Gazingle - the franchise crm solution

A staggering four in five businesses do not have a working business plan in place, an advisory firm has found, undermining their ability to resolve problems and maintain a steady growth trajectory.

In its SME Research Report 2017/18, HLB Mann Judd found despite the amount of planning people put into their holidays and their retirement, just 20 per cent of business owners have a formal plan, and only one in three regularly spend time on refining their strategy for growth.

Here's a list of benefits when an effective business plan is compiled and activated...

A Helicopter Viewpoint

Business planning done right aligns all functions in your business so you get a better picture of the whole operation. Strategy is supposed to relate to tactics with strategic alignment. Does that show up in your plan? Does your sales revenue connect to your sales activities and marketing expenses? Do your products and service suit your target market? Are your short- and long-term capital requirements in place? Take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

Strategic Focus

Start-ups and small business need to focus on their Unique Selling Proposition, their target markets and their products or services tailored to match.

Set Priorities

You can’t do everything. Business planning helps you keep track of the right things, and the most important things. Allocate your time, effort and resources strategically and in line with your priorities.

Manage Change

It is widely accepted that change is the only constant. With good planning process you regularly review assumptions, monitor market activities, track progress and catch new developments so you can adjust. Plan vs. actual analysis is a dashboard, and correcting the plan is navigation.

Develop Accountability

Good planning processes set expectations and track results. It’s a tool for regular review of what’s expected and what happened. Good work shows up. Distresses show up too. A well-run monthly plan review with plan vs. actual becomes a review of tasks and accomplishments.

Manage Cashflow

An effective business plan connects the dots in cash flow. Sometimes just watching profits is enough. But when sales on account, physical products, purchasing assets, collections and repaying debts are involved, cash flow takes planning and management. Profitable businesses suffer when slow-paying clients or too much inventory impact cash flow. A plan helps you recognize the problems and adjust accordingly.

Indicators and Metrics

Effective business planning sets indicators or milestones you can work towards. These are key goals you want to achieve, like reaching a defined sales target, hiring a “gun” sales manager or opening new offices. And we need metrics which will measure our success. We’re all human - we work better when we have visible goals we can aim at.

Regular Reviews

We all want to do everything for our customers, but sometimes we need to slow down to maintain quality and strategic focus. It’s hard, during the heat of everyday customer interaction, to remember the priorities and focus. The business planning and review process becomes a regular reminder of what needs to be done to reach our goals.

Need help to develop a business plan? Contact us at Gazingle today – our support is complimentary!