Small Business  Strategic Planning

08-2007 Dimitrios Shistohilis

Small businesses often neglect one of the most important processes engaged in by large companies--the strategic plan. You need to develop a strategic plan annually to guide your business activities throughout the year and to measure the accomplishment of your defined goals.

1.                              Business Objectives

o                                The primary component of a strategy development plan is the statement of business objectives for that year. Central to that endeavor is to answer what you want your company to accomplish. An objective is a goal, quantified whenever possible, that the business wants to achieve within a stated period of time. By quantifying the objective, you have a yardstick to measure success afterward.

Defining your target audience is an important part of a strategic plan. You might intuitively know who your audience is, but you should know your audience from a very specific psychographic profile, which includes age, location and income.

2.                              Tactics and Calendaring

o                                Once the objectives and target audience have been determined, only now are you able to determine how you will accomplish your objectives. What methods will you use to get the job done? This is the fun part of strategy development because your options to employ to motivate your target audience to buy are only limited by your imagination and budget.

Tactics get put on your operating calendar so you're able to see how the strategic plans will unfold. All tactical implementation have lead times that need to be considered and put on a timetable for completion.

3.                              Budget Management

o                                Development of a budget is a key element in a strategic plan. All the wonderful tactics in the world won't help if you can't afford to do them. Each element of the plan should be a line item in your budget with a dollar figure assigned to it. When combined, their total is the cost of the strategic plan. Do your due diligence in this important area.

The budget is also a tool for monitoring performance of the plan. Revisit the budget monthly to revise costs against estimates, so you manage and control expenditures for tactics included in your strategic plan.