There are two things to know about strategy. First, a strategy is important to crystallize your thoughts, provide direction and act as a communication tool to your team. The second is recognition that every good strategy undergoes regular revision due to “things.”
This year is the perfect example of those “things.” As they say in the military, “the enemy has a say.” The key to winning is adjusting.
That’s where your planning comes into play. Planning is about understanding the landscape, knowing what you want to achieve and then determining how to achieve it. It requires gathering information to understand your environment, your resources, where you can solicit assistance and then determining what you need to do (or procure) to give your team the resources to achieve the goal. Then it is all about execution.
While 2020 has had “challenges,” looking forward it is about developing a plan to achieve your future goals.
For most in the plumbing industry, it is about taking market share. By earning business from a customer, you are taking it away from a competitor. Why taking? Because the customer (either homeowner or contractor) is generating the oppor-tunity and then determining where to spend their money. The key is why should they spend it with you?
The phases of developing your plan include:
- Introspection, Research & Insights
- Idea Generation
- Aggregation & Execution
- Ongoing Evaluation and Refinement
While it sounds comprehensive, and it can be, it can also be streamlined into a two-day working session. It all depends upon your organization, style and, if you use an outside facilitator, their ability to ask the right questions, understand your business/industry and add ideas.
Introspection, Research & Insights
This first step is critical. It’s about gathering information…quantitative information and qualitative insights.
This can comprise macroeconomic information, marketplace information, industry insight and analyzing your data. The goal is to have a sense of where the economy and market is going while understanding your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), which come from information gathering and good old-fashion talking about how the year has gone, honestly.
Right now, and more than ever, you need to understand your relationship with your market, your company, your customers and the potential of each. Data can deliver these insights. Internal business intelligence data combined with external economic data can be powerful tools.
One resource Channel Marketing Group uses to support clients is DISC Corp. While they have market projections for the electrical industry, they also gather information on the construction and industrial markers from The Census Bureau, The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the FRED and more and shares it with distributors to provide a macroeconomic viewpoint of the construction market. Their data analytics group can also take your data and transform the view of it, enabling a different perspec-tive to be had. This is important because looking at it the same way, repeatedly, may result in you missing opportunities.
DISC Corp. estimates the wholesale plumbing community will sell $58 billion dollars’ worth of goods in 2020 through approximately 7,100 locations. As a plumbing distributor or manu-facturer, this information, and other market multipliers, can be used to calculate your market share as we move through a multi-year recovery.
Some additional areas to consider include:
- Do you “plan” expecting today’s COVID environment or a different one? For how long?
- What is your expectation of the market?
- How have your processes been impacted?
- More importantly, how are customers and their customers being impacted?What are their new expectations?What is their outlook?
- What is your staff’s input?
As part of this process, “customer” insights can be beneficial. This should be 360o input. From end-customers/contractors, distributors (if you are a manufacturer), salespeople (and reps/RSMs), perhaps even employees or suppliers. Ask their opinion about the market, their opportunities, how “you” can improve and more. Those who contribute want you to succeed.
Next, ask departments how they can improve. How can “you/they” be easier to do business with? What additional value can each bring to their customers? What processes need to be improved? How can utilization increase? What is their value proposition, and the com-pany’s, today and what could it be?
If you are in sales, the issues are the same, but about your goals and “ac-count package.” Where are customer needs? Where are they going? What is your value proposition? How can you generate more? What do you need to be successful (or, more importantly, what does your company need to do to be more successful with your customers/in your territory)?
Ask what is important for account retention as well as for taking share. Then prioritize.
It’s about asking for information, seeking opportunities, developing ideas, changing models and anticipating the future, knowledgeable. Going into 2021 companies will be more conservative with investments and will seek to reallocate current funding. Focus and enhancing models will be critical.
Idea Generation
Once you have gathered information and know the current and projected state, the next phase is identifying what strategies you want to continue and conduct an idea generation idea to determine “what’s next.”
This brainstorming exercise helps identify what new strategies will emerge. Consider what competitors are doing. Look at distributors/manufacturers in other industries or markets. Ask customers what would be of benefit to them.
Aggregation & Execution
Next it is about aggregating the ideas, developing a project plan and calendaring the activities to ensure timely implementation.
For some initiatives you may want advance time to present the strategy to your key suppliers or distributors to gather their input, or perhaps “buy-in.” For distributors, remember your 2021 earned co-op funds will probably be less than they were last year as they are based upon 2020 performance.
Gather the thoughts, determine the feasibility, gain budgetary insight and then prioritize as inevitably you cannot do everything. Every company is, at some point, resource-constrained.
Ongoing Evaluation and Refinement
An area that is challenging for most companies is ongoing evaluation of their strategy with periodic reviews where you consider refinement. It is like taking a road trip and finding out that there is construction on a segment of the highway. You can slow down or consider a detour/alternate route that enables you to continue. Adjustments are needed in plans. The key is achieving the end goal within the defined timeframe.
And reporting these metrics to various stakeholders also helps earn buy-in for future initiatives.
Next Steps
Strategic planning is a commitment to intentionally succeed. It is a leadership decision that reinforces to your staff that the company has a roadmap to achieve success and is committed to profitable growth. Involving your team helps develop a better “product” as well as earns their buy-in to the strategy, implementation and success.
Planning can be a process, or it can be a workshop. The key is, have a plan going into next year so you can be intentional in your actions.
