A business without a strategy is like a ship without a sail.
The business world keeps transforming. Over the years, we’ve seen our businesses being influenced by the change. A change in the competitors, a change in who the customers are, and a change in what they expect from us.
The term “business strategist” is not a new word in the business industry.
But what do they exactly do? What does business strategy even mean?
In simple words,
A strategy is often known to be the roadmap leading the organization toward the pinnacle of success, it teaches you how to reach from point A to point B. Having a strategy means, there is an agreed plan upon which the company needs to act upon.
Now, a business strategy defines the actions the company takes to achieve its business goals. It helps define the approaches an organization needs to take in order to reach its goal and what type of decisions must be taken.
Here’s what the tasks and duties look like regularly:
- Create documentation based on the organization’s goals.
- Keep a track of the competitors and devise business strategies and how best they can implement those strategies.
- Identify the loopholes in the business and propose the right strategy.
- Recommends improvements to be made to the business based on the competitive trends in the business market.
- Business modeling to improve business functions.
- Plan documentation of new projects and to achieve them accordingly – evaluation of ROI.
- Provide an activity report and make sure maximum ROI is achieved.
- Define the annual marketing KPIs for the company.
- Collaboration with other departments to collect data for timely analysis.
The role of a business strategist is indeed a challenging one.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job role projects to stand among the list of the top executives, since they also hold responsibility in developing goals for the company and have a greater role to play in implementing a process to meet the desired set goal.
The report states that the growth rate will increase by 6 percent between 2018 to 2028.
What are the prerequisites?
Most professionals in this field possess nearly 10 percent of proficiency in business development, financial statements, and market research. They also need to possess soft skills like creativity and analytical.
Let us further breakdown the skills:
- Financial statements – 10 percent
- Business development – 9 percent
- Market research – 7 percent
- Business model – 4 percent
- Customer service – 4 percent
- Client relationship – 4 percent
A bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree in the following fields – business, finance, economics, human resource, management, etc.
Besides this, aspiring business strategists can start opting for business strategy certifications. Some of the best business certifications body include names like the Talent Strategy Institute, eCornell, and business strategy programs at Harvard, etc.
Apart from the above-mentioned eligibility criteria, the individual needs to have the ability to make quick decisions, a high degree of problem-solving skills, analytical mindset, strategic planning skills, and leadership qualities.
Most employers prefer their candidates to hold almost all the above skillsets.
While we talk about their earning potential, most business development strategists make around USD 71,000 per annum, source Payscale. This could also go as high as USD 124,000 per annum, i.e. the ones who fall in the 90th percentile of the pay scale. While the ones at the lowest earn around USD 40,000 per year.
Business strategists are among the highest sought-after job roles in the business industry. So, if you’re interested in leading companies to the pinnacle of success, this may be the best time to get into a business strategy job role.