Happy New Year ! I hope you enjoyed celebrating the end of 2015 and the arrival of 2016. Now it’s time to plunge in and make 2016 your best year ever !!
Most of us start the New Year with resolutions that intend to change something significant in our lives and business. However, only 8% of New Year Resolutions are actually accomplished. If you want to make 2016 your best year ever, you’ve got to back up your resolutions with a PLAN. This is even more relevant for your business as it not only impacts your own life, but also your family, employees, partners, vendors and investors.
When I work with my clients, I make sure that they have a solid plan that lays out the roadmap for phenomenal success in 2016. To help ensure that you also have a solid plan for success in your business, I created a simple, yet powerful FREE Annual Business Plan Assessment. If you already have an Annual Business Plan, you can assess your plan and make improvements per the results of this assessment. If you do not have an Annual Business Plan, it is not too late to create one. Use this assessment as a checklist to quickly develop a robust Annual Business Plan.
Below are the 7 key aspects of a solid Annual Business Plan that need to be congruent like a jigsaw puzzle.
#1 Annual Theme is the rallying cry for your entire organization and crisply communicates what you want to accomplish this year. This theme should capture the imagination of the entire organization and drive them towards a common goal. Some examples of themes are: Cash is King or Embrace the Process or Go Digital or Dominate a certain market or Launch new product category.
#2 Sales & Marketing Plan clearly identifies the lead generation tactics you will use to generate the desired leads to achieve the financial goals. You should have a marketing calendar & marketing budget to execute the marketing plan. Initiatives to increase the effectiveness of your sales process to achieve the desired conversion rate should be identified.
#3 Organization Plan captures the changes you intend to make in the organization through out the year. This includes hiring plans, training and coaching programs to improve the skills and capabilities of your employees and a well defined Performance Incentive Plan that motivates them to accomplish your goals.
#4 New Product Introduction(NPI) Plan ensures that you have executable project plans for every NPI along with the launch activity and desired financial outcome for each of these NPIs. The Sales & Marketing plan and Organizational Plan should be aligned to ensure timely and successful launch of the NPIs. Dependencies between NPI launches and legacy products are identified to ensure no Excess & Obsolescence.
#5 Financial Plan & Budget establishes the revenue, gross margin and net profit goals for your business and is broken down by month so that you can track your progress regularly. It has the detail mix of products or services that contributes to the revenue and gross margin goals. The Financial plan and Budget is aligned with the sales & marketing plan, NPI plan and Organization plan.
#6 KPI Targets measure the progress of your business towards your goals. You should have assigned appropriate KPIs to every one in your organization and tie the performance incentive plan to achieving these KPI targets.
#7 Communication. It is important to engage key members of your team in the development of the Annual Business Plan and communicate this with all your employees. Each employee should be very clear on what he needs to contribute and the monetary benefits & career growth they can achieve by implementing the plan.