THE SMART STRATEGY BOOK

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
50 WAYS TO SOLVE TRICKY
BUSINESS ISSUES

SEVEN STRATEGY AREAS
1. COMMERCIAL
2. BRAND
3. CUSTOMER
4. SALES
5. PEOPLE
6. INNOVATION
7. COMMUNICATION

WHAT IS STRATEGY?
1. COMMERCIAL: Will this make money?
2. BRAND: Do people like us?
3. CUSTOMER: How do we reach them?
4. SALES: Can we generate enough?
5. PEOPLE: Will our staff make it happen?
6. INNOVATION: Do we have smart new ideas?
7. COMMUNICATION: How do we explain it?

• Winning aspiration?
• Where to play?
• How to win in chosen
markets?
• Capabilities needed?
Smart Strategy Warning
Too many priorities

• What do we want to do?
• What do we need to do?
• What is possible?
• When should we react?
Don’t plan before thinking

• A number is not a strategy
• The hard art of standing
apart
• Concrete and aspirational
• How will we know when
we’re done?
Avoid wishful thinking
3. PURSUE PRINCIPLES, NOT MONEY

• Who has done this
before?
• Ooch – run small tests
• Range of outcomes?
• Admit if you are wrong
Don’t go narrow early
4. WIDEN OPTIONS, ATTAIN DISTANCE

• Ask everyone first
• Find pockets of expertise
• Remove structural fog
• Leave your desk
Strategy isn’t just for strategists
5. REMOVE SILOS

• Identify the nonsense
• Find uncommon sense
• Forget the competition
• Ignore the HIPPO
Don’t box tick
6. UNCOMMON SENSE V.
COMMON NONSENSE

• Identify your bull’s-eye
• Work out the NEMO
• Remove everything else
No multiple objectives
7. FIND YOUR NEMO

• Map the market
• What are the factors?
• What direction is needed?
• Where is the opportunity?
Don’t follow fool’s gold
1. GAP IN THE MARKET V.
MARKET IN THE GAP

• What don’t we know?
• What is the challenge?
• Are we all thinking the
same?
• Reinterpret the brief?
Don’t use old assumptions
2. INVESTIGATE THE UNINTERESTING

• Do we have a brief?
• Have we asked why?
• Do we have WYSIATI?
• Are we feeling or thinking?
Don’t rely on limited evidence
3. CHANGE THE PROBLEM

• Have we diverged?
• Have we converged?
• What might happen?
Don’t toe the company line
4. DOUBT EVERYTHING

• Is it all too neat?
• Strong or weak filters?
• Are we empowered?
• What is the adjacent
possible?
Don’t remove messiness
5. MESSINESS = UNEXPECTED LINKS

• Less is better
• What is Minimum Viable
Progress?
• What is the priority?
• Can we do a reverse pilot?
Don’t make it long-winded
6. MOST THINGS AREN’T WORTH DOING

• What kind of thing?
• What can we copy?
• What might it look like?
• How would we apply it?
Don’t just steal blindly
7. COPY SOMETHING

• What do they really think?
• Have we led the witness?
• Trustworthy data?
• Can we live test?
Don’t accept all research
1. MISLEADING RESEARCH

• Is there a gap?
• Are they on autopilot?
• What can we trigger?
• Do we understand this?
Don’t assume people will just
do what you want
2. THE THINKING/DOING GAP

• Delighting people doesn’t
work
• Satisfaction = loyalty?
• Are we driving disloyalty?
• What needs to change?
Don’t annoy customers
3. DISLOYAL LOYALISTS

• Are customers leaving?
• Who are they telling?
• What behaviour can we
predict?
• What interventions might
help?
Don’t assume satisfaction
4. CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION

• Understand service recovery
• Recovered = stronger
• What often goes wrong?
• What can we do next?
Don’t panic when things go
wrong
5. PANIC-FREE SERVICE RECOVERY

• What automatic decisions
do customers make?
• What are their defaults?
• What errors can we
anticipate?
• What can we re-engineer?
Don’t assume rational behaviour
6. CUSTOMERS MAKE STRANGE DECISIONS

• How can we appeal to
better nature?
• What small change can
we make?
• What effect might result?
Don’t always think big
7. SMALL CHANGES = BIG EFFECT

• How do we sell?
• Do customers know more
than we do?
• Are we framing?
• Ambivert selling?
Don’t leave selling to sales
1. SELLING ISN’T JUST FOR SALESPEOPLE

• Do we challenge?
• Do we differentiate?
• Do we tailor?
• What should we change?
Don’t hard sell
2. SUCCESSFUL SELLING IS CHALLENGING

