Plan: The 4 Letter Word in Business

Plan.  For some of us it’s a four letter word. Though some parts of my business, I’ll admit, are a little fly by the seat of my pants, I’m pretty serious about my yearly planning.

Here’s how I do it (This is how I plan for my businesses, in another post I’ll talk about how I handle my personal annual planning through an exercise I like to call New Years Roles & Goals):

I start with a look at financials and see if I’ve met my money goals. I dig deeper and then look at how many new customers I acquired the previous 12 months and look especially at the percent of repeat customers. I look at customers that have been previous customers but didn’t order at all last year. This provides me a whole lot to look at and spend most of my review time here.

Next, I look at where I spent my marketing dollars and track my return on investment for each of my ads, events, networking groups, etc, individually. (If you don’t currently track your return on investment for your marketing dollars I suggest you make this a priority this year.  It’s very enlightening.) When I was studying marketing back in college, I learned that your marketing efforts over time should yield a four times return on your initial marketing investment. In today’s marketing, you should be excited if you can get a two times return on your investment. That’s why it’s so critical to see if your marketing dollars are, in fact, turning into qualified leads and customers.

Then, I review my processes and see what can be streamlined, outsourced or delegated. This is my favorite part. I get serious about what I want to focus on and what I can have someone else do. This is where I get empowered in my personal goals and what I want to spend time on in the coming year.

Finally, I set some goals. I make a vision board, and I post both where I can see them everyday. This quarter, I’m rewriting my business plan from start to finish. When I started Doodads 15 years ago the internet wasn’t nearly as beneficial as it is now. The internet has completely changed how I interact with suppliers, place orders and involve employees (who work from home!). So, I’m starting with a clean slate to see what I come up with. I’m excited and scared at the same time. Send chocolate.

If you haven’t done so already, you’re probably saying, “This is too much work!” Planning isn’t meant to be daunting, but it’s meant to be thorough. And it’s meant to provide you a clear view of the past so you can move forward with confidence. In time, your planning will become something you crave instead of something you curse. I believe in the adage (that some credit to Benjamin Franklin, though the internet wasn’t clear on final credits) “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” So my charge to you: it’s not too late. If you haven’t already done your annual review, make plans to do it now.I know that this isn’t the only way to plan.  How do you do it? Until then, happy planning!