You know the old adage "If you don't know where you're going… Any road will get you there." There are many businesses who follow this philosophy in everything they do. They may be experts at one thing and start a business but never plan what they want the future to look like.

A few years ago I read the Emyth Mastery (a continuation of The Emyth) and found one very interesting way to think about this. This book shared an idea that struck a chord with me. Basically the book's goal is to help you develop a world class company and the idea is focused on helping you visualize what your business will look like when it is done.

So imagine you have a 5000 piece puzzle box with a blank top. There is no image to show you what the puzzle should look like when it is completed. Now imagine you open the box and all the pieces are white like the top of the box. Now think about how hard it would be to put a puzzle like this together. There are no colors or images or visuals to start separating pieces into piles to organize them. Where do you start?

Maybe you start with the edges because you at least know a piece with a flat side must be the outside of the puzzle, right? But is this piece… part of the top, bottom, or one of the sides? You can imagine this would be kind of tricky. This is how most small & medium sized businesses run their companies. They have no idea what the end of the game looks like so wherever they end up is ok with them, I guess.

It is very easy to get caught up in putting out fires and doing the day-to-day stuff. It is more important to really figure out- Why are we doing all this. So here is the challenge. Take the blank puzzle box lid and start developing an image of what your company will look like when it is finished. Honestly go out an hire an illustrator, architectural or design person to help you create an actual image of what your building should look like and what other parts of your business should look like. This gives you an image to work towards. Having a visual is good, but for those non-visual people reading this, a well thought out vision statement, mission and business plan could help in this area as well. That is if you are using these things as the road map or blueprint to what you are building and not just as a document on your shelf.

If you would like some help in this area, you may want to look at a new course we've created to help you build the road map for your business development in 2012. Brandwise is offering a new sales and marketing course. This 12 week course will offer training and hands on coaching to help you not only have a better idea of where you are going, but we are going to help you create the vehicle that is going to get you there. We have partnered with some top inbound marketing firms and an expert sales trainer to deliver a program that will take you places.

If you are looking for a sales and marketing road map to take the trip of your life.

Request a ticket today!