The Step Before Your Business Plan

Usually, within the first two to three weeks of January, we create or finalize our business plan for the year. Although they vary widely across companies, most outline our goals and what we’re going to do to achieve them.

The best ones are executable. They’re logical, they’re specific, and they’re visible. They’re not weighty tomes stuck into a file, unseen until next year at this time.

To make it executable, there’s one key step you need to do before you create your plan. That’s having a crystal clear understanding of your client’s goals for 2024.

What do each of your clients want to achieve this year? And, how critical is it that they achieve them?

You want to ask questions that give you answers from every level in the organization in which you interact. And where you don’t, your coach’s relationship with them can help give you that information.

Knowing this will help you sort out real opportunities from pipe dreams. It allows you to position against the competition. It allows you to reframe a different way to get what they want. But it all starts with understanding their goals for the year.

As a relationship manager, knowing this this is what makes your plan plausible and even probable.

If you’re a new account sales person, reconfirming the goals of those already in your pipeline is always a good idea because the new year can bring lots of change. Changes in the organization can shift priorities in the span of a couple of weeks.

For those not in your pipeline yet, but on your target list, let solid research be your guide. LinkedIn, their website, 10-K reports and more can give you a clue as to where their priorities lie. Taking a look at industry forecasts, projections, and key issues written about can help you formulate your plan to seize opportunities.

The point is this: a business plan is basically your strategy to achieve key goals. And, a strategy is only as good as the information that forms it.     

So, if I’m unsure, this is where I would place my focus for the next two weeks before building my plan.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. Email me [email protected] if you’d like some help in putting together your business plan.