In accounting and financial consulting, we are often involved in numerous parts of our client’s businesses and our consulting services and expertise cover a diverse range of topics; from creating effective tax strategies down to developing contingency and succession plans.
As technology and software development progresses, businesses, even small ones, and startups, have to really focus their energy, resources, and funding if they wish to be successful. Time and time again the prepared and goal orientated businessmen and woman just remain a cut above the rest.
The secret to the success of these entities seems to be a kind of clarity of what they want to achieve backed by consistent daily actions. It’s not just knowing where they wish to go, it’s also their ability to gauge their progress along the way.
What is their secret?
I am terrible with clichés but it’s hard to argue that sometimes they do have an element of undeniable truth (which I guess is also a cliché!) It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”, and it’s true I am afraid.
But, and here comes the difficult part; what are you supposed to plan? Do you need to focus on funding, sales, revenue, costs, employees, clients? From our experience, it’s the businesses who have identified all the important tasks and goals and grouped them together into different plans each with a unique set of themes, goals, and objectives.
Without any further delay, here follows 5 essential plans which I believe each business, irrespective of their size, must have in their possession and part of their operation at all times.
Note that I only focus on the top 3 most important objectives and goals of each of these plans, and I provide sample template of each plan for your further reading.
Just a practical word of advice; note that in many cases certain elements can overlap. For example; in a business plan one of the sub-sections is the Marketing and Sales Plan, but it can also be a separate plan, depending on how sales and marketing function is performed within your business.
Let’s get planning!
As technology and software development progresses, businesses, even small ones, and startups, have to really focus their energy, resources, and funding if they wish to be successful. Time and time again the prepared and goal orientated businessmen and woman just remain a cut above the rest.
The secret to the success of these entities seems to be a kind of clarity of what they want to achieve backed by consistent daily actions. It’s not just knowing where they wish to go, it’s also their ability to gauge their progress along the way.
What is their secret?
TO PLAN IS TO BE PREPARED
I am terrible with clichés but it’s hard to argue that sometimes they do have an element of undeniable truth (which I guess is also a cliché!) It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”, and it’s true I am afraid.
But, and here comes the difficult part; what are you supposed to plan? Do you need to focus on funding, sales, revenue, costs, employees, clients? From our experience, it’s the businesses who have identified all the important tasks and goals and grouped them together into different plans each with a unique set of themes, goals, and objectives.
Without any further delay, here follows 5 essential plans which I believe each business, irrespective of their size, must have in their possession and part of their operation at all times.
Note that I only focus on the top 3 most important objectives and goals of each of these plans, and I provide sample template of each plan for your further reading.
Just a practical word of advice; note that in many cases certain elements can overlap. For example; in a business plan one of the sub-sections is the Marketing and Sales Plan, but it can also be a separate plan, depending on how sales and marketing function is performed within your business.
Let’s get planning!
THE STRATEGY
“Strategy is not the consequence of planning; but the opposite: it’s the starting point”
– Henry Mintzberg
There are numerous books and experts on strategy development and implementation to be found on-line by doing even the most basic of searches. Like most academic pursuits, strategy as a field of study is subject to market influences and consumer trends which can sometimes result in contradictory messaging.
At its basic level, your business strategy is a short, medium and long-term blueprint of where you would like to go with your business and essentially you need to ask 3 main questions; who you wish to serve; what kind of problems you intend to solve and lastly how will you generate a profit from your activities.
To present it in a more practical way we break it into three parts:
• Part 1 – Vision – Who the customers are and what they need.
• Part 2 – Mission – How you plan to deliver a unique offering.
• Part 3 – Goals – the quantifiable definition of what you want to achieve (short, medium and long-term).
At its basic level, your business strategy is a short, medium and long-term blueprint of where you would like to go with your business and essentially you need to ask 3 main questions; who you wish to serve; what kind of problems you intend to solve and lastly how will you generate a profit from your activities.
To present it in a more practical way we break it into three parts:
• Part 1 – Vision – Who the customers are and what they need.
• Part 2 – Mission – How you plan to deliver a unique offering.
• Part 3 – Goals – the quantifiable definition of what you want to achieve (short, medium and long-term).
“Start a business plan for yourself, not for anyone else”
– Alexa Von Tobel
You develop a business plan long before you actually start your business. You do this to make sure the business works on paper. By the nature of the business plan, it forces you to consider a number of important parts of your business and it forces you to answer critical questions; such as what is your route to market of your service or product; What price will you charge for your product or services; What are your planned expenses? to name just a few.
If your strategy is the why of your business, then the business plan is the how. It will highlight, very early on, which section of the intended business is not yet fully developed, and it will also provide you with a critical insight in terms of your planning for funding, resources, assets and staff.
If your strategy is the why of your business, then the business plan is the how. It will highlight, very early on, which section of the intended business is not yet fully developed, and it will also provide you with a critical insight in terms of your planning for funding, resources, assets and staff.
DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY
“Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad”
– Howardbhai Luck Gossage
Your strategy and business plan will in varying degrees delve into the marketing function and its intended outcomes. But our world makes daily leaps and bounds with new digital media and marketing tools becoming available and being offered at affordable rates, has essentially changed the traditional face of marketing.
Marketing functions such as print media, broadcasting, advertising, and billboards to name just a few, have fallen out of favor, are costly and relies on interpretive analytics. Digital marketing tools on the contrary provides real-time and accurate performance data making It possible to pin-point marketing campaign success and effectivity.
