ALT-2 Why Strategy Matters in Business
If you are running a business, you are going to want to have a good strategy. Just like in anything that you are doing for the long haul, there has to be some planning involved in order for it to go well. You don't just open your doors and expect people to want to spend money. There has to be a plan to make that happen and that plan has to keep evolving over time to keep your customers.
Why do you need to have a strategy? You need to have a strategy simply because your customers don't just buy things for no reason. There is a specific reason why a person would spend money with a business. Whether it is because that person needed a product, it was cheap, or maybe that person was impressed by your selection and customer service. Figuring out why a customer would spend money with you is important.
There are ups and downs with business, so you have to have a plan going forward. What is your target customer base? This matters because if sales are down you will know whether or not to be alarmed. If you are losing your casual customers, you might not worry so much as if you are losing your core customers. Knowing what your overall philosophy is will help you to further increase sales as time goes on.
If you have no philosophy, you have no reason to be in business. You cannot sell anything you do not believe in. Most people get into business because they believe they can do something better than everybody else. There is some market that they feel only they can fill in the proper way. There are a million grocery stores, but you feel like you can sell groceries better, or else why open yet another store?
Business relies on strategy because there is competition. The business across the street is also vying for your customers, so what are you going to do in order to get those people to shop with you? Will you offer a better product, or will you offer a lower price? The customer has a lot of leverage in determining your future, so you have to have a plan to get them to support you. If it wasn't for competition it would be easy, but you have to be known for something or you will fail.
If you want to get ahead in business, you need to make sure you have a winning strategy. It is very hard to succeed in business, especially if you are a start-up. You have to know what your product is going to be and how people are going to be won over to buy that product. If you don't do that, you won't have a successful business at all.
