WHY ?

If you are a business owner, here are some questions that you need to ask over and over, as the market evolves and your strategic plan changes. Very often, the answers to these business development questions will change in response to evolving conditions. It is important that you change as well when it is necessary. I've broken down the questions to ask yourself in the groupings below:

1. What business are you in? What business are you really in?

2. What business will you be in the future, based on current trends?

3. Who is your customer? Your ideal customer? Your perfect customer for what you sell?

4. What does your customer consider as value?

5. What do you do especially well? In what areas do you excel? What is your competitive advantage? What makes your product or service superior to that of any other competitive product being offered in your marketplace?

6. What are your goals? What are your sales goals for the next year, broken down by month, or even week and day? What are your goals for profitability? 

7. What are the constraints on your business today?
What is holding you back from achieving your goals of sales, cash flow, and profitability? Of all the factors that are holding you back from achieving successful business development, what is the biggest single factor, and what could you do to alleviate this constraint?

8. What are the 20% of your activities that can account for 80% of your results? What are the 20% of your customers that account for 80% of your business? What are the 20% of things that you can do personally that can account for 80% of your results?

9. Based on your answers to above questions, what strategic plan of action should you take immediately? What should you do now? What should you stop doing? What should you discontinue altogether so that you have more time to work on those few things that can make an enormous difference in your business?

Thank you for reading this post on the key business development questions. The more specific and clear you are about your goals, the more likely it is that you will achieve them. Are you a business owner who has a successful tip you would like to share with others?