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Digg it UP - The 7 Critical Steps to Formulating Your Annual Strategic Business Plan
Ezine Advertising - Essential Tactics (Part 3 of 3 Series) if they are supported by your values. Think about what motivates you, what gets you out of bed in the morning. Make a list of the values you cherish or wish to abide by. Prioritize them. Be clear about what makes you feel good about yourself. What value does that represent?What is the single most important part of your solo ad?In Part 2, I talked about the 7 essential questions to ask before posting an ad in any ezine. In Part 3, I want to talk about maximizing how and where your ads are performing.About ezine list size and pricing... The truth is, just because a list is large doesn’t mean it should be expensive. Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it should be cheap. Find quality, find your target market, be selective and go for it.1000-2000 subscribers does not mean it’s a bad list. It could be just getting going with no waiting list, usually if it is new. Often those smaller lists can have really high quality response.When beginning a new campaign, you only need to send out one mailing/ad with each ezine. Determine your cost per lead. If your cost per lead is low, continue with that ezine even if sales don’t come in right away. Some people need time. You may have heard the saying that people need to see an ad 7 times before they do anything about it. Your long-term strategy is building your list and sales.When you find one that works, place an ad 1 to 2 times per month. Test it out, but don’t do it every week, or it might get displayed out. You If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals Your Sales Team Must Leverage Your Brand to Sell More Businesses tend to avoid doing their annual business plan thinking that it is an arduous task that does not accomplish much. Formulating your annual plan is, however, critical to your business success and if done correctly should be quick, easy and generate bottom line results.If you are a sales manager then it behooves you to leverage your brand name to sell more and your sales team needs to understand this and use this to their advantage. This is where a good sales manager can really make the grade and increase the company’s sales.When a company has a strong brand the customers will already have considered doing business with your and wish to discuss what you can offer them. The door has already been opened due to hard work in marketing your brand. This gives your sales team a leg up on your competition, as it makes it easier to get a sales interview and even easier to close the sale once the terms and conditions have been ironed out.Good sales manager always leverage the brand and your sales staff need to also realize that when they sell with your company you do not have to give away the store to compete with the competition on price on each and every sale. The prospects already if given the choice would go with your company over the other simply on strong reputation and brand. How do you know when your brand is that strong? Well simple really.You as a sales manager will notice the number of incoming inquiries over the number of internal generated leads thru cold calling. This also means that the top sales professionals will wish to work for your company over the competiti Rather than creating a business plan that achieves no results, other than to gather dust, you should be writing a strategic and operational plan. The words ‘strategic’ and ‘operational’ are important as they give purpose and results to the plan. Your annual plan needs to be strategic so that you know where you are going and what you would like to achieve from your business or division. The plan needs to be operational so that it will tell you how to get there. It will determine the strategies and goals that need to be achieved to reach your end point. Strategic business planning is about deciding on the future you want for your business or division and then deciding how you intend to obtain that future. If you have been in business for a number of years and your results each year are much the same as the year before then obviously something will have to change if you would like to see an improvement. It comes down to the saying: If you keep on doing what you have always done you will get what you have always got. The steps we outline below are perhaps unconventional to people familiar with business planning, but then most business plans don’t deliver results. All too often business plans are created out of a corporate requirement rather than a focused result. This system of business planning has been proved to deliver results for over 20 years. Try something new and you may be surprised by the outcome. To achieve results it is important that each step is well thought out and no step is omitted. Equally important is that the steps are completed in an open and collaborative environment that encourages learning and new ideas. Step 1 – Vision and Mission Statements A vision statement should paint a picture of the business you would like. It should get you thinking about your business and dreaming about what is possible. You can’t exaggerate your vision so go wild and have large dreams. You won’t know where it will take you unless you give free reign to those ideas and get excited. A vision statement can contain what you would like to see in revenue in a number of years. You could want to become a “world leader” in something, or become a “specialist” in something else. What would you like out of your company? Let it be more specific than flowery language that sits in your