITIES. The outcome from participation is that the plan of possibilities from the initial plan to the evolving roadmap of the mentoring programme is mapped out in detail. A good plan exploring all possibilities and in priority format to achieve the original goals is essential.   

Mentoring Challenges

Mentoring starts as a good idea, and many people volunteer especially is the sponsors are Senior Leadership Team led. But for many mentors there is little training on how to make mentoring work.  

Mentoring often fails because the mentor does not know how to set up their role as a mentor.  Meetings can end up being chats and moans if not structured. They become nothing more than a nice to have with little progress and experience story-telling by the mentor if the mentor does not know how to structure their support. The 5C model of problem solving is useful here in creating high-value mentoring programmes. 

The 5 Cs Problem-Solving Model for mentoring

This framework provides structure for successful mentoring conversations:

  1. Challenges: Identifying and defining the specific difficulties the mentee is facing. 
    • Think SMART goals not “better at wishes”
  2. Choices: Exploring various paths or options available to address the challenges.
    • Create several options and scenarios routes 1,2,3 to support mentees  
  3. Consequences: Discussing the potential positive and negative outcomes for each choice.
    • Change shapes and reshapes people and relationships, make sure that mentees have a wide base of skills for any new role or relationship. 
  4. Creative Solutions: Brainstorming novel ideas, with the mentor sharing experience to offer new perspectives.
    • Bringing new ideas and researching all possible options should be discussed and evaluated with mentees with consequences and requirements in commitment fully discussed.
  5. Conclusions: The mentee makes a final decision and commits to specific next steps.
  • It is always up to the mentee to make the final decision and to make the first step. Mentoring moves at the pace of the mentee’s movement.

These 5C’s help mentors become effective mentors, and provide the structure to making mentoring matter.  Get in touch here today to learn more.

Like to know amor about mention then see theses links:-

Director Mentoring 6 Great Reasons to Be Mentored by Richard Gourlay

Learn more about Mentoring by Richard Gourlay here:- Richard Gourlay Mentoring

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Why creating a high performance team culture delivers results

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, competitive advantage, Strategy, VisionPosted on No Comments

In the contemporary business environment, cultivating a culture of excellence is often regarded as the pinnacle of effective leadership. Such a culture serves as a strategic asset, providing a distinct competitive edge that facilitates sustained growth, enhances employee engagement, and improves profitability. Creating a high-performance team is therefore a strategic decision a leader takes to create and sustain competitive advantage.

A high-performance work culture extends beyond leadership alone; it embodies an organizational ethos where every individual is dedicated to achieving outstanding results. This necessitates an environment where employees feel empowered to challenge existing practices, seek continuous improvement, and foster innovation—hallmarks of an environment rooted in excellence.

The Purpose of Excellence

For any leader, establishing a high-performance culture is not an instantaneous act but a deliberate strategic endeavor. It involves creating, nurturing, and maintaining an organizational climate conducive to excellence. The underlying motivation— the “why”— centers on the tangible benefits such a culture imparts within its sector. Achieving this requires significant investment in terms of time, commitment, and energy; however, the resultant advantages justify these efforts.

The rewards of fostering a high-performance culture include enhanced innovation leading to increased profitability, improved market positioning, stronger customer acquisition and retention, and superior talent retention. As articulated by Dan Pink in his seminal work Drive, motivation rooted in mastery, autonomy, and purpose depends fundamentally on a robust supporting culture. Without such foundational elements, these motivational drivers cannot realize their full potential.

In essence, cultivating a high-performance work culture is an essential strategic priority that yields long-term organizational resilience and success.

Leading by Example

At the forefront of any environment of excellence is the leadership’s vision. A vision explains why we are creating a high-performance culture. That starts and ends with the leadership’s actions in everyday behaviours. Are they walking the walk or just talking the talk?  Leaders must create the right environment for a culture to exist. Leaders must focus on developing the “How do we do this better” questioning while creating a safe space for people to try, and that starts by asking awkward, uncomfortable and challenging questions.  

To get better we must break what we have always done.  Not accepting the ‘good enough mentality’ or ‘it’s not costing us anything to keep it as it is’. The other major danger leaders’ face is letting a committee acceptance approach to retain the status quo. Ask the importance question ;does everything we do add value to the customer?” or “Can we find new ways to add value to our customers?” Is a better question! As is; “What do you think we should do differently to be more valuable to our customers?” This mentality creates an engaged workforce that challenges them to not only try but feel safe in looking for new ideas. 

Leadership’s Role in Cultivating a High-Performance Culture

Central to fostering an environment of excellence is the clarity and consistency of leadership’s vision. A compelling vision articulates the purpose behind establishing a high-performance culture, serving as a guiding light for organizational efforts. The realization of this vision hinges upon leaders’ daily actions and behaviours—whether they exemplify the standards they set or merely articulate ideals without tangible follow-through.

Effective leaders are tasked with creating an environment conducive to continuous improvement and innovation. This involves cultivating a mindset focused on “How do we do this better?”—a question that encourages reflection, learning, and adaptation. Equally important is establishing a safe space where individuals feel empowered to experiment, challenge existing practices, and voice difficult or uncomfortable questions without fear of reprisal.

To progress beyond current limitations, organizations must be willing to challenge ingrained habits and assumptions. This requires moving away from complacency rooted in the belief that maintaining the status quo incurs no cost or consequence. Instead, leaders should consistently ask whether their actions genuinely add value to customers. An even more impactful inquiry is: “What should we do differently to enhance our value proposition?” Such questions foster an engaged workforce motivated not only to try new approaches but also to feel secure in taking risks that lead to meaningful improvements.

Creating a Culture of Excellence

Starts with a clear statement of intent, what are the standards you expect to see throughout the organisation. Define what excellence means within your organisation. By establishing expectations and defining them in language to each person within their role. That requires that every touch point, from recruitment, people engagement and development through to KPI and day-to-day operational and behavioural activity. 

Leaders must display that excellence. By leading from the front, especially in the small day-to-day people engagement behaviours in listening, learning and problem-solving. Setting the standards can only come from leaders and their behaviours. 

To create a high-performance culture to exist people must be continually learning to create continuous improvement.  A learning culture in both formal, professional development and informal learning especially with mentoring and peer support is an essential pilar of the environment of excellence. In Dan Pink’s book Drive several examples of learning reflect this in different environments in delivering what he terms autonomy, from Google’s 20% employees time self-invested in personal projects through to recognition of learning in what he terms mastery of a topic area.  

The key element leaders need to focus on are in creating a positive challenging environment. One where people feel safe to challenge themselves, challenge the status quo and challenge why not perception.  That challenge leads firstly ‘a growth mindset’ asking where can we take the organisation in both capability and capacity? Intellectually that is supported by a clear vision of where we want to be that supports and sustains that challenging drive to be better. 

High-Performance Culture

Trust Matters

A growth mindset is built upon doing the right things consistently. From believing in others intentions, to let them look beyond what we currently do, through to creating an emotional safety within their organisation that fosters integrity and responsibility. 

Leaders must enable a safe fail learn faster trusting mentality, that rewards people who try and learn rather than those who play it safe or look to shame those who fail. Giving accountability over to people to try something new and developing feedback to enable fast learning rather than running away from early failures. 

That emotional safety is a cornerstone of a high-performance culture. As Steve Jobs famously said, “There is no point hiring the brightest people and then telling them what to do?

Feedback Drives Culture Change

Feedback is an essential element of a growth mindset. Ultimately feedback is the only outcome that matters in a high-performance culture. Excellence-driven organisations create multiple open feedback loops. Feedback loops are the result of true honesty within an organisation culture and drive the ability for growth to happen both rapidly and constructively. 

Honesty in feedback is not a negative, but an essential element in challenging assumptions. Where can it be better is what feedback should be focused towards. So positive feedback loops including arenas such as brainstorming, project design, pilot testing as well as process engineering.  

Supporting High-Performance Teams

An environment of excellence is underpinned by a continued support for others. From being available to walk the walk around the whole team, through to resource provision and mentoring through to the essential leadership role of being a resource provider. 

Supporting cultures are enablers and sustainers of an environment of excellence which underpins high performance. A culture of supporting is linked to the overall vision and capability creation enabling individuals and teams to perform to new higher standards. Support in resources is not just financial, although that is important but also in ideas, emotional engagement, in having time to listen and understand as well as connect people to the right resources.  

Resisting Resistance 

A supporting culture is also essential to deal with managing employee and stakeholder pushback. Dealing with change is the single biggest challenge to creating an environment of excellence to deliver a high-performance culture. Resistance comes in many formats form active hostile resisting actions through to passive resistance in non-compliance.

