Strategic Business Planning

A Roadmap to Success

Our strategic business planning process in a nutshell:

• VISION
• GOAL SETTING
• RESOURCE ALLOCATION
• PROJECTIONS & BUDGETING
• MEASUREMENTS
• ACTION PLANNING

Vision:

Begin with the end in mind. The strategic planning process will not work if the destination and purpose are not clear. Think of getting into your car and driving without a destination,purpose or map for your trip. You may have fun along the way, but you may also get lost, expend a lot of resource sand probably end up back where you started. Without a Vision, it’s difficult to know when you’ve succeeded.

Goal Setting:

Once your purpose and destination are clearly defined, you need to set specific goals to reach them. The goals are the map to your destination and they let you know where the rest stops are. They serve as benchmarks to the destination and keep you on the quickest path to get there.

Resource Allocation:

In order to reach your destination you will need certain resources. In a car you and oil. For your business, you’ll need staff support, outside vendors, strategic alliances partners and contractors. Using the right resources for the right projects can make all the difference in your business.

Projections & Budgeting:

When you take a trip, you usually have some idea of how long it will take and how much it will cost to get there. Sometimes you take side trips that cost you extra in time and money. Other times you find shortcuts and discounts and come in under your projections. The important thing is not to begin the journey without at least an estimate of what it takes to get there !

Measurements:

Along the way, you need to measure your progress. If you don’t travel as far as you want to your first day, you’ll have to adjust your plan to make up the miles the next day. But you can’t make those necessary adjustments if you’re not tracking your progress in the first place.

Action Planning:

Finally, you need a detailed destination map to get from one stop to another. When Google maps out a trip, it gives you the full map of the state(s) as well as a trip tick. The state map is used for general planning; the trip tick is used while you’re actually driving. Action planning is the trip tick of your business. It’s one thing to have a long-range vision; it’s another to live that vision on a daily basis and make continuous progress .