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Strategic Planning
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Strategic Planning & Market Guidance
The role of a CFO is a critical one to drive business growth based on real metrics, reports, and trends. One crucial task is to analyze your business and implement an effective strategic plan based on market trends, forecasts and your goals and aspirations. Where is your company now, and where do you want it to be in 3, 5 or 10 years? This is a complex job that requires an in-depth understanding of the market, integrating where the company has been along with your business philosophy and the practical application of information to guide the business to a new future.
It is not surprising that many small to mid-sized companies don’t have the resources or need for a dedicated CFO, nor do business leaders have the time to dedicate to market analysis and strategic planning. However, this aspect of business planning should not go neglected – instead, businesses should consider seeking outside help from a part time CFO.
CFO Simplified provides solutions for companies that want to stay competitive and successful in changing markets, but don’t have the resources to conduct adequate in-house analysis. Our part-time CFOs know how to closely examine individual markets and provide guidance regarding trends and strategic adjustments that might be necessary. Contact us directly to learn more about these services today.
Effective Market Analysis
Market analysis is a complex undertaking that involves many meticulous steps. The information is all around you and it can be quite different from one company to another. Our fractional CFOs have worked with companies in all types of industries, and they know how to identify the competitive pressures you’re facing in the market, because they have dealt with many different businesses providing a wide range of products and services.
We then conduct a detailed analysis of the current market, competitive products, companies and your customer base in order to forecast future trends. Some questions we can answer include:
- How are your competitors adjusting their position in the market?
- What attributes of your business outweigh those of your competitors?
- What are the needs of the customers in your target market, and how can your business fulfill those needs?
- Are there any unique location-specific market trends?
The guidance we provide from this analysis will have a practical impact on the plans that we create with you to lead your business into the future.
Strategy Based on Market Analysis
Market analysis is only valuable if you take the relevant information and apply it to your overall business strategy. Some aspects of strategic planning that should be based on market guidance include the following:
- Competitively pricing your products or services
- Analyzing your distribution network and channels
- Promotional planning
- Future sales potential and projections
- Staffing changes
- Facility implications
You might have an in-depth knowledge of your operations, but designing and implementing strategies based on market analysis is another story. This requires specialized knowledge that many company owners do not have time to develop. Never make the common mistake of ignoring aspects of the business that are complicated, time-consuming, and that may be outside your experience or education. Instead, it is wise to outsource these services.
Strategic Planning focuses on sustaining a competitive advantage in a marketplace or industry. Strategic Plans are “roadmaps” oriented to specific actions required to take the business in a certain competitive direction, evaluating a number of scenarios and choosing a path to take while applying a scorecard to track progress and success. As part of a business planning exercise, a company should do a Strategic Plan to look futuristically (1-3-5-10 years) at how the company should maintain or improve their market/industry edge.
Seek Help with Market Guidance and Strategy from a Part-Time CFO Today
At CFO Simplified, we fill the gaps in financial and strategic services that are common among small to mid-sized companies. We can help you succeed, so please contact us to learn about our part-time CFO services.
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