A supporting culture is the most effective way to overcome the lack of active engagement. For an environment of excellence to emerge leaders must acknowledge resistance from those who feel threatened. Listening to their concerns, perceptions and reading between the lines as to why they might or are resisting and offering solutions without compromising your goals as a leader are vital to create the environment that delivers high performance culture.

Defining expectations, often turning aspirational language into practical steps and outcomes often reduces and mitigates fears and uncertainty in change. Clear expectations matched by tangible behaviours which can be trained and adopted overcome misunderstood aspirations.

Supporting others must also deal with underperformance. Ensuring that performance matters and is impact is fully realised and clarify that they must achieve the new standards with support and timeline that improvement. 

While many leaders overfocus on those underperforming an environment of excellence requires leaders to shift their mindset away from underperformers to those who excel at making change. 

“Don’t reward failure with your time, reward good behaviours with your time and resources”.

Investing your time and praise for those going in the right direction is the right messaging inside any organisation. While initially seen as counterproductive to good management, deal with under performers it works to spend time working with those who get it to pull and nudge those who should get it to make the move. This not only drive the environment towards excellence. Not only that but is far more rewarding and less energy draining.  

Leading by Stepping Back

To deliver a high-performance culture we need an environment of excellence, but that is not singularly down to the leadership team. Creating champions across and throughout the organisation creates a team effort in delivering results. Engage employees to construct it, find champions from early adopters, create champions of change for each stage of your development of the environment, so that you have a team effort and cohorts of people who are part of the solution which they can shape and drive. 

Leading from the back can only happen when champions are in place, and leaders can step back and see what is happening and where they need to concentrate their efforts and resources. If a leader only leads form the from then they often miss what is going on behind them. 

Stepping Back to Sustain Excellence  

Stepping back also allows leaders to ensure proper oversight and monitor performance throughout the organisation. Knowing where to pace change to find quick wins, and customer requirements and respond to pressures and opportunities requires leaders to be able to see and feel what is going on. Being a resource provider, a leader is there to be available to overcome barriers and develop team and cultural resilience.  

High Performance Culture

There are so many benefits to create a high-performance culture in today’s business world. Pushing people to do their best, and be the best they can be, delivering creative and innovative solutions that is recognised and rewarded. 

Building the environment of excellence within which a high-performance culture can grow, and flourish starts with a clear vision, supporting a growth mindset of trust and a supporting environment within which a culture can thrive. 

The end goal is creating an environment where everyone pursues being excellent in everything they do.

Like to know how we can support you create a high performance culture, then get in touch below.

Strategic selling see the world differently

What Makes Strategic Selling Successful

by Richard Gourlaycompetitive advantage, Selling skills, StrategyPosted on No Comments

Strategic Selling

A good business is based upon a clearly defined business strategy.  Strategy is the central or macro plan for any business. It the fundamental overarching plan which everyone inside the business is pulling towards.  A business with a clear strategy in place knows where it is aiming for in its market sector. That clarity and purpose enables it to build a culture to support that. A key element of a successfully designed business strategy is that it translates into a clear sales strategy. That is the definition of successful strategic selling. 

Sales Strategy What is it?

A sales strategy sets out clearly what the business intends to achieve and how.  Rather than just setting out a simple cold and unexplained turnover goal, a raw number, it defines the market you are in. A coherent sales strategy combines a set of strategic metrics which build to a complete set of outcomes. A sales strategy is a clear direction to take for all business activities. It identifies: –

  • The structure and make-up of the market you want to succeed within.
  • Key major market drivers – what’s driving market’s existence and development.
  • Market dynamics – what’s setting the pace of change and evolution of a market 
  • The profile of the major market players and their position in that market.
  • And ultimately the optimum customer profile for your target audiences.  

Strategic selling is a sales framework that firstly identifies the market structure that you are operating within. While that sounds obvious, it provides that clarity of purpose that involves everybody within the entire company Ensuring that everyone is pulling in the same direction at the same time, a clear sales strategy unites a company behind the strategy. A sales strategy is not just for the sales team, it is for every department to be aligned with. It enables a sales team to build companywide cross-department relationships with multiple-decision makers in a potential customer’s organisation. It creates a buyer-orientated approach that focuses on the value the entire solution provides to the whole customer. This contrasts to transactional selling which focuses on just the product itself. 

Strategic Selling in B2B Environments 

Strategic selling it is particularly effective in B2B sales environments. This is where there are often multiple decision-makers coming from different departments that engage with the company. It moves selling from a salesperson’s role to a company wide responsibility.  

Strategic selling aligns the company towards the entire customer’s needs and expectations. An average customer decision typically involves seven people, all from different parts of a business.  Each potential customer comes with a set of unique specific needs, budgets, and decision-makers all in the mix. That’s why a well-defined sales strategy is essential to target and support winning over all the decision makers within target company.  

Long-term Success

Strategic selling is focused on creating long-term, mutually beneficial relations with target customers. It breaks down complex sales processes into simple actionable steps which evolve as the partnership with each client develops. While traditional selling focuses on the narrow and immediate benefits of the product, strategic selling’s emphasis is on the complete value it provides to the customer over a long period. 

Strategic selling is mainly applicable in B2B organisations where there is a high value stream relationship. Often there are multiple decision-makers and an evolving relationship or partnership between the two companies.  Selling strategically is therefore a business culture tailoring the product and or service that gives the optimum solution to all these problems.  

Strategic Selling Approach 

A strategic selling approach requires a good understanding of the market and who the key players. That knowledge also identifies who will resonate most and align with your brand best. This market alignment is fundamental to strategic success. Prioritising and focusing resources on target customers and their value streams. Where a company can add value is where they might positively respond and engage with you. It is an essential to understand behaviour traits, and as identified above, what is driving their sector within a market. This is where customer competitor assessments identifies opportunities for possible company entry. Even if it is no clear opening or immediate need for your product entry.  

A company market entry strategy is an approach that focuses on building alignment rather than peddling product. We align with and understand the target client landscape and strategic challenges they are facing before trying to sell. Learning how we can work with them to resolve them, putting us in the driving seat in their solution search. 

By developing a tailored and even joint solution, we skew or even actively remove the competition from the equation. The most obvious point is where a target customer wants to move into a new venture, or market area. That opens an opportunity to develop an entry strategy with a partner. This can be undertaken either as a joint venture or as their preferred partner. This locking in is the most obvious model. For strategic selling it can at any level of development of the target customers business evolution. Whether that be scaling up, service evolution, cost reduction, adding new value; the opportunity is there if a strategic selling culture exists.   

Classic Drivers Customer Change

Growth: The target customer is essentially aware of the desire to grow within a market or segment. Where their existing model is not suitable or competitive enough, so they will look at alternative models to get growth within their market. 

Problem Solving: The target customer has an issue, or an underperformance with their existing model. This is where they maybe open to new ideas and solutions. This is where they are researching how do something different to remove know pain points.  

Passive Observation: Here the target customer does not see a performance gap between what they desire and the reality, but they are aware that change is happening and potential for their position to become eroded opens doors for possible exploration of new approaches. 

Key Elements of Strategic Selling 

The key elements of strategic selling start with developing a strategic mindset by the leadership team. That clarity of purpose and position within a market, typically a developed or mature market, where there is a structured market with major players either in place or emerging. Without that foundation stone strategic selling is unlikely to be achievable.

Win / Win / Win Culture

Strategic selling identifies the triple win culture (Win / Win / Win), the customer wins, you win and the relationship between the two companies win. This triple bottom line is at the heart of strategic selling. It builds multi-level relationships across the target customer, a collaborative sales process involving identifying and removing the customer’s pain points with them and finally uncovering the real value of the relationship of the partnership with them.

Decision Making Unit and Process

The second key element of strategic selling is that it involves working throughout the entire decision-making unit (DMU). This shift moves selling from a 121 narrow transactional engagement, the traditional selling model, to one where the entire DMU are identified and actively engaged throughout the sales process. That really means not just for the sales period but as part of developing a long-term relationship with them.

Understanding that while other stakeholders may not be actively engaged in buying but are in the decision-making process of whom the business works with, and what criteria buying decisions are made upon is vital for successful strategic selling.

The second element here is for any target customer to know their Decision-Making Process (DMP) how do they buy? No two companies have the same process, in steps, time and people engagement.

If strategic selling is going to be successful then it’s not just about the people but the process they go though, step-by-step and language they use which you need to know inside out. How do they score and decide? Who has what influence over whom and when?

In simple transactional selling the decided decides but in complex B2b sales there are multiple voices and different levels of power and influence which the decider must engage with and respond to. If many cases the decided is there to sign-off on a decision rather and make it.

