Planning

The saying goes, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Nobody sets out to fail, but you do have to be quite lucky to grow your business profitably without first deciding what you intend to do, and how you intend to do it.

Many industry sectors today are extremely competitive, and it is next to impossible to grow profitably without being crystal clear about how you are going to compete, what developments you have to watch out for and respond to, and what your cost structure should be.

On the other hand, other industries are growing and changing so quickly, with a large number of opportunties cropping up at regular intervals. The danger here is growing too fast and over-extending your resources, or reacting without a plan and finding that you have picked a dead-end street or are locked into an unsatisfactory joint venture.

In both the above scenarios, the investment in putting a good plan together pays dividends - it provides great clarity about the priorities when the pressure comes on, and it helps you to focus strongly on what you need to do to get to where you want to go. If you want to know more about how I can help you build a great plan, email me at chris@cashtree.co.nz or phone me on 021 444691.

Now a great plan is important, but it does have to be implemented before it does your business any good. An integrated planning and execution process is the best way of ensuring that you stay in control of where your business is going. To read about how I can help you execute your plan, click here.

I help clients to build their plans through facilitation - I don't build the plan for you, because its your business and the plan needs to be yours too. However, I will lead you and guide you through the steps needed to complete a plan. I will challenge your assumptions, I will ensure that you think everything through, and I will tell you if I think you are being unrealistic or not ambitious enough. But the final decisions will be yours because you need to be in control and you are the one who is going to execute the plan. The key components of a good plan are listed below - but I will discuss and agree with you, before we start, which specific elements need to be included in your plan - every situation is different.

Situation Analysis - a review of the current status of the business - how is it placed against key competitors, what is the outlook for the industry, what contacts, networks, employees, systems, finances, brands, etc can the business utilise?

Vision - your vision of where you want your business to be in 8 - 10 years time. An ambitious, business-focused statement that provides the destination towards which the plan will move your business.

Mission Statement - a short, punchy statement that describes what business you choose to be in as you move towards your vision, and the few key differentiating factors that will attract customers to you rather than to the competition.

Values - your core ethics and beliefs - rather than "motherhood and apple pie," these should focus on the few key values that paint a clear picture of how your business can be expected to behave in the marketplace.

SWOT Analysis - an analysis of the internal (Strengths, Weaknesses) and external (Opportunities, Threats) factors influencing your business' ability to move from its current situation to your vision.

Value Proposition - the "package" of attributes, that are valuable to your customers, that differentiates your business from competitors. The basis upon which your business will compete and win!

Strategic Objectives - the 3 - 5 key priorities that need to be addressed, in order to move your business substantially closer to your vision over the next three years. As they are completed, new Strategic Objectives should be introduced to pogress even further.

Annual Business Plan - a detailed description of what is intended to be achieved over the course of a financial year. As well as the normal operations of the business, the plan should include speicifc, prioritised targets related to the Strategic Objectives that ensure they are achieved over their three year life.

 If you think that you might need help with any of the above components of your plan, or if you have any questions, email me on a no-obligation basis, at chris@cashtree.co.nz or phone me on 021 444691.