The Crystal Ball Approach to Strategic Planning
by: Grant Gooding
Read Time: 3 minutes
It’s strategic planning season, which as you know is both exciting and stressful. Typically, there is a lot at stake, especially for those of you whose future advancement or compensation is based on whether the strategies and tactics put into place over the next 3 or 5 years achieve company goals.
When we work with clients on their strategic plan we have an exercise in our scoping process we call “The Crystal Ball Exercise.” The point of the exercise is to understand what we need to know in order to ensure the future strategic plan is going to work.
We start the Crystal Ball Exercise by telling clients to “pretend you have a crystal ball and you can ask it any question you want.” This exercise helps us uncover the critical unknowns that understanding what your customers and prospects are thinking can illuminate. It offers insights that guide you, helping to predict market trends, understand customer needs, and avoid strategic pitfalls.
The success of any strategic plan often hinges on how well you’ve done your homework—fully understanding the challenges at hand and predicting how the market will respond to your plans. Too often, we’ve seen companies dive into launching a new product, entering a new market, or pursuing big initiatives simply because the internal team is on board. They pour resources into development, marketing, and distribution, only to have their optimism shattered, along with their time and capital. In most cases, the core issue is a lack of market understanding. They didn’t ask the right questions. They didn’t consult their crystal ball.
What would you ask your crystal ball? Here are some examples to get you started:
- What assumptions have we made in our strategic plan?
- What logistical obstacles will keep customers from falling in line with the plan?
- What mental barriers would keep customers from buying?
- How do our customers view our competitors and could they disrupt our plan?
So, as you prepare for your next strategic planning session, take a moment to think about your crystal ball. What questions do you need to ask it to ensure your strategic plan is successful? Remember you have a crystal ball available if you need it.