Customer Centric Approach 

This then leads to the third key element of strategic selling, implementing a customer centric approach. Meeting the unique needs of that customer, tailoring existing processes and sales approaching aligned with the customer priorities and needs to enable them to achieve their goals. The final part of this element is an on-going relationship. Not just a engage when selling approach which is the definition of transactional selling. Strategic selling continually engages and aligns with the customer. This is why it works most effectively with emerging and maturing markets and large players within it.     

The Personalised Sales Strategy for each Target Customer 

Strategic selling’s key output is the personalised solution which is presented over time to the target customer. It highlights firstly good alignment between the two companies and the measurable impact it will make to the target customer enabling them to achieve their short and long-term goals. 

The win/win/win mentality should be at the heart to the solution, identifying how your USP’s could with your approach will solve and add value throughout the target customers’ business. 

Strategic Selling Solution 

Strategic selling solution focus’s a whole company approach tailored to the target customers’ needs, addressing all stakeholder concerns and how you will support the customer throughout the relationship. In complex B2B markets an effective solution highlights the key must have elements that the target customer has identified to you. While also focusing on the ongoing relationship and the next stage development of the relationship. 

That move from a transactional relationship to strategic selling involves the whole team engagement and long-term often multiple project and product development. This creates a strategic alignment between the two companies develops within a market segment.  An effective solution highlights these elements and draws in the entire strategy not just the immediate product or service in question. 

Strategic Selling Summary

Strategic selling is a clear business strategy. It relies upon developing a culture of long-term relationship building with large complex companies in maturing markets. Targeted customers ideally need to be in the early adopter or early majority element of the market where the value-added elements can be easily identified.   

Engaging with target customers must be undertaken throughout the company. Not just at the buyer selling point but from top down and throughout the decision-making unit. Identifying not just immediate needs, but longer-term strategic goals and target customer development plans, identifying stakeholder needs and value requirements in the partnership. 

Once this is undertaken the presentation back to the target customer must reflect strategic goals as well as immediate quick wins. This is most effectively when seen as a multiple step or phase building programme, often by finding the door opener and trust builder before trying to move into the longer and more significant purchasing phases. Always focus on the value-added in the joint relationship and lifetime value which will out compete any transactional relationship that transactional competitors can offer.   

Like to know more then get in touch with Richard Gourlay here.

Growth planning in business

Turnaround Your Business Using a NED: The Garden Rooms Case Study

by Richard Gourlaycompetitive advantage, Dumfries and Galloway, Exit Strategy, opportunity, Strategy, VisionPosted on No Comments

Case Study a Garden Rooms business in Scotland

Turnaround Your Business with Richard Gourlay

A Garden Room

Turnaround Your Business

The owner of a Garden Rooms business in Scotland approached me to turnaround his business. Operating in a potentially growing market designing home garden rooms, such as offices, bedrooms and gyms while also still building home extensions. He was struggling to run these businesses, spending most time running around firefighting and dealing with unhappy customers. To turnaround your business often external advice and active support is essential, here’s why.

The Situation

The owner was trying to run too much at the same time, which put him under: –

  • Financial pressures: no real financial model and limited systems in place. With little cost management or operating and margins in place, putting continual pressure of the business’s finances and margin impacts. 
  • Operational issues: with no operating systems in place each project ran differently, which lead to a wide range of quality and complaint issues, including legal disputes.
  • Quality issues: with staff firefighting onsite with suppliers to get components to site on time, impacting upon delivery times, production and cost and quality impacts.
  • People issues: of unhappy and unmotivated staff, no one really knowing what they were being asked to do and good staff leaving. 
  • Ultimately there was little customer focus and significant firefighting, unfinished jobs with a long list of snagging issues to be resolved.

Our Solution

Working with the key people we developed a clear business strategy and culture shift for the business, identifying the businesses core value proposition and a customer focused ethos.

This led to a complete process of change and focused team actions to re-invent the business around its core value proposition and improvement plans to redesign out all root cause issues within the business. 

Following this process we then developed a customer process map.  This identified every customer value added step and supported the customer through the entire process. With a new marketing strategy also in place we were able to improve: –

  • Customer engagement and acquisition which led to an improved Average Order Value (AOV) of 55% in one year.
  • Ownership of issues by frontline staff to get it right for the customer, reducing snagging and issues to a controlled minimum, with everyone pulling together.
  • The development of product improvement and a full product range to support customer retention and conversion, making the business the dominant player within the target market.

This Enabled

We worked with the owner developing his business and his skills to lead his business more successfully, providing support and guidance throughout. This was supported by clear business planning with the owner with a full strategic and operational business plan in place. 

  • Clear success goals shared with the team. 
  • A forward annual business plan covering every aspect of the business. 
  • Sales goal setting which supported and underpinned the financial plan.
  • A comprehensive financial and cashflow model to ensure the business is cash positive and profitable for the first time.
  • The owner was able to positively look at a trade exit strategy from this business. 

Turnaround Your Business

Revitalising, recreating or jest evolving your business is an essential requirement to become and keep being competitive within your market. Don’t wait until it is too late. The earlier a business leader identifies they could benefit from a strategic refresh the more options and quicker positive change can happen. To turnaround your business with Richard Gourlay then lets have a chat with Richard here now.

values in business matter to customers and employees

Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever before as Ikea have just found out

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business Identity, Business mission, Business Values, competitive advantage, Dumfries and Galloway, Strategy, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled

In today’s information driven world, how you do business matters as much as the business you do, as Ikea the iconic Swedish furniture retailer, has just found out. Ikea’s green credentials have been dealt a massive blow in consumer’s minds. Ikea’s failure to support sustainability in its products leaves customers questioning its real values as a business. Heres, why values matter in BUSINESS more than ever before as Ikea have just found out to their cost!  Here’s why you cannot just talk about values, you must live them! 

Ikea only uses 16% sustainable wood! 

Ikea’s failure to achieve its own most modest target of 30% of its wood products to be from certified sustainable wood, will damage it its credibility heavily with its key audiences. The fact that it only hit 16%, has a massive blow on the values it professes as promoting sustainably sourced materials and to its environmental positioning.  Compare that with Homebase (78%) and B&Q (77%), which won the best green award 2010.

The excuse given in its defensive press statement is that it has sacrificed the values of sustainability for rapid growth and protecting its profitability (£2.3billion). But short term greed like this can cost dearly on both growth and profitability over the long term.

 

Ikea’s staff not telling the truth 

This corporate failure was made worse by staff telling customers in store that its products are from sustainable sources. When in fact they are from illegal logging in places such as Russia. This insatiable drive for growth, which so often undermines trusted names, may damage the Swedish brand’s position as the leader in the flat pack market significantly.  This expose means that Ikea will now undergo microscopic environmental and customer scrutiny.

 

Greenwash Marketing is NOT acceptable

Ikea’s soft “long term” aspirational statements on their website with links to the Rainforest Alliance are unlikely to be seen as enough in the modern world where green wash marketing such as this are quickly exposed and penalised. When the spotlight of the green world is turned on, it is difficult to hide in the shade.

The World Bank suddenly in the late 1980’s promoted its ‘green credentials’ by promoting itself as having employed ‘an environmentalist’, to offset its image of chopping down forests for cash crops.  This green wash story was quickly exposed when it was pointed out the World Bank employed some 5,000 economists, what difference would/could one environmentalist make?

Values matter in business by Richard Gourlay

 

Business Values must be transparent

The way you provide your product or service and to whom, says more about you than how much business you do. Being a big turnover company in a highly segmented world is no longer the determinator of success.  How you do your business now determines your current credibility and future success.  Credibility is as much about your values in becoming successful as about the success you have.  The question of size as measured by turnover raises questions about how you do business.

 

Real Business Values Recognise Real Carbon Footprints

Too often businesses have slick marketing messages, from slogans and statements, rather than understanding what impact they are making on the world in everything they do, their carbon footprint. As Carbon footprint becomes clearer so businesses must adapt to reducing it throughout their entire impact upon the planet and reflecting that in the values they actually demonstrate.

Your values as an organisation as demonstrated by everyone inside your organisation matter to both existing and potential customers in choosing to do business with you. People have choices and they can now exercise them more freely than ever before, and that means customers can access information instantly to make choices that are more informed. Ikea’s staff misinforming undercover Times reporters about their sustainable and certified sourced products at a number of shops are one symptom of Ikea’s rapid growth boardroom culture.

Vision Mission and Values in business Strategic Planning Workshop by Richard Gourlay

 

Values Must Live In The Moment 

Almost everything in life is in real time and instantly communicated to circles of influence and beyond. A restaurant having  bad night can have a poor reputation before the starter has even been cleared away as customers post live feed back to sites such as Qype or Trip Advisor . Therefore, before the waiter, maitre d’ or chef knows what’s happening the world outside already does by Twitter and Facebook and are cancelling their reservations in their droves.

