Why conduct a strategic review?

Ah. Strategic reviews. Two words that will never get anyone excited!

We’re imagining your day; jump out of bed with joy, go for a run or maybe pop to the gym, have breakfast and take the kids to school and skip along to the rosy world of running your own business … or …. Startling awake by the sound of your alarm, only to be rushing down the stairs realising that you slept in. The rush of your children around the kitchen. Bickering surrounding who gets to sit in the front seat on the way to school. Mixed with the taste of stale coffee and consideration of eating the left-over ham & pineapple pizza for breakfast (hey, the fruit counts as one of your five a day!).

All of this can only be topped off by the thought of conducting a strategic review of your business.

Already dealing with the ever-growing list of jobs you need to do at home, as well as in the business. People to get back to. Meetings to attend. Notes and actions to take. Customers see. Suppliers to organise. Bookkeeping. Tax … the last thing you’ve got time to do, is a Strategic Review of your business.  You’re busy.  You’ve got customers, right?  

Why do you need to do a strategic review of your business?

When done correctly, a strategic review is a great chance to restart things. Fall in love with your business all over again. Especially during this state of change and uncertainty.

It can also act as a regrouping exercise, making sure everyone else is on the same page with your business’s goal. As well as making sure your business goals are still what they should be …

A strategic review can help you to discover your “why” and your “what do you actually need to do about it”.

Its crucial to base future decisions on which determine the success of your business. 

Sayers Solutions has developed a strategic review programme, as part of our 4 Part Plan.

The strategic review underpins your plan. All decisions and priorities are made from the review.

Our situational analysis guides you through different elements of your business and market that you need to explore when conducting a strategic review.

When you do this, the rest of the 4 Part Plan falls perfectly into place.  

A crucial component of an efficient business is the monthly operational review, which serves as the foundation of the management control system. However, due to its operational schedule, there is limited time allocated for a strategic plan when you’re busy running your business.

However let’s be honest, if anything in the last few years has shown us, the world we currently live in is uncertain and stressful.  No one can rest on their laurels.  The landscape has changed for everyone.

The uncertainty in Government, the changing of the monarch.  The cost of living together with the rising energy bills is something taken from the book of nightmares … let alone mention the thing that should not be named.

And due to the impact of growing costs on both their personal and business budgets, small business owners are facing a cost of doing business crisis of their own. On top of concerns surrounding the potential decline of trade if consumers are to reduce spending- a typical result of rising inflation. 

What does all mean for your business?

Has your market changed?

Are the things you are selling, still as desirable to the people you were selling to?

Or have you a new market or even a different product?

Have the feature of your product been altered by Price or Location?

So many questions and this doesn’t cover half of it!

One way to stay on top of it is by conducting an effective strategic review and thoroughly taking into consideration all those external as well as internal influences on your business. 

This way you can think about potentially increasing your prices, cutting back of growth plans or altering your operating costs.  

Or creating intuitive marketing campaigns which enable you to keep your prices as they are, grow bigger than ever imagined, whilst keeping operating costs low, and sustainable in a way that is complementary to our environments.

Here at Sayers Solutions, we believe in the importance of taking the time to work on the business rather than just in it.

Working with us can help you to differentiate between operational reviews and strategic ones and may very well just be the key to the future thriving of your business. 

Get in touch with us to discuss a strategic review for your business!

References:

Retaileconomics.co.uk. 2022. Cost of Living Tracker | Retail Economics. [online] Available at: <https://www.retaileconomics.co.uk/retail-economics-cost-of-living-tracker> [Accessed 18 October 2022].

The Times, 2022. Cost of living crisis: where households will feel the pinch in the months ahead. [image] Available at: <https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cost-of-living-crisis-where-households-will-feel-the-pinch-in-the-months-ahead-l7pfbqd6w> [Accessed 18 October 2022].