3 common mistakes in business planning
When embarking on a Business Development Plan there are three commonly overlooked areas that are vital for a successful. These are:
- Objective
- Information
- Accountability
These are not the only important areas of the business plan, but the ones that tend to get left out or not covered sufficiently. Let’s have a look at each of these in more detail.
Objective
A clear objective is the starting point for any business plan. Knowing what you are trying to achieve from the outset is always handy. The objective may not just be to make more money next year. It could be to increase profits, reduce costs, enter a new market or many more. Please see http://www.businessplans.com.au/products/ for more information.
It is vital to write down what the objective is of the business plan and to keep that insight so focus is retained throughout the business planning process.
Information
Information is vital to any decision making activity. We truly believe the best decision you can make is an informed decision. This is true whether you are crossing the road, buying a house, or developing strategies for the business. There are two main categories of information required for the business plan and strategy development. The first is internal information, information from your business. This can include sales figures, customer demographics, manufacturing costs etc. It is wise to pre-empt what information you require to develop a strategic direction for the business and to build systems to enable easy collection of the data.
The second type of information is external information. This includes market, industry and general operating environment information. This information is more difficult to accumulate and can be very time consuming. It is important to determine what information is of value to the business and only collect what is required.
Accountability
Many people go through the strategy development process and decide on the strategies and tactics to achieve the business objective however fail to properly finish the job. Assigning accountability and ownership of tasks is essential to ensure there is a clear directive of who is responsible for what action and when it is to be achieved.
By having a clear action plan and accountability the smaller tasks are more likely to be achieved which flows on to the larger projects and strategies being achieved.
Paying close attention to these three elements will go a long way to developing a successful business plan for your business.