 

Why clean lavatories matter?

The old adage that if you want to know how clean the restaurant kitchen is, inspect the lavatories. This is because they tell you how the restaurant values cleanliness, is a great example of modern customer awareness. Do you live your values or just post them on your website? Is the question customers want to know in establishing and experiencing trust with you and your brand.

You can spend as much as you like on your website, Google reviews and trip Advisor comments, but simple first impressions such as the state of lavatories matter more to customers.

 

Rail companies are learning fast

The recent story of the man on the train talking too loudly causing enraged customers to Tweet  complaints about his behaviour which was picked up by a duty manager hundreds of miles away who then contacted staff on the train to track down the loud caller and asked him to quieten down.

This story is very much testimony to the growing demands of customer expectations, immediate online response, not waiting for passing train staff to react. This story is part of the reputation shift that train companies are actively pursuing.

 

 

Values are in the detail

Values matter, they define the real differences between companies. How British Airways treats its customers through the values it embeds in its entire organisation is what makes it different to other premium airlines and distinguishes it from them, and from the bucket providers such as Ryanair.

However, as everyone de-layers in response to changing business models, cost and modernisation requirements, values can be lost in the rush to modernise and compete in new ways. BA’s changes to its premium dinner menu, introducing exotic main courses such as crocodile and ostrich sounded good but simultaneously cutting the After Eights, so there was not to go around 1st class passengers was a classic example of getting its values wrong in its customer’s eyes.

 

 

Values Must Involve Everyone in the organisation

If you value your customers then remember everyone needs to smile in their role, if you believe in providing excellent customer service then don’t cut your front of house staff numbers.

Too many companies’ ideas of communicating values are to place a statement on a website, brochure, at reception and on the induction training programme. How many companies look at the strategic advantage of values and embed it into people’s roles, asking staff to define their role by those values by redefining their role to live those values?  How many companies review those values as outcomes in winning and retaining customers?

 

Business Values as seen by Employees and Customers

Customers, potential and existing, are drowning in choice.  What makes you stand out to them is the values you own and can demonstrate as a business. Statements on walls and websites always sound good, (possibly, because they are written by marketing people who do not work there) but unless the company lives them, then they do more damage than good. Over promising and under delivering is a growing experience for everyone today.

Whether it is a London hotel, stating it’s exclusiveness, as evidenced by its 5 star, pretty pictures on the website of its presidential suite and over the top statements such as “sumptuous 5 star accommodation” the jaw dropping price tag. When you turn up and find a broom cupboard with not enough space to turn around in let alone swing a cat, and you are one of 500+ rooms filled with bus loads of tourist on a package holiday then company values are under pressure.

The same is equally true for staff. Why should people stay loyal to you if you don’t live those values and enshrine them in every one of your people. Do they live it or lip service it?

 

New company’s leadership must create and live their true values 

New companies have the unbridled opportunity to define their values from the start. By building them into their business model throughout the entire process from the beginning, providing value and clarity with every new role and new person, they can use their values to maximum leverage for attracting their chosen customers and staff.

So Googles’ “DO NO HARM” value won many plaudits, breaking down the concern about the is was then rightly questioned by their policy in China of being seen to be supporting censorship (try typing Tienanmen Square Massacre into Google in China it never happened!).  Now there is a good argument that rightly says any Google is better than no Google, but the contradiction against their stated values upset many Google Supporters elsewhere in the world.

Your values should come from within. What do you stand for? What does your company do? How should everyone do it? What does excellence look like? Some classic questions to understand the values you offer. I often ask people to think of an animal or car which best describes there organisation

 

Keeping Values Alive       

Established companies inherit values, often without realising they have them in place, “its how we do it around here” type phrases are often values hidden inside everyday activity. Keeping values alive is often hard in rapidly changing under-pressure environments. Changes in leadership, particularly when cross industry leadership is introduced or when new pressures are introduced from changing ownership for example often end up throwing out the hidden value of a brand in the race to achieve short-term results.

Everyone entering a company, particularly top executives, must understand the core heritage values any organisation has, how they are owned and expressed. The best way to achieve that is for new people to present those values back under peer group review and add to them with the changes they intend to introduce. New products / services need to incorporate core values and learn to demonstrate them in new ways as new channels of communication are opened up. Here is a simple checklist for business leaders to use to answer honestly and thoroughly about where you are with your business values.

 

Values Check List 

  1. Are your values visual to your team and customers? 
  2. Does everyone know your core values, have you checked?
  3. Can all your people translate them into their daily role?
  4. Do people see the company values in other people’s roles within the organisation?
  5. Do customers comment on those values in their dealings with your company in formal and informal feedback channels? 

If you can only answer confidently to points one and two then you are not living your values as a business. If you cannot hand on heart even answer those two, them it’s probably time to look at your values in a lot more detail.  Spend time to think through what you and your business stands for and get in touch if you need any assistance in creating values which matter to you.

 

Leadership Strategy

Learn more about strategy and leadership and how as a leader to create your strategy, with all the steps to build your own strategy, click here to buy the book now:-

Values matter in business more than ever before, red more in Strategy The Leader's Role by Richard Gourlay is a book about business strategy for leaders to grow and develop their strategic plan for their business.
Learn more about business values and cultural impact in Strategy: The Leader’s Role by Richard Gourlay .

Do YOU have a Plan for Growth?

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business mission, competitive advantage, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled

Do you have a plan for GROWTH? 

 
Leadership is most often identified as someone with a clear vision to grow their organisation. Having a plan for growth within your business is often seen as someone on a mission. With a clear vision of where you want to be within your market. By definition, that means looking for and focusing on growth.  All leaders must focus on looking for growth and development of their organisation if leadership is going to be seen as successful. But many leaders do not have a plan for growth within their organisation. So do you have a plan for growth?
 

Do you have a plan for growth? By Richard Gourlay leadership consultant. Leaders need a plan for growth

Do you have a clear vision of where you are going to take your business?  From understanding the market and its direction to where your business needs to be within those sectors, to profit from the growth within the market.  Leaders need to be strategically aware of their market if they are to find and focus on growth within their organisation.
 
Leaders must also redesign their organisation so that it can take advantage of growth opportunities, redesigning how a business operates to increase turnover and / or profits is at the heart of ensuring a leadership team has plan for growth.  Revitalising the sales and marketing operations is at the heart of acquiring more clients and developing improved relationship structures with customers and channel partners.
 
With a plan for growth leadership teams can reduce the amount of down time and focus their efforts on driving your business forward, with a clear vision of where you are going and why.  Successful businesses develop strategic plans to move their business forward, to grow and succeed, while being in control.
 
The first role af any owner or director is to have a plan, from star-up onwards (not for the banks) but for you to own and deliver. That plan needs to be kept alive, fresh and driven to focus on success and succeeding.
 
 

GROWTH needs a Strategy! 

A strategy is a researched approach by the leadership team, supported by a detailed plan of continual action steps to get the organisation to where you want it to be. The reason strategies are so vital is they keep things moving, and in business, if you are not going forward, you’re going backwards, and that can happen very fast.  So, if you want your business to be successful and/or pay you more, having a strategy that focuses on growth is a must!
 
If you have no formal strategy to take your business to the next level you need to refocus your priorities right now to create growth, here’s the first stage of a growth strategy framework:
 

Create a clear vision of what you want to achieve:

There’s an old saying that you can’t hit a target you can’t see. Well your vision is your target. Your vision needs to be very clear in terms of what you want from your business, by turnover, profit, customer type or all three? What’s your ideal position in that market, do you want to be known as the premier supplier of your product or service, or a low cost or niche player?
 
What about your personal goals to support your lifestyle?  You need to be very clear about what you want and what you don’t want. Have a clear focus that will keep you aligned with your long term goal for you and your business. Make your vision aspirational, where do you want your business to be within the net 3 to 5 years? What will it look like and what will the business feel like to be part of?
 

Looking for Growth

Starting with a clear vision for growth within a business is the simplest and most powerful way a leader can motivate everyone. Growth is about understanding the drivers of growth within your business sector.  Knowing where a market is going requires leaders to step out of the day-to-day operational detail and focusing on the drivers of your market.
 
Growth is fundamental to a successful company. Finding growth does not mean just looking for growth in turnover, growth in profitability is by far the most valuable growth any leader can find. Growth can also be found in winning new market entrants; cross selling penetration to existing customers; launching  innovative products and services or premium pricing of scarce products.  Other profitable ways to grow your business include driving demand of premium and unique products, where your business has or can create a competitive advantage.
 
Like to learn more about creating growth for your business, then get in touch with us through the links below.
 
