Did you know that there are over 80000 business-related books on Amazon? But while their focus is on different aspects of the business rarely do they talk about business focus itself or how to build it.
The business focus is one of the critical ingredients for the success of your business. It will nudge you in the right direction providing the structure for growth. And also, for failure, because, at some point, that will happen too. But with your business focus on alert you will be able to bounce back and use this experience as a learning guide that will propel your business forward, instead of ruining it.
So, let’s start by defining the impact of the business focus on your business.
The Importance Of Well-Built Business Focus
Worse than not having a business focus is to have a wrong one. And the wrong business focus could sound something like ‘we want to gain more profit to increase the overall profitability of the company.’
Of course, businesses exist to make a profit.
But even though it is a primary focus, it shouldn’t be the only one. Certainly not the one you should pursue by any means necessary.
Just remember that EA was two years in a row voted the worst company for this reason only – too much money-focused corporate culture.
Instead, every business should be equally focused on the things around the profit.
For instance: the quality of your service or your product, the well being of your employees, anything that can improve your business as a whole.
The other problem that can happen to a company that didn’t define its main business focus is that it takes whatever work it can get. So you end up being the jack of all trades and a master of none. That can lead to small or underpaid projects, working with all kinds of clients who don’t appreciate you, etc. While you are trying to be all things to all people, means you mean nothing to everybody.
Then you end up with unsatisfied employees and your corporate culture deteriorate, which leads to financial problems… You get the picture.
You probably noticed that every big business has that one thing everything else revolves around.
That one mantra. That’s their main business focus.
Take Nike, for example. They are one of the most popular brands for manufacturing and selling sports equipment. And their brand mantra is Authentic Athletic Performance. As you can see, every one of these three words describes to perfection Nike’s goal. They want to bring a unique experience to every athlete or athlete-to-be, and they value their brand performance over everything else.
Same goes for Harley Davidson or Disney, or other popular brands. They know who they are and what they are about. And even though your business might not be as big as theirs, knowing who you are is a must for building a successful business.
So, do you know what your primary business focus is? Or are you, as a CEO, trying to solve any problems that come to your table without a clear goal in mind?
If you struggle with this, it should be resolved as soon as possible because…
If You Don’t Know Your Business Focus, It’s A Wild Goose Chase Out There
It is essential to understand that your business can’t be everything to everybody. It is a scenario that leads nowhere. But, once you have clearly defined goals, and you know who you are as a business/company/brand business focus will be much easier to implement and follow through.
Okay, so maybe you don’t have the same brand mantra as Disney or Nike. Maybe you’re not aiming for the same prospects. Maybe brand mantras are not your thing. And that’s fine.
But, you need to find the main business focus for your brand and direct all of your energy there so you can build a successful business.
Are you familiar with the elevator pitch technique?
It’s a business technique for collecting funds from potential investors where you pitch your business idea in 60 seconds. Of course, it takes an enormous amount of time and writing skills to sum it all up into 60 seconds.
The point of every elevator pitch is for the investors to understand your business idea, your main focus. Use this technique when thinking of your business focus. If this doesn’t work for you, we have some bad news:
If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it.
The bottom line is this:
If you don’t know what your primary business focus is, everything else is a wild goose chase.
No investor wants to invest in an idea that is not well explained and understandable.
No customer wants to buy something that is too difficult to explain or worse; they just don’t understand. And no employee would want to invest their time and skills in a company that has no clear focus of where it is headed.
This might sound a bit too harsh, but it doesn’t make it less real, unfortunately.
The good news is you can change this scenario by implementing just a few changes in your everyday business workflow.
5 Ways To Build Better Business Focus
Use the following five ways to improve your business focus, and you’ll notice almost immediate results:
1. Work On Your Company’s Why
You’ve probably heard of Simon Sinek; he’s a motivational speaker and organizational consultant.
He’s known for his ‘Know Your Why’ theory. He stresses that every person or company should know the reason behind their job.
In other words, to know why they do the things they do.
Take some time to think about your why:
- Why did you decide to create a company in the first place?
The idea behind knowing the answer to your why is that it will give you purpose in your business, career, and personal life. And once you understand that this why is bigger than yourself, that it is your contribution to better the world, it will give you the motivation to move forward and to inspire others to work for you or with you.
Once you know your why try to answer the following questions as well:
- What was the moment in your business that changed everything?
- What was your motive to start a business in the first place, what is the reason behind it?
Keep your answers close, somewhere where you can easily see them, so they would serve as a reminder if you get stuck.
2. Get Full-Contact With Your Business Strategy
Even a sport needs a strategy. Otherwise, it would be chaos out there in the field.
Same goes for the business.
