Perhaps you anticipate an easy time but need to guard against complacency? Or perhaps you expect some very robust questions from difficult people? Either way there is no substitute for preparing well for the Q&A parts of your important presentations.

The thing is preparing on your own can be tough.

How do you talk to yourself and both ask and answer the questions?

Have you even worked out what the questions may be?

One thing for sure is that trying to think on your feet while under pressure during a presentation is a very risky approach.

Professionals prepare.

It doesn’t guarantee success but it improves your chances greatly.

Then success becomes a habit.

Building a reputation for doing business presentations well can become your ticket to bigger and better business deals, agreements for budget funding, massively improved personal credibility, and promotions to better jobs.

In short it is better to prepare for the question and answer (Q&A) part of your presentations with a coach who can plan and role play questions and answers with you.

Contact Adrian Hargreaves to discuss 07866795858 adrian@hargreaves-marketing.co.uk.

In many SMEs, strategy documentation is rare, inconsistent, or avoided altogether. On the surface, the reasons sound practical:

• “We’re too busy.”

• “We communicate informally.”

• “Everyone already knows what they need to do.”

• “We don’t want unnecessary meetings.”

But scratch beneath the surface and a deeper pattern emerges — one that few leaders openly acknowledge but many privately feel:

Documenting strategy feels risky. Because once the strategy is written, presented, and shared — it becomes something you can be wrong about.

This is a perfectly understandable human reaction. But it is also one of the most common and most damaging blind spots in SME leadership.

In this article, we explore why this happens, why it matters, and what to do about it.

1. Why Documentation Can Feel Dangerous to SME Owners

Many SME founders built their companies through instinct, improvisation, and personal credibility. Decisions were made quickly. Strategy lived in their heads. The business moved fast because the leader moved fast.

A structured internal presentation culture — especially one that documents evolving strategy — changes the dynamic.

Documentation introduces:

• Visibility

• Accountability

• Consistency

• Challenge

For some owners, this triggers an understandable fear:

“If I present our strategy every month, and things don’t go to plan, does that make me look like I failed?”

When everything stays verbal and informal, memory is flexible. Interpretation is flexible. Priorities are flexible.
That flexibility can feel safe.

Once strategy becomes visible, it becomes real.

2. The Unspoken Fears Underneath “We Don’t Have Time”

Most owners never say this out loud. Instead, they default to practical explanations. But the deeper drivers often include:

a) Fear of being proven wrong

A documented decision is one everyone can see.
If the outcome is poor, it’s harder to rewrite the narrative.

b) Fear of losing freedom to change direction

Documentation creates expectations.
A verbal strategy can shift without scrutiny.

c) Fear of losing authority

Clarity gives teams confidence.
Confidence creates questions.
Questions invite challenge.

For leaders used to being the single source of truth, this shift can feel uncomfortable.

d) Fear of exposing gaps in the strategy

Unwritten strategy is uncriticised strategy.
Written strategy invites refinement — which can feel like criticism.

These fears are rarely about incompetence — they’re about vulnerability.

3. The Hidden Cost of Avoiding Presentation Culture

Avoiding structured presentations may feel like self-protection, but it comes at a significant business cost:

Misalignment

People fill gaps in communication with assumptions — and assumptions are inconsistent.

Slow execution

If the strategy isn’t clear, teams waste time interpreting it or working at cross-purposes.

Dependence on the owner

When strategy lives in the founder’s head, the founder becomes the bottleneck.

Loss of momentum

Without a cadence of progress reviews, strategy drifts.

Reduced leadership confidence

Avoidance breeds uncertainty.
Clarity breeds confidence.

Documentation isn’t dangerous — lack of clarity is.

4. The Strategic Narrative Isn’t a Report Card — It’s a Leadership Tool

One of the biggest mindset shifts for SME leaders is realising:

A documented strategic narrative doesn’t judge you — it supports you.

It isn’t a prediction.
It isn’t a guarantee.
It isn’t a promise carved in stone.

It is a living narrative that evolves as the business learns and as the environment changes.

A strong internal presentation rhythm helps leaders:

• articulate their thinking

• communicate priorities clearly

• maintain alignment through change

• strengthen trust

• show how decisions evolve — instead of appearing inconsistent

In fact, counterintuitively:

Documented strategy protects leadership credibility.
Undocumented strategy exposes it.

5. Why SMEs Need a Presentation-Based Culture

A healthy presentation culture:

• forces clarity

• accelerates communication

• reduces confusion

• makes decisions transparent

• builds a shared understanding

• improves accountability

• empowers managers

• and stabilises the business during growth

The goal is not corporate bureaucracy.
The goal is clarity and alignment — without the noise.

This is where SMEs often struggle and where the right coaching creates real value.