Cowden provides Strategic Planning Workshops which enable owners to create their vision of what they want to achieve. Our SPW faciliated workshops provide the opportunity for owners to work on their business not in their business. To learn more about Strategic Planning Workshops (SPW’s) or contact us by clicking Cowden to discuss your needs, or go to our website www.cowdenconsulting.com to learn more about us.
 
Like to learn how to find growth for your business? Then why not buy the book on how to build your successful business strategy, with the step-by-step guide on how to build your own business strategy, click the book below to buy now.
 
Learn more click here to read more about Richard Gourlay 
 

Strategy The Leaders Role, by Richard Gourlay 

Like to learn how to build your own strategy: then get the book with step-by-step guild to build your own business strategy, click the link below.

Content Strategy: The future of marketing

by Richard Gourlaycompetitive advantage, content strategy marketing, Marketing, Selling skills, UncategorizedPosted on Comments are Disabled

The future of marketing is all about inbound marketing: Content strategy

If you can see a trend you have missed it!

In a world of continual change seeing what is happening is often difficult to understand until the paradigm shift has occurred. Many companies are struggling to stay ahead or even in the game of online marketing. Many companies are moving towards online marketing content strategy or as marketing people call it inbound marketing. This major shift in culture and one needs to be fully understood.

 

I have just had an old-fashioned marketing communication from a well-known brand, asking me to make an immediate purchase offering me a FREE upgrade for a new phone, my automatic response is not to be interested, at all because they have not demonstrated that they understand my specific needs. That made me thinks and write this article to explain why in today’s online world that old marketing technique is now as un-effective as a double glazing salesman offering me 50% off!

It’s a complete shift not just an add-on

In a world where everyone is online all the time, the amount of information is drowning people, from Linkedin to Facebook and Twitter the rise of smart phone connectivity has promised much change to marketing but until recently only early adopters, high value and niche players could see what it meant to the marketing process.

Like many changes, it is not until the change becomes tangible does its impact become visual to many marketing departments that enables them to successfully influence a company’s marketing policy. This is considerably harder to convey when there is no tangible evidence of marketing results attributable to hard to track invisible marketing shift. Unlike the shift to direct marketing where direct connectivity between outcome and result can be seen through a transparent return on investment, online inbound marketing is struggling to demonstrate its effectiveness.

Pace is outstripping understanding

Currently content marketing relies heavily upon invisible and poorly understood online activities. Simply put, the rate of change is outstripping the knowledge base of the marketing industry, creating a gap between the understandings of marketing by decision makers. The routes causes of this is that not only are customers sourcing information in newer ways but the platform they are using, the Internet indexing is also changing ever faster, Goggle will make over 600 changes to way it scores content. Rapidly changing customer preferences, coupled with changing technologies and an ever changing platform results in the lack of certainty of what is working and why. By the time you’ve worked out what works it has already changed.

That speed is creating problems for social media to be able to convert this rate of change to make money. This continual change, both step and continual upgrading, makes it difficult for the industry to understand how to build sustainable pipelines of business.

Content Strategy also creates confusion.   

Content strategy marketing process, one that now focuses on creating online and open platform engagement, online PULL; rather than internally controlled PUSH marketing methods, traditional marketers often struggle to understand the process let alone feel uncomfortable with the concept. This is not unreasonable, given the history of marketing in the last 50 years has always focused on the traditional pipeline of generating and then controlling customer decision-making, content marketing turns that on its head. People investing in inbound marketing are asked to spend money on losing control of the potential customer by letting them make an open decision about how and when they engage with your brand.

In the mid 1990’s I remember designing a website to support a brand. No one was interested until it was live and people could see something online. A director then said, “That’s great let’s print it off and send it to all our customers”     

Dialogue NOT monologue

The inbound marketing process is about generating an open dialogue, rather than a structured marketing process. It lets potentials, prospects and suspects move in and out of your control while they select you, rather than being controlled by you.

The Content Strategy Process

  1. Listening – Online is now the first port of call for 78% of web users.
  2. Creating – Great content that answers need and demonstrates expertise.
  3. Engaging – Is about being talked about and developing a dialogue with audiences
  4. Transforming – Is about continual engagement, moving them from suspects to purchasers
  5. Growing – Requires creating perpetual momentum developing new and developing loyalty

 

Source: www.tomorrow-people.com

Traditional marketing models of developing engagement such as AIDA are still highly valid but instead of just focusing on a immediate winning proposition through a grabbing hook, attach a liner and sink them in a simple linear model for winning customers. Content strategy marketing demands  multiple engagement tools which include cross referencing other parties creating competitive collaborative working to generate awareness, giving away FREE content in white papers coupled with fast and slow acquisition tools in decision making.

The strategy needs to be explained better 

Moving to a content strategy is about moving from PUSH to PULL, not about the Internet platform, it is about understanding the importance of open unrestricted dialogue rather than material generation and in reality it is not just about the Internet although this is where its impact is being seen today, but equally will encompass every marketing platform and process. The growth of mobile technology will further the pace and realisation of content strategy.

Like to learn more? Then see article What is Content Marketing or contact us at RichardGourlay.com or see our website or social media channels for more about Cowden::-

 

Richard Gourlay Website – Linked in – Twitter – Facebook – Blog

 

 

Richard Gourlay services: business planning, strategic planning, business development, strategic marketing, Return on Investment, director development, director mentoring.

Cowden is based in Galloway, Scotland and works with businesses throughout the UK.

strategy, leadership and vision in business by Steve Jobs

Values matter in BUSINESS more than ever

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business Identity, Business mission, Business Values, competitive advantage, Dumfries and Galloway, Marketing, Strategy, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled

Values in Business must be transparent

Business leaders face many challenges, some immediate and others which are not so obvious but can be far more dramatic to business success.  In today’s business world the way you provide your product or service and to whom, says more about you than how much business you do.  How you do your business now determines your current credibility and future success. Credibility is as much about your values in becoming successful as about the success you have. Values in BUSINESS must be transparent and lived by everyone inside the organisation.

Values matter in business like never before, by Richard Gourlay leadership consultant

For longterm success your values as an organisation as demonstrated by everyone inside your organisation matter to both existing, and potential customers, in choosing to do future business with your ad your brand. People have choices and they can now exercise them more freely than ever before, that means customers can access information instantly and make choices that are more informed. Examples such as Ikea’s staff misinforming undercover Times reporters about their sustainable and certified sourced products at a number of shops are one symptom of Ikea’s rapid growth and its underlying boardroom culture, allowing the core values to erode and trust in its reputation suffer. The damage to brand reputation from such as activities such as “greenwashing” create longterm brand damage as brands jump on popularity wagons.

Values Must Live in the Moment

Almost everything in life is in today’s world is in real-time and instantly communicated to circles of ever increasing influence and far beyond. A restaurant having  bad night can have a poor reputation before the starter has even been cleared away, as customers post live feed back to sites such as Qype or Trip Advisor. Therefore, before the waiter, maitre d’ or chef knows what’s happening the world outside, potential customers already do, through instant social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, and are cancelling their reservations in droves. Live experiences matter when they happen not in the apology afterwards.
Leadership teams must ensure that their business values are being lived ever day in what is called real time. The real experiences customers face every moment are the living touch points of a brand experience.  Asking employees to make decisions and to own the decisions they make is vital for  brand to live in the moment, but they have to be supported by the leadership team and not criticised for making the calls they make. If the call they make is in the best intentions to support the customer but is outside the experience you wanted to give the customer then that is not the employees fault it is leadership teams in designing the experience.

Why clean lavatories matter?

The old adage that if you want to know how clean the restaurant kitchen is, inspect the lavatories! This is because they tell you how the restaurant values cleanliness, is a great example of modern customer awareness of living values. Do you live your values or just post them on your website? Is the question customers want to know in establishing and experiencing trust with you, and your brand.
Seeing under the skin of a brand, or behind the marketing facade a brand promotes is now easy due to transparency in legislation, global media sources and a digital world. There are few places to hide as a brand in what and how they undertake their operations. From sweat shop labour, to brown paper envelopes down to paying influencers there are no places to hide, that’s why clean lavatories matter to customers.

Rail companies learning fast

A recent story of the man on the train talking too loudly causing enraged customers to Tweet complaints about his behaviour which was picked up by a duty manager hundreds of miles away who then contacted train’s conductor to track down the loud caller and asked him to quieted down.
This story is very much testimony to the growing demands of customer expectations, immediate online response, not waiting for passing train staff to react. This story is part of the reputation shift that train companies are actively pursuing to listen and understand customer’s real needs and expectations.
Values in Business must be owned and lived from the top.
The values that a business lives really matter to customers and to the brand reputation. Values are not bland statements in brochures, websites or company walls, but living attributes in how people behave (even when no-one is looking). Values start at the top, and must be owned, lived and driven by the leadership of an organisation. It is no-one else’s responsibility but the leadership’s to ensure they establish, spread and re-enforce those values throughout their people.
Learn more about strategy and how to build yours in your business, click here or on the book below.