A company without a strategy is just another poor investment. After you find out your why, you need to plan your way to get there.
What you need next is a well-thought-of business strategy with a clear vision and mission as a guide to keeping your business focus on alert.
While you’re at it, remember to incorporate all three levels of business strategy:
- Corporate level
- Business level
- Functional level
They are equally important and need to be addressed separately if you want to build a good base for your business.
3. Learn To Say NO
At the beginning of your business, you were probably happy with any project that came along. We’ve all been there. And we’ve learned much from them: what to do, what not to do, how to do it the right way, etc.
These projects helped us gain the necessary experience to become better at what we do, to become experts in our field. But, at some point, you are not a beginner anymore, so you have to start thinking bigger and more specific.
So, instead of doing whatever project comes along, focus on your area of expertise, and offer your services there. Going after bigger projects in your area of expertise is a must for growing your business.
4. Learn To Be More Decisive
‘If,’ ‘and,’ ‘but’ are the double-edged swords in any industry. On the one hand, with the right ‘ifs,’ you are one step away from a smart decision. On the other hand, too many of any of these and you’ll never get any job done.
If you are constantly looking for different alternatives to the decisions you’ve made, you and your business are not going anywhere.
Decisiveness is a necessary skill in the business world.
If you want to build a quality prospect list and start going after your ideal clients, you need to stand behind your decisions.
5. Disconnect Yourself From Pointless Activities
Social media, networking, gossiping – all of these activities may add unnecessary stress to your daily job.
For example, when it comes to online activities, these are the primary distractors at work, you need to disconnect from if you want to keep your business focus:
Image Source: 2018 Workplace Distraction Report
And these are the consequences:
Image Source: 2018 Workplace Distraction Report
As you can see, this is a severe problem, and finding a solution early on will pay up in the long run.
One solution could be to establish a learning culture in your company. Another could be to allow flexible work hours or even working remotely. It all depends on the type of your business, of course. Once you are aware of this problem, try to find the right solutions that will help you and your employees get away from unnecessary distractions.
Every one of these five strategies can help you improve your business focus. Let’s see what will happen if you decide to use them.
How Building A Better Business Focus Can Help You Build A Powerful Business
So, now that you have an idea of how to build your business focus; let’s see what’s in it for you.
1. Build Trust In Your Current And Future Employees
Building a healthy and productive corporate culture is a part of a sharp business focus, as already mentioned. You can’t grow your business without employees, and you want to keep them happy. Also, no employee, current or future, would want to join a boat that doesn’t know where it’s headed.
According to the statistics, last year we’ve reached a record of 40 million people to voluntarily quit their jobs.
Image Source: Why Are Workers Quitting Their Jobs in Record Numbers?
This does sound scary, but you shouldn’t be scared of it.
Instead, use this information as a reminder not to overlook your employees when defining your business focus. This way, you’ll be the owner of the company that’s continually working on improving the relationship with its employees. And as a result the turnover of employees will be lower, the expenses will be lower too because you won’t have to train new employees often. That will provide a solid base for a well-positioned business.
2. Increase Credibility Among Potential Clients
Knowing your business focus is not just beneficial for you and your employees.
No client wants to work with a business that lacks a strong business focus. And you as a CEO won’t look good in the negotiations if you don’t have one.
So, once you define your business focus, you will know that building credibility among your clients is the main part of your Business level strategy. Following are some pointers on how to establish your business as credible:
- Be trustworthy.
- Be competent.
- Be consistent.
- Be genuine.
- Be sincere.
- Be respectful.
- Be accountable.
- Be loyal.
- Be honest.
- Be principled.
3. You Choose Your Clients, Not The Other Way Around
With your business focus on alert, you can find yourself in a position where you choose your clients, not the other way around.
Once you know where you are headed, you will understand that choosing the right clients is equally important as selecting employees. They, in a way, represent you/your business. And you want to build a good, credible, and trustworthy foundation for your company.
Also, the right clients will bring you better results in the long run. If you are on the same page, your business relationship will be stronger. And that can lead to more mutual projects, recommendations, and good testimonials once your clients are happy with your work.
So, choose them wisely.
Summary
The business focus isn’t something that organically comes along; you have to build it intentionally. And then stick to it, relentlessly, if you want to be successful in what you do.
Let me just quickly remind you of 5 ways you can use to build strong business focus:
- Work on your company’s why
- Form a business strategy
- Learn to say no
- Be more decisive
- Quit pointless activities
These are, by no means, all the ways of how to build your business focus but a starting point to get you going.
If you have some other pointers, let’s talk about it in the comment section below. Or, if you are looking for some specific answers, please, contact us. We want to help.
