Does Your Company Lack Focus?

Company focus can be a lot more challenging than it seems. Many companies limit their growth by trying to be everything to everyone. Or they throw multiple, disconnected ideas against the wall to see what sticks.

A scattered approach might work in the beginning of your business, as most entrepreneurs tend to take on any revenue source they can find while building their business. It’s not sustainable or scalable in the long term, however, because there are no systems for repeatable customer acquisition and service.

Do You Have an Issue with Company Focus?

How do you know if you and your team lack focus? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Can your team clearly articulate a simple statement of the value you bring to your customers?
• Can you easily identify what it would take to delight 80% of your clients right now?
• Does every client seem to bring a new set of challenges?
• Have you charted your plans for at least five years into the future?
• Do your teams understand their role in your Revenue Blueprint?
• Do you feel tired or overwhelmed by stress?
• Are you easily distracted, or are you able to concentrate and redirect to your core values?

Don’t Confuse Employees and Customers

Your employees and leadership team no longer have the luxury of chasing seven targets at one time. You need to be able to set your priorities based on the ideals you establish as part of your business growth strategy. You have limited energy to spend. Compare that energy to a pot of coffee. If you pour it into too many cups, no one gets enough of a boost to make a difference. Your team becomes confused about what is core and what is context in your business, further watering down their ability to apply their energy.

Even worse, a lack of company focus can confuse your customers. None of your customers came to you to add complexity to their business. Customer like to work with companies that are the best at in their area, not companies that are a jack of all trades. You won’t build momentum in the market trying to be everything to everyone.

Where to Look to Add Company Focus

When we decide to work with a company in our Enterprise Velocity program, we look to at four main areas to increase company focus:

1. Ideals. Have you established your key values, mission, rallying cry, brand contracts and other ideals so that your entire team understands your core mission?
2. Organization choke points. Where can you eliminate processes, interactions and approvals to get your core work done more quickly.
3. Product strategy. Just because you sold it once doesn’t mean there is a market for a product. What is driving your product strategy and how do you determine where to focus?
4. Customer strategy. Just as with products, trying to serve too many different types of customers can cause confusion, prevent you from building up expertise and limit your ability to be the best solution for any of your customers.