Planning

A business plan aims to achieve the vision of what you want the organisation to look like at defined points into the future.

Clearly describing your mission – the fundamental purpose of a business or the reason for the organisations existence – is a critical first step in developing a strategic plan.

Putting it into action through daily decision making reflects the values of your business – the standards and behaviours influenced by policies and procedures which guide your people and management in what they do.

Setting down clear objectives lays the pathway for achieving this vision, with appropriate yardsticks by which to measure how well the organisation is performing along the way, and pivoting your strategy for weaknesses or external changes.

A Marketing Plan can take many forms to fit the particular circumstances and nature of your organisation and industry. But it will normally take into consideration what is commonly referred to as the “5 C’s”

1. COLLATE: gather key information and data on which to make powerful decisions critical to your success
2. CREATE: provide value to your customers or client base so that you develop a sound reputation and generate loyalty
3. COMMUNICATE: promote your product range and/or service offering to your chosen market places
4. COLLABORATE: gain influence and new introductions through networking with others
5. CALCULATE: measure the success of your collective marketing initiatives as part of the feedback loop

Ask us how we might contribute to this aspect of your overall business growth strategy.

Frequently referred to as a “Strategic SWOT Analysis”, this involves evaluating your internal strengths & weaknesses and external opportunities & threats, hence the acronym “SWOT”.

A SWOT is an invaluable business tool which should accompany preparation of your Business Plan and Budget.

Key applications of a SWOT include Matching and Converting.

Matching is used to identify competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities.

Converting is where you apply strategies to convert weaknesses or threats into strengths or opportunities, such as using business development techniques to build new markets. If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted a company should attempt to minimize or avoid them altogether.

This strategic planning methodology can also be presented in the form of a “SLOT” where the term weakness is substituted for ‘Limitations’, and can be applied in many organisational situations, from profit-focused entities to not-for-profits, and in crisis planning, personal objectives planning or feasibility studies

In writing your business plan, there is something of a paradox: you tend to write it back-to-front.

That is, the Executive Summary – found at the beginning – is a summation of your thinking.

The Devil is in the Detail

All business plans differ in their format as to headings and placement of information, but share a common theme in terms of the structure.

The core tenets of a great plan start with clearly articulating what your vision is, and expressing this as an equation of your vision = mission + values

From that base point, ABS and its experienced professionals can be your:

• sounding board
• business mentor

Rarely do we like “unsolicited advice” in life. But in contrast to this, the best-of-the-best in business will normally seek input from others on delicate or strategic points from time to time.

Often, this is done informally – the other party might not even be aware that you are “picking their brain”.

In a formal capacity, the advice is often more valuable, because you articulate the issues, invite feedback, and go through a “read-back” process. This is where your audience says something like “if I’m reading you correctly, you’re saying…”

We can provide an impartial view.

Being an expert at your craft, doesn’t make you a master of all things.

History has shown us that many successful organisations fail, because they didn’t:

• acknowledge or understand the challenges happening outside their specter through market disruptions – “we didn’t see it coming”
• move aggressively to take advantage of opportunities that prevailed – “we missed the chance”

Cashflow projections and rolling forecasts which reflect actual operating results as they occur can be a very useful monitoring and planning tool.

They keep you in touch with how the organisation is progressing against its plans, and provide insights in adjustments which might be necessary to achieve a set of objectives over a given timeframe.

ABS utilise a suite of complex yet versatile and highly adaptable spreadsheet modeling tools which can be applied in almost limitless industries, size of organisation, situations and so on.

Sophisticated data analysis can help unlock value that may be disguised in your operations – especially if the business has a diversified portfolio of locations, inventory types, industry sectors, seasonality fluctuations and so forth.

Whether it is sensitivity analysis of pricing or costs, or postulating scenario’s to test and justify how a business case might play out, we can provide specialist advice to assist in strategic decision making by management and their people.

It’s time to put yourself in the other persons shoes.

Do you have a “Succession Plan”

Refer to our “Business Sale” section under the menu tab – this is a specialist arena