Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I've been working on a post about 'Questions & Real Issues' which includes the importance of distinctions.
I know Rich Schefren hasn't been monitoring my actions. (He hasn't been, right?)
Yet at just the right time, I got an email message from Rich about the importance of distinctions.
So, I'm including the URLs for his posts, so you can learn from him, then you can return here.
I hope to finish my post soon, but stuff happens & keeps happening. Though helping you is a high priority, I help my family first.
Here is the first URL -
The Invisible Limit On All Your Strategy by Rich Schefren
http://www.strategicprofits.com/strategy/the-invisible-limit-on-all-your-strategy/
I advise you to read the comments. Those are important, so I've included the current 4 comments here -
Adri "One of the biggest distinction I ever had is the distinction between Tactic and Strategy! Big big distinction that made all the difference for me."
Rich Schefren Mod > Adri "That's a huge distinction Adri. Thanks for sharing"
DavidHH > Rich Schefren "Extend that idea, it's crucial... Strategy: What and Why
Tactics: When and Where
Operations: Who and How.
And, that covers Kipling's' 'Honest serving men'".
Virg Lewis "It is easy to focus too narrowly on the payoff. I was doing that recently and let other things slide. That made me feel overwhelmed.
"I backed off the project, because I could legitimately do so without guilt or angst, and caught up on the other items.
Now I feel creative and 'clear' again to get back into the project."
A Lot Of Wisdom In A Few Words
DavidHH wrote some wisdom that's far bigger than the size of his comment. As he advised extending that idea, I'm expanding the definitions.
To live by design not by chance, you need to develop some forms of strategy, tactics & operations.
Running an optimal business requires developing some forms of strategy, tactics & operations.
This Is "It"
(Note - There are other applicable issues & questions which I haven't included. I'm writing a blog post, not a book here.)
In the next set of statements "it" means your mission, task, plan, actions &/or goal. In military terms, "it" is the Commander's Intent - the main thing to accomplish; the minimum criterion in judging mission success or failure.
Your Strategy is what you should do & the reason for doing it.
Your Tactics involve when & where to do it.
Your Operations involve determining who is the best person or team to do it & how it should be done for optimal effectiveness & efficiency. Performance (How to perform a mission) depends on the actions in the specific conditions (where to do it) & with a set of resources (What to use to get it done).
There's a good explanation about conditions in The Art of War by Sun Tzu http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html.
You can use this wisdom for nonviolent actions also. Compare your situation with Sun Tzu's wisdom & extrapolate.
Operations oriented questions also include - How long should a task be done? How much (to what extent) should a task be done?
These questions can be summed up in the cliche - You've got to know when to hold them & when to fold them.
Do Enough But Not Too Much
Opportunity cost issues are - Some resources will only be available for one task at time. Some resources might be consumed (totally used up).
Your distinctions should include defining optimal amounts of effort. Axiomatic statements related to opportunity cost -
If you do a task more often than necessary, you'll waste resources, which won't be available for other tasks. If you do a task less than necessary, you won't be successful & you'll waste resources you've expended.
If you take too long to do a task, you'll have less energy & time for other tasks. Even if you have enough of every other resource for other tasks, you'll fail if you squander energy & time.
Based on the value of your resources & the importance of your task, you need to recognize distinctions to make good decisions. Example: Is a task worth more than the resources being consumed & opportunity cost of other high priority tasks?
Distinctions are required to determine if a task is necessary, then determining what the task should be. Distinctions are important in prioritizing actions.
For practical purposes, problem recognition & reasons arise before planning what the action will be. If there's no need for an action, there's no reason to plan an action.
Choosing the best person or people for a task should depend on the time, location & other conditions. That's why tactics should be considered while choosing the best person or people.
Example - Your task requires lifting, moving & assembling several big products. Who has the strength & stamina for the task? Among those strong people, who has the knowledge to assemble those products effectively & efficiently?
In marketing, tactics also include the product/service being offered & the niche who should receive the offer. It has to be this way because putting your offer in the right place at the right time is a vital factor in getting the right people to accept it.
Refine A Tactic While Defining A Strategy
Some people advise forming a strategy before a tactic. I disagree with that. You should be sure you have a tactic that's optimal for your situation.
Example - Walmart has a successful strategy, but since its tactics are required to make its strategy work, you shouldn't try to use its strategy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. uses tactics that work in a big retail logistics format, there are very few businesses that could afford to do the same things.
Successfully fulfilling a business strategy & using a tactic will always require specific resources for a specific situation.
