A Strategic Plan is Your Map to Future Success
Vicky Richards
Providing CEO Advisory Boards, Business Coaching and Strategic Planning Services to Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurs
Written in partnership with Claudia Franco Kelly , TAB of Central New Jersey Certified Facilitator
Managing a business without a strategic plan is much like taking a trip in your car without a map. You may end up driving a lot without ever reaching your destination. In business, a strategic plan is your map. It serves as a powerful tool to help direct your activities to achieve your business and personal goals.
Yet many small business owners struggle with strategic planning, often citing they don’t have the time, knowledge or resources to create an effective plan. TAB CNJ (The Alternative Board? of Central New Jersey) can help.
TAB CNJ provides a structured, professionally-led planning process. TAB members also have access to a peer-advisory board who provide valuable ideas, insights and honest feedback to help you create a strategic plan that will move you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.
Planning is Fundamental
Strategic planning is a fundamental component at TAB. TAB members engage in planning exercises in the fourth quarter every year so that as the new year starts, they have a strategic plan in place. These plans help business owners achieve their goals rather than putting them off and making excuses for not meeting them.
Creating an effective strategic plan is a four-part process that includes:
In this four-part series we’ll look at the four components of strategic planning and provide tips on how to create a plan that helps you achieve your goals.
STEP 1: PREPARE
The first step to any successful strategic plan is to gather information and determine your company’s current strengths and weaknesses. To do this, conduct a SWOT analysis of the key trends impacting your business and what the implications are to your company and your long-term goals.
A SWOT analysis is an assessment of your company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a great way to quickly identify the things that can move the needle on your business.
According to Investopedia , “A SWOT analysis is designed to facilitate a realistic, fact-based, data-driven look at the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, initiatives, or within its industry. The organization needs to keep the analysis accurate by avoiding pre-conceived beliefs or gray areas and instead focusing on real-life contexts. Companies should use it as a guide and not necessarily as a prescription.”
SWOT Analysis Components
Your Strengths
What makes your company stand out from the competition and how can you leverage that? Perhaps it’s your unique product or service offering, your expertise, your manufacturing methods or your access to key materials. Do you have a great location or a long-term market presence and goodwill? Does your company have a set of values that set it above the rest? What do you think your customers and competitors would consider your strengths?
How can these strengths be used as a platform for future growth?
Your Weaknesses
While it may be difficult, honestly assess the weaknesses in your company. Do you have a product or service that needs to be improved? Is it outdated? What is the competition doing? Is your marketing and advertising adequate? Does your staff have the skills and knowledge to take you to the next level? Are you having difficulty finding customers? What do your customers and competitors say about you?
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Whatever the weaknesses are that you may uncover, be honest. These weaknesses are opportunities to make the improvements you need to be successful.
Opportunities
Look for opportunities large and small. Even small opportunities can improve your competitiveness. What market trends or technology changes can you exploit to your advantage? Can you develop a new product or service to address an emerging trend? Is your market growing, contracting or consolidating? Are there some good acquisition opportunities right now in your industry?
The ability to identify trends and see changes that are occurring in your market gives you the opportunity to be ahead of the trends rather than catching up.
Threats
Consider anything that can have a negative impact on your business. These can include changing technology, supply chain issues, increasing competition and shifting market needs or requirements. Other threats include a lack of qualified employees, excessive company debt and cash flow problems.
Any obstacle you may encounter that affects your ability to build, sell or otherwise get your product or service to market should be considered a threat.
Whiteboard Exercises
One of the most effective ways to conduct a SWOT analysis is to conduct a whiteboard session with key members of your staff. Encourage honest, constructive dialog. Listing the different SWOT components on the whiteboard allows everyone to engage in the process and visually see how the different components interact.
Support and Insights from TAB Members
As a TAB CNJ member you’ll never have to develop a strategic plan on your own. You’ll have access to a structured, proven strategic planning method led by a trained business coach.
You’ll also benefit from your peer advisory board that brings together like-minded business owners from a variety of industries who share their knowledge and expertise with the goal of helping each other’s businesses thrive. In an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, members can be honest about their opportunities and challenges and receive constructive and growth-oriented feedback.
At the end of the process you’ll have a workable strategic plan that provides a solid path to meet your needs and goals.
Here’s what some TAB members have to say about the benefits they get from TAB’s strategic planning process:
A member who owns a distribution company with other family members reports he find TAB’s annual planning process helpful because, “My plan is in my head. I know what I want to achieve, but the process forces me to get granular and then communicate the plan to all the people at the company who can’t read my mind.”
Another member who owns an insurance company said she tapes her strategic goals list to the wall of her office because she has a tendency to be pulled into the day to day tasks of running her business. The list prompts her to make time each day to work on the bigger picture and the strategic goals that she has set for the business.
TAB Benefits
TAB offers busy entrepreneurs a powerful, streamlined program that includes peer advisory boards, one-on-one coaching, workshops, expert speakers, robust business tools and invaluable TAB connections. TAB provides valuable resources that help business owners and leaders navigate difficult business conditions, discover new opportunities and achieve their strategic goals.
During times of economic uncertainty, having access to fresh perspectives, expertise and support when facing big decisions is not a luxury —?it’s a necessity.
Up Next: Prioritizing and Creating the Plan