BUSINESS TALK

THE RIGHT STUFF - The five "P"'s of a focused business

In any business, focus is an essential ingredient in maintaining consistent momentum and growth. But what exactly do we mean by focus?

Focus means that the management team is consistent in building plans and activities around the most relevant business themes. If they get this right, the business can indeed reap the benefits of a team being focused on the 'right stuff', i.e. the five "P"'s below:

  1. The value Proposition - it is crucial to properly define and understand what it is that the business is actually offering to the market and what elements the proposition actually entails, thereby providing a competitive position;
  2. The market Positioning - the business needs to be positioned appropriately and in line with the value proposition, i.e. having a clear view on how the business needs to portray itself and where exactly it needs to operate to make an impact amongst its desired prospects (the so called target market) as well as its existing clients;
  3. The role of Processes - is the business primarily dependant on the day to day operational input of some key individuals, or is it procedurally and systems- wise structured well enough to support operational sanity, even in the absence of certain individuals;
  4. Performance drive - is the business in a position to properly plan, measure and deliver performance in line with general expectations? Too often businesses struggle with its overall performance as a result of either a lack of planning (inclusive of setting targets for itself) or a lack of effective measurement of the various drivers of performance;
  5. People - any business consists of people, but the truly great ones, consist of the right people as Jim Collins so aptly explains in his book "From good to great". In other words, the business needs to consistently find, retain and develop the right people to ultimately give itself a decent chance of making a success of the other four "P"'s.

The five "P"'s are indeed a guideline that can assist business owners and management to really develop a strong and competitive offering - an outcome that takes a lot of effort and time, and can only be achieved with focus, i.e. tackling the 'right stuff'!

Reinier Matthee
Pointbreak Entrepreneurs