You could have a definitive strategy for climbing directly to the top of retailing, but don't try that climb without the best tactic for fulfilling that superior strategy.
Fulfilling any strategy requires using resources in specific ways - especially energy, money & time.
Don't try the climb, if you don't have the time or the dime. You'd waste your energy. Don't pay the dime unless you have enough time & energy to make the climb. You'd waste your money.
My advice fits the comment posted by Virg Lewis (above) about not neglecting yourself or other responsibilities.
Getting Distinctions In Your Business by Rich Schefren
Here is the URL for Rich's follow-up post -
http://www.strategicprofits.com/strategy/getting-distinctions-in-your-business/
Sources Of More Concepts & Insights
You can get insights & distinctions about strategies, tactics & related subjects from books & articles by Fred Wiersema including "The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market" by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema & "The New Market Leaders" by Fred Wiersema.
Jim Collins has published a lot of wisdom in articles & books - "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" By Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Some other books written by James C. Collins are - "Good to Great", "How The Mighty Fall" &
"Great by Choice" by Jim Collins & Morten T. Hansen
You need to develop business practices also called systems &/or methods.
Chet Holmes wrote & spoke about policies, plans & procedures. You can check YouTube.
Michael E. Gerber wrote about systems & working on a business, not just in it. "The E-Myth" "The E-Myth Revisited" & "E-Myth Mastery" by Michael E. Gerber.
Clayton M. Christensen & co-authors wrote about innovation, resources, values & processes. Some of Clay Christensen's books are - "The Innovator's Dilemma", "The Innovator's Solution" by Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor & "Seeing What's Next" by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony & Erik A. Roth.
"The Innovator's DNA" by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen & Clayton M. Christensen
Books & articles written by Al Ries & Jack Trout have relevant advice about tactics & strategies; some examples are - "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind"; "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing"; "Bottom Up Marketing"; & "Marketing Warfare".
"The New Positioning" by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin & "Focus: The Future Of Your Company Depends On It" by Al Ries.
You can use search engines to find these information resources.
You should learn what you can, then test what you learn, so you'll know what works best for you.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Distinctions For Developing & Choosing Superior Options
Apparently, some business owners think their past success indicates they've been & are still doing everything necessary to maintain long-term success.
Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice they're falling behind because competitors are moving ahead?
Whom or what will they blame when they finally face reality & notice their market niche has different desires & needs?
Many of those different desires & needs are apt to be in the same categories (some examples are in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs).
Did We Really Dress Like That?
At different ages, people tend to choose different clothing styles.
Example - In the 1960s, I was somewhat conservative about what I wore, but I still wouldn't want to wear the same styles now. Other people were less conservative & probably would never again dress like they did in the 1960s.
The baby boomers (I've seen lately) still wear shirts & pants but the clothing styles are very different.
If a store only offered 1960s clothing styles, it'd probably be out of business in a short time. It's an obvious distinction, so I'm using as an example.
People's first homes might be quite different than their current homes. It's also true of the inside furnishings & outside landscaping & paints.
Personal appearance is a common high priority category. For some people, being attractive might include multiple piercings & many big tattoos now.
For the same people later in life, attractiveness might include natural skin.
Demanding Lives
Some differences are goals & priorities (what a person expects & others expect from him/her); time & energy restraints; budgets & other limitations.
Some limitations are recent & cause people to find solutions they didn't need before.
Though in general, people want to be consistent, they realize when they change they can gain benefits & avoid or reduce problems.
Small changes can be part of consistency since improvement should be consistent.
Some changes are incremental, yet significant especially the cumulative effects.
Business owners can quickly fail when they fail to see market niche changes.
Among these questions & issues, I've written below, are some I'm sure many business owners have never seriously considered.
It Seemed To Work, Let's Do It Again. Repeat Repeat Repeat
Doing the same thing, again & again, won't always produce the same result because other things change even if our actions are the same.
In many situations, repetitious actions & inputs lead to diminishing returns. Also, the current right activities could be wrong in future situations.
Distinctions are necessary for developing & choosing superior options. For optimal results, we need to know what the differences are.
By testing, tracking results & studying, we can extrapolate potential & potent results brought on by changes.
Look For Distinctions
By checking as many relevant factors as you can, you can determine how to make your business optimally fit in the value chain.
The value chain is all businesses providing at least one thing necessary to make a product. An optimal fit means becoming as integrated as practical.
