A powerful exercise to spark inspiration and kickstart innovation in your retail business

How you can use business investigations to boost innovation.

A lot of us work in retail or set up our own business because we want to create something successful and meaningful that people will love. We want customers to be excited about our product offering and be thrilled by every interaction they have with our brand, but it’s so easy to just go from one day to the next fighting battles and overcoming hurdles. Sometimes it feels like we’re going with the flow but not really creating the business we know we could build.

So, as we reach the halfway point of 2024, I want to help you get clear on what you want to achieve and why.

Before we get in to the exercise, I want you to answer these questions:

• What does your ideal retail business look like?
• What does your perfect day look like?

Until you get clear on these answers, you can’t truly make your vision a reality.

Next, you can move on to this powerful questioning exercise I love to do whenever I want clarity.

The aim is to drill in to every area of your business to investigate what’s going right, and what isn’t, by questioning everything, even if you think you know the answers. When you’re finished, you will be clear on where you are, where you’re going, and how to get there.

Ready to have a go?

Here are some questions to get you started:

• What have I accomplished?
• Have I been building momentum in direction of my vision?
• Is anything blocking me? What can I do about it?
• Why haven’t I had a breakthrough?
• How do I feel about what I’m doing?
• Do I need to change my approach?
• What is my ultimate dream? Why did I start? Why is it important? Why shouldn’t I give up?
• What is my business? Who am I trying to serve? What do they need? How can I serve them?
• How can people discover me?
• How can I build the “know like trust” factor.
• What am I really saying? What engages people? Am I paying attention to my customers?
• How can I create an amazing experience? Think about your product offering, logistics, and customer service.
• How can I get people to recommend me, and talk about me?
• How can I get repeat customers?

Remember, without regular reflection and questioning, your business won’t reach its full potential.

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Do you need help to innovate? Is your business facing challenges?

Whichever area you’re looking to shake up, I can help you build your ideas in to your business in a way that makes operational sense.

Here’s how:

• Sign up to my FREE weekly newsletter “In The Loop” and I’ll send you practical strategy advice (no fluff here), case studies, and all the resources you need to know about to keep your business ahead of the competition.
• Sign up to my Business Health Check and I’ll analyse your business as it is, and identify where you could grow or change before problems arise.
• Sign up to my Strategy Intensive and I’ll help you create a business strategy that captures your goals and turns them in to an actionable strategy that will give you the confidence and clarity to move forward with ease.
• Contact me for other services including competitor analysis and market research.

Timing matters, so don’t take your eye off the ball.

“Let’s collaborate, I’d love to help you innovate.”