A wonderful idea can be married with a fantastic technology to produce dismal results. For example, food is a wonderful idea. We all love food. Airplanes are a fantastic technology. The offspring of this marriage is airplane food. There is some wonderful food served in first class; however, the words "airplane food" bring to mind something uninspiring.
Business plans are a wonderful idea. Lay out in text and charts exactly what you intend to do and how you intend to get it done. Computer automation is a fantastic technology saving users untold hours of unnecessary work. But their offspring, the typical automated business plan, is as exciting as airplane food. Pity those that have to read them for a living.
How do we upgrade to first class? Our intention is not to just get by; it's to attract the best - funding, talent, clients, etc. Adequate simply will not suffice.
Business Model Generation, a technique described in the book by that name, offers an exciting and elegant place to start. A Business Model is an abstract version of the business broken down into 9 key elements. It represents the flow of people, products, ideas, information and values that drive the revenues and costs of a business. By taking time to first abstract the business dream on paper, we develop an appreciation of its inherent values and attractive features.
Now take that Business Model and apply it to a specific set of circumstances and we have the makings of something interesting. If the model is exciting, the specifics of a plan can be written (even with the assistance of computer software) so that the excitement flows through it. If the sizzle isn't there in the beginning, no computer application is going to add it. Our dreams are always exciting.
At Murphy Business, we use Business Model Generation in our Executive Advocate (sm) programs. These programs fit executive buyers to target business acquisitions that have the greatest likelihood of success for their future growth. We don't start with a business plan. There is too much unknown about our client. We start with the client's Business Model Canvas. This specific graphical representation of the Business Model becomes part of a highly profiled search criteria to find "unadvertised" potential business acquisition targets. Details of the business acquisition targets are merged with the Business Model Canvas of the client to produce a business plan with substance. Something to excite the seller, the buyer and the investors.
We have developed a Business Model Canvas for the Executive Advocate(sm) programs to illustrate the communication power of this approach. You invited to watch this 8 minute video introduction . What we discovered was the use of this tool internally has also been invaluable in helping us also communicate the value of the Executive Advocate (sm) programs to candidate clients.
Communicate the dream!
Photo credit: fsse8info
