I love this time of year — Christmas, New Years … and business planning! Do you have your 2025 business plan ready?
By creating it now, you can put the finishing touches on your budget, start mentally preparing for 2025 and be ready to hit the ground-running on Jan. 1.
IF YOU’RE NEW TO BUSINESS PLANNING, MAKE SURE YOUR PLAN ANSWERS THESE QUESTIONS:
- Why are we here?
- What do we do?
- How do we treat each other?
- Where are we going (the vision)?
- How will we get there (the plan)?
- What do we do next (the immediate action items)?
- Who does what?
AS YOU PLAN, MAKE SURE TO AVOID THESE COMMON MISTAKES:
1. Mistaking volume for clarity
My first business plan was big and beautiful — 66 pages long — but total rubbish. A great business plan can be two pages.
2. Doing it alone
I’ve seen too many business leaders and department heads go home and power-through their business plan by themselves. This almost always is a recipe for failure. We must get “weigh-in” before “buy-in.”
3. Delaying
Don’t wait until we’re halfway through the first quarter of next year to build this plan.
4. Setting lofty goals
… with no real “plan” to get there: By the time we’re creating our plan for 2025, we should have a concrete idea of how we’ll hit our goals. If you don’t, your sales “goal” is just a sales “wish.”
5. Setting vague goals
Our goals shouldn’t be “get better” or “improve sales” or “create processes.” Our goals should be specific and measurable with no ambiguity.
6. Setting too many goals
Even larger companies should focus on no more than five big goals annually (three is even better).
7. Failure to share the plan
Similar to number 2, we need to get buy-in from our leadership team and buy-in from our employee base.
8. Failure to measure progress
Once we set the goals, how do we measure progress weekly, monthly or quarterly? Think scorecard here.
9. Not creating a contingency plan
I’ve seen companies of all sizes create a lofty sales goal and pin all hopes of success on a new sales manager (or new marketing plan or new website design, etc. … ). Because this is their only “plan,” and I’m using that word loosely, they stay married to it — even when everyone can see that it’s not working. Create a backup plan.
10. Not looking at the plan
I see companies who go through the motions of creating the plan, but rarely look at it. You should review your plan weekly.
Ryan Giles is head coach with The B.O.S. – Business Operating System. Reach him at (904) 500-1640 or ryan@ryangiles.com.