It's not too late to set up your 2004 plan of action
By Rhonda Abrams
Gannett News Service
What do you want to achieve this year? How much money do you want to make? It's wise to develop an annual plan each year, and, fortunately, it's still early enough in 2004 for you to sit down and create one for this year.
Most of us don't like planning. We enjoy dreaming: thinking up great schemes and imagining great success. But planning makes us a lot more uncomfortable — after all, planning requires decision-making.
A good planning process involves taking a look at a range of options, asking some tough questions, and then making choices about how we want to proceed. Most of us fear that when we choose one course of action, we eliminate all future opportunities.
Of course that's not true. Developing a plan doesn't mean we can't make changes. But it gives us a framework for making big decisions and guiding day-to-day operations.
Even if we value the concept of planning, it's hard to find the time to actually do it. We're so busy handling all the day-to-day details of our businesses, we don't have the opportunity to sit down and think about the big picture.
But remember one of Rhonda's Rules: "You can't reach a goal you haven't set." The process of planning gives you the chance to set realistic goals and outline a strategy for achieving those goals.
Annual planning needn't be a drawn-out process. Sitting down for a few hours or a half-day — ideally, with key employees — can help you be more successful in the coming year.
Here is a checklist to consider in your annual planning process:
1. What is your financial goal for this year? Put down a specific dollar figure of the amount of gross revenue you'd like to achieve. Be realistic, but don't be too conservative, either. Stretch yourself a bit.
2. If you have different product or service lines, different locations, or different distribution channels, what are your financial goals for each of these? Put a specific dollar amount to each.
3. What do you see as the biggest challenge in reaching the financial targets you've just set? Acquiring new customers? Increasing revenue from the customers you already have? List the issues you'll have to address for success.
4. What are the steps you and your staff need to take to deal with those challenges? Think through some of the major activities you're going to have to expand, add or contract to achieve your goals.
5. With each of the actions you've outlined in Step 4, put a dollar figure of estimated costs and also an estimate of other resources each will take.
6. How are you and your staff currently spending your time? Are you using your time in ways that make it possible to achieve your 2004 goals?
7. How are you spending your money? Are there ways you can reduce expenditures to free resources for new activities?
Now, look at the total picture. Go through the list and give each activity a priority. Then ruthlessly eliminate low-priority, overly costly or unrealistic items.
Finally, turn these priorities into a plan of action. With target dates and staff assignments —there's your 2004 annual plan.