entrance foyer. A mission statement should answer the question as to why your business or division exists. Why would someone buy your product or service? What makes you different from your competition? Who are you selling too? What problem are you solving? Keep your mission statement short but answer why you are in business. Nike is a good example – ‘Do it” Who needs more? Ensure that your mission statement supports your vision. Ensure that it is concise and unique to your business. Try and capture your competitive edge and unique selling proposition in a statement that motivates. Step 2 – Celebrate Successes Take some time to think about what you achieved in the last year. Whether it was reaching a goal you had set or handling a crisis that arose. A thank you from a client indicates a success as does appreciation from your staff. Make a list of all the successes you achieved and find ways that you can expand on those achievements. Step 3 – Learn from Failures Make a list of your failures and mistakes and for each examine why it failed and how you can prevent the failure in the future. What needs to be changed? What needs to be put in place? What is missing? By examining both what worked and what didn’t work, you can find the lessons that you need to learn. You can then identify opportunities and the way forward. Step 4 – A New Paradigm Complete the following sentence … “I’d love to ____, but I can’t because I’m/we’re _____. What are the words in the second blank? This is an example of a limiting assumption. The second blank need not be about you but could be about your market, your clients, your competitors etc. To move forward and achieve your vision these limiting assumptions need to be changed, you need to take responsibility for where you are. Change your limiting assumptions to empowering perceptions. Find a way around the external factors you feel are limiting your business or division. There are no “cant’s”, only new alternatives and new possibilities. Create a new paradigm. If you really are not able to get around a “can’t” then you need to examine how important this factor is to your business and therefore whether you are in the right business. Step 5 - Values If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals 5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Business Using a Toll-Free Number ay be surprised by the outcome.Toll-free numbers allow customers to contact your business without them having to pay for their call. Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to call a business with a toll-free number than those who only have a long-distance number, and 90% of Americans say that they use toll-free numbers. By following these five easy steps, you can discover for yourself how a toll-number can help your business grow.1. Expand your market. Toll-free numbers allow you to use the same number for receiving local toll and state-to-state calls. This gives you the opportunity to market your business nationwide. Even if you don't provide service in certain areas, toll-free numbers have the flexibility to block calls from those areas.2. Advertise your number. Toll-free numbers lend an air of legitimacy and professionalism to your business. By using a toll-free number, your business may appear larger and more established to the consumer which will make him/her trust you more.3. Initiate a direct response mechanism for impulse buyers. By allowing your customers an avenue to immediately react to your company's efforts calling for their action, this prompts significant increases in phone orders. It has been found that these buyers generally order more merchandise and higher ticket items nearly every time they cal To achieve results it is important that each step is well thought out and no step is omitted. Equally important is that the steps are completed in an open and collaborative environment that encourages learning and new ideas. Step 1 – Vision and Mission Statements A vision statement should paint a picture of the business you would like. It should get you thinking about your business and dreaming about what is possible. You can’t exaggerate your vision so go wild and have large dreams. You won’t know where it will take you unless you give free reign to those ideas and get excited. A vision statement can contain what you would like to see in revenue in a number of years. You could want to become a “world leader” in something, or become a “specialist” in something else. What would you like out of your company? Let it be more specific than flowery language that sits in your entrance foyer. A mission statement should answer the question as to why your business or division exists. Why would someone buy your product or service? What makes you different from your competition? Who are you selling too? What problem are you solving? Keep your mission statement short but answer why you are in business. Nike is a good example – ‘Do it” Who needs more? Ensure that your mission statement supports your vision. Ensure that it is concise and unique to your business. Try and capture your competitive edge and unique selling proposition in a statement that motivates. Step 2 – Celebrate Successes Take some time to think about what you achieved in the last year. Whether it was reaching a goal you had set or handling a crisis that arose. A thank you from a client indicates a success as does appreciation from your staff. Make a list of all the successes you achieved and find ways that you can expand on those achievements. Step 3 – Learn from Failures Make a list of your failures and mistakes and for each examine why it failed and how you can prevent the failure in the future. What needs to be