Plan-Do-Check-Act: Keep the plan alive

First, thanks for sticking with your business planning journey.  I hope you have found the information useful so far.

Introduction

This is the final publication in this series and here we will discuss the business plan, how it is constructed, the additional information that needs to be attached and, how to keep the plan alive and therefore, a useful business tool for the future.

If you have been following these articles you will now have all the necessary elements to start to populate your business plan. These elements are: -

• Clearly defined personal and business goals

• A full list of your business skills and an action plan for improving or acquiring these skills

• Customer groups clearly defined

• A clear understanding of your competition, your strengths and weaknesses and an action plan in place to lever your strengths and minimise your weaknesses in the market place

• A full understanding of your USP

• A detailed, realistic sales plan

• A driven marketing plan

• A completed cash flow forecast

• An understanding of your key business processes

The business plan

If you have not already done so, you can download a free Business Plan template by clicking on this button

One of the core methodologies the we use at Results is the application of the Deming Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Briefly, this is about spending time planning an activity to maximise the chances of success.

PLAN – what you have to do and include all the preparation, research and planning activities

DO – carry out the plan

CHECK – the outcome against the plan and identify any gaps or problems

ACT – take action to improve the outcomes, updating the plan as you go

I propose that the P-D-C-A cycle is applied to your business planning activity. In fact, if you have been following this series of articles, you have been in the planning stage of writing your business plan.

PLAN

The contents of a business plan can vary. The Results Business Plan Template provides a robust framework that has been tried and tested and has been accepted by all the main high street banks.

The business plan content should include: -

• Executive summary – about you and an overview of your business plan

• Product/service description – a detailed description of the product or service that you intend to provide

• Market research details – a summary of the marketing you have carried out for your product/service and the potential market population

• Customer groups – clear definitions of your customer groups and the products/services to you intend to sell into those groups

• Your competition – the competition you have identified and their relative strengths and weaknesses

• Reasons for success – detail the reasons why your business will be successful, include your unique selling proposition as well

• Risks to your business – for each risk identified, detail the risk and what you have, or will have, in place to protect against that risk

• How will the business be managed – list the roles and responsibilities and include finance, sales, marketing and operations

• Sales plan – a brief summary of your planned sales

• Sales methods – how you intend to sell your product or service into your specified customer groups

• Sales methods – a brief overview of each sales method and how each will impact upon sales volumes overall

• How will the business be financed – describe how the business will be financed over time and includes set-up costs, working capital and future stock purchases

• Cash flow forecast – estimates of cash in the business over the first year and why you believe this is a realistic forecast

• Pricing policy – how are your prices arrived at, are they competitive and sustainable

• Your business and the law – list the laws applicable to your business and nay actions taken to comply

• Attachments – there should be a minimum of: cash flow forecast; sales plan; marketing plan and any additional details that you feel support and strengthen your business plan.

Do 

Having the plan in place is paramount at the start of any business venture. Once the business is trading and you have some experience of operating the business, the next thing is to check how things are going against that plan. As the old saying goes “a failure to plan is a plan to fail”.

Check

How is your business doing against your plan? Are you doing better than planned or worse?

Review all the key measures for your business cash flow, sales and costs.

Act

What actions need to be put in place to either redress the situation, or, take advantage and capitalise on a positive trend.

Summary

A Business Plan is a live document and should be reviewed to check that it remains relevant in all aspects. So make it a regular activity that you undertake at regular intervals.

If you have missed of the previous articles, please click on any or all of the following to access the article and a selection of free templates. For any other related articles including SWOT analysis and setting SMART objectives, please contact Results Consortium Ltd.

A business plan is key for business

Defining your personal and business goals

Understanding your in your business

Define your customer groups

Know your competition

Defining your USP

Establishing your sales plan

Establishing your marketing plan

Establishing your business costs

Definine your business processes

Graham Cripps

Results Consortium Ltd.

www.resultsresults.co.uk

Business Plan - Define Your Business and Personal Goals

This is the first in a series of 10 articles I have developed to help you define what you need to consider at each stage of the business planning process.

Following on from my article "A Business Plan is Key for Small Business", this  article will concentrate on defining your business and personal goals. Even at the  early planning stages, it is important to consider what you want to achieve for  you and your business. Not just the financials but things like work/life balance.

The most important person in your business right now is you, the owner/operator. We will look at your needs as well as those of your business, what you want from the business and what you want the business to become over time.

Before we go any further I'd like you to consider my definition of success.

Success......

Success is "achieving your goals and being happy with where your are in the knowledge that you can work to be somewhere better". For me it's about enjoying the journey towards your goals.

Whether you are a sole trader, owner of a small limited company or any other business owner, you must have goals or objectives in place. It is important to articulate these goals in terms of the business and what you want from that business.

Like any other goal or objective, they must be tangilble measure of time, quantity and quality. That way you will know how you are doing on the journey.

For example, if my goal was to "go on holiday in Cornwall", this statement alone has no measurables. Really, this is no more than a wish. To have real meaning, something you can work towards it would need to consider dates, accomodation, location and transport arrangements.

So how do we set these goals?

There are some simple "rules" that you should consider:

• Be very specific about what you want so you can clearly express it to another person and they will fully inderstand

• Put measures on it, so you know when you have got there

• Make sure that the goal is something you believe you can achieve

• Ensure that the goal is realistic (no point in setting a holiday for next week if you have to give 4 weeks notice)

• Put a and date or time by which the goal is to be achieved (you can also include interim dates, milestones)

In other words use SMART Objectives (download your ree SMART Objectives article to learn more)

I strongly recommend that you have two sets of complimentary goals. Business and personal. What you want for your business and what you want for you.

Have you ever said something like "one day I'll ...............". A plan without a date on it is just a dream". If you are to be successful in business you need a detailed plan of how you are going to ahcieve your goals, and then go on and do it. There is only one person stopping you from achieving success, and that is you.

When you have time, have a look at our facebook page www.facebook.com/NowTakeControl and see some inspirational case studies of people who have started small businesses and are already off the starting block after only a few weeks. They are passionate about their business idea, just like you.

What do you want your business to become?

Consider what you want your for your business by the end of year 1, year 3 and year 5.

• To have a turnover of £45,000 by ..............

• To have a minumum of 50 regular customers by ..............

• To employ 1 additional member of staff by .........

These are just some examples to start the thought process.

What do you want from your business?

What are your personal goals, what do you want as a result of running your own business?

• Pay off my mortgage by .......

• Be able to pay my personal bills comfortably

• Have a family holiday every year from .............

• Able to spend time with my family at weekends

What ever you want for you.

Remeber, in both cases express your goals as SMART objectives (Specific - Measureable - Ahievable - Realistic - Time Bound)