Writing the strategic business plan is a daunting task. It takes a lot of heavy lifting in terms of thinking, curating, collating, and writing. Not to be taken too lightly.
But it is an essential task for the Directors of a business. Without a strategic business plan, even a Strategy On A Page (SOAP) version, the business could suffer. It could be open to unforeseen risks, inappropriate allocation of resources, cause damage to the reputation of the people and the business and create financial hardship.
We have identified five areas that you might want to look at for the strategic business plan as follows:
1. Vision - do you have an inspiring vision, one that engages? A vision that is communicated widely. If words are not your skillset, try drawing it and then ask someone to write it up.
2. People - do have the right people in the right places doing the right thing. Move them around until they are where they need to be. It might be uncomfortable to start with. Persevere, the benefits of having the team set up to deliver the plan will offset any discomfort
3. Processes - look hard at the way you do things. is there any way it could be done quicker, easier, cheaper? Could it be outsourced? Make the processes as simple as possible, as complex as necessary. Publish them so that people can access them easily. Reward intelligent compliance rather than slavish rule following.
4. Customers - look hard at the customer list and remove the ones that are not taking you where you want to go. The emotional drags, the resource stealers, the late payers. Removing this toxicity will pay dividends, as you can focus more on the customers that are delivering value and with whom you can build strong, valuable relationships
5. Reputation - decide what you want your reputation to be, and then communicate it and deliver on it. Keep it simple. ideally just one or two word - quality, speed, customer service, innovation.
These are our top tips to writing the strategic business plan.
If you would like to know more do please call us on 0117 230 3166 or visit our website for more information about strategic business advice at https://www.businesscopilot.co.uk/create-a-strategic-business-plan/
Rob Hook - Business CoPilot - a Bristol based strategic business advisor offering support and advice to local businesses
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