Strategy The Leader's Role By Richard Gourlay
Strategy: The Leader’s Role by Richard Gourlay

Taking strategic action to improve your business startup success

Where Does Tomorrow’s Business Growth Come From?

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business Identity, Business mission, Business Values, competitive advantage, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled

Business growth is not an accident. Why some businesses succeed and others do not is not by chance. Business growth requires leadership to plan out where they are going within there market.  All markets change through both evolution and revolution (think of those disruptive players in any market and the impact they have).  This slideshow explains why it is important for leadership to use business planning tools to effectively plan their growth. So where does tomorrow’s business growth come from?

Tomorrow’s Business Growth

In every market there is always new opportunities always arising. Markets do not go up (or down) equally. Some segments and individual customers grow faster than others due to their strategic or tactical successes. Knowing where external and or internal market factors are influencing or driving segments within any market is the vital strategic insight which leadership teams need to understand.  Even markets declining do not do so at equal rates. Change happens in every market so knowing where to look for positive changes within any market is a key skill for leaders to learn.

Growth and development of every market happens at different rates, in different parts of markets around the world. Looking out and at tomorrow is a vital element for leaders to undertake as part of their role.

Leadership is About Looking for Growth

Being successful in business is all about seeing the bigger picture and understanding future growth. For a business to grow and develop, the leadership team must invest time building it. That requires the leadership to step back from the day-to-day operations of the business and focus on working on the business. Like to learn more, click the slide presentation below to learn successful leaders work on their business to find growth.

If leaders aren’t looking for growth and the development of their business within the market then they need to develop these skills for success. The slideshow below will show you more or get in touch with Cowden today to discuss your business needs today, click here.

Where does tomorrow’s growth come from by Richard Gourlay Leadership must think strategically if it is to be successful in growing its business. If you want to develop your strategic thinking then why not start by reading my step-by-step guide on how to think strategically.
Strategy The Leader's Role by Richard Gourlay
The way forward in business, clear vision and direction supported by a supportive culture and a clear business plan, by Richard Gourlay

Content Strategy: The future of marketing

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, competitive advantage, content strategy marketing, Innovation, Marketing, opportunity, StrategyPosted on Comments are Disabled

In a world of continual change seeing what is happening is often difficult to understand until the paradigm shift has occurred. Many companies are struggling to stay ahead or even in the game of online marketing. Many companies are moving towards online marketing content strategy or as marketing people call it inbound marketing. This major shift in culture and one needs to be fully understood. The importance of content as a strategy is the future of marketing.

Content Matters

I have just had an old-fashioned marketing communication from a well-known brand, asking me to make an immediate purchase offering me a FREE upgrade for a new phone. My automatic response is not to be interested, at all because they have not demonstrated that they understand my specific needs. That made me thinks and write this article to explain why in today’s online world that old marketing technique is now as un-effective as a double glazing salesman offering me 50% off! 

Content Strategy: It’s a complete shift not just an add-on

In a world where everyone is online all the time, the amount of information is drowning people, from Linkedin to Facebook and Twitter the rise of smart phone connectivity has promised much change to marketing but until recently only early adopters, high value and niche players could see what it meant to the marketing process.
Like many changes, it is not until the change becomes tangible does its impact become visual to many marketing departments that enables them to successfully influence a company’s marketing policy. This is considerably harder to convey when there is no tangible evidence of marketing results attributable to hard to track invisible marketing shift. Unlike the shift to direct marketing where direct connectivity between outcome and result can be seen through a transparent return on investment, online inbound marketing is struggling to demonstrate its effectiveness.

Content Marketing: Pace of change is outstripping current understanding

Currently content marketing relies heavily upon invisible and poorly understood online activities. Simply put, the rate of change is outstripping the knowledge base of the marketing industry, creating a gap between the understandings of marketing by decision makers. The routes causes of this is that not only are customers sourcing information in newer ways but the platform they are using, the Internet indexing is also changing ever faster, Goggle will make over 600 changes to way it scores content. Rapidly changing customer preferences, coupled with changing technologies and an ever changing platform results in the lack of certainty of what is working and why. By the time you’ve worked out what works it has already changed.
Content Strategy can create confusion.   
Content strategy marketing process, one that now focuses on creating online and open platform engagement, online PULL; rather than internally controlled PUSH marketing methods, traditional marketers often struggle to understand the process let alone feel uncomfortable with the concept. This is not unreasonable, given the history of marketing in the last 50 years has always focused on the traditional pipeline of generating and then controlling customer decision-making, content marketing turns that on its head. People investing in inbound marketing are asked to spend money on losing control of the potential customer by letting them make an open decision about how and when they engage with your brand.
In the mid 1990’s I remember designing a website to support a brand. No one was interested until it was live and people could see something online. A director then said, “That’s great let’s print it off and send it to all our customers”    

Dialogue NOT monologue

The inbound marketing process is about generating an open dialogue, rather than a structured marketing process. It lets potentials, prospects and suspects move in and out of your control while they select you, rather than being controlled by you.
The Content Strategy Process
  1. Listening – Online is now the first port of call for 78% of web users.
  2. Creating – Great content that answers need and demonstrates expertise.
  3. Engaging – Is about being talked about and developing a dialogue with audiences
  4. Transforming – Is about continual engagement, moving them from suspects to purchasers
  5. Growing – Requires creating perpetual momentum developing new and developing loyalty
Traditional marketing models of developing engagement such as AIDA are still highly valid but instead of just focusing on a immediate winning proposition through a grabbing hook, attach a liner and sink them in a simple linear model for winning customers. Content strategy marketing demands  multiple engagement tools which include cross referencing other parties creating competitive collaborative working to generate awareness, giving away FREE content in white papers coupled with fast and slow acquisition tools in decision making.
Content strategy needs to be explained better
Moving to a content strategy is about moving from PUSH to PULL, not about the Internet platform, it is about understanding the importance of open unrestricted dialogue rather than material generation and in reality it is not just about the Internet although this is where its impact is being seen today, but equally will encompass every marketing platform and process. The growth of mobile technology will further the pace and realisation of content strategy.
Like to know how we can help you, then get in touch, just click this link
Leadership in business is a challenge we can help with.

Have you felt the full power of the Internet Tsunami Yet?

by Richard GourlayBusiness Identity, competitive advantage, content strategy marketing, Innovation, Marketing, opportunity, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled
Has the world moved for you, or did you miss it? The world of business has shifted but many businesses don’t seem to have noticed the great shift in power away from companies to the customer. The internet is not a fixed service, it is growing and evolving rapidly and with it so are the tools and uses it delivers. What was once a way to replace your Yellow Pages has become the most powerful source of information the world has ever seen.  Have you felt the full power of the internet tsunami yet?
We all see the impact of the Internet in every market sector.  We see the growth of online shopping or the growth of smart phones and the online move of insurance and music online.  That shift and the corresponding growths of new consumers are just beginning to be understood, this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The next stage of the internet revolution has yet to be felt.

The Great Paradigm Shift: Internet Tsunami

As our understanding of this shifting paradigm slowly emerges and evolves.  It takes time for its impact to be fully understood and its impacts to be really appreciated. In the same way as the impact of the introduction of domestic electricity which subsequently facilitated the introduction of the radio, which spread communication did in previous generations. So the rise in power of the Internet is more than just our ability to look stuff up and buy consumer goods online.
This paradigm shift has certain key features, which makes the rise of the Internet generation far more dramatic in its impact to business today.
Unlike many previous innovations, the move online has been done in an infinitely scalable way.  Making markets financially accessible to company’s of any size and dimension using low cost everyday technology. The whole plethora of internet software platforms provide total engagement opportunities for businesses to reach specialist or global markets. Rather than being a premium service only open to the super rich, such as the introduction of the car, airline or a global consumer product range. A good idea, service or product can now be provided through the internet instantly. The availability of multiple open software technology platforms, has lowered cost and created universal access by braking down barriers across all areas of a global market.

The Internet is a Global Movement

This global shift, supported by governments and industry to reach and penetrate all and every strata of society and on an almost global reach is a new global phenomenon creating a universal shift.
Whether in New Guinea or Newfoundland, you can get a 3G signal.  Many countries like India and China just leapfrogged the copper wire landline systems of the 20th century through large parts of their country’s moving straight into the 21st century, avoiding unnecessary cost and rapidly accelerating progress throughout their country.  The Arab spring was not achieved by any three letter acronym news agency or Rupert Murdock’s media empire, but by new young mobile online generation who created, sustained and drove the rolling revolutions.

