Is your Business Strategy Too Generic?

Toss a rock in any direction and chances are good you can hit someone offering you a “winning business strategy.” But can any of those generic one-size-fits-all programs really work for you? Well, yes … but probably not as well as you want them to. You are much better served with a business custom plan – not customized – to your particular business. While, yes, there are some basics that apply to just about every business, your business is different by dint of being YOUR business.

But finding out how you are different is just the first step in the process. Coming right on the heels of that revelation is the process of discovering how to monetize that difference and position your uniqueness in the marketplace. See, your uniqueness should give you a competitive advantage, as long as you understand the strengths of that difference and minimize the potential negatives.

Next, learn how to keep it simple. Your business may be complex (say, literal rocket science) or it may be simple (pet rock science, for example), but your business should not be explained with complexity. You need to know how to boil your business down to its most compelling component parts. To explain what you do in a way that is simple for anyone to understand the first time they hear it and interesting enough to create questions.

For example, “we fly things into space” or “we have several different options you can collect.” In both of these examples, it’s clear what the advantages are of the product or service. You aren’t boring people with details, but you are giving them enough to create a connection.

Determine the best outcomes for your processes. While “building a better light bulb” is the cliché, what does that really look like for your business? Are you better off improving something, or is your business better suited for showing the vulnerabilities of something else.

For example, Apple is working on something top secret related to driverless cars, but are they actually building a driverless car or are they developing tech that will be used in or with driverless cars? Only they know for sure … but you can bet they DO know for sure. What about you? Do you know what your business really does best? If not, you are probably leaving money on the table.