The C.O.R.E. Business System. Part 2.

 (Part 1 - https://cutt.ly/n788zeZ )

Concept to Reality!

C.O.R.E. S.T.A.R.T.

C.O.R.E. S.T.A.R.T. guides your team from the conceptual to an actionable plan.  

• Strategy
• Targets
• Alignment
• Resources
• Tactics

FOCUS Your Organization on the Customer and Results

Strategy provides the framework for success. It is the starting point to focus your organization on what matters.

Targets focus you on what needs to happen. They provide measurable milestones – how much and when.

Alignment means your team is working together to execute. Your resources are maximized through specific actions, budgets, and accountability.

Roles and responsibilities ensure that everyone knows how they contribute to results. They know what they need to do to make things happen.

Tactics are selected that fit your organization’s strengths, your team’s capabilities, and your customers’ needs.

Grow Stronger!

C.O.R.E. Growth

With your strategic plan, you move to focus on  C.O.R.E. Growth.

C.O.R.E. Growth  is all about how you do business and the outcomes of doing business:

• The Customer
• Your Operations
• Targeted Results
• Your Execution

The Elements of Successful Businesses

While every business has elements that are unique. Every successful business shares common characteristics with other successful businesses. The basis of success is established during start-up. Without a solid foundation, organizations struggle to find customers and close deals. They often also can’t articulate the benefits they provide to the customer. At FOCUS, we call that success foundation C.O.R.E. Genesis℠.

The C.O.R.E. Genesis℠  elements of concept and opportunity provide the framework for selecting your target customers and market niche. Customers (C) are the starting point of your C.O.R.E. Growth℠ journey. This is where your business focuses its efforts and resources. Generally, successful businesses narrow their focus to a few select market segments to enable them to maximize return on investment (ROI).

Your Operations (O) make or break your business.  In other words, operations are the systems you put in place you keep your promises to the customer. This element consists of how you do business, serve the customer, and keep your commitments. The operational aspect of the business is equally important as the product/solution you sell. The reality is it doesn’t matter how great the solution or how many prospects you have or even how many people say, “Yes I’ll buy,” IF you can’t deliver. The operations of the business determine how much it costs to do business, to keep the promise to the customer, to product and deliver the product, etc. Countless businesses have started with a great idea, found the right market, built a fabulous product or technology and went out of business—because they couldn’t operate their business properly.

Success requires Results (R). Results are about what you do for the customer and how those results translate to your business’s results. So, R is a two-fold factor in your business. If you don’t get results for your customers (solve their problems and meet their needs), your business can’t succeed. The business results or goals/targets consistently involve three key metrics: Revenues, profits, and cash flow. These financial metrics reflect the ability of the business to get the sale, deliver the product, obtain resources, control costs, and do business. These results are also indicators of the effectiveness of the business’s ability to Execute.

Execution (E), is the act of serving the customer and doing business. An inability to execute, to get things done on time and with quality will decide if your business thrives or merely survives. I have worked with clients who acquired important technology and product solutions from companies who failed to execute. They either failed to define the business, to find the customer, to develop the customer’s understanding of the solution’s benefits, mismanaged the production or operations, or all of the above. If you can’t execute, then you won’t succeed. Whether it is analysis paralysis, waiting for a “perfect” time, or moving too quickly or too slowly, the reality is that you have to execute to succeed.

Build Value!

C.O.R.E. Value

Ultimately, every business owner wants the value of the business to grow. What they may not realize is that the value a buyer places on the business may be much less than desired. There are many factors in creating business value. FOCUS defines those elements along four dimensions:

• Viability – market potential
• Capability – the ability to do business (get the customers)
• Credibility – how the business is viewed, the results the business generates for the customer, and the business
• Visibility – how well-positioned the business is to compete

Value - The Future of Your Business

C.O.R.E. Value℠

Ultimately, every business owner wants the value of the business to grow. What they may not realize is that the value a buyer places on the business may be much less than desired. There are many factors in creating business value. FOCUS defines those elements along four dimensions:

• Viability – market potential
• Capability – the ability to do business (get the customers)
• Credibility – how the business is viewed, the results the business generates for the customer and the business
• Visibility – how well-positioned the business is to compete

Your Market Focus and Priorities

Priority Pyramid – The Need, The Problem, The Customer’s Desired Result = Opportunity

Many, if not most, businesses create a product, service, or technology, then go looking for customers. In other words, they create a solution and then look for the problem. Whether you are starting a business or want to grow your existing business, you must identify new opportunities. Those opportunities begin with identifying unmet needs and prospects that are willing and able to purchase solutions at price that includes profit.

The foundation of your business success is the ability to seek out new opportunities or in some instances create those opportunities by disrupting the marketplace.  From the foundation, you build your business, its operations, market solution, and the ability to execute.

Build Toward Your Financial Results

Financial results (Revenue, Profits, and Cash) are generated when you successfully provide value to your customers.  If the customer doesn’t perceive value in your solution or they can’t find you, then you have to change your business to get different results.

Your business’s strength is built by having the fundamentals defined, the processes in place, and a strategy for success. Business growth requires that certain key elements, C.O.R.E.℠ elements, be in place to enable profitability and growth. So your business needs to put in place the key elements from the start. The C.O.R.E.℠ Business System priority sequence enables you to build a foundation for growth from day one through the life of your business. Using this sequence, you will be able to adapt to market changes, the needs of your customers, and identify new opportunities when needed just by following these steps.

Customer Focused. Custom Solutions.

Decades of Experience.

Holistic, Multi-functional Perspective.

FOCUSed on the Fundamentals.

Successful businesses are equal parts successful solutions (products, service, technology) and business models (how you do business and make money). From concept to execution, planning and action go hand-in-hand. The planning process enables businesses to ask questions and formulate strategies. The greatest value is found in the process of planning – getting the team to a shared vision, identifying opportunities, and aligning the organization to achieve its goals. The best plans encourage multiple perspectives. The best planning processes encourage open dialogue and the ability to integrate diverse perspectives to identify the best paths forward.

The ability to take a holistic approach to balance the solution (product, service, technology) that you provide with the ability to build a business model that maximizes the impact of your solution and long-term value and profit requires a multi-functional perspective. Impact companies are those that want to innovate what they deliver and how they deliver it.

Too many businesses focus only on the “product” or the “business”. Successful, sustainable, scalable, profitable businesses do both.

Strategy Formulation

Vision, Mission, Goals

All are important. They also have to align before you determine strategy. You also have to address internal and external factors, including culture, diversity, inclusion, and other emerging influences.

Corporate Governance and Compliance

Governance is about more than compliance with internal and external rules and regulations. Governance requires leadership, commitment, and the ability to learn and innovate.

Funding Support

Undercapitalization is one of the biggest challenges to business growth. How do you grow without working and expansion funds? You don’t. Your funding strategy and the cost of those funds can make or break your business. There is no “free” money. However, you do have options.

Performance Improvement

Performance is often defined solely on short-term metrics and this year’s profits. Sustainable, scalable performance takes a long-term perspective and requires a commitment to serve the stakeholders, all the staekholders.

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