"I know it's important, but when am I supposed to build a business plan? Then once I have one, how and when do I even use it?"


Business Plan Assistance

If you need business plan assistance, Forward Progress can help you with business plan preparation including a market analysis, competitor analysis, an executive summary, a mission and strategy statement, and a compact company and service or product description plus other startup business plans.

Whether you have a construction, real estate, financial, insurance, banking, mortgage or any service based business; Forward Progress has a cost effective business planning process that can assist you in all of your professional business planning needs.

Annual Review
Annual Business Planning Session

One of the most important events for your business is an end-of-year annual review meeting. No ,not ?tax planning?, business planning! This review should be the held before the end of the calendar year and all key personnel should be present. While the meeting does not have to be ?big corporate? structured, clear objectives should be defined beforehand. The key is to take your goals and objectives and make sure that everyone is properly aligned to make it happen. This meeting is the best place to start.

Listed below are some suggestions on the structure and logistics of an annual review meeting:

    Purpose:To clearly learn from the prior year and create a clear path to the business objectives and goals for the next year. This is the time when businesses reflect on what was done right and what could have been done better in the past year. Business owners and principals define necessary adjustments and align the business units toward a common goal for the upcoming year.
    Duration: Ideally the annual review meeting should be no less than a full day event. How important is it to reach your goals for the coming year? How important is it for all stakeholders to be on the same page and aligned to the same objectives? Justifying the time for this critical task should not be an issue.
    Location: It is best to hold the meeting off premise and away from normal business operations. Regular breaks should be scheduled and cell phones turned off during the session. It is critical to have the brain trust and focused attention of everyone involved. Many companies schedule the meeting over a weekend and allow spouses to attend. This format may involve a social event as well.
    Who: All key personnel should be present and be allowed to participate in the development of the agenda. This sharing of knowledge engages the key departments and/or divisions of your company.
    Agenda: The agenda should reflect the areas of your business that require attention in order to ensure success for the upcoming year. Typically there are department level objectives that must be clearly aligned with the overall direction of the business.
    Celebration: Do not leave this part out! Each year as we meet with our clients we hear comments such as ?we don?t do enough of this!? regarding social events within the business. Celebrating successes along the way helps us to see the big picture. If you only have one social gathering a year, include it at the end of this annual planning session.
    Execution: The meeting was the easy part. Now you must ensure the commitments that came out of the annual review are realistic and carried out immediately. This is critically important. Include action plans. Revisit the fundamentals of your power plan if necessary. Have accountability checkpoints and and clarify that everyone understands when defined measures are expected. Then measure, adjust and execute throughout the year.
With a clear plan, your goals can be achieved. Companies do this successfully every year.

Whether you use Forward Progress for assistance or hold an annual review on your own, please make sure you do it! We must measure growth and performance on a regular basis. Those companies that hold an annual review meeting and commit to a plan are much more likely to meet or exceed their goals.

Is this your year?