Planning For Your Small Business

Creating the metrics that work for you:

One of the major issues that separates successful individuals from less successful individuals is the ability to create and adapt a workable plan.  Because 2009 is coming to a close, now is an excellent time to establish your goals for 2010.  There are many resources for planning and goal setting for businesses.  I would like to outline three things that I have seen help in creating an effective plan: 1) creating metrics that work for you, 2) work the plan, and 3) adapt the plan.

CREATING METRICS THAT WORK FOR YOU

There first key element to establishing an efficient plan for your business is to establish proper metrics.  Metrics are the figures that are used to measure how well you are working toward your goals.  Good metrics are your stepping stones to achieve the goals that you have set.  They also allow you to track how achievable your goals are.  For example, if you want to achieve 5% growth in 2010, you metrics need to include the specific things that you will accomplish during the year to achieve that growth and the specific timeframe for accomplishment (i.e. marketing plans, improved efficiencies in pre-existing products/services, cross-selling, etc.).  The more specific the scope and time of your metrics, the easier it is to evaluate your goals.

WORK THE PLAN

Now that you have laid out your metrics for the coming year in order to successfully achieve the goals that you have made for yourself, the next critical element is to actually work your plan.  Do the things that you have decided that you need to do in order to achieve the goals that you have set for your business.  All to often, business owners lay out a business plan that will benefit, adapt and streamline their business.  Things they know that will help them to succeed, but when the time to implement comes, the owners/managers end up doing the same things that they have done in the past and end up getting the same results.  When we set goals to make changes, we must make a consistent, focused effort to achieve the metrics that we have laid out for ourselves.  This means that we must keep the goals and metrics in our minds.  Three good ways to do this: create accountability, set time to follow up, and keep the goals and metrics in a place in your office where you will have consistent view of them.

ADAPT THE PLAN

Given both positive and negative advances over the past several years, our domestic and global economy has significantly changed.  In order to succeed going forward, our businesses need to be adaptable and flexible.  As you are working you plan and evaluating your metrics, you need to determine how effective that plan really is.  As you properly evaluate the things that you are doing, you may need to make changes to the plan and metrics that you have created to fit the realities of your business.  By remaining fluid and adaptable, you can better succeed in your business.

Now is a great opportunity for you to create a plan for success either personally or professionally.  If you want feedback on what you are planning or how to implement your metrics, feel free to call me and we can discuss it.