Why every business needs a healthy business plan
Good management requires setting specific objectives and then tracking and following up. I’m surprised how many existing businesses manage without a plan. How do they establish what’s supposed to happen? In truth, you’re really just taking a short cut and planning in your head–and good for you if you can do it–but as your business grows you want to organize and plan better, and communicate the priorities better. Be strategic. Develop a plan; don’t just wing it.
I’ve been telling clients all throughout this year that winging it should not be the way to go — for obvious reasons. Every business should use its business plan to help decide what’s going to happen in the long term, which should be an important input to the classic make vs. buy. Selected portions of your business plan can be a part of your new employee training, to set targets for new alliances, and selected portions of your plan to communicate with those alliances.
Moreover, for expansion and development targets, business plans are crucial. Investors need to see a business plan before they decide whether or not to invest. They’ll expect the plan to cover all the main points. Like investors, lenders want to see the plan and will expect the plan to cover the main points.
So establish a strategy and allocate resources according to strategic priority. Don’t let the chips fall into place, create and devise a sound, realistic approach, a backbone to your business. If you need help, ask for it :-).
