As business owners and managers we are quite often caught up in the day to day work of running our businesses, dealing with clients, managing staff, developing new products and more often than not putting out fires. After all of this "work" is done there is no time left (or more importantly no energy left) to spend on what I consider to be the most important work that we face as business owners and managers, Business Development.

It is no wonder that the average business struggles to reach the size, profitability and success that urged the founder to start it in the first place.

A Strategic Plan will guide your business, assist you with important decisions and keep you and your employees on track. It will identify your businesses reason for existence and define exactly what success means in your business world. Most importantly it will guide you and your employees along the path to business success.

You need to compile your Strategic Plan into a document. It is simply not good enough to state that it is stored in your head. You will find that once you have committed it to paper (or electronically) you and your business will start rapidly moving towards the goals you have identified in your Strategic Planning Document.

Financial Profitability Figures Company Growth Market Acceptance and Penetration Customer Satisfaction. New Product Innovation

A business plan is a more formalized in depth document and generally takes months to develop. The problem with Business Plans is that they tend to make many (often invalid) assumptions and they are generally obsolete by the time they are finished. Business Plans, once produced, are rarely reviewed and updated.

A Strategic Plan is a working vision of where you are taking your business. When regularly reviewed and updated it remains relevant and aligned with your business.

There is not one thing that you could do immediately, right now in your business that will have as much positive long lasting impact as developing your Strategic Plan. Do it now, can you afford not to?

By documenting your business you communicate to your people exactly how your business operates and what work needs to be completed by Employees filling the Positions in your business.

It is vitally important to have your business documented if you are looking to sell your business or looking to secure external funding. Well written and maintained Business Systems and Documentation adds great value to your business and will contribute to you getting more money when selling or sourcing external funding.

Important information in your business needs to be recorded and communicated to your employees in a consistent way. This information should include.

Only one version of information should be made available in your business. It is important to have only one version to ensure that all employees have access to the most up to date consistent information.

Access to critical documents should be controlled, Documents should be made available only to Employees who need to have access. You should use a tool that allows you to easily control access to information and allows you to track when changes have been made and who has made the changes.

Documents and Data should be maintained on a secure central server with a data backup and recovery plan in place. Documents should not be stored locally on employee PC’s. The reasons for this are numerous including avoiding the loss of data through hardware failure or theft.

Business Systems Manager allows you to create, share and maintain the critical documentation in your business. Start a Free Trial today and begin taking your business development to the next level.

The Benefits of tracking Key Indicators in your Business

Key Indicators allow you to track the health and growth of your business. By deciding what values are critical, then measuring them over time, you can determine exactly where you are in your progress towards your business development goals.

Most business owners would argue that they have a good feel for their businesses. This is probably true but it is not sufficient to be successful. The Key Indicators in your business need to be defined and a schedule established to track and measure your progress towards them over time.

Key Indicators can be used to track both measurable and implied areas of your business.

Typical examples include:

Net Profit
Growth Rates
Customer Satisfaction
Production Rates
Market Leadership

To begin tracking Key Indicators in your business:

Consider where you are and where you want to be.
Determine the key areas that need tracking in order to get you to your goals.
Determine the range of values you will use to measure the Key Indicator.
Develop a description for the Minimum and Maximum values. This will assist you when measuring the values.
Measure the current value of the Key Indicator.
Schedule a task for the regular measurement and evaluation of your progress with the Key Indicator.

You should share the measurement and evaluation responsibilities of Key Indicators with employees. You will find that once you start using Key Indicators to set the goals and parameters of your business, you and your employees will become aligned and begin working towards achieving them.

Be bold but realistic in setting the goals and there is a good chance you will reach and exceed what you have set as the best case scenario.

Business System Manager Allows you to define Key Indicators in your business also allowing you to create Tasks and Business Systems to ensure that the Key Indicators are measured and reviewed.

About the Author

Business System Manager Software assists you to develop a Strategic Planning Document. Start a Free Trial Today http://www.BusinessSystemsManager.com Justin Woolich has been involved with the Development of Innovative Business Software for over 12 years. He is passionate about assisting Businesses with Software for Business Development.

This page is sponsored by IIM Executive Education Programs


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Strategic Planning: What is your Businesses Reason for Existence? - Article by Justin Woolich

About the Author