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Other Added - Business Planning 1-2-3
It is one thing to make a sales presentation, but it is another thing to make a sales presentation without first evaluating your customer. For all you know, you could be selling your customer something that they already have, or something they don’t want, don’t need, or can’t afford.This is why it is so very important to take your customer in, sit them down, make them feel comfortable, and get to know them and what their needs are. Once you have done this, you can then sell them a product based on what their needs are and not what you think they are.On a personal note . . .I learned the importance of evaluating your customer the hard way. A few years ago, I wa
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you c
Not long ago my wife and I were planning a get-together with some friends and wanted to serve a cheese board after dinner. So, we ventured to a local market to look for some cheeses.We asked for one particular cheese at the first vendor we visited and were told that they did not carry it. No effort was made to recommend anything else and we left without making a purchase.As we walked through the market, I noticed the cheese we wanted at another vendor. After tasting it and several others, we selected two cheeses. Total sale: $17A few moments later we ventured across yet another cheese vendor. As we looked at their selection, an employee asked if she could help
To develop a clear, well thought-out business plan, use the 1-2-3 approach:
(1) Take a critical look at your current situation;
(2) Write down your goals for one year from today; and,
(3) Map out your action plan to achieve your goals on a timeline.
Planning is cheap. Writing a plan:
-Gets your ideas on paper;
-Allows you to examine alternatives;
-Surfaces your assumptions; and
-Enables you to get feedback from others.
Using a timeline helps you prioritize and focus. With a timeline,
-You have a visual framework in which to work;
-You can map out & compare alternative scenarios;
-You can see connections and sequencing of actions; and,
-Deliverables and milestones become clear.
Try to put a little fun in the planning process.
I suggest thinking of business planning like planning a vacation. (Your plan should, of course, include a vacation.) When you plan a vacation, you are constrained by many factors such as time, money and balancing the competing interests of your fellow travelers. It's the same with your business plan.
In business, you are constrained by many factors, such as existing customer commitments, limited time and money. You also have to balance a number of competing interests and possible routes. Planning lets you map out different paths on paper and examine the alternatives before making a commitment to action.
The first step is to take stock of your current situation. If you have been in business more than a year, you have some financial results to examine. Draw a calendar timeline and map out the highlights of each month for the last twelve months. Include your $ sales for each month as well as key events. It is a good idea to try and connect your actions with the results achieved. So, if you ran an ad in January and February, you may be able to directly relate increased sales in those months to the ad.
With the calendar timeline, you have a summary picture of your business operations over a 12-month period on one page. If you add your $ Expenses/month to this picture, you'll have a rough cut cash flow which will give you a richer picture with which to work.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - PRIOR YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Events (e.g., ads, promotions, new customers, big projects, good news, bad news ...)
$ Sales/month
$ Expenses/month
Now, you can stand back and take a critical look at your business to determine what works and what does not work. This analysis is the foundation for your plan for next year.
The summary may be sufficient to give you insight into what was effective and is worth continuing. Or, it may prompt you to ask more detailed financial questions about your business, such as: costs, overhead, sales per category or location; how much of your sales was from new customers; how did you reach your new and repeat customers most effectively?
Another very important piece of information is the profitability of different parts of your business. There's an old adage that 80% of the profits comes from 20% of the business. Is this true for your business?
The next step is to determine where you want to go. This is easier said than done. Objectives need to be realistic and achievable. Objectives need to be concrete and measurable. For example, if the objective is to increase sales 50%, it needs to be stated how that will be achieved. Is it realistic? It depends. If this year's sales are $240K and the plan is to achieve $360K next year, this means sales/month on average need to increase from $20K/month to $30/K month. What would you need to do to achieve this?
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you ca
OverviewTextile quotas were eliminated among WTO members at the first day of 2005 in accordance with the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). However, resistance to quota removal spread in the US and EU. Subsequently, China reached agreements with the EU and the US in June and November 2005 respectively. The China-US agreement, effective from January 2006, governs the exports of a total of 21 groups involving 34 categories of Chinese textiles and clothing products to the US during 2006-2008. The China-EU agreement, effective from June 2005, covers 10 categories of Chinese textiles and clothing exports to the EU during 2005-2007.On the other hand, the mainland an
I suggest thinking of business planning like planning a vacation. (Your plan should, of course, include a vacation.) When you plan a vacation, you are constrained by many factors such as time, money and balancing the competing interests of your fellow travelers. It's the same with your business plan.
In business, you are constrained by many factors, such as existing customer commitments, limited time and money. You also have to balance a number of competing interests and possible routes. Planning lets you map out different paths on paper and examine the alternatives before making a commitment to action.
The first step is to take stock of your current situation. If you have been in business more than a year, you have some financial results to examine. Draw a calendar timeline and map out the highlights of each month for the last twelve months. Include your $ sales for each month as well as key events. It is a good idea to try and connect your actions with the results achieved. So, if you ran an ad in January and February, you may be able to directly relate increased sales in those months to the ad.
With the calendar timeline, you have a summary picture of your business operations over a 12-month period on one page. If you add your $ Expenses/month to this picture, you'll have a rough cut cash flow which will give you a richer picture with which to work.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - PRIOR YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Events (e.g., ads, promotions, new customers, big projects, good news, bad news ...)
