Business Planning Done Right

Yogi Berra may have said it best:
“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else”A commonly cited reason businesses fail is that they do not have a current business plan, let alone one that is well thought-out. If it is so important to have a current business plan, why doesn’t every business have one?

Some of the excuses given:

• We prepared one when we started the business.
• Nothing much has changed since we prepared it last.
• The plan is in my head.
• Our management team meets frequently, so we don’t need one.
• We are too busy with day-to-day issues to put one together.
• We don’t have a good example to follow.

The planning process itself is extremely valuable, because it allows you (or your management team) to determine where you want to be in the future and how to get there. However, most of that value is quickly lost if the results and decisions are not committed to paper. A major benefit of preparing a business plan is to have a document that can be used by the business for alignment of managers and staff.

There are many templates available to help you structure your business plan. Using a business plan template can be helpful to ensure you address the range of important topics that must be considered in running a successful business. The topics covered and the type of information developed for your plan should always be tailored to the specific circumstances of your business.

When picking a template or an example business plan to follow, make sure it is simple enough to complete readily, yet detailed enough to address all the important issues facing your business. A long and cumbersome plan is of little use if nobody will read it or use it. Remember the purpose of the plan is to guide the business, not to document every aspect of all operations.

All good business plans have some common characteristics, including:

• Always written
• Simple enough to be prepared in the first place
• Detailed enough to be useful
• Realistic and real-world
• Tailored to the specific business
• Includes input/review from key team members
• Understandable by all affected managers
• Includes implementation, not just strategy
• Contains specific and measurable objectives
• Includes actions and target dates
• Referred to routinely
• Updated regularly to be kept current

Please remember:

• It is not a business plan unless it is written
• Update your plan at least every six months