[avatar user=”williambentley” size=”160″ align=”left”]Bill Bentley
Editor-in-Chief[/avatar]
Researchers indicate there are at least five common characteristics shared by the very successful. The most often cited are:
- A Positive mental attitude
- Goal-directed behavior
- Self-motivation
- A sense of Urgency
- The desire to never stop Learning
I hope you agree with the list. And, there is great news about these characteristics. You don’t have to be born with them; they can be learned. Plus, you can get better at them with practice. It would be fun to reflect on each but, because I don’t have time in this article to comment on them all, let’s look at number two, the goal-directed behavior. It’s the only one that is not only a personal characteristic but also an organizational characteristic. Thus, it’s relevant to you, your business and our associations.
How do you know you’re on the right road? You’re directed. If you’re driving a car or truck, that’s easy. You follow the road signs, a map or your cell phone’s GPS. But, what about your business? There’s no map, no GPS. There certainly are no sign along the road. Each company is different. You’re really in a jungle without roads and there are lots of turn-offs out there. So, how do you know where you want to take your business (or your association) in 2017? How do you set your goals and how will you achieve them? I ask these questions because I don’t want you to come to a turn-off (a decision point) sometime during the year and be unable to make the right decision by not being able to look at how well (or not) each choice takes you towards getting to your destination. If you haven’t figured the map out and or if you haven’t put it in writing you should read on because, with the new year just beginning, now is the time to determine what you want your company to achieve in 2017.
This roadmap is a business plan. A business plan is goal-directed behavior. It is also one common characteristic of those businesses that are healthy; i.e., those companies with growing sales and healthy profits. And even more great news is that a business plan doesn’t need to be hard to create. A short two to three pager is much better than no plan at all and probably easier for your staff to understand and follow. Plus, it doesn’t need to take a long time to create. You likely have ideas about where you want to go and a written down business plan helps you put them into a usable roadmap.
A common framework to assist you in completing your plan should be the following:
- Do a SWOT analysis on your business. The goal here is to Build on Strengths, Resolve Weaknesses, Exploit Opportunities, and Avoid Threats.
- From your analysis write down two or three long term goals. These are big picture desires that will take a few years to achieve. Two possible examples: Sales of $XX million per year or purchasing a new storage building.
- Once you have your long-term goals, determine the four to six key objectives you will want to achieve this year to move towards your long-term goals. Keep the list manageable, to a number of objectives that truly can be implemented in the coming year. Examples might be to get to 70% of $XX in sales this year or to save 25% of the down payment for the new building.
- Now that you have key objectives, create an action plan that supports each of these key objectives with specific actions you or your staff will need to take to achieve the objective. You might choose to hire and train an outside sales person plus create and implement a multifaceted marketing plan. Or, to achieve your savings target, you might need to put off buying something new to have the excess cash flow. Your action plan should have specific action items, with details and deadlines that are assigned to key members of your team. Remember, one key objective might have multiple action items that need to be achieved.
- The next step is to create the budget that goes along with your business plan. Start with your actual 2016 revenues and expenses and complete a month by month budget to get to year-end. Unless you have plans to dramatically change the way you are doing business now, use the same key expense ratios you achieved last year (or an average of several years’ ratios). Once you get to the bottom line, determine if you’re satisfied with it. If not, go back and rework and adjust your plan. That will mean that you adjust the activities you and your team will undertake to achieve the plan too. You may need to do that several times until the result is the right budget.
- Finally comes the implementation and execution of the plan. It’s an ongoing responsibility for you to review it. It is important to review it regularly to ensure that the progress being made is consistent with your budget for each activity. I suggest you compare your actual financial results against your budget every month and make adjustments in how you are doing as needed to achieve your plan. Very important is to hold yourself and your team accountable for its success and to continue to refine it as you accomplish steps along the way.
That’s it. It might not take you much more time than it took to read my article to get through the first couple steps. And I know it will dramatically change how successful you are. As a real life example, at the IPIA they have been following their business “strategic plan” for over 10 years. It gives the entire organization the roadmap of where it is going and helps to tell its members (and prospective members) why it’s a benefit to join in and stay (or become) a member. Other ice associations may be doing it too; some more and some less formally. But, as long as the above steps are being followed, it works. I know as I’ve been part of their Strategic committee for many years. It’s what has kept the IPIA on track and focused on its goals. And it will continue to work as long as the plan is reviewed, updated, and implemented taking into account the best practices and highest standards required of the industry. If your business or organization does not have a written business plan, please bring it up at the next meeting. Remember, it works for anyone, any business, any organization.
When you go to your association’s meeting bring these and your other ideas up during the town hall meeting part of the program. Talk to the suppliers that are there, buy from them. Together, I’d bet you’ll come up with some real goals, programs and solutions everyone can benefit from.
It’s still an exciting and very challenging time to be in the ice business. Please send your comments and responses to billb@graphicvisions.com or call me at (800) 528-6679.
Thanks and Cheers!