6. The Hargreaves Perspective

At Hargreaves, we see this pattern consistently across SMEs. Leaders want clarity, alignment, and confident communication — but they resist documentation because it feels exposing.

Our role is to help them:

• communicate more clearly

• document strategy in a practical, flexible way

• build presentation rhythms that support execution

• develop stronger leadership skills

• remove the fear from visibility

We help teams move from:

“If I document this, I could be wrong.”

to:

“If I document this, we can move faster, together.”

7. Final Thought

SMEs don’t struggle because they lack ideas.
They struggle because the ideas stay in the owner’s head.

A strategic presentation culture solves this.

It replaces ambiguity with alignment.
It replaces assumption with clarity.
It replaces fear with confidence.

And most importantly:

It supports growth without adding unnecessary corporate weight.

To discuss, contact Adrian Hargreaves 07866795858  |  adrian@hargreaves-marketing.co.uk

In the very early days the emphasis was on helping quite small businesses with their digital marketing. However as time went by and we started working with larger companies who had in-house sales and marketing people our work changed dramatically. We started to get involved in all sorts of strategic projects including technology, recruitment, onboarding, training, strategic thinking and strategy execution.

The business evolved further after COVID with an emphasis on developing support packages to enable business owners, managers, and sales and marketing professionals within SME companies to ‘articulate strategy well’ verbally, visually and in writing.

We continue to specialise in this area and now narrow down even more by offering internal presentations coaching for driven business owners running growth-focused companies and their sales and marketing colleagues.

To discuss how we might work together to solve problems, drive projects and win more and better deals, please contact Adrian Hargreaves direct on 07866795858 or email: adrian@hargreaves-marketing.co.uk

Adele’s knowledge of her subject is second to none, however, what really struck me was how well Adele is able to talk about her subject.

Being an expert on a subject and being able to communicate well are two different things. Many experts are actually quite poor communicators.

Great communicators take every opportunity to practice their skills and before retirement Adele was a regular speaker at numerous major industry events and meetings.

Practice combined with a passion for one’s subject is a winning combination.  

If your business needs to increase sales, you can only get so far by improving the sales function, people, processes and technologies. Before embarking on what might be an abrasive and challenging process to transform the sales function and its people, it may be far more effective to broaden your scope of what you are assessing.

The reality is whilst sales directors, sales managers, and salespeople must be accountable for sales results, very often, some things are happening outside of their direct control. Understanding these factors and working out how to respond is a significant leadership challenge.

Challenges are easier to face with the support of other people rather than alone. When assessing sales performance and alignment with the business and other functions, it is often best to reach outside your organisation for more specialist guidance.

Depending on your specific situation, you may benefit from a consultant, a coach, a writer, or someone with other specialist skills.

Please get in touch with Adrian Hargreaves for a free and confidential chat with no obligation to take this conversation forward.

At its simplest, Go-to-Market Strategy is a breeze where a lightweight or ‘lean’ approach may be all that is required.

At its most advanced, a far more detailed approach is where a ‘go-to-market’ strategy consists of 6 stages, each with multiple steps and undertaken over an extended period.

At its worse, there is no go-to-market strategy, and this usually looks like a random and uncoordinated number of activities with no clear objectives, plan or process.

An essential first step is to document your thoughts, plans, processes and activities. Doing so improves clarity and enables comparison with different approaches which are available to you.

There is a ‘right way’ for you. Finding it can be an iterative process, but the journey can be much more enjoyable and rewarding when there is some logical, planned approach.

Is it time to review and update your go-to-market processes? There may be various scenarios. Maybe you do not have any documented procedures at all? Perhaps it is the first time you have taken a new product or service to market? Or, it could be that someone with more experience has left and has not left detailed notes of what to do?

We have detailed go-to-market stages and steps that can be suitably adapted to suit any organisation, from a small startup company to an enterprise-level organisation.

For an informal conversation to discuss your Go-to-Market requirements with no obligation, do contact Adrian Hargreaves.

So you have been on the business course that talked about the theory of business strategy. Perhaps you’ve also taken the time to dive into some of the numerous books and articles which promise to make you and your business more competitive?

Now what?

Turning management theory into practice takes some doing. There is a big difference between attending a group workshop, reading a book, downloading many articles off the web and checking out YouTube videos. All this activity may be exciting and perhaps even beneficial to a point. However, the chances are that it is also random, ad-hoc and unstructured.

Successful businesses follow proven structured approaches to marketing, sales and strategy work. You can recognise this approach instantly – a documented process comprised of stages and steps which provide a clear path forward.

A structured approach is essential if you want to develop valuable insights into your competitive situation. Markets can quickly change, turning what may have seemed insignificant observation into insightful data that requires action.

To be successful in competitive markets you really require a system to manage the process. We have proven processes for both competitive and competitor analysis that we can adapt to your specific requirements.

