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3rd Quarter 2012
A
re you tempted to skip a round of stra-
tegic planning to save cash and avoid
disruption during this extended period
of uncertainty? if so, maybe you need
to demand more from your company’s strategic
planning process.
The irony is that businesses need clear
strategy
more
during periods of uncertainty,
not
less
. all it takes is a negative story on the
evening news or a customer complaint or a
whiney spouse to shake the confidence of em-
ployees, customers, or vendors. folks around
the company need to be reassured that the
leaders are looking for opportunities, analyzing
resources, updating the strategy, making adjust-
ments, and are confident about the future of the
company based on current information. how
much momentum is your company losing when
employees doubt, wonder, worry, pause, hold
back, or start polishing their resumes? how
about when customers decide to try a competi-
tor? or vendors change their terms?
if the folks all around your company are
enthusiastic about your future, then convene to
go straight into growth strategy mode. if there
is still doubt or worry, build problem-solving
processes into the strategic planning.
often the Cfo is the member of the executive
teamwho can see the tangible evidence of unre-
solved problems, because it shows up so clearly
in things like gross profit, capacity utilization,
revenue/head, repeat business, average sale, em-
ployee turnover/recruitment costs, etc. but just
hoarding cash and continuing to avoid problem-
solving won’t turn the situation around.
Sadly Out of Touch
a company recently brought us in because
they were very excited about a new product
they had launched earlier in the year. Their
best customers had been extremely loyal for
a long time. They were convinced that it was
time to dive right into growth planning. but
when we conducted our interviews with those
same loyal, long-term customers, we learned
that the overwhelming majority were actually
annoyed, didn’t like the new product, felt taken
for granted, and were quietly shopping the
competition. The leaders of the company had
absolutely no idea.
We offered to conduct more interviews and
used control groups to make sure we hadn’t been
misled. The customers didn’t want to hurt the
feelings of the leaders of the company. They had
become friends over the years. The customers
were choosing sustained friendship over contin-
ued purchases. Wow! it sure was helpful that we
insisted on some market research. The client had
come close to refusing to let us do that step.
They are not alone! Perhaps your company
is also making important decisions based on
outdated information. if it’s a few years old,
the data is pretty worthless in most industries.
There have been dramatic changes in customer
buying patterns due to financing, advances in
technology, generational differences, and so
many other factors.
Strategic Planning
Solves Problems
We’ve noticed that many of the baby boomer
Ceos and presidents of privately held midsized
companies (particularly the family-owned
ones) are still basing their strategies on the
way things were when their best customers
were first acquired. They’re hoarding cash, and
hoarding cash is not the answer.
other companies have a chronic recurring
problem that has little to do with the economy.
it is often referred to as the “elephant in the
room.” you know, a revolving door in sales
management, an outdated it department, too
little repeat business, or few referrals. if one of
those “elephants” defines your situation, maybe
you, the Cfo, would be more likely to embrace
strategic planning if the process included more
focused problem-solving. that way, strategic
planning could actually make the business
some money in the short run as well as guide
the generation of improved results over the
longer run.
or your company could be experiencing tell-
tale behavioral symptoms that would sabotage
the success of just about any strategic plan. if
you have a blaming culture, indecision, silos,
low accountability, and room for excuses, the
strategic process should address those issues to
have a positive impact.
The point is, strategic planning can be done
in a way that features parallel processes for
updated information to guide important
decisions, resolve chronic recurring problems,
and/or replace self-sabotaging behavior. it’s
more important to expect more from strategic
planning now. This is not the time to avoid it.
a real Ceo seeks the input and involvement of
the Cfo during strategic planning…and so do
real strategic consultants.
GROWTH
STRATEGIES
Aldonna R. Ambler,
The Growth Strategist
Put Planning Front
and Center
Aldonna R. Ambler,
CMC, CSP, has
earned the right to be called THE GROWTH STRATEGIST
®
.
She has won more than two dozen national and statewide
“entrepreneur of the year” awards for the resilient growth
of her international businesses across four recessions.
Her midsized B2B clients come to her for opportunity and
resource analysis, four approaches to strategic planning,
executive advisory services, growth financing, and targeted
search, all of which are key to achieving
accelerated growth
with sustained profitability
®
. Her clients get on — and then
stay on — the published lists of the fastest growing pri-
vately held companies. Ambler is in her eighth year hosting
a weekly peer-to-peer-to-peer syndicated online talk show
that features interviews with CEOs/presidents of midsized
companies sharing success tips about the growth strategy
of the week. An archive of over 300 interviews is available
at www.GrowthStrategistShow.com. She can be reached at
1-888-Aldonna or at Aldonna@ambler.com.
Learn more
about the author