Your Game Plan For Success In 2020

Six Essential Elements for Your 2020 Plan

You and your employees work hard. Do you have a plan that will ensure that your hard work takes you where you'd like to go in 2020? Having a well thought out, written game plan significantly increases your chances of achieving your goals. But even companies with written goals are at risk of not achieving their plan if the plan does not provide a road map to implementing the strategy. Here are six areas to include to ensure your plan is actionable:

Your specific “Sales and Expense Targets” plan - it is, of course, important to have an overall percentage growth target for sales, but you need to be specific regarding what markets and areas you want to improve. Like-wise with expenses, what specific expense areas will you seek to reduce? Insurance costs, labor costs, raw materials cost?

Your “Customer Acquisition and Retention” plan - growth requires a plan to get new customers - and to hold on to the ones you already have. What resources are you putting in place to ensure you get customers, and what plans do you have in place to ensure your current customers stay with you?

Your “Employee Engagement” plan - for most companies it is the employees who can make or break not only product quality, but also the service experience customers receive. An employee who is excited about what they're doing is much more likely to generate a happy customer. What is your plan to invite your employees into the process of creating a great product and customer experience? Develop actions to help employees understand the positive impact your product makes in the lives of your customers, and to help employees understand it is their actions that make a positive customer experience possible.

Your “Revenue and Spending” plan – i.e. your budget. A budget is simply a “financial plan”. If you want to sell more of a certain product or move into a new market, what resources do you need to facilitate that happening? First outline the sales goals, then ensure your spending plan provides the resources to achieve the sales and other goals.

Your “Get a Life” plan - you got into this business for a reason. Was it to have the best product, be more visible in public, achieve more flexibility to spend time with your family? Take time to evaluate if your plan is moving you closer to your life plans, or away from your life plans. If you wanted to spend more time with your family, but you're working 60 hours a week and don't ever see them, your plan needs to address how to improve that situation.

Your “Contingency” Plan - an annual plan is created in the context of where the market is most likely to go. But circumstances can change quickly, and you need a high-level plan for how you will immediately react if there is a sudden, unplanned increase, or in particular, a decrease in your sales. Take time to list a few specific things you would do if the market changes and sales immediately decrease, or how you can best take advantage should an unexpected opportunity arise.

By determining goals which are realistic and achievable you can ensure your focus for 2020 will help you achieve not only your 2020 goals, but also your long-term business goals. The essential elements listed above are important building blocks for ensuring your hard work will move you toward the success you deserve in your business – and your life.

Donna Febus has over 25 years of experience helping business owners and leaders identify and achieve growth and profitability in their businesses. If you need assistance in establishing or implementing your goals for 2020 and beyond, contact Donna for a complementary discussion of how we can help.

Donna M. Febus, MSA

Profitability & Growth Advisor & Accountant 

Integrity Accounting & Tax, LLC

121 E Centennial Drive, Zillah, WA 98953

Web: www.iatllc.net 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (509) 895-9730