Depending on the information source and definition of "business failure", anywhere from 80% to 95% of businesses fail within five years of startup. Millions of aspiring business owners have a vision for their business. Plenty of people have great ideas for changing the world, or at least their target market. The businesses that last longer than five years do not always have the the most successful vision, but they do understand how to execute better than their competitors.
Execution combines careful planning, clear focus, and persistence to breathe life into the ideas and dreams drawn up on cocktail napkins and whiteboards around the world. Execution certainly is not easy. In their classic book "Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done", authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan stress how execution is the most critical role of business leadership. Where should business owners and leaders start when focusing on execution? Here are several tips to start your journey.
Identify your target market and ideal customer - Many businesses start with the owner's dream of serving a particular niche or market segment. The execution needed to find your target market involves careful research and clear communication of your value proposition. How will your business be remarkable? What makes your business different than your competitors? What behaviors and characteristics define your target market, and how can your business satisfy a need or reduce the pain this target market and ideal customer feels? Many small businesses fail because they try to be all things to all people. Instead of creating a product or service that serves a niche incredibly well, a business will make a "good enough" product that really is never good enough. As podcast consultant Cliff Ravenscraft of http://www.gspn.tv says, "Become great at one thing."
Communicate your brand consistently - Dreamland Productions owner and Free Agent Academy branding professor Jimi Gibson summarizes a brand in this way: "A brand is the sum of all experiences your customers have with your business." If that definition is true, that means every customer touch point communicates your brand. You must execute a brand strategy to consistently deliver the same message and experience to your customers. What do your company colors and logo communicate to your target market? How do you deal with customers' problems? How are you overdelivering to create additional value for your brand? Does your marketing and media strategy communicate the message you want to convey, or are you confusing your customers? Brands take years to build but hours to destroy. Toyota provides a chilling reminder of how quickly a brand can be destroyed.
Develop a consistent delivery process - All successful businesses deliver a product or service with a value greater than the price paid by the customer. The companies that execute well know how to deliver their value consistently. These companies develop procedures and systems to help employees act in a consistent manner. They train their employees to think for themselves and solve problems quickly. They stress the vital few factors on which all employees must focus to deliver what the customer demands. They empower their employees to critically evaluate every step to find new and better ways of doing the work.
Help all employees know how their work impacts the company's success - Company strategy and financial results should not be the property of a select group of managers. All employees should know why their work is important and how it impacts the company's profitability. Administrative employees must understand how their work improves efficiency and product quality. Financial analysts should understand how the information they provide improves resource allocation. All employees must play an important role to make a company execute well, and they should understand why their work contributes to the bottom line.
General George Patton once said, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Many businesses spend too much time planning and not enough time executing their plans. Drawing plans on cocktail napkins is a fun way to exercise creativity, but real businesses understand that a vision must translate into excellent results. Execution is the bridge between the dreams of owners and the success ultimately realized by delivering value to your target market.