Whether your business is big or small, before you spend too much time thinking through all those flashy new ideas don’t forget to use this time of year to revisit the very core of your business being.
For many businesses, the end of the January-to-March quarter causes us to shift our gaze towards next financial year.
We put all our dreams of additional resources, new systems, product innovations and a host of other flashy ideas into a big plan – and then we put forecasts, allowances and budgets against all these ideas for stakeholders to review and approve.
In small business you may be lucky enough to be both the source of the idea and the approver, whereas in bigger companies and listed organisations the approvers are usually executives that represent the best interests of our shareholders.
Whether your business is big or small, now is an important time to get back to basics.
A good way to start this back to basics process is by putting some well-rounded business context around the planning discussions.
At the most fundamental level, a business sets out to provide access to something a group of people need or want, charge a price for this access that people are willing to pay after they’ve weighed up the expected outcome or benefit, and we endeavour to deliver this outcome or benefit reliably, over and over again, for less energy and money than we charge our customers, in order for us to make some profit.
When articulated like this I’m always reminded of how simple business really is. But when is the last time you sat back to think about these core fundamentals and how they applied to your own business?
I know I didn’t do it regularly enough until I realised just how powerful it can be in setting priorities and dreaming up new ideas. And not just once every twelve months – but in every decision I make throughout the year.
Lots of the success we’ve had in the letterbox advertising game can be attributed to our stern focus on good business fundamentals.
Put really simply we, the Local Direct Network, help our customers execute successful letterbox drops.
We make it easy for customers to find us, we provide lots of quality information and insights to help our customers make informed decisions and create effective flyers, we make it incredibly affordable to reach thousands of prospective customers through the letterbox.
We are enjoying good growth because we reliably repeat this process time and time again.
Like all businesses our sniper-like focus is sometimes distracted by flashy new ideas – but never do we prioritise these ideas without considering their impact on the aforementioned business fundamentals. We ask ourselves “Will this investment help our customers deliver more successful advertising?” and if the answer is no, rarely does it hit our to-do list.
More great examples of the power of an acute focus on fundamentals can be found in the records of great business turnarounds. How many times have you a new leader or team state that their turnaround success can be attributed to taking the business back to basics?
In order for these businesses to be in a state that requires a turnaround they’ve often simply lost sight of the fundamentals of what their business is and why customers buy what they provide.
Whilst the specifics of what you do and how you do it will likely shift slowly over time, there will always be a relatively simple but insightful reason that people pay for whatever you provide. Remain focused on that insight and you’ll give yourself the very best chance of long term success, regardless of the diversification, innovation and growth that occurs in your business.
