Where is Your Business Plan Today?
Is it in the hands of your Banker, in hopes that the bank will write you a huge check?
Is it on a shelf collecting dust, no matter whether the bank provided your business with funds or not?
You know you have a business plan, but you are not certain where you saw it last.
Is your business plan in your head? Or in the trash? Isn’t that a great place for it?
Maybe you don’t have a business plan, and the real question that should be asked is, “What is a business plan?” So let’s alter the question about where and let’s ask a different question, or set of questions.
What is a business plan, do I need one, and are there differences between business plans?
Most plans are written for the purpose of obtaining funds for a start-up, expansion or the alteration of a business in some manner. This is the type of business plan about which most books are written.
There is a second type of plan that I call a Functional Operational Business Plan (FOBP). Don’t misunderstand, the former plan is absolutely functional but its purpose is to obtain money from a lender or investor. It’s not normally operational. As a matter of fact, I have never met a small business owner in over 30 years of experience who has used their business plan for any purpose other than obtaining funds from some source.
I will take it a step further by saying that an FOBP is a tool that can dramatically improve the odds of success after the money has been obtained from the lender or investor. The key word here is operational. No matter how good a plan, if it is not put into operation, it becomes worthless.
When developed and put into proper use, our FOBP can become an incredible tool for any small business, but I must confess there is no magic to our plan. The idea is to develop the four elements below to become more meaningful to you. They are much more personal and have a depth well beyond the typical plan. The FOBP becomes such a key ingredient to the success of the business that one could equate it to a weekly or monthly TO DO LIST.
The four ingredients are:
Goals, both professional, and personal with much more depth than typical goals: Most business people know about the concept of SMART goals, but it is necessary to go beyond that. Done correctly, setting goals should become a voyage of self-discovery, reflection, thinking for yourself, and being honest with yourself.
Mission Statement: In today's world, the mission statement is often included in the Marketing Plan but the original intent was more of a private motivator for the owner and employees of a business, not for the customer. It should be developed to inspire all of the people who work in the business. It will be tied closely to the goals that are established in #1 above. It should reflect inner desires and values and hopefully, even, the direction of one’s life.
Marketing, focuses a great deal on “how to truly set a business apart from the competition,” but in today’s world it is often called “branding”. The aim of Marketing is to make the sales process superfluous. Selling is not marketing.
Financial Information is more than “how much money is in the bank”. Benchmarks and statistics should be established to insure that no department or category gets too far out of balance for any extended period of time. Appropriate numbers are used “to tell a story” and that “story” reveals whether a particular aspect of the business is working. However, it is not required that a business owner or manager becomes a financial guru to really use the financial data as an effective tool.
If you have taken the time to read this BLOG, you probably don’t have a Functional Operational Business Plan. Adopt the above four categories expand upon them as much as possible with the hints I have provided, and take ownership of each category. Do that and you will develop a plan that will infuse new excitement and life into your business no matter where it is today.
If you invest some significant time into the above information and you are still “stuck in neutral”, send us an email (see "Contact" page) with your questions and we will respond.
