Is your Business all ‘bout that Bass?
Meghan Trainor convinced the world in 2014 that it’s ‘All ‘bout that Bass’. So in starting 2015, maybe now is the time we should spend some time considering our Business Bass – if the bass is the most important thing in music, what’s the most important thing in your business? What underlines and forms the heartbeat that your business is built around? And how are you ensuring that everything you and your teams are doing is informed by this overriding ambition of your organisation? Does every single member of your organisation know what the key to your success is within your current strategy?
You need to define your business bass – and then share it with your teams.
This is not a ‘mission’ statement (defining your organisation, the purpose of it, and any key competitive advantages – shared both internally and externally to an organisation), but is an internal strategy identifying what the organisation should be focussing on and thinking about in order to deliver.
For example –
‘To be the market leading provider of x solutions to the x industry by increasing customer satisfaction by x% and turnover by y% in 2015’
So the focus here is to increase competitive market share within a given vertical by providing great service and increased sales (NB – these should be measurable, so that success can be monitored). This informs team members that the focus is on delivering great service and improved sales results, so any new initiative, or existing approach should be validated against this. If it doesn’t align (for example approaching a market outside of the defined industry), then this is when team members should really consider if it is the best use of resource.
In contrast –
‘To be the leading provider of x solution in the UK, across all markets, and with an increase of x% profit in 2015’
A similar statement, but a very different focus – increasing market share across all markets within a defined geographical territory while increasing profit – so a driver not only to increase turnover, but to reduce costs.
By identifying your ‘bass’ in this way you start to provide clear guidance for you teams on where your focus should be.
Actions: Define your Bass – one sentence that encompasses what you want to achieve and how over a defined period of time.
Actions: Communicate it! – Think about how you want to share this with your teams – and keep it top of mind every single day.
Actions: Validate – whenever you are looking at a new project or activity validate against your Bass!
Extra Credit
And for extra credit you might want to remember that there is ‘no treble’ – where are you wasting time and focus in your business? Hint – this is activities and projects upon which there is no tangible return (financial, strategic or competitive) – should you be eliminating them from your day to day?
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By Victoria Flemming from Buzztastic Ltd.
BUZZTASTIC draws on sales experience from years at the top of high-turnover organisations. We are experts in sales strategy, experienced trainers and most of all enthusiastic about your business! We love to burst open the secrets we’ve learned – tailoring the outcomes to SMEs, and helping all kinds of organisations to realise their sales goals.
Name: Victoria Flemming
Company: Buzztastic Ltd.
Specialist areas: Sales
Email: victoria@buzztastic.co.uk