Business Problem Solving Techniques - BizTechBlogs

 How to Solve Business Problems?

When you start a business, you face business problems due to many reasons. Business problem solving techniques are as important as actual business problem identification. The entrepreneurs encounter various difficulties, and this may happen when the solution is implemented on the symptoms detected, not on the root cause. There may be cases where the wrong strategy is adopted for the identified business problem that does not align with the company's core strategy.

Due to the misalignment, the problem remains the same. The issues can be in the products and their development procedure, business process, or policies affecting the business's smooth functioning.

As the companies are not rigorous in knowing the actual reason for the problem, the company wastes valuable resources, time, and efforts. Besides all this, the same problems keep on occurring. For example, the company might face a shortfall in hiring suitable candidates; it seems that HR does not advertise appropriate job mediums or might lack good hiring. But the real problem lies in the company's HR policies regarding compensation which the company CEO does not understand in providing a competitive market salary.

Business Problem Solving Techniques

Identifying business problems, require serious solutions, here are mentioned ways to guide you in whatever industry you belong to.

1. Identify the problem and understand the need for the solution.

Let's suppose the company might face declining sales as the number of customers decreases or the leads are mostly caught are vague. So the company might understand the problem lies in the marketing strategy. It will go to the different marketing channels and change the content. To some extent, it may help to get a few customers, but in the broader perspective there may be different real cause of declining sales. For this reason, you need to link the problem and the prospective solutions with the help of intermediate requirements.

Let's suppose we need new customers to increase sales with the help of supporting elements, such as sales agents and the marketing strategy. We also need to identify the factors which are affecting the goal accomplishment.

There is a requirement to break down what internal or external factors might affect the desired outcome. Either the pricing of the products does not match the consumer purchasing power. Or the competitor's marketing campaign is better than yours. You need to compare both.

The Economic Factor

The country's current economic condition is affecting your sales and consumer purchasing power.

The Team 

Is your marketing and sales team efficient enough to market your product and convince your customers. Or do they require the necessary training or resources to increase their efficiency? Is there a communication gap between you and your team, and are they experienced enough to handle your customers and queries efficiently?

Goal Alignment

Is your marketing plan aligned with the marketing department goals and company core goals, or does it require improvement? Are you offering products to the right audience in the right location? Team goals need to be assessed and must be aligned with the primary goals. 

2. Propose the Solution

Along with these critical points, you need to assess every issue that can affect the business and can be the cause of problems.

After analyzing every factor in detail, you need to write down the strengths and weaknesses that have been identified. Those weaknesses need to be overcome and considered as an opportunity. That is the need and requirement to be sorted. 

Besides focusing on the company's SWOT, you must also analyze the problem from different angles.

You can ask the questions:

What factors led to this problem?

What factors are directly and indirectly affecting the company?

What factors are making the problem clear?

How strong is the impact?

How much is quick action needed to sort each factor?

Is each factor linked to another?

Now you are ready to see the big picture. You must address the factors that must be included in the proposed solutions. There is a need to give multiple solutions which address the different factors.

It is good to think out of the box when giving solutions. Those things need to be professional and systematic.

Once you have given the solution to most of the factors, it is time to move to the next step.

3. Plan How to Execute the Solution

It is crucial to plan how you will implement the solution. Once you are done with the potential solutions, you can choose the one or two most feasible solutions. Still, you also have to adjust your budget, strategic plan, and all other critical business areas connected with it. You must assess priorly, analyze the forthcoming consequences, and choose the most practical solution accordingly.

This can be pretty frustrating, but it would be possible to keep changing your strategy to align and taking different sorts of decisions to keep your operations smooth. To get long-term fruitful outcomes. But this will help the team and all the domains to keep working in the right direction. The risk of implementing the alternative solution will be minimized.

The accountability will minimize the error risk, or the continuous monitoring will help to spot the errors if things are going out of track. Planning and execution are equally important to keep the process right.

4. Analyze the company performance with the set metric

In order not to be lost, the company needs to set the metric to measure the company's performance and the solution's effect. You need to select the critical performance indicator or the standards because when the success symptoms start showing, you misunderstand and care less about the proper implementation of the plan. So it is also necessary while planning to breakdown pan into the tasks with the deadlines to accomplish the goals. The picture must be clear to you how the success must be like.

If things go out of track or the situation gets non-feasible, what would be the alternative steps to take to make the things work.

Conclusion

The cash flows, the fewer risks or errors, the customer satisfaction or lesser complaints, the more professional and result-driven results are required by the companies. To reach the optimum level, the companies need to find the root cause of the problems that lag them behind on the progressive track. The companies need to take systematic approaches to help or sort out how to resolve those issues successfully.