“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..”

Ah yes…..the annual business planning cycle is upon us.

The time of the year to huddle all of your business colleagues in a room to hash out the key initiatives for the upcoming year. The time to throw everything up on the wall and try to get everything done in the first quarter. “This will be the year that all plans will be met” is the battle cry! Every vision, idea and strategy gets bantered about – shouts of “there are no bad ideas!” fill the air. The room is electric with visionaries exchanging ideas on how their idea solves all issues, yet year after year, it seems that plans never actually come to fruition.

Why is that? The intent was there; the energy was present; and ideas were flowing. That’s the easy part – coming up with the ideas. The success of your planning doesn’t rest on the ideas, but rather, implementing those ideas. It’s true, companies need to foster innovation in their business planning, but more importantly, they need to create a business environment that enables team members to execute these ideas with an “on-time, on-budget” mindset. That is where the work begins.

I have been putting together business plans for over 25 years and it is clear to me that the strength of its core rests solely on being able to execute the plan. Each year I approach business planning as an opportunity, rather than a burden. I would rather invest the time up front in mapping out the upcoming year, than leaving it to chance to dictate my strategy. While this may force me to think strategically as well as tactically, preparing a detailed business plan in advance enables me to identify the challenges in advance of actually facing them.

So, why is business planning so crucial? In a word, it provides “clarity”. Investing time to develop a plan provides precise clarification of the company vision to both employees and customers. In addition, it provides a mechanism to gauge the results of the business and provides the foundation for future growth plans. In the long haul, it enhances the company valuation through fiscal responsibility, which provides the story of opportunity to any future investor or employee. In short, the benefits of planning allow the company to articulate a common vision to align resources and make an efficient use of investment dollars. A company that is perceived to be a “well-oiled machine” is attractive on many fronts – both externally with investors and internally with employees through job satisfaction and increased tenure.

Strategic Planning & Goals: The first step is to identify the key company goals which will be the over-arching direction of the plan. These goals should be focused on three areas: financial, growth initiatives and alignment to the company’s vision/mission. This provides the overall direction of the company by establishing high-level goals that will be achieved by tactical initiatives. The overall plan should be 1 to 3 years with measurement mileposts monthly, quarterly and annually. While the plan is put in place at the onset of the year, it should be constantly re-forecast with actual results throughout the year.

Developing Planning Modules: Compartmentalizing your plan by developing planning modules or “chunks” allows you to attack the plan in parts, yet still maintain a cohesive plan. I have found that developing an annual plan made up of quarterly targets – thus becoming a rolling quarterly forecast financial model – allows for a cohesive structure along with the nimbleness to react to market conditions. At the end of each quarter, a true-up process to align results to annual targets needs to be re-forecast and adjustments made.

Develop Non-Capital Initiatives: Each project initiative should have a corresponding project plan that monitors whether it will be completed on-time and on-budget. The importance of the detailed project plan is to accomplish the following: a) identify all the steps to be completed; b) establish a realistic timeline for each step; c) identify and allocate the necessary resources for accomplishing the initiative; d) ensure that the initiative has been vetted for departmental inter-dependencies and potential conflicts; and e) ensure that the initiative is in alignment with the overall strategic plan.

Create A Capital Plan: Next, I would develop a capital plan identifying dollars to be spent on the business to increase its overall value. While all capital dollars may not entirely be discretionary – i.e., investing dollars for anticipated return from growth – it is necessary to determine how capital dollars will be allocated whether for discretionary purposes or general maintenance. Projects that require capital are critical for the company growth and must be managed to their desired return, avoiding shortfalls in ROI or issues involving “capital creep”. If you haven’t already, setting up a capital committee to review expenditures in advance of the start of the project provides some assurance that the projects have been vetted against return on investment. Lastly, developing a post-audit process enables the team to review and monitor the progress of ongoing investments.

Business Plan Analytics Through Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s): Identifying key performance indicators for your business to use as benchmarks throughout the year is perhaps the most critical step you can make with regard to business analytics. Not only will KPI’s help identify key shortfalls in the plan, but will help narrow your focus in addressing the shortfalls. For instance, recognizing that you have an issue in labor isn’t merely enough when you consider the following possibilities: a) labor rates may be too high; b) overtime has exceeded its budget; c) the issue is regionally-based, not across the board; d) man hours may have exceeded its allocated budget, etc. It could be a myriad of triggers that caused labor to exceed its budget and KPI’s enable you to drill down to the cause. KPI management requires a disciplined review process established monthly that fosters a blended analysis throughout the year that compares actual results against both budgets and forecasts.

Fundamentals, Cycles & Trends (FC & T’s): Your plan, if done in advance and thoroughly, should provide and excellent foundation from which to work. Even the best plan still has to react to outside forces that will influence your best intentions. Identifying certain fundamentals, cycles and trends that may impact your company is a prudent way to being able to develop a contingency “plan B” in the event an outside force rears its head. A series of key FC & T’s should be monitored throughout the year so that if required, your plan can react. Certain FC & T’s may include wholesale pricing, weather, commodity markets or labor market impacts that are out of your control. In my opinion, developing contingency plans in advance for these outside forces at least gives you a fighting chance to react favorably.