Note: When a boat/ship is properly built & maintained, it can be sealed well enough to keep water out. That means it has water tight integrity.
Water tight integrity prevents water from occupying spaces where it shouldn't be. Water, in the wrong places, can be a threat.
Like anything in life, proactivity is necessary since damage could compromise water tight integrity.
Since mishaps will occur, retailers should continually assure their niche members that some problems (especially misfortunes) can be prevented, mitigated or solved.
As much as practical, you should offer what niche members need to establish misfortune tight integrity in at least one aspect of their lives.
To keep your business relevant, you can increase your knowledge & trade skill & improve your reputation & credentials.
As long as you establish & keep improving your specialty, you don't need everything necessary for a consumer's full optimization.
(I've written about modules & interdependencies in other posts. The "Search" link is above the forum title to the right of the page center.)
Products & services are modules & interdependencies.
When you know a consumer well, you may be able to recommend an optimally fitting interdependency that will be stable & fill a gap with little or no adjusting.
Recognize Vital Distinctions
If you don't recognize vital distinctions, you could miss indications that you should adjust your activities.
Hypothetical Example - You close your store at 5:00 PM each day. As you prepare to close, you mentally focus on your daily obligations as you review what you've done & what you'll still do that day.
You still have more things to do before you get home & hope you'll have enough energy.
A week ago, many customers started walking in at 4:45 & staying until they were served. During those times each of those days, you looked at your front door a few times & noticed more people trying to get in.
You might be focused on what you plan to do when you leave your store. You might only think about how these customers are upsetting your routine.
You're tempted to tell them to return earlier the next day, but you don't want to miss their transactions.
What Could This Mean?
If an employer changed work schedules or an organization changed its meeting times, it could indicate why people are
shopping later.
Though people used to shop in your store in earlier day parts, now they need to change their schedules.
If they didn't buy from you after 5:00 pm, they'd shop somewhere else.
They need later shopping times & you need the money.
Even if this happens only one day per week, your new cash flow could bring more profit as long as you don't let expenses rise too much. If you keep ending your business day at 5:00, your business could end.
From an outside perspective, this seems obvious. From the inside, what's obvious is this: "successful" business routines are being disrupted.
Disruption causes stress & confusion. Disruption interferes with processes that produce necessary results. Reduced results lead to reduced income plus higher expenses at the same time.
Some business owners resist unexpected/unplanned success since it doesn't fit their paradigms.
I don't advocate changing based on a small aberration. I suggest being inquisitive enough to notice variations, so you can proactively respond to problems & opportunities.
When you only have one option or opportunity, you'll get stuck when things interfere with that option or opportunity.
For optimal success, you should have multiple options & opportunities, so you can pick the best.
If employers or organizations change schedules, they'll probably give advanced notice to employees or volunteers.
When you see or hear any indications, you can start to determine how those changes might affect your business. Maybe you can avoid negative effects & produce positive effects.
Changing can be less costly compared to the short-term or long-term problems resulting from not changing.
Costs of changing can be relatively inexpensive compared to the gains from short-term or long-term benefits.
Questions To Help You Add Value
Which small changes can you make to increase the value of transactions for clients & your business?
Which small changes can your clients make to increase the value they receive & retain?
What can you make more convenient for your clients?
What would help your clients justify (to themselves & others) investing more money, time, energy &/or other resources?
Ready To Change When Necessary
Modular processes & business practices can be more efficient, effective, smoother & faster than flexible methods, yet you need to know what should be flexible.
Monitoring distinctions can help you track & determine when to continue with modules & when to introduce & use interdependencies.
Until you're sure about a niche & product/service category, you should have interdependencies ready to use. The reason is because interdependencies are flexible & you need to be adaptable - especially when you test products, services & methods.
Realistically, things can change quickly. When you consistently study marketing & test methods, you're also preparing for changes. Testing can bring you better ideas about what can work well & what might not.
Your interdependencies are methods you've tested but not fully implemented. When you determine what's compatible & tested for effectiveness, you should install these among your current optimal business practices.
You should test linking business practices for optimization: Example - After or during your book keeping/accounting tasks, you can check your budgets like marketing & sub-budgets like specific promotions.
You can check your sales results & compare the sales revenue with your goals & the money you spent to get those results.
Though you won't determine the causes of all effects, when you determine the main effects, you can find some causes.
After you find causes, you can discover ways to avoid negative causes & effects. You can also learn how to produce positive causes & effects.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2015 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
No comments:
Post a Comment