Planning to fail. Your call.
We talked
about the three killers of a business.
Number one is lack of cash flow. Number
two is poor leadership and now let’s talk about number
three: LACK OF A STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Planning
People don’t plan to fail,
they fail to plan.
Businesses succeed and fail for many different reasons. It might
be your commitment to getting out there every day, a new product or service,
great marketing, consumer demand and maybe even luck are all a part of the
reasons. All of these contribute to
whether a business makes it or fails.
Knowing your vision and mission (why) and designing your strategies to
accomplish them (how) are both a part of the strategic plan.
Why should you have a strategic plan? Here is the reason. Without a plan you will
be flying without a rudder and trying anything that is presented to you to make
your business grow. As a business owner you will be bombarded with marketing
and sales ideas from every conceivable direction. Each one touting it is the
best way to grow your business. To that
I say BS!
Do they even understand your business? Do they know your WHY? Probably NOT! So why
would you allow they to tell you how to run your business yet business owners
do it every day. Having a strategic plan will give you direction and allow you
to make decisions about your business that are in sync with your vision.
What is the process of strategic planning? It looks simple yet takes time to
create. The components are:
1. Vison
a.
Why are you in business? This is your big picture of your potential as
a business. This defines the purpose of the company and the plan. It might be
called the “quest” of your company. What is your company Why? Do you know it?
2. Values:
a.
These are foundational to how you will make
decisions. They lay to ethical ground
work for your company and its future. This will define the basic beliefs your
company, or what your company is committed to. Does your company have clearly
defined values?
3. Mission
a.
A mission statement transforms the vision into specific
actions that are necessary to achieve the vision. The mission statement defines
and says what you want to achieve in a specific time frame. This gives
direction to all in your company and keeps them on track.
4. Critical Success Factors
a.
These are the meat and potatoes of the
plan. The tactical areas that must be
addressed to be successful. They are broad areas such as: Cash flow, marketing, new product
development, product quality, customer service. The list can be long.
What are your top 3-5 areas that need to be addressed?
5. Goals
a.
Each area that you come up with will have to
have specific measurable goals. This gets you into action.
The plan will also include market research, a SLOT analysis,
Sales plan and financial budgets. Bottom
line, if you want to assure your business will have a better chance to grow and
prosper. Design a plan for the future.
Call us today.
Coach Rick Kolster, CBC is a certified business/life coach, the author
of Roll Up Your Sleeves and Get To Work as well as an expert on developing
leaders and designing strategy for companies. He can be contacted at
817-748-7425 or Rick@CoachRickKolster.com
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