In this the fifth of a multipart series of posts started with:Why Small and Mid Sized Firms Grow. This conversation deals with what it really means to have a vision for your company
Vision means different things to different people. It is not a bolt out of the blue that strikes you one morning after a vivid dream. It is not a belief that you will become the next Facebook. We are referring here to a vision in the business sense of the word, as an expectation of what you can realistically expect to achieve after you have assessed the opportunities that exist or can be expected to come about. The conversion of that vision separates the dreamers form the achievers. Developing a business plan to put your resources to work in achieve that vision and will be discussed in upcoming blogs.
But let’s stick to the concept of vision first. Much was made out of the supposed fact that President Bush, did not have the so called “vision thing”. Many people think he actually had a vision, but it was flawed and poorly executed. The point here is that a company can be successful in many ways; it can simply get lucky (i.e. its main competitor goes bankrupt, its major client hits the jackpot and you go along for the ride, etc), it sticks to its knitting and in a good market just keeps on perking along. Or best yet, come up with a vision of what can become a reality after one gathers the facts, determine the marketplace needs, thinks about what they have a passion to accomplish and then goes about making that vision a reality (assuming that they have done their due diligence in what is realistically achievable by them).
So let’s dig a bit deeper into creating a business vision. There are actually two types of visions here. The first is a natural extension of what you are doing; only doing it and a lot better and including a family of free value added (VA) services. This is then packaged and branded to set you apart from the competition. This would be customized to the specific needs of each client and you would fully document the financial savings your program would generate for them. You could then reposition yourself from just another vendor to and trusted advisor and even be able to share in the cost savings generated. Client VA rewards could be tiered by their annual volume with you and receive benefits similar to the airlines’ frequent flyer silver, gold and platinum programs. We will explore this in greater depth in later blogs.
The second vision is a breakthrough concept that opens up whole new vistas for your business. Apple did this when it went from a niche computer company with low market share into an entertainment company resulting from Steve Jobs vision of how music and entertainment juggernaut by integrating: ITunes, Ipod, Iphone and Ipad into Apple; or Google’s vision that the internet could do almost anything they set their mind to (Google Maps, Google Analytics, Google Shopping, the Android, etc.). We have the vision of what outsourcing and distributed processing has done. This is the vision of innovation and the list is immeasurable.
In the last blog, we discussed what you should know about the economy. This knowledge hopefully will allow you to develop a vision to use this information productively.
We welcome your questions as to personal and business challenges you face in order to grow.
Optimal Management is the premier management consulting company to the staffing industry. We act as mentors to owners and managers to maximize their sales, profits and value of their company. We become an extension of our clients operations and are there for all of their staffing and business needs, from sales, marketing and compensation plans, to finance, M&A, general management and everything in between.
