The Serious Business of Getting Busy on White Space:

Welcome to the second segment in our four-part series on the serious business of getting busy on white space. In Step One, we covered ways of finding your white space - the areas where your business can expand and grow. Then we laid out steps for assessing new opportunities and building team buy-in and investment as you pick your prize and commit.

In this second installment, we'll focus on formulating a plan and building a foundation for execution, growth, and long-term success.

Taking the First Steps

The first step in moving forward is to take a step back.

Review the leverage points you identified in your original assessment of the white space possibilities, but this time with a planning lens.

What assets do you truly have? How can you use them? Those might include a CRM, or a system you already have in place, or a person who has expertise in a particular area. What can you count on to help your plan succeed?

Then, as you begin the specifics of your planning, how can you fortify those assets, and make sure they're receiving the necessary support?

Get very specific about the goals you've set for your project, the prize you've picked, and remember if you don't plan things, they just won't automatically happen. Make sure each asset and its involvement in your new project has been lined out, so everybody can get on the same page as planning begins.

Identifying Your Leverage Points

Once you've reviewed where you want to go and the vehicles you have for getting here, it's time to chart your course.

Often, it's easy to imagine a straight line from where you are to where you want to be. Rarely does reality match up with that straight line path. Wise leadership identifies and plans for detours and diversions.

• Identify any gaps -- think about what's standing between you and glory. The time for discovering holes or gaps in the plan is not after you start executing. Get a laser-sharp focus on identifying the assets you don't have up front and having a plan to address those needs.

• Identify the “close in." This is the who, what, when, where, and why you're executing with your current structure. You don't have to change your whole structure in order to execute - presumably, what you already have works, at least for your current business. Instead, ask what you can execute with your current structure, and grow from there.

• Determine your points of influence in executing the plan. Call out the two or three things that are really going to influence your project's success.

In other words, part of the plan is … what's the plan? What's the plan for the things you don't have (the gaps) and for the things you do have (your current structure)?

For example, if you've identified exponential growth available in the healthcare segment with hospital cafes, then it might make sense to hire a consultant who has very specific expertise in this area. Perhaps you plan to structure that as a temporary solution, until you determine whether the return on investment justifies a new hire.

In this example, we begin by identifying the gap in your needs and the solution for it - whether consultant, headcount, or a combination of the two - without requiring wholesale changes to existing structure.

As you envision each step in your plan, determine again and again the things that stand between your team and success in executing.

What can you anticipate and prepare for as you revisit the gaps?
What do you have, and what don't you have?
What do you know, and what don't you know?

This is the time to pick the things that are going to drive incremental business. Now is when your team gets in and figures out how to plan your project in a way that makes it easy to execute. Take the opportunity, before you hit the streets, to design the easiest path to purchase for the operator or customer and to communicate it in detail to your team. Then, when you move into execution, everyone will know exactly where they fit, and exactly what their part is.

Raw Honesty - OBSTACLES: Identify & Overcome

The obstacles to identify and overcome at this step include some of the obstacles you might have encountered during the assessment step. Or perhaps obstacles you avoided earlier begin to surface now.

Once you're ready to execute, you may encounter team members who have kept quiet and who suddenly jump up and proclaim, “BUT, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute." If you've included everyone in your planning, and built buy-in, you'll see less of this, but it can show up at every step of the process. Be prepared.

The very act of identifying your gaps can easily cause unnecessary delays, as well. While you don't want to rush in without any kind of awareness of your shortcomings, you also don't want to put off beginning until everything is perfect. Waiting for perfection can derail projects that would otherwise succeed, and extending the planning phase, delaying execution, can sabotage an otherwise strong project. Plan for the imperfections, so you're ready to fill the gaps. Plan on the gaps, prepare for the gaps, embrace the gaps, but I repeat, don't wait until everything is perfect to execute.

Finally, how do you know when the planning process is over? When everyone knows the part they play in executing the plan, everyone buys in, and excitement begins to build for the plan's potential. Build excitement by fully training team members, making sure they understand the program's goals, and ensuring they have the resources they need to succeed. The internal culture and PR you build around the project will help determine when your team feels truly ready to act.

Then, it's onward and upward as your sales team begins to do what they do best: execute.

Julie spent 25 years in sales and marketing for the French's Food Company and McCormick, and then just over 4 years as a broker in senior & executive leadership roles across sales, marketing, digital & business development. She has interviewed over 100 potential manufacturers - she knows what she's talking about!