Do you know what your business does well? Really?

If you think you have a firm grasp on what your business does, try this exercise – ask your employees to tell you what business you are in and what problems you solve.  

You may think that this would be a waste of time, but I can assure you that you will get some surprises.

I have never yet undertaken a business review without discovering that even the most senior of management cannot simply tell me, with 100% assurance, what the business does, who their customers are, or what problems they solve. 

Often you will find that people at lower levels of the business organisation don’t have a very good grasp on what problems the business solves or who their customers are.

What is more shocking is to discover that many senior managers cannot explain in a few sentences what the business does. They will ramble on about product features and functions, and give you broad mission and vision statements that sound like every other business.

You are left wondering how they make decisions when they have such a poor understanding of their own marketplace.

I am especially interested in growth potential, so I am seeking not just an explanation of what they do, but what they do really well.

I want to know where their competitive advantage is, and what makes them unique. I want to know what problems they solve, where they are the best available solution, or where they sell and get low resistance to price increases.

I am looking for a tight definition of their ideal customer to see if their marketing is tightly focused. I review their research and development to find out if they are developing products to meet unmet needs, or to open up new markets where high growth can be achieved. I am no longer surprised when I discover that even the most senior managers cannot clearly explain what the company does best, or who its ideal customer is.

So as an exercise, start with something simple – ask your staff what you do and who you do it for.

What you will discover is that most of them do not have a clear picture of what you do. Many will know, but will be unable to succinctly define the problems or the customers.

That being the case, consider the implications for your business.

Every day people throughout your business are making decisions. Every decision in some way commits your business resources. If these decisions, both large and small, are being made without a very clear picture of what business you are in – or should be in – you are wasting time and opportunity.

If you seriously want to pursue a growth strategy, you must start by making sure everyone agrees where you are going. Understanding what you do and who you do it for is very basic.

Deciding on what you do best, who you need to target, and how to exploit that opportunity, is fundamental to a growth strategy and you need to take everyone along on the journey.

To support a growth strategy everyone has to be on the same page on the same book.

Tom McKaskill is a successful global serial entrepreneur, educator and author who is a world acknowledged authority on exit strategies and the former Richard Pratt Professor of Entrepreneurship, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.