For more information and a free and confidential chat with no obligation, please contact Adrian Hargreaves.

So you have been sold the concept of developing your business model, attended the workshop, and given pride of place on a prominent wall for your visual canvas map where the managers can see it, now what?

It all seemed so interesting at the start. That’s when your interest was highest, but then you have to explain it to other people who perhaps aren’t quite as interested, then you get back into the swing of the day-to-day, and before you know it, the business model canvas is collecting dust.

That scenario is all too common. Courses attended with the right intention to learn about new concepts that can help your business. Then what seemed clear on the course now looks cloudy and confusing. Quickly the interest level drops.

Business models are an excellent management framework. However, to get the best out of them, you need to maintain a high level of interest and awareness.

Routines are a proven way of achieving this. Set aside time on a pre-planned basis to revisit your business model to see what has changed and anticipate what might change in the future.

That way, you can rekindle your interest in your business model and share your enthusiasm with people inside and outside the company who have a stake in your company’s success.

One way of achieving this is to include a current analysis of your business model within a regularly updated strategic review document.

For more information on keeping your business model canvas and messaging relevant, up-to-date and front-of-centre, do contact Adrian Hargreaves for an initial conversation.

Buyers need to appreciate the value and be prepared to pay for it. The keyword here is “value.” Very often in business, there is a big difference between what the buyer perceives of value compared to the seller.

It is, of course, the buyer’s opinion which is more important. However, it is the seller’s job to ensure that value is communicated, and this is a big challenge.

In business-to-business markets, buyers make decisions in very different ways from what they did a decade ago.

In a new business scenario, whereas in the past, one decision-maker may have been happy to meet the salesperson, decide on the spot and sign it off on their own.

Now high-spend decisions are often made by groups of people, over a longer period of time, and the salespeople are absent from the decision-making process.

If the salespeople are absent at the time the decision is made, then everything must be done to provide the buying team with the right quality of information when they need it so that they can decide in their own time the value which is on offer.

In an existing business scenario, many companies provide fantastic levels of service, and you would think that by doing so, they would never lose business. That, of course, is not always the case. If the customer does not appreciate the value and is prepared to pay for it, then, the seller is at risk of not only losing the business but having wasted resources on providing higher levels of service that are necessary.

Working out the optimum levels of service takes some time and effort. It is a constant work-in-progress.

Without an understanding of how buyers make decisions and what it is they value, it will always be difficult to get new business, retain existing business and grow profitable revenue.

The way forward is to develop strategies which enable a better understanding of buyers and enable marketing and salespeople to collaborate closely together to sell in a way which is ‘buyer-focused.’

This way, buyers and sellers are on the same page. Rather than a win: lose we have a win: win.

There are exceptions—buyers who are conditioned to winning at the expense of the supplier. If our portfolio of accounts contains only this type of customer, then we are in for a difficult time.

However, not all businesses want to do business this way. Some businesses want to have a good network of valued suppliers who they can rely on. These are the people and businesses which do appreciate value, provided it is a value which makes a positive difference to them.

If you are a business that both wants to and is capable of delivering high levels of value, then choosing which customers to offer that value is very important.

Focus only on the prospects and customers who need it, will appreciate it and be happy to pay for it.

Then you will have your ‘value appreciated.’

Hargreaves Marketing is about helping you to be appreciated by customers for the value which you deliver through your products, services and business operations.

Many board meetings are played out like films: power, ego, deception, blame, and lots of other negative vibes. The board room can indeed be a frightening place to be on a bad day.

Sometimes, of course, things go badly wrong, and in those cases, there has to be a bad day. Uncomfortable, but necessary to put things right.

Unfortunately, for some companies, every board room meeting is a bad day for everyone. Even if someone thinks they’ve won, actually everyone has lost by pushing others or being pushed into a wrong decision.

In such companies, not only is there no intention to reach an agreement, very often there is actual intent not to reach an agreement. When power and politics take over the board room, the result is either paralysis or bad decision making.

On the other side of the coin, boards which agree on everything too quickly could benefit from some positive and constructive discussion. There needs to be some tension, some debate. People around the board room table need to think they have considered the options and come to the right decision.

Getting the right balance is essential and often comes down to having and living the correct cultural values.

If your board meetings are more like a Hollywood epic, then maybe its time for a rethink.

Board rooms are the places to discuss, debate and make the right decisions on strategy. Negative thoughts, behaviours and actions prevent open, honest and insightful discussions.

Successful strategy starts in the meeting rooms and boardroom room. If there is unnecessary conflict at these early stages, the chances of a successful implementation are low.

‘Winning’ board room battles based on overpowering and ego is unlikely to result in a winning strategy. Negativity and big egos strangle strategy.