Few businesses succeed without a plan.
In fact, I’ve not (yet) come across one that has.
According to research, businesses with a written business plan tend to grow 30% faster than those without.
Operating without a plan – or at the very least an idea of where you’re headed – would be like trying to set up a railway without a destination in mind.
All you’re likely to end up with is a mess of rails, and an empty bank account.
For many business owners strapped for time, however, writing down a plan can easily become one of those important-but-not-urgent tasks that hangs around your to-do list for months on end.
If that sounds like you, here are some quick tips on how to finally get cracking and build a plan that will, ultimately, save you time and get you closer to your business goals.
What is a Business Planning Process?
A business planning process involves taking a clear look at the strengths and weaknesses of your business, assessing how you’re currently doing against certain metrics, and charting goals and objectives for how you want to develop your business into the future.
Typically, you’ll put all of this information down into a written document, including milestones designed to let you easily measure your achievements and progress.
Do I Really Need A Business Plan?
In short, yes. I’m afraid so.
But! Before you tear your hair out in despair, let me ease your fears. Your plan – especially if you run a small or medium business – doesn’t need to be an epic, unwieldy tome.
In fact, the best plans are short, effective, and easy to follow. A very few pages might be all it takes to lay out what you need. (Yes, really.)
So, let’s take a look at how to go about creating the beginnings of your plan in a few quickfire steps. After all, it’s better to get started with something than to wait around for time to create something ‘perfect’.
The Business Planning Process
Step #1: Decide why you’re creating a plan
There are many reasons you might decide it’s important to create a business plan: I’ve listed seven reasons you need a business plan here to give you an example.
All of those reasons are equally compelling. But what’s important here is that you take the time to set your main objective. That way, you’ll have a much clearer motivator to complete, measure and maintain your plan, and the clarity that lets you set expectations for your team.
Feel free to keep this fairly abstract. It’s much more important that you have a guiding idea or dream that you – and any employees you might have – can get behind.
Step #2: Align your goals
Now that you can clearly state the purpose of your plan, and the guiding objective that lies behind it, you can establish goals that will take you along that path.
If you’re a small business owner and you’re responsible for pretty much every aspect of your business, it can be useful to go through these one by one, and make sure you have a goal or two to cover each area.
You might have goals related to:
- Business development and sales
- Product development
- Outreach and marketing
- Operations
- Accounting
- Financial targets
- Business structure
You also might have personal goals relating to the amount of time you spend working for your business, and the work life balance which that may or may not facilitate.
Step #3: Create an action plan
With those goals noted down, it’s time to think about actions. These are the tangible steps you’ll take to move yourself closer to those goals.
If, for example one of your goals is to increase your new customers by 25% in the next year, your plan might include:
- Allocating time to research your current customer base and where you’re likely to find more leads
- Enhancing your online presence with a new website and more regular activity
- Actively seeking referrals from existing and past customers
- Expanding into new marketing avenues through partnerships or paid campaigns
- Scheduling a monthly or quarterly meeting with yourself or a trusted advisor to review your business development activities
Each of these action steps should naturally be SMART, so that you can give the future you a clear series of tasks to complete which, in theory, should mean you achieve your goal. Simple!
Step #4: Work out how you’ll measure success
In business, no plan survives first contact with the competition.
As a result, it can be easy to forget what exactly you wanted to achieve when you find yourself months or years down the line. “Why did I build a new website again?” “Why am I getting up at the crack of dawn to attend all these breakfast networking events?”
Giving yourself a clear way of measuring your success is key. If nothing else, it’s an ideal motivator to be able to quickly see an improvement.
With this part of the plan it’s ok to be lazy: Think about the easiest way you can measure progress. That might be in the form of newsletter subscribers, new products launched, or even the number of those dreaded networking events you’ve managed to attend. Create a quick way of keeping track and stick to it.
Step #5: Put it down and never look at it again
I’m joking of course!
The worst thing you can do next is expect your business plan to remain fixed and static, and to shut it in a drawer never to see the light of day again.
Instead, for your business plan to be truly useful, it’s essential that it becomes a working document that you flex and adjust as things change.
(This is also why the shortest business plans can often be the most effective. If in doubt, KISS – “Keep it Simple, Stupid”.)
Schedule in regular plan reviews to update your metrics and review your goals and actions – once a year will do, twice a year is even better.
Soon, your plan will become such a useful document you’ll be chomping at the bit to take a look at it more frequently.
Planning: Your Recipe For Success
Done right, your business plan helps you stay on the straight and narrow. It can be a turbulent experience running a small or medium business, and as your attention is pulled this way and that way by different needs, it’s easy to get lost in the details.
A good business plan helps you see the wood for the trees, and provides solid reassurance that your day-to-day exertions are pulling you towards your objectives.
That’s why just a few days spent on a plan now will almost certainly pay dividends in the future.
Kind Regards,
Chris