changed? What needs to be put in place? What is missing? By examining both what worked and what didn’t work, you can find the lessons that you need to learn. You can then identify opportunities and the way forward. Step 4 – A New Paradigm Complete the following sentence … “I’d love to ____, but I can’t because I’m/we’re _____. What are the words in the second blank? This is an example of a limiting assumption. The second blank need not be about you but could be about your market, your clients, your competitors etc. To move forward and achieve your vision these limiting assumptions need to be changed, you need to take responsibility for where you are. Change your limiting assumptions to empowering perceptions. Find a way around the external factors you feel are limiting your business or division. There are no “cant’s”, only new alternatives and new possibilities. Create a new paradigm. If you really are not able to get around a “can’t” then you need to examine how important this factor is to your business and therefore whether you are in the right business. Step 5 - Values If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals Selling Slumps, How to Pull Out Before You Crash and Burn - Tip 5 your mission statement supports your vision. Ensure that it is concise and unique to your business. Try and capture your competitive edge and unique selling proposition in a statement that motivates.It matters very little whether you are a selling rookie or a seasoned professional, sooner or later, you will find yourself mired in a selling slump. There are a number of actions you can take to shorten the duration of the slump, lessen the financial impact and reduce the emotional drain that a slump can cause you. This is 'Tip 5' in a series.Selling slumps are as perennial as the seasons but they don't need to destroy your career. Understand that they are part of the marketplace and they always will be. They are caused by a variety of factors but always keep in mind that you didn't just wake up 'dumb' one morning. When you understand that fact, it will be easier to recognize that the situation is temporary. In old writings authors often used the term, "it came to pass". They didn't use the term, "it came to stay".Tip #5: Build relationships rather than simply working to establish rapport. Many sales trainers, sales courses and selling books teach the importance of establishing rapport with prospects to help reduce fear in his or her mind. While rapport is essential, it is only part way to the ultimate goal master salespeople seek to achieve. Rapport seeks to establish common ground between the prospect and the salesperson. However, relationship building goes Step 2 – Celebrate Successes Take some time to think about what you achieved in the last year. Whether it was reaching a goal you had set or handling a crisis that arose. A thank you from a client indicates a success as does appreciation from your staff. Make a list of all the successes you achieved and find ways that you can expand on those achievements. Step 3 – Learn from Failures Make a list of your failures and mistakes and for each examine why it failed and how you can prevent the failure in the future. What needs to be changed? What needs to be put in place? What is missing? By examining both what worked and what didn’t work, you can find the lessons that you need to learn. You can then identify opportunities and the way forward. Step 4 – A New Paradigm Complete the following sentence … “I’d love to ____, but I can’t because I’m/we’re _____. What are the words in the second blank? This is an example of a limiting assumption. The second blank need not be about you but could be about your market, your clients, your competitors etc. To move forward and achieve your vision these limiting assumptions need to be changed, you need to take responsibility for where you are. Change your limiting assumptions to empowering perceptions. Find a way around the external factors you feel are limiting your business or division. There are no “cant’s”, only new alternatives and new possibilities. Create a new paradigm. If you really are not able to get around a “can’t” then you need to examine how important this factor is to your business and therefore whether you are in the right business. Step 5 - Values If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals Why Great Companies Survey: Martian Logic! aradigmIf an alien civilization from Mars was planning a friendly takeover of our planet they would seek to make sure they understood our way of life and our way of thought.The only way they could accomplish their objective would be by asking questions which they could genuinely understand and then plan a strategy accordingly. Although this idea may seem outlandish in my humble opinion it is also what separates the great companies on our planet from the Wannabe’s.The greatest RISK in marketing lies in dealing with OPINION instead of fact. Stated another way, risk and the threat of loss is rooted in the idea that you think you already know the answer.In my 25+ years in sales and marketing I have learned one very powerful truth that distinguishes the superstars from the amateurs. The great salespeople and marketers understand the power that lays within questions. The amateurs think they know all of the answers. Show me a great salesperson and I will show you an individual who knows and understand the power of questions. Show me a poor salesperson and I will show you an individual who has yet to understand that fact. Show me a great company and I will hypothesize that they have an incredible dialogue established with their customers.How about you? Do you feel you know the answers