Creating A Plan Works For You
This week we would like to discuss how we plan to
incorporate the information from the “Importance of Business Planning” blog
into our own company business plan, and how the information learned has already
changed pieces of our plan. First we would like to start off by mentioning
pieces of the information obtained that we will be the most important in our
business planning.
Two of the benefits that Tim Berry mentioned in his posting
really stuck out to us, and that is the fact that building a business plan will
allow you to keep your business objectives clear, while at the same time
creating milestones/goals that will keep you on track. We have found these two
to be amongst the important benefits that we would need to incorporate
immediately. Making sure that ones business objectives are clear guarantees
that those reading over the plan have a clear understand on where the business
is trying to go. This is not only important when trying to request money for
the business, but also important for evaluating the business in the future to
tell if it is growing or not. It allows you to see if the business is on the
right track or if the plan needs to be updated and revised.
One thing that is important to remember is that business
objectives are constantly changing. When you first write your business plan the
objective will be one thing. Look two years into the future and you have reached
that objective. That does not mean that you are done. No, you just go back and
find a new objective that you would like to see your business accomplish and
that becomes your new objective.
We have decided that we will revisit our business plan once
a year to determine if we have reached the current objective. Once we have
determined that the objective has been reached we will then decide on the new
objective and restructure our business plan accordingly.
Christie Karis speaks about the importance of the marketing
portion of the business plan. A lot of people tend to overlook this portion of
the plan or try to piece it together quickly because it requires research. This
is one of the most important portions of the business plan because it will help
you to determine rather your business has a chance in the current industry. The
marketing research will let you know rather you will need to change your
concept or simply make small adjustments. When entering into business you do
not want to waste money on things that are simply overlooked.
What we have decided to do is dedicate a team of our
associates to work only on the marketing research. This will allow us to focus
on other aspects of the plan while having a group that is constantly studying
the changes and trends in the industry. By making these small adjustments we
are preparing ourselves to enter into the ever changing world of business.
