Tag Archive for: #business planning
I love my business plan. And it loves me back.
I have a written plan for my business. It is organized, relatively short, succinct, coherent, complete. I take good care of it. I keep it current, change it frequently, and take it with me wherever I go.
My business plan loves me back. Let me count the ways!
It keeps me focussed on my highest priorities.
I get a warm feeling each quarter when my team and I meet to review our progress and set new targets. The energy and excitement at these meetings is intoxicating.
I take it with me twice a year to show it to my bank manager. She loves it too. She even shows it to her boss. They like having us as a customer and are looking forward to lending us more money when we need it.
All our employees love it. They helped to write it, it’s their baby. They know what the other departments are working on which makes everyone’s job easier.
We show it to our new employees. They are really impressed and want to know more about how they can help us meet our goals. They tell me that their friends often ask them why they are so excited about working at our company and want to know how to get a job here.
I show I to my spouse. She doesn’t understand all of it, but she likes it too. She notices that I’m much less stressed now and seem to have more time for her and the family. She is excited that we already have three vacations scheduled this year.
I show it to our business partners. Our suppliers and distributors really, really like it. We’ve become very efficient at finding new opportunities where we can improve our products and services, and better ways to connect with our customers. I notice that they now have a written plan for their business. It is starting to feel like, together, we are unstoppable.
I show it to our marketing consultants. They love it too. It helps them make insightful changes to our web site, and other marketing material. With the core business descriptions clearly outlined in our plan, they can focus more of their time on the creative side, which is what they do best.
Did I mention that we’ve made record profits the last three years in a row?
I love my business plan!
If you want more information on how you can create a written plan for your business, please visit plangenie.com
#business #planning #team #love #happyvalentinesday
If you’re ready to take your business plan to the next level, you’ll want to keep reading. The first step for writing a planning document for your business is designing the structure for your plan. With a clear and coherent structure, the task of planning is much easier. You simply fill in the content and Presto! you have a working plan for your business. And the structure can be reused each time you need to make a change to your plans.
To help you get started, we designed a universal structure that will fit any business, large or small, at any stage of its growth, from start-up to preparing for sale.
Here is an outline of the Plan Genie 5-Step Structure. This will help you document where you are today, where you intend to take your company, and how you will get there. Let’s dive into the structure and take actionable steps!
Step 1 – Plan Summary
This is a short, 1-2 page, document that contains the following information
– Your Unique Business Proposition – What makes your company remarkable?
– Your Purpose – “Why” does your company exist, as seen from the customer’s perspective?
– Your long-term goals (3 years)
– Your short-term goals (1 year)
– A list of major action items that you intend to pursue that will help you accomplish your goals (strategy)
Step 2 – Values/Culture
Another short document that identifies and clarifies how you expect everyone in the
company to behave and exercise judgment when dealing with non-routine challenges that arise.
Step 3 – Where you are now
Four important pieces of information that explain your current picture and help you identify changes going forward:
– Description of your target market
– Description of the products and services that you offer, with pricing.
– Description of your current partners, alliances, and influencers
– Description of your major competitors
Step 4 – Departmental Action Plans
This document contains a list of 90-day action plans/projects that covers up to 8 sections of your business:
– Marketing
– Sales
– Operations/service delivery
– People, (attraction, selection retention)
– Technology
– Partners, Alliances, Influencers
– Finance and Administration
– Community and Environment
Step 5 – Organization Structure
Two diagrams: your current organization chart, and a future chart that shows the changes in resources needed to execute the action plans laid out in Step 4.
Once you have captured this information on your initial draft, it is easy to review and update. It’s truly the structuring and planning that have a lasting impact on achieving your business goals. Now that you’re ready to move your business forward, consider passing on the gems by sharing this article with another leader. For more information on documenting a plan for your business, please visit our website plangenie.com.
#business #growth #community #culture #strategy
In an article published by The Globe and Mail, author Jon Umstead proposes that running your business from a documented plan will increase your odds of success by 30-50%. He further states that business leaders who learn how to be better planners not only improve their own business and personal success, but they can collectively change economic growth throughout the country. This article is worth a read. See the link at the end.
When I first read this article several years ago, it deeply resonated with me. I knew from my own business experience and from chairing a CEO peer group, that documented plans, along with a commitment to an ongoing planning process, really work. I’m now on a quest to help business leaders everywhere be more successful through better planning.
Here are three things to consider when business planning:
Structure the plan
This is where you’ll plant the seed for your business. Once you have a clear picture of what information to include in the plan, and what isn’t necessary, this work can go quickly. With a solid structure, it’s simply a matter of adding content. And content can be easily changed and revised over time using the same structure.
Document the plan
Plans kept in your head, or another person’s head aren’t helpful. Allow yourself to free your mental real estate by writing out your ideas. Only when you distill your ideas into a document can these ideas be understood and added to by others.
Commit to the plan
Even well-structured and fully documented plans grow stale quickly. Every business leader quickly learns that effective planning is a continuous process. It requires discipline to stick to a review schedule with so many competing demands on your time. Take a break, check on your progress, celebrate your achievements, and reset priorities for the next quarter.
