The Benefits of Planning to Improve Business
So, you are working away dealing with queries, answering emails and calls, meeting clients and trying to engage new prospects. There is a long list of activity you have tried to complete over the last few months but you never seem to make any tangible progress. Every so often you think about your early days when you had all that excitement of running your own business, all those hopes and dreams of independence, making a decent living and being in charge of your own destiny.
With your head down fire fighting it becomes more difficult to see how, even if you could you can change the path you’re on, what you can do about this in a practical way that will work.
This is where the process of planning has its value, I am not just talking about ‘writing the plan’ – I am talking about taking an opportunity to put the brakes on for a while, stepping back and taking a good hard look at your business and how you run it. You might be very pleasantly surprised at what can happen. So what is business improvement?
The way you work can include some bad habits and unless you stop, take stock and review you just don’t notice, sometimes until those bad habits lead to unexpected challenges that seem sudden but have actually been bubbling along under the surface for a while. Like losing a customer or staff member, sometimes you might be offered a business opportunity and it’s hard to decide if you should take it, just because you don’t know if it’s a good fit? or you may be trying to develop a marketing campaign but not sure where to begin.
All of these business events are entirely normal – how successfully we respond to them depends on how much preparation or planning we have done.
So, how do you set about planning.
Here are some suggestions:
- Set aside some quality time – preferably away from your business environment where you can think more clearly without distraction
- Divide your time into specific areas – Big Picture thinking – your vision – what you want the business to achieve, the actions that you need to take to make that happen, the resources you will need to support the plans and how you want the business to run – your unwritten rules and then operational areas like, operations – how you deliver your products and services, marketing and sales, finance, admin and legal, systems and processes, people/HR and contingency planning.
- Have someone with you – you can do this with your partners, team or an independent person you trust to give you good feedback.
- Allow yourself the freedom to browse ideas without limitation
- Use flip charts or mind maps for recording ideas – there is enormous value in seeing ideas become tangible by writing them down
- Understand what is happening in your business right now – the good, the not so good, the opportunities that are there waiting to be developed and the actions you can take to safeguard your position.
- No. 6 is important because you are developing key information about your business performance that provides a benchmark for where you are right now – which means that you can measure your success in changing your business over time against that data.
- Highlight some key priorities for change, document simple actions steps to address them and schedule them against a timetable. Select 2-3 for immediate action and timetable lower priorities accordingly. Use a format that you are comfortable, excel spreadsheet, word document or project planning tools if you prefer.
- Take action – do it….. any time you invest in planning is a complete waste of time if you don’t do anything as a result.
- Monitor what happens and tweak as necessary.
- Instil this way of working so that review and continuous improvement become a way of life.
- Make better use of the specialists you use to help you in your business, for example discuss with your accountant what extra management information can be provided that gives an up to date financial snapshot of your business?
- Outsource activity that you identify you really shouldn’t be spending your time on
- Look for quick wins, these are very motivating and help you stick at change! An example would be to review your client list and make contact with any that you haven’t spoken to in a while, or go back and follow-up on interest shown that you have just let slip.
The process of planning can seem daunting but the steps outlined are quite straightforward and can add huge value to your business. Once you take back control you will find that you can make more informed judgements about your business, your decision-making will become easier, you will identify opportunity to make more money, to look after your customers and clients better, motivate your team and work more efficiently. All of which makes for a successful business and a much happier and motivated owner!
If all this still seems daunting then I have developed a new service!
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We will cover all areas of your business and some! For information: Visit frozenps.co.uk or call Patricia direct on +441582 733327
You will be required to complete a questionnaire about your business online (60 Minutes), this will be reviewed, analysed and recommendations prepared and we will discuss in a SKYPE call (Minimum 60 Minutes), so that you can implement the outcomes with ease .
