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Edmonton Business Consultant | Business Planning 101

One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make, is failing to plan says Edmonton Business Consultant. Creating a great business plan may seem like an overwhelming task, which is why business owners often fail to follow through. The great business plan doesn’t need to take a long time, or be very complicated to be effective. Businesses that have a completed business plan are 50% more likely to grow their revenue than businesses without a plan. Great business plans alleviate three common pain points businesses face regularly. Here are three important things to include in your business plan for your business success.

First important thing to include in your business plan is your cash flow projections it’s important that you include conservative projections due to unavoidable circumstances that you may see in your business. And remember that cash projections can be off, because they are just a plan. But it is better to have a plan in place, and then adjust it then not to have a plan at all. Rather than planning for every variable your business may encounter, realize you can plan for the unexpected with your cash flow projections. Whether it’s illness, supply issues, staff leaving, banks pulling loans, no matter what the variable is, you will have planned for it in this step says Edmonton business consultant.

The second thing to include in your business plan is a strategy on how to recruit and retain your team. By implementing a strategy of always looking for staff and regular interviews will allow you to fill the needs if an employee leaves, or if you experience growth. Once you have your team in place strategy of retention will go a long way. Businesses with a plan have a more concrete HR strategy in their business. Set your business up for success by including this important information in your plan.

The third thing to include in your business plan is your marketing strategy. Businesses who fail to attract new revenue are often the businesses who fail to succeed. Edmonton business consultant advises that knowing who your target market is, is an important step to developing your marketing strategy. Once you know your ideal clients, you can effectively market to them. Once they’re doing business with you having a retention strategy will help you keep them. This is important because even though they are your clients, your competitors are also marketing, however happy clients will stay with you.

Once you have these three pain points addresses in your business plan, don’t forget to review it often. Spend about four hours every year reviewing your business plan, making any necessary adjustments as your business grows. Don’t forget that your business plan is not 100% certain, so reviewing and updating it as necessary is an important parts of having it. Having a business plan and not reviewing it, is like not having one at all. If you put the effort into creating it, then use it.

Edmonton business consultant | business planning 101

Business owners who complete a business plan are more likely to grow their business advises Edmonton business consultant. In fact businesses with the complete business plan are 50% more likely to grow with their revenue than businesses who don’t have a complete business plan. How to create a great business plan is easier than the average business person may believe. There are three important pain points to address in your business plan, spent some time thinking about these three pain points, and how you plan to overcome them, and you will have a great business plan for your business. All these pain points are easily addressed by a great business plan.

Business owners who have the business plan are less likely to run out of cash, because they have created a plan on how to attract new revenue which is the number one failure businesses face. They also have included cash projections in their business plan which can help them see market trends. Seeing where your business has been and where it’s going is an important part of your business plan. Reviewing your projections on a regular basis can help you navigate unavoidable circumstances that may have been in your business such as failure of your equipment, or supply chain issues. As much as these problems are unavoidable, having a cash flow solution in your business plan is a great way to navigate around these obstacles.
Scaling up your business takes cash flow, and by planning for that your business will be in a great position when you need to grow. Edmonton business consultant recommends having conservative projections and regular reviews of your business plan.
Having a human resources strategy in place on how to recruit new staff members is important part of your business plan because great company culture doesn’t happen by accident. Avoid the stop and start method of looking for staff. This increases the time between staff departure and when you can hire a new staff member. Implementing great strategies such as always interviewing potential candidates, will put you in a great position if you need to add staff suddenly, or replace staff if they leave. Businesses who plan failed to plan for staff departures are often left scrambling to fill that void. Having great people in the pipeline you can eliminate that downtime.
It’s important to realize that as a business owner, you don’t need to spend hundreds of hours on your business plan, it’s actually best to spend four hours at the beginning creating this plan, and then spend four hours throughout the coming year to review your plan. A business plan that is not reviewed and updated is no use to you. Edmonton business consultant reminds us that your business plan is still just a plan and is not 100% certain. Do your best to have a great plan and reviewing it often will help you prepare for business growth down the road. Remember that failing to plan is like planning to fail.