Over the past few years, we developed a structure for planning in business that makes this task relatively easy for any size business at any stage of growth. We are also compiling resources about planning on our website PlanGenie.com. If you have any great tools that you have used successfully, or insights, or questions on this topic, I would love to hear from you.
If you are already on the planning “bandwagon”, please share this message with others. Let’s get the economy going again.
#business #experience #growth #share #businessleaders #change
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In an article published by The Globe and Mail, Jon Umstead proposes that running your business from a documented plan will increase your odds of success by 30-50%. He further states that business leaders who learn how to be better planners not only improve their own business and personal success, but they can collectively change economic growth throughout the country. This article is worth a read. See link at the end.
When I first read this article several years ago, it stuck with me. I knew from my own business experience and from chairing a CEO peer group, that documented plans, along with a commitment to an ongoing planning process, really works. I’m now on a quest to help business leaders everywhere be more successful through better planning.
Here are three things to consider when business planning:
• Structuring the plan
This is the starting point. Once you have clear picture of what information to include in the plan, and what isn’t necessary, this work can go quickly. With a solid structure, it’s simply a matter of adding content. And content can be easily changed and revised over time using the same structure.
• Documenting the plan
Plans kept in your head, or another person’s head, aren’t helpful. Only when you distil your ideas onto a document can these ideas be understood and added to by others.
• Committing to planning
Even well structured and fully documented plans grow stale quickly. Effective planning is a continuous process. It requires discipline to stick to a review schedule with so many competing demands on your time. Take a break, check on your progress, celebrate your achievements and reset priorities for the next quarter.
Over the past few years, we developed a structure for planning in business that makes this task relatively easy for any size business at any stage of growth. We are also compiling resources about planning on our web site (PlanGenie.com). If you have any great tools that you have used successfully, or insights, or questions on this topic, I would love to hear from you.
If you are already on the planning “bandwagon”, please share this message with others. Let’s get the economy going again.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/why-would-you-not-have-a-business-plan/article29938400/
Are you feeling like you’ve been hit by a COVID 19 hurricane? Your business ship took a blow and you’ve been scrambling to get things back under control. Immediate, urgent, short term plans have been devised and executed. Time lines are hourly, daily, weekly. There has been no time to think beyond the current week.
Planning never stops, it just speeds up and slows down.
As you start getting things back under control, your crew will be more anxious than ever to know where the company is heading, and how they can help.
How do you communicate the new direction and focus when you’re not clear yourself. The business leader’s primary function is to set the next destination and chart the course. Wandering aimlessly in a turbulent sea is not an option.
How can I make a plan when the future is so unclear and changing so quickly?
Yes, the landscape has changed dramatically in the last few weeks and continues to change quickly. But planning is always done in a fluid business landscape. Each time we refresh our business plan, we do so in the context of an ever changing world. We set our goals and determine our best course of action, taking into account the impediments we are facing and the resources we have available.
Most plans are stale after 90 days, and need to be rewritten. When the pace of change speeds up, this review cycle needs to be adjusted accordingly.
If our normal practice is to set goals for 1-3 years into the future, we may need to be focused on 3 to 12 months in the current situation.
Where do I start?
Start with the big picture, your business plan summary. The structure in the Plan Genie business planning workbook contains five core pieces of information:
- Your unique business proposition – a succinct description about what makes your business special and unique.
- Your purpose – why your business is needed, as seen from the customer’s point of view.
- Your long term goals. Your destination 3 years from now (or 1 year).
- Short term goals, one year out (3 months).
- Strategy/Action steps – A list of the major steps we need to take to reach our goals.
Write it down!
Write your plan down in a structured, easy to understand format. Your business plan summary is the foundation for communicating the future direction for your business – where you intend to take business and how you will get there.
As you go through the process of writing your plan, you will gain clarity and confidence to tackle the challenges ahead. others are looking for this – your leadership team, your bank, your suppliers and distribution partners, and your customers.
Why does your company exist? (from your customer’s perspective) We are seeing a lot of attention being paid in recent years to this idea of knowing your “Why” or the Purpose of your business, for good reason. Discovering the answer to this question can have a profound effect on the success of your business. It provides context for so many other strategic decisions as you grow your business, a foundation piece for your business plan. On the surface, “why” seems like a simple question, yet many businesses leaders struggle to find a strong, compelling, and succinct answer to this question. The key to getting to a clear Purpose statement is to focus on your customer’s perspective.
Start with this question: At a core level, what is the most significant value or benefit you provide to your customers? Imagine you are the owner of a company that sells lighthouses. What might be the Purpose of your business?
Something like: Our company purpose is to protect the lives and property of our customers at sea. With this purpose in mind, the company has the foundation to build out and improve its products and services over time. Eg. Life boats, life jackets. GPS systems, charts, etc all flow from this strong purpose statement. Brainstorm a list of ideas with your team. Mix and combine ideas until you have a good starting point. Review and tweak over time! For more information on defining your company’s purpose, please visit plangenie.com. #business #leaders #success