A Powerful Business Plan Can Keep Your Company Performing at Its Optimum
Does your small business seem to be stuck in neutral? If it isn’t moving along the desired pace, it may be time to have look under the hood to see what needs some work. A good starting point is with your business plan — the engine of every company.
All businesses, no matter how small, need a well-built business plan. The essential manual for success, a business plan is an everyday guide that keeps your business on track with its goals.
While crafting a long-term plan can seem like a rigid and colossal task, by utilizing a standard outline, you can have it on paper and in action in a matter of days.
Visions, Missions and Core Values
Premier Marketing Resources President and Small Business Consultant Ken Hilderhoff conducts small business seminars and shares the formula he uses in his courses for creating effective business plans.
According to Hilderhoff, the next critical step should be developing a mission statement — a comprehensive yet succinct description of your product or service’s purpose. A mission statement should also let customers know why they should choose your company over another.
Constructing a heart-felt vision statement is the starting point of a business plan. Reflecting your passion and your idealistic view of your company, your vision statement is the opportunity to let your dreams shine through. Make sure this statement portrays a vivid image of the kind of business you desire now and in the future.
Concrete core values give your business the horsepower it needs to keep running in good times — and possibly more importantly — in bad times. Your company’s core values should center on the kind of culture you want to promote within your organization that will keep both customers and employees happy. Core values typically consist of a standard customer service ethos along with set policies regarding resource utilization and work procedures. Each member of your organization should practice this belief system on a daily basis to ensure your company’s success.
SWOT You Need to Know About Your Company
Having a thorough and realistic understanding of how your company is operating, and its place in your particular industry, will ultimately determine its long-term success. SWOT, an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, is a highly effective analysis technique for gaining this insight. By reviewing your company’s strengths you are establishing what your company does especially well that gives it an edge over the competition. If your company is performing poorly, determining your company’s weaknesses will probably reveal why. In examining your business’s opportunities, you are anticipating the future needs of your customers, what you can do better and how you can stay ahead of the competition. Understanding your company’s threats are vital in the decision making process and can include a wide range of factors from market demand to legislative restrictions.
Determining your business’s critical success factors is a crucial component in making your business plan work. Critical success factors are the fundamental activities that must be performed well in order for your company to succeed. And having the appropriate goals and strategies to go along with them are essential in achieving your company’s mission. Ken Hilderhoff explains how goals factor into a company’s long-term success. “Business owners must define their goals in order to achieve success. And for a goal to be effective, it needs to be a well-defined target with quantifiable elements that are measurable,” he said.
Consider your business plan as a constantly evolving concept that can (and probably should) change as time goes by. Revisit your plan regularly to ensure that your company is holding true to your core values and mission statement, and routinely examine your SWOT and critical success factors to make sure they are still applicable.
For more information, visit 2011 Business Planning Workshop.
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