$ Sales/month
$ Expenses/month
Now, you can stand back and take a critical look at your business to determine what works and what does not work. This analysis is the foundation for your plan for next year.
The summary may be sufficient to give you insight into what was effective and is worth continuing. Or, it may prompt you to ask more detailed financial questions about your business, such as: costs, overhead, sales per category or location; how much of your sales was from new customers; how did you reach your new and repeat customers most effectively?
Another very important piece of information is the profitability of different parts of your business. There's an old adage that 80% of the profits comes from 20% of the business. Is this true for your business?
The next step is to determine where you want to go. This is easier said than done. Objectives need to be realistic and achievable. Objectives need to be concrete and measurable. For example, if the objective is to increase sales 50%, it needs to be stated how that will be achieved. Is it realistic? It depends. If this year's sales are $240K and the plan is to achieve $360K next year, this means sales/month on average need to increase from $20K/month to $30/K month. What would you need to do to achieve this?
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you c
As I’ve traveled around the country over the past several years working with companies and their salespeople, I’ve been amazed to find that they do not know, and cannot articulate, their competitive advantage! How can companies and their salespeople expect prospects and customers to give their time and attention if they do not understand, clearly and concisely, what that company can do for them that no one else can do? That’s what I call selling in the pit.Companies and salespeople who don’t understand their competitive advantage are all in a deep pit saying things like, “Our product is better quality,” or, “Our service is better,” or, “I’m my company’s competitive advantag
With the calendar timeline, you have a summary picture of your business operations over a 12-month period on one page. If you add your $ Expenses/month to this picture, you'll have a rough cut cash flow which will give you a richer picture with which to work.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - PRIOR YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Events (e.g., ads, promotions, new customers, big projects, good news, bad news ...)
$ Sales/month
$ Expenses/month
Now, you can stand back and take a critical look at your business to determine what works and what does not work. This analysis is the foundation for your plan for next year.
The summary may be sufficient to give you insight into what was effective and is worth continuing. Or, it may prompt you to ask more detailed financial questions about your business, such as: costs, overhead, sales per category or location; how much of your sales was from new customers; how did you reach your new and repeat customers most effectively?
Another very important piece of information is the profitability of different parts of your business. There's an old adage that 80% of the profits comes from 20% of the business. Is this true for your business?
The next step is to determine where you want to go. This is easier said than done. Objectives need to be realistic and achievable. Objectives need to be concrete and measurable. For example, if the objective is to increase sales 50%, it needs to be stated how that will be achieved. Is it realistic? It depends. If this year's sales are $240K and the plan is to achieve $360K next year, this means sales/month on average need to increase from $20K/month to $30/K month. What would you need to do to achieve this?
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you c
It is one of the biggest employers in the world. It eats up a large chunk of our money. It is the retail industry.Retailing is a massive, passive beast that pervades just about all our lives. Virtually all of us shop, sometimes as a pleasure and sometimes as a burdenous chore.But when and how did it all begin? The answer is probably to do with surpluses. As we got better at cultivating the land, some people found that even after feeding their families and animals and putting food into storage, there was some left over. Rather than waste this surplus, it was traded for other surpluses or perhaps tools or other objects.Those that had enough land and were partic
Another very important piece of information is the profitability of different parts of your business. There's an old adage that 80% of the profits comes from 20% of the business. Is this true for your business?
The next step is to determine where you want to go. This is easier said than done. Objectives need to be realistic and achievable. Objectives need to be concrete and measurable. For example, if the objective is to increase sales 50%, it needs to be stated how that will be achieved. Is it realistic? It depends. If this year's sales are $240K and the plan is to achieve $360K next year, this means sales/month on average need to increase from $20K/month to $30/K month. What would you need to do to achieve this?
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you c
When I was writing this blog the snowball effect seemed to talk hold of me and so it was split into two parts!The has been much press about outsourcing over recent years. Call centres to India were the initial hole in the dam. As this hole expanded to allow more trade it sucked in medical billing processes, content for publications, x-ray and even private tutoring for children.The use of technology and collaboration tools have helped to minimise any pains with transition to outsourced skills and the management of them but technology is not the answer to everything.The concept of virtual teams can increase our productivity. If you are happy to
There are a number of possible scenarios that we can plan out and assess. For instance, we could consider dropping low-end products/services and concentrating on high $/sale transactions. What are the implications of this approach? Or, we could go toward a higher volume business and sell through other channels.
Try mapping out your alternatives on a timeline for the coming year and see what picture emerges.
It's usually not good for businesses to shift gears too dramatically without some test marketing and quantification of the costs and benefits.
CALENDAR TIMELINE - NEXT YEAR
Jan...Feb...Mar...Apr...May...Jun...Jul...Aug...Sep...Oct...Nov...Dec Key Objectives & Action Plan (e.g., targeted action steps month by month..)
$ Estimated cost/month
Projected results
Making choices and determining your route.
With your timeline summary of the prior year and your projected timeline(s) for the coming year, you can make some choices about how you will use your time and resources. Planning helps you get your ideas out on paper, surface your assumptions, invite other people to review your ideas and assumptions and provide feedback. Planning enables you to make informed choices and, using the timeline, enables you to express your plan as an action roadmap.
To realize the benefits of planning, like exercise, you must do it regularly. I recommend at least quarterly reviews as a relatively painless means of updating your plan to reflect actual experience and changes in the competitive environment.
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