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BUSINESS STRATEGY CONSULTING: Get Your Business On Target

It’s almost ironic that the organizations that really need business strategy consulting are inherently the ones that tend to reject third party intervention. Large and mid-sized corporations employ a number of consultants to facilitate various programs. Yet, it is the very small concerns that typically require more help than they are usually willing to believe.

You’ve probably seen energetic and positive-thinking folks start a business with only a weak idea of where they’re going with it. Meg Childs is one of those folks. She began a cafe in the surrounding area of a major metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest. Most of her friends thought she was cray at first, when she began her business, because the famous Starbucks was opening a new store somewhere on the planet every thirty minutes at the time.

By the time a business closes its doors or files for bankruptcy, they have already weathered periods where they could have done something to stop the bleeding. But far too often a small business owner ends up working around the clock to try to make things work. Many spend sleepless nights worrying about their failing dream, but only very few actually seek third party intervention to save their business.

Famous Chef, Gordon Ramsey isn’t merely a cook or an extremely successful restauranteur. He is a televised strategy consultant and tactical manager. For those who have never caught his show, Kitchen Nightmares, it is something well worth watching. Here, small business owners can actually see a real consultant in action. Ramsey’s tactics may be a tad over the top, but in his reality show he only has a few days to turn a restaurant that’s bleeding revenue into a going concern.

Her dream fell apart! She tried desperately to sell the business but there were no offers. Nobody wanted what she had built up even though the entire package included great equipment, prime real estate and a central commissary setup that could easily be rented out. Meg was beside herself! Had her luck run out? Why hadn’t her hard work paid off in the end? Aging into her retirement years, she was really tired and emotionally and physically depleted. In fact, she was working harder than she ever had just to keep her investment afloat and pay her family bills.

Hiring professional strategic or tactic planning help is only the first step. Even among those small businesses that take the first step and actually bring someone in, only a very small fraction will really step up to the plate and employ recommended process improvements. Again, many a small business owner overly identifies their own persona with their business. But in reality, business is (as they say) “business” and it must be run like a business or fail trying.

No wonder nobody wanted to buy her business. When coffee wasn’t moving fast enough, she sold popcorn and kept the name of the coffee business as the trademark for her popcorn shop. When popcorn wasn’t bringing in enough revenue she sold hot dogs. All the while keeping the company name and branding as “Java Time”. When people got tired of hot dogs she sold Smoothies. And on it went! Meg’s operational tactics were based on her lack of education, experience and branding. The business suffered as did her dream.

Even now Carol doesn’t see a need for business strategy consulting. She doesn’t want to spend money on anything that she feels isn’t necessary. Her original dream never came to fruition, yet she is convinced that through more hard work she will someday reach her goal. Like many small business owners, Carol Richards filled a market need but failed to fulfill her own desires simply because she didn’t understand the importance of building and sustaining a strategy with the help of a third party consultant.

Related articles

• The Advantage of Using a Business Consultant (dohertyassoc.com)
• Small-Business Owners And The State Of The Union (npr.org)
• Characteristics of Successful Business Owners (dohertyassoc.com)
• Why Companies Reach Success (dohertyassoc.com)

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