Plan the Path to Success for Your Business

Olympic athletes are taught to visualize different competitive situations. During the visualization process, it has been detected that the athlete's muscles are receiving signals from the brain. Visualization is preparing them physically for future events. Think of planning as visualizing the future and preparing yourself and your business to meet the challenges of the future.

Just like training is a routine activity for the athlete, planning should be a routine activity for the business owner. With planning, the future will be a lot more recognizable when it arrives. Without planning, you may not recognize or may even miss the opportunities that the future presents.

Planning can be an individual or team effort. Employee involvement in planning can enhance their capabilities, their understanding of the business and their loyalty. In addition, their different perspectives could lead to valuable insights.

Planning should cover at least three areas—marketing, finance and operations. These areas should then be integrated. Regular planning requires you to position yourself to receive information from several sources, to interpret unfolding situations as threats or opportunities, and to anticipate future events.

Marketing information can come from trade journals, business publications, news services, the Internet, customers, suppliers and competitors. Operational information can be gleaned from company records, internal studies of activity or production, and areas of concern. Operational information also will come from the evaluation of what others are doing.

Financial information can be collected from your income statement, cash flows and balance sheet. Comparison to other companies in your industry allows you to evaluate where you stand comparatively. Supporting your operational and marketing plans with your financial plan may be your challenge.

We have to remember that government is our business partner. Information flow has to include what is happening on the local, state, national and international levels. This information greatly impacts your planning process.

Planning can be a powerful tool for you, your business, and your team. It can help you succeed when good and bad things happen to your company. For more information on this and other business topics contact your local SBTDC by visiting www.missouribusiness.net. Or you can visit the resource library on that site for a great catalog of management information: http://www.missouribusiness.net/library/management.asp

Authored by: Steve Holt, director of the Northwest Missouri State University SBTDC in Chillicothe.
Date reviewed: 7/8/08

This story was featured in the July 2008 newsletter