No one likes to take work on vacation, but after a few days away from the pressures of the office, your mind starts to relax a bit and fresh ideas have a chance to take hold. It is at this point that we would like to suggest three topics for you to consider. Your Team, Your Product and Your Market. In that order, exactly backwards from the way we were all taught to consider top line strategy in business school. Think of it as a pyramid and you’re starting at the bottom — without a strong base, the whole thing falls apart.

We all have teams of people we rely upon for success. From the conception of new ideas to the ability to execute developed plans, the effectiveness of your team will dictate both your level of success and your level of stress. As you are watching the tide on a sunny summer beach ask yourself if you have been able to delegate more major responsibility to your team over the past year. If you did, what did they do with that newfound power, have they used it for good or evil? If you did not, are there some nagging doubts about your team that are keeping you from delegation? Is this weakness keeping your own schedule of responsibility fully burdened, preventing you from advancing in your own career? Is there difficult action required which you have been putting off because the time was never quite “right”?

On that point, does your team have difficult conversations with each other and you or does everything get glossed over until too late. Do peers treat each other with respect and honesty or are they selective about who they talk to and what they say, maybe looking for some political angle or to curry favor? It is too easy as an executive to let this stuff slide because confronting it is so challenging, but if your team does not have honest and straightforward conversation about difficult topics then this is a red flag which should not be avoided.

An ineffective team will slowly erode strength from your business, your products and your customers.

We are halfway through the calendar year, are your products performing as you expected (hoped?) they would back in January?

Are customers buying for the reasons you envisioned when the product was developed? Are your competitors forcing you to lower prices, to over-promise, or worse – to claim your products and services can do things they were never designed to do?

Are your customers glad they bought from you? Are your products distinct or is it hard for people to differentiate between you and your competition? Do your own employees understand your products and are they able to explain what it is your business does? Is your product roadmap on track, giving a periodic fresh face to your business and are the changes and revisions you are making to your products ahead of the market or are you playing catch up?

The value of your business is its products and services and happy customers are your currency. It is easy to lose track of this fundamental idea as we work through the fragmented detail of a typical workday.

Markets are tricky things. They aren’t easy to identify, they change shape constantly and just when you think you have it pegged they get up and shift right off your screen. This is a bit unnerving and why so many companies mistake their more tangible customers for their markets.
For the record:

A market is a set of customers who you have sold to and will sell to
in the future as well as a set of prospects you should be selling to.

The difference is important. For example, if your products have everything a specific customer wants, it is easy to assume that there will be lots of others who will want the same thing. Simple assumption but very dangerous - Many charismatic product visionaries have burned through many dollars chasing fictional markets. If your products are under-performing and you took some shortcuts while doing your market analysis - well, as my grandfather used to say, measure twice, cut once.

Maybe you did your homework, but the results still aren’t there. Not being able to crack into an obvious and existing market is maddening. The usual culprits are (in this order): Pricing, Marketing Plan and Sales Model. Do you have harmony between these three cousins? If not, look no further. A common example of a disconnection between these three is having to price above the market to protect margins and therefore win fewer deals. Without some type of collaborative change, the end of the story is as obvious as that paperback thriller sitting under your boat drink.

So that’s it…Three things to think about while you are on vacation this summer and your mind is up for handling fresh, whole thoughts - Your Team, Your Products, Your Markets. When working together these are the critical parts that can bring your business top-line success. Coming back from your summer holiday with some fresh thinking in these areas may be the extra push your business needs for the second half.