At some point in your company’s lifecycle, you will realise that you need to adjust your business plan to guide your firm into its next chapter.
Generally speaking, there are two reasons why you might want to redo your business plan.
- What worked for you previously is no longer working in the same way, either because your ambitions have changed, or internal or external factors have shaped your company’s development. For example, large-scale macro factors such as recessions and pandemics will almost certainly require you to change tact.
- You have identified new objectives as a result of movement within your business or your industry, and your current business plan doesn’t support them
Either way, the only route to positive, sustainable growth in the right direction is to overhaul your previous strategy.
Here’s what you need to do to set your business on its new path.
Get clear on your KPIs
Firstly, identify what success looks like to you. Decide what your long-term goal is – and make sure this goal is ambitious yet realistic. For example, perhaps you want to achieve a (profitable) rate of growth at 20% per year for the next 3 years, or maybe you want to gain more market share. Remember, there must be a clear business case and KPIs; decisions need to be data-driven rather than based on intuition or ego.
Work out the ‘how’
You’ve got your goal – so what do you need to adjust within your business in order to reach it?
If your staff infrastructure is the issue, could it be time to modify the roles within your team, and/or make some new hires?
If the aim is to make more sales to increase your company’s profitability, should you concentrate on acquiring new customers, or upselling your products or services to the people or businesses that are already within your portfolio? And will it be more effective to sell more of your existing products or services, or should you in fact launch different solutions to meet a growing demand that has been identified within your marketplace?
These are the kinds of questions you’ll need to ask yourself when assessing the finer details so you can confidently make those big strategic choices and implement meaningful change.
Develop a financial plan
One of the crucial stages of creating a new business plan is making sure you have the finances in place to support your aims. Without considering the numbers – and assessing and monitoring things like cash flow and expected tax liabilities – you could find yourself in hot water later on. If you don’t have sound financial planning skills in-house, consider asking for support from an outsourced finance director, who will be able to step in at this stage and provide you with a clearer idea of the budget that’s available to you.
Be prepared to adjust the plan if needs be
Very rarely do companies end up following the very first iteration of their business plan. You’ll need to get feedback and buy-ins from your key stakeholders, and during this process, you may come across a few stumbling blocks, or perhaps even a few new ideas. Don’t be afraid to reevaluate what you have produced and do be open to changing your strategy based on new input.
Put your ideas into action
Produce a step-by-step checklist of what needs to happen and when, and make sure those who are driving the plan are aware of their tasks and responsibilities.
Hold yourself and your team accountable
There’s no point in creating a new business plan, then sticking it in the bottom drawer for the next few years. Leadership needs to be revisiting the strategy and measuring progress against the objectives and the budgets that were set. One of the most effective ways to do this is to measure business plan progress at your monthly board meetings. Action points can be recorded and distributed to everyone who is involved in implementing the plan.
Engage your workforce
For the best results, everyone within your business needs to be on board with your business plan. Communicate your ideas and objectives with your staff internally and make sure everyone understands the importance of working towards a common cause.
Revisit your plan at least once a year
Strategies do not remain rigid. You may have created your business plan with a 3-, 5- or 10-year goal in mind – but as you well know, companies, industries and the overall economic climate can change rapidly. While seismic changes don’t occur that often – Covid-19 was a once-in-a-generation occurrence, we hope! – certain things can happen that will derail your best-made plans and force you to tweak your plan further. This is why it’s vitally important to assess your progress at least every year and prepare to make adjustments based on recent experiences and new projections.
A new business plan vs navigating a crisis
One final note from us. If you’re panicking about your business because you’re facing critical issues with staff, supply chains, cash flow, or something else entirely, you shouldn’t be in planning mode. Major problems will need to be fixed first before you can start to look towards the future. Remember, our finance directors can also be instructed to take a look at any immediate issues and help you overcome them from both strategic and fiscal viewpoints.