Why planning is important and execution essential. We are told to do budgets and look years ahead but if you don't do these 5 things you will fail
Table of contents
Determine what you have to achieve and prioritise it
Many businesses fail to recognise that a budget is not a bucket list. Your budget should focus on those things that will make a difference to your future.
We all get trapped in the daily “Nice to do list” while the important issues are relegated to the bottom of the pile.
The issues that are the hardest are often the easiest to complete clearing the table for the daily tasks.
Why planning is important and execution essential and your five priorities
1) Placing a date on your projects
This is an often forgotten piece of the puzzle. You know that something needs to be done so you budget it into the plan.
However, if you don't have a BY WHEN clause it may not get done or followed up.
Every important issue must have an execution date, By when, and by whom.
This is the only way to ensure accountability and that completion is assured. Yes, things change however It needs a good reason for an important issue to be shelved, delayed, or indeed ignored.
2) Share your issues and make associates accountable
You can't do everything and your focus is often the daily activities so when you delegate do so with rules. The newsletter must be sent on the 15th of the month,
Facebook posts are daily, Debtors remain under a fixed figure, Instagram pictures are ready to go out. ( Online marketing explained)
Your list will be different however letting things go their merry way is not an option. Make sure you keep delegates to the same time constraints that you adhere to or change them.
3) Align every task with your vision of the future
With any business, you have a vision of where you want to be and what you want to achieve.
Yes, it is a long-term focus however it is also your roadmap to the future. That future you designed and set the pathway into place.
Often we get sidetracked into other areas of interest that seem to pop up along the way.
My daughter has a thriving Women's wear shop that needed a boost. Her thoughts turned to add a range of Men's wear to increase sales potential. What else she did was add an online shop to increase sales of the core product without the expenditure and operating cost of adding a whole new business line.
Shiny object syndrome is a curse of the business owner. I am as guilty as anyone however the deviation from the highway is most often time-wasting and adds little to the result.
Why planning is important when it comes to sales
4) It is all about selling
As business owners, we often forget that sales and profit are the names of the game.
There are so many peripheral opportunities that need to be done that our attention is sometimes diverted from the main game.
Your sales objectives should rank first without excuses.
You can get to month end with great-looking work gear, a nice blog post, lots of good meetings, and no increase in sales, the lifeblood of your business.
It is a trap we all fall for, doing the nice things and not achieving those plans that will make a difference to our income.
Therefore make your sales objectives top of the list.
The future is in your planning so make sure the steps to achieve that projected return is included as a priority.
Why planning is important and reviews essential.
The wealthy affiliate provides essential training on planning.
5) Don't just review results make the changes to achieve them
You will often sit back and look at the monthly figures and wonder why. Then you will make excuses and have reasons that life is like that and forge into another month without action.
Next month the same excuses however the reasons were compelling so why make changes when the world will do them for you.
I market countrywide however Covid-19 has affected many States so that marketing just will not get returns with half the businesses locked down. I stopped my Newsletters and emails because of the situation.
What I should have done is cut out the bad States and concentrated on those surging ahead.
The result was slowed sales due to a lack of marketing.
A small change in what I was doing would have avoided this.
A similar issue happened to my outstanding debtors. Because people were working from home or worse many accounts were not paid on time. This created a cash flow issue because I had failed to act on time. By increasing my focus on this I was able to turn it around.
My review prompted action and a result was achieved because I made the changes
My conclusion
We must all have a Vision and a way to achieve it. This means consistent planning and review to make sure we stay on the highway to success.
Taking a lot of shortcuts will rarely pay benefits to the long-term goal.
Remembering it is about sales and income and making that a priority when you open the doors every single day. This pays the bills and increases sales to make life a better place to be.
When Flying a plane you need to provide the time and point of taking off, destination, height to be flown, the number of passengers, landing time and even fuel load. They make sure you don't crash and have a successful flight.
Business is no different and lack of attention to the basics will have you crash and destroy all those flying with you.
Stay in front by looking ahead on the road you have laid out and being true to your vision.
Why planning is important and execution essential by Peter Hanley
