How to Balance Long-Term Business Strategy With Short-Term Business Needs

In all things, especially in business strategy, balance is crucial. As an entrepreneur, finding a distinct balance between your long-term business strategy and short-term business needs is one of the most significant challenges you will face—too many wind up sacrificing one for the other. But you need not sacrifice short-term goals, like sales quotas, to achieve an expansion, for example.

How do you find balance when your short-term goals and long-term goals are at odds? Through a process in which you identify your goals and analyze each one based on importance.

Balancing and Analyzing Short-Term Goals

Most short-term business issues stem from mistakes we make during the strategy and planning phase of business development. To balance these goals and resolve them to make room for long-term opportunities, it is crucial to learn from each mistake.

1. You need to clearly understand your business, industry, the local economy, and your customer base.
2. Learn all you can about your competition in the area.
3. Create a customer persona to better understand who your prospects are, what they need, their concerns, and how likely they are to buy your products or services.
4. A total understanding of your company’s internal operations, down to the last worker and their responsibilities.
5. Remain flexible, as most excellent strategies require innovation and evolution on the fly to succeed.

The fewer short-term concerns on your mind, the more time you have to focus on long-term goals.

Tackling Your Business’ Long-Term Goals

Your long-term business strategy goals may vary, depending on your industry. Still, most business owners jot down a few ideas, such as expanding, increasing yearly revenue, or taking the company public, for example.

Competently tackling long-term goals heavily relies on eliminating short-term needs. If one of your long-term goals is to increase revenue, as we previously suggested, then attracting new clients is vital. If you have a customer persona in mind, a short-term task, your salespeople may work to bring in new business that benefits your company in the long-term.

Remember, attacking long-term goals depends as much on your mindset as the actual steps you take. They are long term for a reason, so it is safe to assume completion is down the line. But that doesn’t mean you can sit idly by and wait for the big day. You whittle away at each goal. Break your long-term goals into chunks, then tackle each one until you succeed.

If you struggle with the initial planning and business strategy phase, consider hiring a business consultant from MKS&H to put yourself on the track to success. Contact us today for a consultation!