At a very operational level I suggest people think about five key areas, as follows:
1) What are the planning processes within your business?
2) What is the marketing and sales process?
3) What are the operational components of your business?
4) What does the finance and admin side of things need?
5) What do you need to think about from a people perspective?
So, when you're looking at doing your business plan I recommend looking at these five specific areas and how they relate to any business whatsoever. It's about having a structured set of questions to ask yourselves in each of these areas. What this gives you is a pretty quick snapshot to say this is where we're strong and maybe this is where the opportunity is. Here's an example.
It might be you have a shareholders agreement in place and you've got your patents registered for your business. You also have business continuity plans or emergency response plans in place, and your risk is managed annually.
On the marketing and sales side of things it might be that you have a really structured sales process, you use your database well, you have a customer care programme, and you have good customer insights.
The operational side of your business might be that you know about leases you need to run your business, it might be around data backup integrity, it could be around productivity or best practice.
The finance and admin side might be around financial reporting, cash-flows, budgets, projections.
And the people's side might be your wellness strategy, your people strategy, incentive programmes and so on.
So by answering and addressing these questions, you look at where the gaps are then look at what the strategic objective is and what the business objectives are. But more importantly, what do you need to do in order to have your business Fit-For-Purpose?
Fit-For-Purpose means you have a really strong and robust business then regardless of what direction or strategy you want, you know you can implement really well.
So think about the five things listed above when you think about your business planning, your marketing and sales, the operational side of your business, the finance and admin aspects and the people perspective.
By doing these five things and having a structure towards achieving them, you'll actually be able to identify what the objectives need to be for the coming year as well.
Thanks very much and until next time, take care out there.
For more about business planning and making your business a success, give me a call on 021 748 142 or flick an email to john@planaconsulting.co.nz
