Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Focusing on How You Deliver Value to Your Customers

For many owners and executives, focus represents the biggest roadblock to corporate growth. The problem isn't exactly a lack of focus but more the tendency to unintentionally focus on the wrong things. Because strategic planning is about focusing on the right things, keep your customers' values in the forefront of your planning efforts. Your company is operating in its sweet spot when you're focused on the following:

• What you're good at doing
• What you like doing
• What the market values you for doing

Connecting the dots between these three elements is critical because organizations can easily lose focus on what their customers and the market truly value.

Unfortunately, the term value is one of those undefined and vague business concepts that sound good and important but isn't easy to get your arms around. When the benefits of a product or service outweigh the costs, you have value. Value makes something sweeter, better, stronger, faster. You can have pancakes without syrup, but what's the point? Value is the secret sauce that people want or expect when they do business with you. The result of providing superior value is wildly satisfied customers who keep coming back again and again and bring their friends.

One of the best ways to understand value in your organization is to develop or review your business model. Your business model is the framework for how your organization creates and delivers value to its customers and to the ...