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Our blog offers a chance to open a dialog between MSP and our visitors. Please feel free to ask questions here, post comments and contribute your ideas!
Guest post from Chris Champayne
Customer relationship management centers around three concepts familiar to every business owner:
The premise of CRM is that by identifying individual customers, businesses learn the customer’s specific needs and desires. This (read more…)
At the end of the day, what is every business trying to do? Grow. More customers, more sales, positive cash flow, larger deal sizes, higher volume, more billable hours, justification for higher prices, etc. Ask any hard-working entrepreneur what he or she is working on and you’re bound to hear a comment related to growth. Why? Because if you’re not (read more…)
As we head into the strategic planning season, take a few moments to consider the legacy you want your business to leave. Will it continue on indefinitely or pass to your children or employees? Do you plan on cashing out or will it just cease to exist? Many entrepreneurs are not clear about what their businesses will look like without (read more…)
Written by Chris Champayne
Ready for anything? Most people aren’t, nor are most businesses. Readiness is not just about disaster preparedness, it is being ready for opportunity, as well as adversity. Readiness is a lifestyle, and any organization reaps the rewards of “all those little things” that seem to add up when the time is right. Just like they pay the (read more…)
While we all know it is important to plan for the future, very few businesses actually do. Instead of citing the benefits of business planning and strategic planning, which we’ve all heard, here is a list of warning signs that indicate whether or not your business has a clear focus and if you are ready to be strategic this year.
If (read more…)
What’s the number-one attribute Warren Buffet, arguably one of the most successful investors in the world, looks for in a company? “Sustainable competitive advantage,” he told an interviewer. If one of the most successful businessmen of today puts this at the top of his list, you should too. Not only competitive advantage, as a term, widely overused, it is also (read more…)
Running a business today is like sprinting towards a finish line that is just out of reach. It can leave you gasping for breath, exhausted and overwhelmed. But it doesn’t have to be that way–not if you discover your company’s X factor. That’s what allowed company’s such as Starbucks, WR Hambrecht, Bikram Yoga and University of Phoenix to dominate their (read more…)
Execute, execute, execute! That sentence (fragment) is terrifying on so many levels. Not only does it bring to mind pictures of being blindfolded, given a last cigarette, and placed in front of a firing squad, but even more scary it means once you craft a strategic plan you’re expected to make it happen.
Planning is one thing, but how do you make (read more…)
Topics: Execution, Strategic Planning Process, Videos | Comments (1)
Performance management is a problem. More specifically, how most people approach their own performance management is riddled with pitfalls. This is evident with the torrent of self-help and self-management books that have gained popularity, the increased talk of inbox management and especially in the colossal failure of the once heralded term, “multi-tasking.” Everything points to a lack of ability to effectively (read more…)
Topics: Execution, Leadership, Performance Management | Comments (1)
What is your competitive advantage? Have you taken the time to craft a statement for your organization that clearly defines how you serve your customers’ needs better than your competition can?
In this whiteboard video, Erica Olsen lays out why you should define your competitive advantage and how to do it. In minutes, you can learn how to create or revise (read more…)
Topics: Videos | Comments (0)
Each week, we here at MSP have been toiling away at producing quality video content to help you, dear readers, craft super-powerful strategic plans. And what do we ask for it? Maybe a few comments… a link or two. If you haven’t taken the time to check out one of our stellar whiteboard videos, take a chance and check them (read more…)
Topics: Shameless Self-Promotion, Videos | Comments (0)
Wondering why your strategic plan never got implemented? Every year, organizations labor at planning, yet never seem to make it happen. Before you sit down with your team, make sure you’ve taken care of these potential traps:
Topics: Execution, Strategic Planning Process | Comments (0)
One of the most frustrating and futile exercises throughout the business world is attempting to implement a strategic plan without total management support. All of the thought put into planning and all of the work done though performance management focused on employees cannot replace this essential facet of your organization’s strategy: 100% buy in from those at the top.
But how do (read more…)
Topics: Strategic Planning Process | Comments (0)
This week in our White Board Session, Erica Olsen explains how to perform a SWOT Analysis, an essential part of the Environmental Scan within your organization’s strategic plan.
If you’d like more information, please browse our archives or check out our additional resources.
Topics: Videos | Comments (0)
It’s Whiteboard Thursday again, and this time we’ve got Erica Olsen detailing how to craft a values statement that will clearly explain what your organization believes, or stands for. Each week, we’ll be posting these video tutorials so check back for more!
In addition, if you have any requests for subjects, please let us know in the comments.
Topics: Videos | Comments (1)
Sick of all the “recession-proof” talk being spouted by white-haired businessmen & fast-talking consultants? You’re probably just reading in the wrong place. I sat down with someone who may not be your first choice for recession advice- a stripper- and you wouldn’t believe the useful things she told me.
So, about the interview. Two weeks ago at a local coffee shop (read more…)
Topics: Recession Planning | Comments (3)
Oh, happy day! It always feels great when someone tells you that you’re doing a good job, and web apps aren’t immune to that! Today, StartupBooster, a fantastic blog that showcases some stellar startups, issued a review of MyStrategicPlan that has all of us really excited. Here’s a little of what Jey at StartupBooster had to say after checking out (read more…)
Topics: Shameless Self-Promotion | Comments (0)
In this whiteboard video, our VP of Marketing, Erica Olsen, describes how to craft a vision that challenges and inspires your organization to reach your long-term goals. No matter whether your organization is just beginning or has you’ve had a strategic plan in place for years, you could get a lot from this quick video on visioning.
Topics: Videos | Comments (2)
So- you set your goals, you dreamed your dreams and now, here we are at the midpoint of the year. For some, July sped here at breakneck speeds. For others, the year has been creeping along. No matter where you stand, this is a fantastic time to take stock in your position: how far are you towards reaching your goals (read more…)
Topics: Strategic Planning Process | Comments (0)
MSP is extremely proud to announce our new weekly installment to the blog- “The Virtual Strategist: Practical videos packed with business essentials.” Each week, our VP of Marketing Erica Olsen will take complex or boring business concepts and make them simple and inspiring! This week: Mission Statements.
Stay tuned for more each week here at mystrategicplan/blog!
Topics: Mission & Vision, Strategic Planning Process, Videos | Comments (1)
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