The Application of Strategy
Get Traction | Move Forward | Present Strategy Well
Understanding, developing, executing, and communicating strategy can be a real challenge for all businesses.
There are a great many strategy methods, frameworks, books, videos and courses each offering something different and promising to be the new solution. For business owners trying to run busy businesses, it can be both overly time-consuming and even overwhelming to devote the time to study, understand and figure out which approach is the right route to take. What is for sure is that without a good understanding of strategy, your business is both more exposed to risk and less able to maximise opportunities.
YourStrategyCoach.co.uk is about supporting leaders of small-medium-sized businesses to get traction and move forward with intent through the application of strategy.
I am Adrian Hargreaves, Managing Director of Hargreaves Marketing Ltd, of which YourStrategyCoach.co.uk is the specialist side of the business focusing purely on strategy. I offer to work directly with managing directors and management teams to develop, execute and communicate individually tailored Managed Strategy Plans which enable a disciplined and structured approach.
The Ultimate Aim
For many businesses, it is enough to include ‘strategy’ using two or three slides within a general presentation which has been put together the day before. While the job may have been done and ticked off the list, it is unlikely to achieve much. Presentations prepared that way often don’t accomplish anything, because they didn’t set out to achieve anything.
Strategy is all about choices and getting key people especially onside to support your initiatives. That way you can get traction and move forward. This ‘traction’ is the ultimate aim – the steady and sustainable progression towards your goals.
I believe that if a leader can present strategy well enough to be accepted, welcomed and supported by a discerning audience of key stakeholders, then the strategy itself has been well thought through.
This requires separate yet aligned focus on both strategy development and communication.
Why Our Approach is Different
Every client has different needs, and unlike other companies, I do not advocate a fixed and rigid one size fits all type of methodology which may be suitable for some clients but not others. Instead, I produce customised programmes which are blended to fit your requirements.
Our work together would include managed strategy programmes covering:
- Strategy development
- Strategy execution
- Strategy communication
Strategy Methodologies and Frameworks
Well-established approaches have influenced my methods of strategy and related topics, so we would, depending on your current strategy performance and future goals, be using a blend of the following frameworks as required:
- Business Model Canvas
- Value Proposition Design
- Disciplined Entrepreneurship
- The Balanced Scorecard
- Blue Ocean Strategy
Specialist Areas of Strategy
Depending on your projects, we may well need to dive deeper into specialist areas. To help us in these tasks, I have for the last several years using an extensive collection of professional standard methodologies, tools and templates for specialist analytical work relating to strategy, marketing and sales. These ‘best practice’ tools use a ‘stages and steps’ approach to ensure consistency and are in fact used by many top enterprise-level companies around the world.
When working with smaller businesses, I adapt them appropriately.
These are excellent resources to establish the areas of strength and development and general maturity of any type or size of company. They provide a world-wide standard benchmark from which we can use to move forward.
YourStrategyCoach.co.uk and Hargreaves Marketing Ltd
Leveraging Synergies to Create Customer Value
YourStrategyCoach.co.uk is part of Hargreaves Marketing Ltd established in 2012, which specialises in presentation production for business strategy, marketing strategy and sales strategy presentations.
The mission of the company is to help our clients gain traction, as in move forward. Therefore, rather than just producing presentations, we also offer a 360-degree service which includes the initial research, right through to training on delivering the presentation and related support materials.
My business has evolved and developed synergies which enable me to create added value to customers by offering clients an integrated approach. Aligned presentations drive strategy and engagement is, in part, achieved through presentations produced to a high standard.
Altogether, we have a lot to offer.
World Wide Coverage Via Remote Meeting Services
Hargreaves Marketing Ltd is based in Blackburn, Lancashire, United Kingdom. However, my first client was not a local company, but a business based 232 miles away in London. Rather than either of us travelling several hours each way, we met remotely via the web.
Previous to starting the business, many of my ‘meetings’ were also remote using web meeting technology, including webcams and screen sharing. Back then, the technologies were less popular, and many clients were using the techniques for the first time. Now meeting on the web is no longer a novelty.
There are many advantages to remote meetings, including increased efficiencies and speed. More gets done faster and cheaper. It is also a more environmentally friendly way of operating.
Remote meetings using web technologies have enabled me to have back-to-back business meetings in the UK and North America within seconds of each other. Features such as webcams, screen-sharing and instant link and document sharing, can perhaps similarly enhance and even transform your internal and external communications, as well as lowering your carbon footprint.
Use your PC’s, tablets, laptops and smartphones for web meetings, and you will quickly appreciate the benefits both of using web meeting technologies and also not having to book meeting rooms, re-check meeting room availability and broadband connections and negotiate lifts and stairs to meet, greet and host visitors.
Instead, simply click on the web meeting link in your invitation email and join the meeting!
About Adrian Hargreaves
- Wide and extensive commercial experience in sales, marketing, recruitment and strategy.
- Employed for over 30 years: BT, Daniel Thwaites PLC, Marstons PLC, Thomson Local, Haymarket Media Group, Faversham House Media, Newsquest Media and ReachLocal Internet
- Self-employed as Managing Director of Hargreaves Marketing Ltd since 2012
- Multiple sales, marketing and digital marketing courses.
- Qualified to Diploma level with The Chartered Institute of Marketing 1988.
- Most recent qualification – “Managing Change” with The Open University in 2019.
Interested in Finding Out More?
Contact Adrian Hargreaves via phone, contact form, or LinkedIn. Please scroll down for options.
Phone
Adrian Hargreaves
Office 01254-246828
Mobile 07866-795858
Contact Form
LinkedIn Messaging
YourStrategyCoach.co.uk is produced by Hargreaves Marketing Ltd