The POWER of the Internet Tsunami

The result of the internet revolution is that the world has made a huge step forward almost overnight.  That has changed more than just the way we buy some products, it has in fact changed the way we think, and act.  This universal overnight movement has also solved the adoption dilemma for new technology.  For companies to achieve a launch of a new product or service they had to achieve a critical volume and this can now be achieved without geographic boundaries.  The internet creates multiple new routes to market, bypassing traditional routes to market, achieving profit without having to invest huge amounts of capital in awareness marketing.
The sign you've been looking for that values matter in business

Internet Empowered Intelligence

This paradigm shift has moved the way we think to such an extent that everything has changed. When in 1906 Admiral Sir John Fisher invented the Dreadnought battleship in 1906, he changed naval world overnight. At the time the Royal navy had 1,000 ships of the line, the introduction of the Dreadnought made them all redundant overnight. Suddenly, to be a superpower it was not the number of ships you had but how many Dreadnoughts you had and a new arms race had begun as every other battleship become redundant.
In the same way, the introduction of always available high speed broadband has made so much of business thinking redundant, not just in the collapse of use of directories such as yellow pages, dictionaries or our communication. Today people have empowered intelligence, the ability to become informed by scanning a QR code, or connecting to a highly rated source they can become more than informed, they can become actively empowered.

Internet Tsunami Continually Evolves 

The internet is now driving people to think and do things in different ways across many age and economic cohorts. Its not just the young buying music or consumers doing their shopping online, although both have delivered huge shifts in culture to these markets.  People’s first mental response to knowledge and decision making is now to click, look-up and become informed.
No-longer relying on our embedded historical mental heritage or through experts’ advice, people are now researching and networking their knowledge and our learning, widening knowledge and creating expert communities on almost every subject matter possible. For example to become an expert on social media you could do an online course or you could click onto Mashable and become an expert within hours. Anyone and everyone can become an expert, exposing consumer and business choice to new forces and opportunities.
You may have heard the old adage that there is more computer power in a simple watch today than on the Apollo 11 spacecraft which took man to the moon. People have at their finger tips more knowledge about companies than even the most informed company is aware off. Users groups, expert forums and review sites empower and drive decisions, in a far more effective way than traditional marketing channels can persuade customers.
In just in the same way that the Arctic Monkeys pioneered the music online community following, rather than through the plugging and playlist approval to get on the radio. Today the same today is true of consumer both in consumer and business markets.
The power of the internet is yet to be fully understood. For some it has been like a Tsunami, just as a record shop or an insurance salesman. To many others though it is an unseen force, they know its there but not what or how it operates and effects their business. But it is and it will. The sooner business wakes up to these changes the better placed they will be to compete without feeling they have one hand behind their back.
Vision to make change n business by Richard Gourlay

A good business has clear objectives and goals to achieve.

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business Identity, Business mission, Business Values, competitive advantage, Exit Strategy, Strategy, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled
For leadership teams planning a business is focused around the annual exercise of business planning.  Reviewing what went well and what did not, reviewing the overall performance of the organisation, its profits (or losses) and deciding what to do differently and what to keep the same for the forthcoming year. That’s why a good business has clear objectives and goals to achieve.
One key area which good leadership teams consistently get right is in rolling out the right measures, both soft and hard measures of performance inside a business plan. Cascading business plan objectives down to department and down to personal performance objectives are the vital element in implementing a business plan successfully. The key ones include refreshing the vision and connecting clear objectives and soft and hard metrics together to all levels of the organisation.

Business Goals

Having a vision is vital to be successful in the long term, but having objectives will ensure you get you there. Clear milestones for everyone inside your company, top to bottom are the essential component of a successful company. Every successful company has clear goals, strategic ones the outrageous ones (global domination) through to achievable tactical objectives.

Without clear (SMART, see below) objectives a company will loose focus on its goals. Poor or non-specific objectives companies can fall victim to strategic drift, this month’s whim and next month’s quick idea.  The failure to cascaded objectives at every level allows good people’s morale and confidence to fall. This is because they cannot see where how they are contributing to the company’s success. Everyone should know how they contribute to the business plan’s success. Failing to set clear objectives in a business plan creates a path to failure in execution and devalues the process of business planning and it becomes a waste of paper, time and effort.

Business Objectives

Objectives should be like a pyramid, with the big objectives at the top, but at every layer underneath there should be the sub objectives that make the bigger one happen. A well run organisation should therefore look like a pyramid, in terms of objectives, with everyone working on their goals which build up together to achieve the big picture goals. This form of management managing by objectives MBO, (not to be confused with a management buy-out MBO), allows people to focus on their objectives, which are aligned to higher goals.
Try not to have too many objectives to achieve. I always recommend no more than 5 per person. The reason why 5? Because it keeps people focused and not drowned in statistics. Even at the company level remember the old KISS concept of simplicity, if you have page after page of objectives some will suffer unless you can resource them. Focus on what really matters to the business, what drives performance and how are they made up. For people think about their Key Performance Indicators, KPI’s they are doing a good job if… Classical KPI’s usually include: revenue, margin, customer numbers, retention, growth, production, saving, are amongst the most common.

Setting Business Objectives

High performance companies often drive all their goals by setting team objectives which are then broken down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each individual employee. Try not to give any individual or manager too many. An easy way to achieve that is to ensure they can remember and recall them with ease when you meet them.

The benefits of setting good objectives:

1.       Objectives define the entire purpose of your business (or unit) in a couple of sentences or bullet points or set of numbers.
2.       Objectives are often identified as key performance indicators at the individual persons performance.
3.       The objectives that you set determine the quality of the strategy or tactics that you will adopt.
4.       Goals allow leaders to Manage By Objectives MBO. This avoids time in argument and also helps in introducing a more participative management culture where employees are encouraged to set their own objectives.
5.       Clear KPI’s per person is a successful way to evaluate performance as long as the KPI’s are numerate or translatable into a numerate language.
Remember SMART criteria to define attributes of good objectives:
That is:
·         Specific
·         Measurable
·         Achievable
·         Realistic
·         Timely

Achievable Goals

If goals and objectives are not SMART then they are unlikely to be achievable.  Being better or good for example is too often quoted as a goal or objective, and while that is a statement of direction it is not a clear viable goal or objective. SMART goals and objectives are tangible they are a defined quantifiable number or a supported qualitative measure compared to an existing one.
Goals must be achievable. But for that to happen they must be quantifiable, either numerate or benchmarked compared to a previous number and deliverable within the timeframe to the standard required.

SMART criteria include:
1.       Both short range and long range targets should be set.
2.       Both quantitative and qualitative
3.       Clear. Put them in writing, to be achieved within a specified time frame.
4.       Measurable. So that they can be compared with actual results.
5.       Challenging. This is so that staff will put greater effort and be more motivated.
6.       Achievable. Avoid overly optimistic goals as this might be counter productive due to their demotivating nature.
Goals should be realistic, reasonable, reachable and beatable. Avoid hidden goals and don’t be over specific.
Hope that gets you thinking? Want to learn more then contact us or click here 
McKinsey7-S-Model to assess a company structure, by Richard Gourlay

The TOP TWELVE Business Planning Mistakes

by Richard GourlayBusiness culture, Business mission, Business Values, competitive advantage, Exit Strategy, Innovation, Strategy, VisionPosted on Comments are Disabled
Business planning is often talked about as a challenging process to go through.  Both to start a new business, or as the essential process of taking ownership of an existing business. Many business plans fail to achieve their objective, not because they represent a bad idea but because they fall into classic business planning pitfalls or fall over blinding obvious credibility cliffs. Here are the top 12 business planning mistakes, and importantly how to avoid them.
 

The business-planning process is in itself a very worthwhile pursuit, they take a lot of effort and resource. A business plan’s primary purpose is to convey an idea with a view to achieving a specific goal, most typically in securing funding. 

What makes a good business plan is less clearly defined.

Always remember that a business plan needs to be tailored to its target audience. If you have different audiences you will need to be able to flex your plan to that audiences specific needs. That means shaping it, edit it and amending it to achieve your objective.

Management consultancy by Richard Gourlay in Dumfries & Galloway
 
If you would like to know how to avoid these top twelve pitfalls and credibility cliff edges then click on the subject titles which are links at any time to see my step-by-step videos on how to avoid these pitfalls and credibility cliff edges.
 
Here’s the top twelve business planning mistakes I come across most frequently:-
 

1. Lack of Viable Opportunity

Every business plan needs to describe the opportunity in detail. It must also detail how that opportunity can, and will by this plan, be exploited profitably, effectively and successfully.  A good business plan can visualise the opportunity and articulate the company’s ability to reach a viable opportunity, this is a credibility cliff.
 