to your custome Using steps 2 and 3 to analyze where you succeeded and where you failed you will then be able to discover if there are any common factors that cause you to succeed or fail. You might find that your failures are all in a specific situation or there is some other common factor. This will tell you how you limit yourself by what you assume to be true. Everyone has assumptions about their truth and these assumptions are usually not true but only serve to limit your true potential. Complete the following sentence … “I’d love to ____, but I can’t because I’m/we’re _____. What are the words in the second blank? This is an example of a limiting assumption. The second blank need not be about you but could be about your market, your clients, your competitors etc. To move forward and achieve your vision these limiting assumptions need to be changed, you need to take responsibility for where you are. Change your limiting assumptions to empowering perceptions. Find a way around the external factors you feel are limiting your business or division. There are no “cant’s”, only new alternatives and new possibilities. Create a new paradigm. If you really are not able to get around a “can’t” then you need to examine how important this factor is to your business and therefore whether you are in the right business. Step 5 - Values If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals Being A Boss Doesn't Make You A Leader! if they are supported by your values. Think about what motivates you, what gets you out of bed in the morning. Make a list of the values you cherish or wish to abide by. Prioritize them. Be clear about what makes you feel good about yourself. What value does that represent?Being your own boss is one of the greatest entrepreneurial thrills. After years of working for others, you have the opportunity to call the shots for your own business; your destiny is finally in your own hands--and so is that of your employees. The impact of this realization is more than some people can handle.Some become bosses who bark out orders, while others try to be everyone's friend. Most feel that they have to be the first ones in and the last ones to leave. Just about every entrepreneur feels the fear of working without the safety net that the corporate job provided. Yes, financial independence is a real possibility, but so is bankruptcy.If fear takes reign, we become controlling, demanding and unreasonable bosses. Being first in and last out eventually takes its toll, so we hire Managers. These new bosses watch and learn, hoping to duplicate our success, and therefore guarantee their rank and position within the company. Boss begets boss, and the spiral of rigidity gains momentum. A boss-driven enterprise can be successful monetarily but often fails to reach its full potential. Employees resent this type of boss in the same way that cellmates resent the prison guards who have control over them.Leadership is different. Leadership is the transference of certainty. In other words, a l If your business supports your values, such as honesty and integrity, it has a greater chance of success than one that requires you be dishonest on a daily basis. Step 6 – Strategies to Success Create your strategies based on opportunities and threats that your business faces. Think about what is critical to growing and operating your business and achieving your vision. Remember that you can’t be all things to all people and you should therefore specialize in what you do. Strategies can include topics such as technical knowledge, reputation, visibility, quality, employees and service. Select up to 5 topics that are critical to building your business and achieving your vision. Formulate a strategy statement for each topic and ensure that it is easy to understand and results in growth and profitability. Step 7 – Specific Goals Goals differ to strategies in that goals should always be SMART goals: Strategies are big picture items that work towards your vision. Goals should have number and dates in them to serve their purpose. If goals are not SMART goals they are not specific enough and will not provide focus on the tasks to be achieved. Goals can be formulated for each area of your business such as financial, marketing and sales, human resources, operations etc. Ensure that meeting these goals will achieve your vision and mission. As goals are measurable they can be graphed and also broken down in to weekly or monthly goals. If you are trying to increase sales over a one year period take the amount that you trying to increase it by and make smaller goals to achieve on a weekly or monthly basis. The good thing about graphing them is watching them go up! Conclusion • Did you achieve them? • If not, what was the problem? Can you recover and move forward? • If yes, congratulations are in order • Do you need to change any goals? Have you shifted your focus since your plan? Living by your plan will keep you focused. It also ensures accountability in a team setting and therefore improves performance and productivity. One word of caution however, using these 7 steps in a team environment requires open communication and contribution from all members. If you are unable to generate open communication in your team, then facilitation by an outside person can be invaluable. There are a number of excellent systems on the market that can facilitate this business planning process. They have been proved to be affective in delivering results to companies of all sizes and in all industries. They differ in certain aspects of the 7 steps listed above but they achieve the same purpose. Happy Planning!
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