A Digital Marketing Strategy should provide consistent direction for a business’s online marketing activities and channel integration. The aim is to integrate digital with other marketing activities and ultimately support its overall business objectives. Sound Digital Marketing Strategies lead to better conversion rates of leads to customers, increases customer retention and increases customer lifetime value which means you have the benefit of retained revenue from customers.
Marketing functions such as print media, broadcasting, advertising, and billboards to name just a few, have fallen out of favor, are costly and relies on interpretive analytics. Digital marketing tools on the contrary provides real-time and accurate performance data making It possible to pin-point marketing campaign success and effectivity.
A Digital Marketing Strategy should provide consistent direction for a business’s online marketing activities and channel integration. The aim is to integrate digital with other marketing activities and ultimately support its overall business objectives. Sound Digital Marketing Strategies lead to better conversion rates of leads to customers, increases customer retention and increases customer lifetime value which means you have the benefit of retained revenue from customers.
THE OPERATIONS PLAN
“Panic is something that good operations officers plan for”
– Tom Clancy
The Operations plan is a well-coordinated plan, allocating resources, people, funding and goals against specific target dates. The Operations plan initiates action and gets everybody in your business moving in the same direction; it pushes the business forward.
The goals and target dates (linked to specific people and departments) means it is quite easy to measure progress and to identify problem areas or departments early on in order to investigate and rectify the problems experienced before they regress too far.
The Operations plan is also unique in the sense that each department or function (depending on the size of the business) can create their own plans, which can, in combination, form part of a master operations plan. Many businesses utilise the Operations plan as the main work document at the annual strategic work and planning session at year-end as a baseline for the new financial year as it is an extremely helpful management and performance assessment tool.
The goals and target dates (linked to specific people and departments) means it is quite easy to measure progress and to identify problem areas or departments early on in order to investigate and rectify the problems experienced before they regress too far.
The Operations plan is also unique in the sense that each department or function (depending on the size of the business) can create their own plans, which can, in combination, form part of a master operations plan. Many businesses utilise the Operations plan as the main work document at the annual strategic work and planning session at year-end as a baseline for the new financial year as it is an extremely helpful management and performance assessment tool.
THE SALES AND MARKETING PLAN
“I do believe the modern sales leader has to be a marketer”
– Matt Gorniak
It is also possible that the Sales and Marketing plan, like the Operations plan, can already be a part of the strategy and business plan, but it’s always wise to have a separate sales and marketing plan that provides more detail into how you intend to market and sell your business products and services.
This plan can be assigned to all senior sales role players and should in essence be it’s own strategy with KPI’s and Performance Measures all assigned to sales targets and revenue. By developing and implementing your sales and marketing plan in this way, it becomes the blueprint for the sales team and not simple another document filled with jargon from “top management”.
The Sales and Marketing plan is aimed at addressing important questions such as how to increase monthly revenue, how to reduce customer turnover, how to increase units sold, how to boost customer lifetime value, how to lower customer acquisition costs and how to build valuable partnerships etc.
The main aim of the marketing role is to focus on all the marketing activities which will make it easier for the sale teams to sell your products and services. Here we refer specifically to increasing brand awareness, generating high-quality leads, increasing customer value and empowering the sales teams and sales leadership.
This plan can be assigned to all senior sales role players and should in essence be it’s own strategy with KPI’s and Performance Measures all assigned to sales targets and revenue. By developing and implementing your sales and marketing plan in this way, it becomes the blueprint for the sales team and not simple another document filled with jargon from “top management”.
The Sales and Marketing plan is aimed at addressing important questions such as how to increase monthly revenue, how to reduce customer turnover, how to increase units sold, how to boost customer lifetime value, how to lower customer acquisition costs and how to build valuable partnerships etc.
The main aim of the marketing role is to focus on all the marketing activities which will make it easier for the sale teams to sell your products and services. Here we refer specifically to increasing brand awareness, generating high-quality leads, increasing customer value and empowering the sales teams and sales leadership.
CLOSING REMARKS
The different plans are intended to cover different elements of the business and to make sure every area of responsibility is accounted for but it’s also vital that these plans become part of the fiber of the business and it must be woven into the daily, weekly, and monthly business activities.
To ensure maximum results, business owners and managers need to ensure to do the following:
• Plans Must Be Regularly Evaluated.
• Plans Must Be Updated.
• Plans Need Be Form Part of the Appropriate Meetings.
• Plans Must Be Communicated to All Levels.
No master plan, strategy or road map can guarantee success, but one thing is certain, having the above 5 essential plans in place and up to date in your business, will certainly go a long way in ensuring the success of your enterprise.
Be sure to experiment and explore new avenues and methodologies but make your plans part of your business, your brand and ultimately the trademark of the quality of your services and products.
Good luck, stay focused and plan!
To ensure maximum results, business owners and managers need to ensure to do the following:
• Plans Must Be Regularly Evaluated.
• Plans Must Be Updated.
• Plans Need Be Form Part of the Appropriate Meetings.
• Plans Must Be Communicated to All Levels.
No master plan, strategy or road map can guarantee success, but one thing is certain, having the above 5 essential plans in place and up to date in your business, will certainly go a long way in ensuring the success of your enterprise.
Be sure to experiment and explore new avenues and methodologies but make your plans part of your business, your brand and ultimately the trademark of the quality of your services and products.
Good luck, stay focused and plan!
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