If it has been more than five years since you had a business plan written for your business or if you’ve never had one, this is why you need it:
1. Goals, goals, goals…
Does it feel like you are working harder and longer but are not getting anywhere?
It doesn’t matter how hard you are working if you are not headed in the right direction. That’s why written goals are so important. But even more important, are the steps to get there. That’s where a business plan comes in.
A business plan is not only for those businesses seeking financing. It’s for every type of business at any stage of development. A good business plan is a living document that can help you focus your resources and energy in the areas where it would have the greatest
impact.
Having clear goals and communicating those goals is an essential part of leadership. How can you lead a business and your team if you don’t know where you are going?
This lack of goals is already affecting employee morale and performance. Employees actually want to be productive but if you don’t take the time to include them in your goals, or worst yet, if you don’t have any, you won’t get the kind of dedication required to make a business thrive.
As Benjamin Franklin put it:
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”
2. Your business’ identity crisis
Businesses are like people. They need a purpose. Making money is not good enough for people and is not good enough for businesses either. If your business is struggling to differentiate from its competitors, maybe it’s time you gave it a little more thought.
What is your business’ concept, its vision? If you don’t have one and you think customers can’t tell, believe me, we can. We can tell there is no urgency or excitement in the air. We can tell you don’t do one thing extraordinarily well and that services and products are “just fine.” If your customers are not excited about your business, it won’t be around for much longer.
Here is a rule of thumb. If your customers want you to succeed you probably will. If your customers don’t care if you do, you definitely won’t.
A business purpose could be to provide the fastest service in your market or to provide the cheapest service in that market but if you are neither the fastest nor the cheapest, who would really notice if your business was gone? This is not a rhetorical question. You should try to answer it.
Let’s say your business is a running shoe store. A good answer can be something like “avid runners accustomed to the high level of expertise and enthusiasm from our employees will miss it.”
Then, you should focus on avid runners who want to purchase from experienced sales people because that is the one thing you can do extraordinarily well.
A business plan can put all of this in writing helping you make decisions along the way. It can keep the focus on your customer. It gives your business an identity as the go to place for avid runners. It would guide you into spending more in employee training and retention rather than discounts and promotions.
When you want to grow sales you don’t start competing on price to get additional customers. You increase the population of avid runners by hosting running events welcoming everyone to participate and taking this opportunity to transform price cautious shoppers into avid runners.
You will be surprised how extraordinary you can be when you have a clear vision for your business. With a clear vision and hard work, you will succeed simply because your customers want you to.
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