Most small businesses have a strategy document.
It probably lives in a folder somewhere. It was written at an away day, or pulled together before a funding conversation, or put on paper because someone said it was time to get serious about where the business was going.
And then life got in the way. Clients needed serving. People needed managing. The day-to-day took over.
The strategy didn’t fail because it was wrong. It failed because nobody owned it.
Before a business can align around a direction, the founder needs to be genuinely clear on what that direction is. Not just the revenue target. The bigger picture – what the business looks like in three years, who it serves, what it stands for, and what kind of company you’re actually building.
That clarity is harder to arrive at than it sounds. It’s easy to be busy and feel like you know where you’re going. It’s something different to have it properly articulated – in a way that the team can understand, act on, and hold each other accountable to.
Getting there is where the strategy work starts. Not after the vision is set. As part of setting it.
Strategy that sits above your marketing and sales – disconnected from both – is just a well-intentioned plan that the business runs alongside rather than from. An effective business growth strategy for SMEs has to connect downwards into marketing and sales, not float above them. Strategy sets the direction. Marketing builds the pipeline that moves you there. Sales converts that pipeline into revenue.
This is why the strategy work at Natterjack doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s the foundation that everything else is built on – and it’s owned by one person who stays connected to all three.
Every engagement starts with an honest conversation about where the business is, where you want it to go, and what’s actually standing in the way.
For businesses that want a proven structure to work within, I use EOS – the Entrepreneurial Operating System – as a practical framework for business growth strategy.
EOS is built for SMEs. It’s straightforward, founder-friendly, and designed for the real world rather than the boardroom. It gives leadership teams the tools to get clear on direction, disciplined around execution, and aligned around what matters – without the complexity of corporate planning processes that don’t translate to businesses of this size.
The strategy work typically spans the six components of EOS:
A shared ambition with clear priorities
Get the right people doing the right things
Replace gut feel with the metrics that matter
Ensure consistent processes for growth activities
Build a solutions-oriented environment
Deliver on the plan
The strategy work I do is for owner-led creative agencies and B2B service SMEs across the North West and beyond that are ready to grow – but need more than a document to make it happen.
Typically these are businesses that are doing well but have hit a ceiling. The founder has a sense of where they want to go but no clear plan for getting there. The team is capable but not always pulling in the same direction. The day-to-day keeps winning over the strategic.
One senior person, working inside the business part of the time, keeping the strategy alive and connected to the marketing and sales that deliver it – that’s what changes it.
If your business is ready for a growth strategy that gets executed — not filed — get in touch for a natter.