Tomorrow is a difficult place to plan for, but being able to identify and make that opportunity viable is the most critical test any business plan has. It is also the most common reason they fail. Your executive summary and the wider plan describes the viability of the opportunity in terms such as:-
 
  1. What is the problem which people  will pay to have solved?
  2. Does your solution solve this issue for a specific target market?
  3. Why would someone buy your solution over someone else’s?
  4. Why are the benefits of your offering so compelling?
  5. Can you reach that target market with a compelling message quickly and directly?
 

2. Unbelievable / Unsupported Financial Numbers 

Where any assessment of a business starts and often finishes is at the numbers, specifically on the projected Income Statement or Profit & Loss. Projections are just that, but they are vital and must be based upon clearly stated assumptions. Many business plans are written with numbers which just do not stand up even to a first glance.
 
Dream numbers: in overestimating income and understating costs.
 
Your numbers have to make sense and be realistic, if you are a new start-up then they must grow rationally from nothing, but costs will be incurred before turnover is generated, these need to be realised and recognised in your financials.
 
 The financials must also make sense and be presented in a format which presents a clear case for the investment and the return you will deliver. Ultimately, they need to be credible, defensible and consistent.
 

3. No Accessible Route(s) to Market

 All opportunities are only prospective ones without evidence that the target market can be accessed profitably, this is a big cliff to fall over. 

Entrepreneurs are inherently product focused, concentrating their energies on ‘the winning idea’ to the exclusion of many other important elements such as how they intend to access their customer base, a classic cliff edge for any plan.
 
“Built and they will come” is a great dream but a poor plan.
 
A business plan must include a comprehensive, credible and costed analysis of how the company is going to access their target market in a cost effective manner. Too many plans focus on the product not the market opportunity, they focus on teh solution not the problem they are solving.
 
For that to happen your plan needs to really understand the target customers, their needs, and purchasing priorities. Turning historical data into information and drawing knowledge from it ascertain insight into their future purchasing habits. Only then can you demonstrate cost effective routes to market within a business plan.
 
 

 4. Executive Summaries Which Aren’t

Somewhere between a pitfall and a cliff edge, is the failure of the Executive Summary, to be either a summary or aimed at executives. The only part of any plan that will certainly be read is the Executive Summary and yet they rarely provide an effective summary of the business plan. A good plan highlights the key proposition of the plan and sells the proposal.
Too many Executive Summaries either throw everything down in a jumbled mess, making them pages long and randomly pulling facts together, or they are so bland they say nothing!What’s a good Executive Summary, one that states the proposition clearly and succinctly, a page is sufficient for any plan.
The Executive Summary should clearly explain the whole picture including what investment is required and what it will deliver. The point of an Executive Summary is to inform the executives, so many it punchy, outcome focused and only ever write it at the end.

5. Over Estimating Turnover  

Another associated key element of the plan which relates to this element is the estimations of projected turnover.
 
While every business plan talks in positive terms (hopefully).  The obvious and persistent danger is that the innate optimism of all entrepreneurs and their tendency to exaggerate every business opportunity. If you have no established routes to market then you need to identify the start-up period within your turnover and cost model. This has major implications for cashflow and on where investment will be needed.  Experienced investors will expect that you have taken into account. 
 
This pitfall is most easily managed using a realistic method for estimating income is to calculate the number of customers the business intends to capture and the average revenues. These two averaged inputs are easier to calculate and also to justify within a business plan.
 

6. Absence of Clear Objectives 

I could have put this pitfall at number one very easily. What is the main purpose of the plan? 

If the plan’s objective is to seek funding then it is vitally important to clearly describe the investment opportunity. While the plan describes the concept in detail, it must also address the primary purpose of the plan. So many plans fail to make it explicitly clear what the company’s needs to be successful or what the investment will mean to the company.
 
A good business plan answers the following key business planning questions:
  1. Why investors should investing in this business rather than anywhere else?
  2. When will they recoup their initial investment and how and when it can be realised?
  3. What is their expected return on investment?
  4. How the company has managed all aspects of risk? 
  5. Is the investment merely cash or do they need to bring other assets such as expertise to the table?
If you can answer these key questions, the intended audience will feel comfortable and be able to recognise that they fit the brief.
 
 

7. Non-Existent Cashflow Management

Particularly relevant to a new business, this is often an invisible cliff edge which business plans fall over on, is the ability of the business to articulate the differences between cash and profit. Running out of cash is the highest risk any new business or re-engineered business faces.
 
Good, positive, and conservative cash flow management is vital when businesses pursue investment opportunities where there are significant cash flows out, in advance of the cash flows coming in. This is the classic business plan cliff, which sends potential investors running.
 
If a business plan’s financial model is based upon selling on credit, then they receive the cash in the future, but need cask to pay expenses before that income hits their account, then they have a cashflow risk. This outflow of cash is the single biggest reason companies fail, its not margin, its rarely the product, it is invariably that they run out of cash.
 
 

8. Non existent Management Teams

Throwing a few CV’s into a business plan does not create a delivery team. Likewise a generic organisational chart with missing pieces and To Be Confirmed (TBC) is not going to inspire confidence  with investors to part with their cash.

Entrepreneurs can often sell an idea but they do not always inspire they can select a balanced team of people with the right skill mix, from the financial management to key leadership roles and the right operational team to deliver your ambitious plan.

Having a structured management team with operational structures is essential for success. Track records matter, as much as having clear roles and responsibilities laid out in delivering the operational plan which underpins the business plan.

9. Poor Evidence of Demand

A significant area of concern when planning is justifying the sales forecast or demand levels for a product or service. This breaks down into the two main elements used in forecasting: the use of historical facts and the dependency of subjective assessment.
 
Sales forecasting, is the vital tool to identify the basis of all projected revenue figures that can be considered credible in the wider context of the plan. Unless there is verifiable demand for the idea, the risks grow out of all proportion, particularly if the initial start-up or investment costs are high.
  
Minimising risk in a business plan is all about gaining an understanding the potential demand and how the company will with this plan create or drive that demand rather than concentrate on ‘the product or the idea’. This classic cliff edge is a silent killer for investors, they don’t believe in it.
 

10. Gaping Inconsistencies

An effective business plan needs to be consistent throughout as all the various strands are brought together into one single entity, the plan. It is pitfall which entrepreneurs gloss over, but investors relentlessly prod before committing to any plan.
 
If there are multiple authors of the plan the risks of inconsistencies will exponentially increase. Extrapolating data can also cause problems, using research data and then jumping from possible market size to sales potential and then sales forecast are classic pitfalls which need to be thought through.
 
Presenters of the plan must have a simple narrative that runs through their plan, using key facts and staying ‘on script’ so as to ensure that a cohesive story is communicated. The numbers must also be consistent with the broader content so that there are no contradictions between them.
 
 

11. Not Appreciating the Competition 

There is always competition. Yet the number of times the phrase “there are  no competitors” appears in plans is considerable.
 
It does not matter how unique the proposition is there will also be some other business competing for people’s money. While there may not be a direct competitor it will certainly be a transfer investment that customers will be making. The business plan must recognise where the customers invest is coming from. If competitors are not identified in a business plan then the only credible assessment is that the company has not been diligent enough in its research.
 
Also remember that no company lives in a vacuum, as soon as you launch (or before) the marketplace will change. What will the competitive landscape look like in a few days, weeks, months or years?  Can you create or establish significant barriers to entry for likely competition.  Otherwise it is likely that a successful market entry will be followed by better-placed competitors with greater resources, etc
 

12. Throwing Your Plan Out Too Soon

You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.Your plan needs to be right the first time and the content needs to be accurate, clear, concise and correct.
 
More often than not business plans need to be completed by a certain date and hence the final stages can be rushed, a classic pitfall.
 
Consequently, in many instances the final output does not do justice to the plan. Attention to detail at the end is vital, so ensure you have a completed plan with references and formatted correctly. Also ensure the content of the plan has been edited down to a digestible size, use appendices for details.
 
Get someone removed from the process to proof the plan. If a presentation is part of the process, it should reflect the Executive Summary.
 
 

In Summary The Top 12 Business Planning Mistakes are caused by:-

Business plans by definition have a purpose of communicating a course of action so make sure they do that primary role. Support inevitably means resources with the primary aim of the plan often being to secure financial investment. Explain what the investment will be used for and how it will be protected from these classic pitfalls.
 
Writing a successful business plan is all about preparation, about being as thorough in your research and planning as is possible. By avoiding the cliff edges and pitfalls above, the chances of the plan objectives being met increase substantially.
 
If you would like to know how to avoid these classic business planning pitfalls then why not click through to my step-by-step video: How To Take The Guess Work Out of Your Business Success, click here. Or read more about strategic planning and business planning in my blog, click here.