Loughborough

#18 – 6th May 2008

Create a Strategic Plan

I often talk to business owners who find themselves unable to escape “999” mode in their business. Everything seems to be an emergency that they struggle to resolve. My recommendation is to first really understand their business by writing a Strategic Plan. The plan should describe their business in detail. Then action plans can be established and resourced for all critical activities.

The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete and utter surprise and it is not preceded by long periods of worry, anguish and self-doubt!

Many people think that Business Strategy is another form of management baloney. If this the case, why do so many UK businesses fail?

• Nearly half of UK small businesses fail in the first year;
• 80% are gone after five years;
• The average lifespan of all companies is 10 years.

 

Why do businesses struggle?

Direction

Shared goals and a shared vision enable people who work together to make consistent decisions and to plan a coherent strategy. Without this direction, the business will always work in “999” mode. Over time, this is guaranteed to lead to short-term, inconsistent decision making, which in turn means that sales are not made, or that promises made during the sales cycle are broken, leading to poor customer satisfaction and lost sales.

Delivery

Without a coherent plan, the business has no basis on which to decide how resources (money, people, machines etc.) will be deployed.

Funding

Without a Strategic Plan, any Business Plan will most likely be flawed. In order to ensure that a business is properly funded, the business plan must be based on a realistic understanding of what will be delivered, to whom and with what resources and cost.

Management

Having failed to plan, the management find themselves filling in all the gaps in the business. They become so busy dealing with “stuff” that their ability to manage and plan in the medium term is severely restricted, or even completely disabled.

The Strategy

With a clear understanding of your business goals, and having ensured that your management team buy-in to these goals, you can start to work on defining your mission and values. These can only be defined if you have a sound understanding of your business, market, customers and competitors. With this understanding, you can be certain of the reasons that your customers buy from you rather than the competition. Your mission and values follow from this.
 
Your strategy is the summary of your business change programme – all the things about your business in, say, five years time that are different from today (customers, suppliers, skills, capacity, volume, …..). Only when you have a clear strategy, can you establish action plans to make the changes you have agreed. In the same way that a military Commander-In-Chief decides how to deploy their forces based on the military strategy and the agreed objectives. You are the Commander-In-Chief of your business.
 
 
 
 

 

Paul Fileman MIET CEng MCIM
Chartered Marketer
paul.fileman@talktosps.com
Tel:  01509 854447
Mob: 07969 188820
www.talktosps.com