Strategic Review of Plans/Goals at Year-End: At the end of the year, a thorough review of the plan and its process should be discussed with the team in order to make the next planning cycle more effective and efficient. Take a look at all of the successful initiatives and the ones that fell short in order to identify where the “broken pipes” occurred in the process. Remember not to double-dip on the capital projects EBIDTA contribution for the upcoming year – your budgetary baselines should move in concert with these investments. All projects that straddle the budgetary year, should be rolled over into the new plan. Business planning is the road map that identifies where you are headed in advance. As importantly, it also identifies road blocks – in advance. Your business plan should provide a common vision supported by tactical initiatives that, ultimately, creates greater value for your company. It may seem daunting, but by knowing your vision and its corresponding financial targets, you will have a better chance at executing how to get there and avoiding traps in advance.

Business plans are a necessity if you are trying to get finance for a new business. Most investors or loan companies will not look at you twice unless you show them a detailed business plan.

Many people don’t bother with a plan as they feel it is not necessary. But you mainly need a business plan for yourself. The actual process of creating a business plan will do you wonders for the long term success of you business. As you work through your plan you will come across a list of questions which will highlight areas of your business which you may have overlooked or which need more research. Even if your not asked for a business plan it is well worth doing one and referring back to in the weeks and months to come.

So what makes a good one?

A good business plan should be a long term strategy for you business. It should include everything that you will need to do to run your business, including what the actual activity will be, what resources you are going to need. You need to detail your employees, money, time, equipment or stock.

Your business plan should include

o your business idea – what you do, sell etc
o who your target audience is
o your projected revenue and expenses for a year
o list of your major competitors and how they are different to you
o marketing plans and what results do you expect from them
o how much you expect to sell and when
o resources (e.g. money, employees, premises, equipment)

With your business idea you need to explain clearly why you are different from your competitors, what you are offering that is different and why your target audience should use you. Include how much your products or services will be and explain any market research which was undertaken. If you haven’t done any market research you should stop writing your plan and so some.

In the marketing section you need to explain who needs your product, where the purchasers will be based, your competition and why you are better or different. Also if is worth mentioning any emerging or growing trends in the market including impending changes and what the effects will be to your business from these changes.

If you have a team of people as part of your resources you should explain what each persons job role will be, what their strengths and weaknesses are and if there are any gaps how you will fill them.

The financial projects are very important and you should try to ensure they are as accurate as physically possible. Ensure you explain what your likely profit and expenses will be including any assumptions.

The more research and planning you do the better chance your business has of succeeding. So get researching and get planning and you will soon be reaping the rewards.

More often than not business owners talk about business plans in elusive terms, leaving one to wonder if they will ever write one at all. How often have you heard – “I wrote one then put it on the shelf,” “Our plan is out of date – it’s useless,” “It’s too long – no one will read it,” or my favorite – “I’ll pay a consultant to write one!”

Too often the focus has been on writing your plan. I am suggesting a better focus – implementing your plan. Implement it by asking 5 key questions. So, let’s review the 5 key questions, apply them to your business, and discuss next steps.

This process is not new. Some years ago Jim Horan founded The One Page Business Plan Company expressly to help business owners define and implement their plan. He simplified the process by identifying the standard elements of a business plan with 5 simple, universal questions.

1. Vision: What are you building?

2. Mission: Why does your business exist?

3. Objectives: What results will you measure?

4. Strategy: How will you build this company?

5. Plans: What is the work to be done?

Your Vision – What are you building? Simple enough? Where are you now, where do you want to be in 5 years – can you define it in terms of sales, target markets, products and services, and geographic reach? Oftentimes business owners are challenged to answer this question, but when they focus on it – watch out, the dream reignites and the creative energy starts to flow again.

Your Mission – Why does your business exist? Think brand, think benefits (especially when viewed through the eyes of your customer), and think simple, direct, and memorable. What is the Mission of Burger King, of FedEx?

Your Objectives – What results will you measure? What did your gross in sales last year? What do you want to achieve for sales this year? What other goals do you have for your business? Don’t have goals yet? Getting very focused and specific is a key ingredient to your success. Prioritize them and clearly state them.

Your Strategy – How are you going to build your company? What specific strategies and programs do you need to develop and implement to get you there? Think multi-year, look at marketing, sales, organization, technology, process change, human resources. Get the picture?

Your Plans – What work needs to be done? Well, every year you need a plan to get you from point A to point B. How are you going to accomplish your vision, your mission, your objectives, and your strategies? Can you develop a series of action steps to help you get there this year? Do they tie into your other plan elements?

Preparing and implementing a business plan requires a strong, exacting, specific, goals-oriented focus. Simpler is often better. If you can prepare it on one page it will be easier to follow, easier to explain, easier to measure accomplishments, and, yes, easier to achieve the profitability and growth you have envisioned, perhaps in a shorter time frame than you planned. Now, how cool is that!

Try to work a plan that is action-oriented, that is goals-focused, that is top-of-mind every day. Working your business in this way increases the potential for your short term and longer term success. And, don’t let that plan become static. Make it a living, breathing organism, let it encourage you to improve it, update it, and enhance it as you move on your road to success.

Now that we have outlined these 5 simple questions, how about giving it a try? I would love to hear from you. Need any help, let me know.