Strategy Blind Spots
In my Real-World Marketing seminars, I spend quite a bit of time on “blind spots.” We all have them. So, how do we know we have ‘em if we can’t see ‘em? Well, here are five things to keep in mind.
1. Falling in Love with an Idea/Product. Sure, we all do this - but do a quick sanity check and try to sell to some folks who don’t know you. If the best thing you can say about your idea or product is “All my friends love it!” - better hope you’ve got a lot of friends.
2. Addiction to Tradition. Strategic planning often causes eye-rolling and snickers out here in the real ” we’ve got to make money now” world. This is partly due to the general addiction to traditional academic formulas and methodologies. Trouble signs: A. If you find yourself spending more time filling out templates or trying to understand some complicated formula than you do actually thinking; B. The “expert” consultant you’ve brought in doesn’t allow any time to just thrash around with new ideas. ; C. You’ve been doing planning, marketing or product development the same way for years. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” is solid common sense. But, if you wait until “it’s broken,” it’ll be too late for your business. The time to think about changing a strategy is while it’s still working.
3. Assumptions. Assumptions are necessary for planning; however, sometimes we’re just plain wrong. Test your assumptions with some third parties - get outside your comfort zone and see what those assumptions look like then.
4. Hubris or Hope - Instead of Homework. “Sure, five restaurants have failed in this location, but I’ll succeed!” Hmmm…maybe you should stop and count the oil stains in the parking lot, look at the surrounding neighborhood, and revisit your business plan.
5. Planning as if Nothing Changes. “Where do you want to be in three years?” Well, it’s great to have an idea, but you can bet things are going to change - and usually in ways we never foresee. The dotcom bust was partly due to companies thinking the VC money spigot would always be on - and not doing some boring but important stuff like target market analysis, service delivery planning and financial management.
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August 26th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
Addition to #2. If you are doing well, ask the question “Why are we successful?”. Back in 1985, Compaq had passed $250M in sales. I was talking to Rod Canion and Gary Stimac, and posed that question to them. Said this was the time to look at what is working and why it is working. In 87 they did $625M and in 88 passed the $1B mark. O.K., they are smart guys and probably figured it out on their own, but Compaq was very good at re-inventing themselves and taking a leading postion in their markets.
August 29th, 2005 at 8:35 am
Good point, Bruce. I always advise to ask both, “What isn’t working?” and “What IS working?” What are the happy accidental successes? So, they don’t fit the strategy, so what? Maybe it’s time to change the strategy.