The Strategic Business Vs the marketing/sales Business Vs the Leadership/culture business...who wins?......
- Steve Fleetwood
- Mar 11
- 3 min read
I remember when I was talking to one of our lawyers after the sale of my first company, an investment advisory company. His own legal company was about 5 years behind us at that time in the business development (top line, bottom line, staff size etc) spectrum. And he asked me (we were around the same age, mid to late 30's),
"What was most important for growing your business so quick?"
As he was technically far superior to most lawyers that I had met (remember, good mechanic/bad mechanic, good electrician/bad mechanic, good doctor/bad doctor and of course good lawyer/bad lawyer, i.e. not the profession but the individual applying their competence and character).
His marketing wasn't on point, as he showed me his hand by stating "All these lawyers are less competent than me but their marketing was superior to mine". Which frustrated him no doubt, then he asked was there any golden rule for growing a Business Level 1 to Business Level 2...(i.e. from under 7 figures to 8 figures plus)!
I said simple..."You want to spend 80% on Offence and 20% on Defence", (this was the first glimpse of I could do business coaching/consulting, and over 17 years ago now). Now, much later, we can assist 8-9+ figure companies with out any raise the "left eyebrow" SPOCK moment
As you are aware you have limited resources, technology, human, financial, energy and time. So the first step you have to become more skilled in business analysis, market analysis and industry analysis and evaluation.
Then, you can start to strategically (and tactically) applying these resources for your organisation that makes common sense whilst also being tactically (short term outcome orientation for quick uptick) savvy.
I was with a NFP CEO (first interview, around 8 years ago, deep into 8 figures business), Harold (not his real name). And explained, each facet of this business was like holding a deck of cards, with say "Sales and Marketing" being a Jack of Hearts, "Culture and Leadership" being Queen of Spades, "Strategy" nine of diamonds, and "Operations" being a 5 of clubs.
I asked him is it better to improve his Queen of spades or get his 2's,3's and 4's to Ten's and Jacks for each facet of the company. Intuitively everyone understands this concept, BUT, the lightbulb moment and light in his eyes was like a bright sun!....
Remember in your staff meetings you want: "More Light than Heat"! (i.e. insight vs heated debate)
After that moment, we were away.......so we went through the process systematically of
1/ Enterprise Strategy
2/ Corporate Strategy,
3/ Business Strategy
4/ Marketing (and Sales) Strategy,
5/ Financial Structure and Strategy,
6/ Functional Strategy.
NB> Now you need to add in AI Strategy in your Functional Strategy, which operations sits in as well.
Remember the Functional Strategy serves the Enterprise and Corporate Strategy, otherwise, you get whats called "Jack Knifing"...(in business).
Go Here for how to:
So, you need make sure you understand your situational analysis, then start to allocate resources to the simplfiied title of this Blog: Who wins....
Naturally the answer, it depends because each business is in its own ecosystem within its own forest with unique characteristics. But large data sets (on average concept), we would say sales and marketing first, (top line growing and build) then keep improving your other cards in your hands.....
Hence the concept of "Kaizen", with "Blue Ocean Strategy" (BOS-Innovative Value) interlinked and synergised with Best Practice Standards (BPS)....
Go through the process above.....and it is inevitable you will jump into the 80th and 90th percentile for your business and industry....
Contact Star for a consult with our MBA+ consultants.... for fast development, improvement, and growth in Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Leadership, and Culture! And, how and where to implement AI into your business.
Or Myself,
We look forward to interacting with you soon.
Steve Fleetwood: Founder, MBA, MApp Fin (CF, IA),DFP-CFP, Cert 4 Training and Assessment.
M Int: +61 433 622 265
M Aus: 0433 622 265
Also, we are receiving more international enquiries, so we will be instigating a phone consult per minute service, allowing for quick and easy access to US.
NOTE: No AI was used in any of these posts besides grammar/spelling checker!
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