• Are we too cheerful?
• What can we reframe?
• What makes it more
difficult?
• What can we solve?
Don’t be too optimistic
3. TRY RATIONAL DROWNING

• What’s the grabber?
• Where is the pain?
• What can we prove?
• Remove the bed of nails
Don’t tell too long a story
4. THE HAMMOCK

• Are we obsessed with new
business?
• How can we improvise with
existing customers?
• Are we looking after old
business?
Don’t just chase new business
5. NEW BUSINESS COULD BE OLD BUSINESS

• Are we mass or niche?
• What is weird about our
product or customers?
• What oddness can we
celebrate?
Don’t sell everything to everyone
6. WEIRD IS THE NEW NORMAL

• Do we have a gap?
• How do we bridge it?
• Too many features?
• Too many opinions?
Don’t overcomplicate things
7. THE STRATEGY/EXECUTION GAP

• Numbers don’t motivate
• Staff communication?
• Staff views?
• Purpose and principles?
Don’t emphasize numbers
1. MANAGE THE PEOPLE,
NOT THE NUMBERS

• What can we influence?
• Absolute or relative?
• Feedback and adjust fast?
• Err on what side?
Don’t assume people get it
2. CLEAR THINKING + COURAGEOUS ACTION

• Why do we exist?
• How do we behave?
• What is most important?
• Who must do what?
Don’t ignore the basics
3. ENSURE ORGANISATIONAL HEALTH

• Clear goals?
• Immersed in activities?
• Enjoying immediate
experience?
• Truly engaged?
Don’t interrupt people in flow
4. GET PEOPLE IN FLOW

• Dysfunctional teams?
• Absence of trust?
• Fear of conflict?
• Team analysis?
Don’t assume they agree
5. TRUST AND TEAMWORK

• Autonomy?
• Mastery?
• Purpose?
• What can you master?
Don’t allow passive
aggression
6. EVERYONE CAN MASTER SOMETHING

• Tell them what not how
• Provide organized space
• Connect with clever peers
• Shelter from
organizational rain
Don’t underestimate clevers
7. THE POWER OF CLEVERS

• Must meet a customer
and company need
• Resource constraints?
• Growth goals?
• Multi-disciplinary teams
Don’t suspend money
questions
1. THE CREATIVITY + COMMERCE
CROSSROADS

• Systematic Inventive
Thinking
• Subtract, divide, multiply
• Task unification?
• Describe it in 5 words
Don’t take anything for
granted
2. SIT AND AUDIT

• Forget products
• How is this a service?
• Customer ideas?
• External ideas?
Avoid the commodity trap
3. SEE YOUR BUSINESS AS A SERVICE

• Something different that
has impact
• What if?
• Provoke and prototype
• Who is the protagonist?
Don’t stifle provocateurs
4. MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK

• Do everything at once
• How many ideas have we
got?
• How many can we do free?
• How fast can we adjust?
Don’t limit effort to one thing
5. COMPETE ON ALL FRONTS AT ONCE

• Is there a true need?
• Do the numbers work?
• Does it matter?
• Learn and adjust fast
Don’t spreadsheet dance
6. THE FRAUGHT FIRST MILE

• Start with the customer
• What is cheapest or free?
• Who else can help?
• What can start-ups teach
us?
Don’t rely on big budgets
7. KEEP IT FRUGAL

• How brief can we be?
• Map, tell, talk, show
• Talk, actively listen,
converse
• Deep brevity wins
Don’t be vague or lengthy
1. SAY LESS FOR MORE IMPACT

• What is the audience?
• What should our approach
be?
• What should our tone be?
• WIFM?
Don’t broadcast blandly
2. POLITE DIRECTNESS

• What social currency do we
have?
• What emotion can we elicit?
• Why should they agree?
• Why should they share?
Don’t assume they’ll engage
3. GIVE IT SOCIAL CURRENCY

• Get out of victim stage
• Use constraint to spur better
thinking
• We can if…
Don’t wallow in constraints
4. DISADVANTAGE CAN BE ADVANTAGE

• What have we done?
• What can we tell people?
• What is overclaim?
• Should we change
something before
communicating anything?
Don’t claim what isn’t true
5. DO THINGS AND TELL PEOPLE

• What is the audience?
• What is the right language?
• Have we rehearsed?
• What is our message on a
postcard?
Don’t use cliché and jargon
6. MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

• What mistakes are we
making?
• What is realistic?
• What do we need to clarify?
• Can we make it simpler?
Don’t make fanciful claims
7. LEARN FROM MISTAKES

THE SMART STRATEGY BOOK

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THE SMART STRATEGY BOOK