When you launch your business, it begins with packaging up your expertise or getting your product to market. In the early days, you may not know what business model will work best for you and your clients. In some ways, you are leveraging past experiences, market research and some gold old fashioned educated guessing.
With time, challenges and new opportunities will emerge. It’s at this point you should begin to look at your business model for answers.
Your business model is the framework or structure for how the business is run; it encompasses the client and the problem your organisation solves, the offers and how the offer is delivered, distribution, operations, pricing, sales and marketing.
Choosing the right business model is essential for continued and sustained growth. Here are three steps to clarify the right business model for your company moving forward:
Undertake a thorough business review
Begin by taking a step back and reflecting on your business, to pinpoint what aspects of your business model need changing.
Your review should be comprehensive, with a goal to uncover strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for innovation. Here are some examples of what to include:
- Changes in market conditions: Recent years have been a perfect example of this, with consumer and organisational behaviour changing as result of the pandemic.
- Outgrown operating practices: Service delivery or distribution may be less effective as you begin scaling the business.
- Platform updates: With the emergence of social media marketing in recent years, so to have a need to adapt to algorithm changes (google, social media). It’s important to assess if your ‘rented platforms’ continue to align with the brand values or fit in with your overall marketing strategy.
- Industry developments: Best practices are always evolving, staying in line, or better yet, at the forefront of industry innovation is paramount for relevancy.
- Competitive landscape: What your competitors are offering may spark a need for changes in your organisation
- Business efficiency: As your business grows, so too will your need for systems and processes. Looking at technology to support business growth and scale.
There will be more, but this is a good starting point.
Clarify your vision, mission and values
With clarity from your business review, you may have identified a shift in your business bedrock, your vision, mission and values. Before you begin a program of work transforming your business, it’s important to take time to clarify and connect to your vision, mission and values.
Your vision, mission and values are your wide-lens view of your business. It will inform your business strategy, decisions, and how to adapt the business model moving forward.
Develop a strategic plan
Your strategic plan is the blueprint for change, a clearly defined set of actions to see you achieve your overall business objective. Your strategic plan will provide clarity, keep you focused on working toward and delivering business objectives that are in line with your vision.
Begin first with your overall business objective, turn your objectives into smart goals, break down your goals into strategic priorities and assign actions to your priorities.
Larger organisations have entire teams charged with strategy and business transformation. Very few businesses will launch with the perfect business model, business transformation is not just a probability, but rather a requisite for continued growth (regardless of the size of the business).
