'Tis the Season to Celebrate...and Prepare to Execute a Plan to make 2012 a Great Year

by Bill Marino

The season is upon us: festivities with friends and family, the ubiquity of office parties, and general holiday mirth and merriment. Whether you are a franchisor, a franchisee, or someone contemplating starting a business, it’s also the season to reflect on the year past—and more importantly, plan for the year ahead.

Strategic planning gets a lot of press, but it’s not just that a business puts a plan on paper that’s important; it’s the process that a plan puts in place. Strategic planning comes in many shapes and sizes, from a detailed narrative on every aspect of business operations to a one-page outline showcasing the important goals for the coming year.

At Bark Busters USA, we have our requisite MBAs and serial entrepreneurs, and over the years we’ve learned that strategic planning is the first step in ensuring that we have the best opportunity to achieve our goals for the coming year. Why? Because plans, like ideas, are great, but the ability to execute is what makes the difference.

If you are contemplating purchasing a franchise, add to your list of questions an inquiry about the franchisors’ annual plans and the process each company follows. It will provide you with an important insight into the companies and their management teams’ ability to execute.

While there are seemingly unlimited providers who will help facilitate a strategic planning process—I’ve even been asked numerous times to help both franchisees and other franchisors through the process—we’ve found that a simple five-step approach works best:

1. Reflect on the successes and failures of the past year. Take time to talk about what worked and what didn’t. Extract key takeaways from both and write them down. Then, include these findings in your thinking as you move forward to the next step. Learning from mistakes and building on successes is integral for all of us—as individuals and business operators.

2. Isolate four to five goals you want to achieve in the coming year. Ask yourself: “Where is there room for improvement?” Then, write a statement focusing on this area. Think in terms of both the financial and operational fronts, such as revenues, expenses, and profitability for the former, and footprint growth, market penetration, lead generation, or conversion rates for the latter. Write down these goals.

3. With these goals in mind, develop programs and activities that will help you achieve those goals. These initiatives should be specific and measurable. Remember, businesses come in many sizes—from the single operator to the multi-national—so programs must consider the level of resources available to realize a set of objectives.

4. Now for the step that most forget or sidestep: Select an associated set of metrics. One of the definitions of “metrics” is the science of measuring. That’s what we’re talking about here. Set a quantifiable figure that measures a key aspect of each program. The metrics might be a percentage of a year-over-year improvement or an incremental increase in volume. Programs can have multiple metrics. Always include a target date for completion. Don’t let this step waylay your planning. Set metrics that you believe are achievable, but don’t labor over it. Remember, it’s not a crime to fall short of a target metric.

5. Now with steps 1 through 4 on paper, revisit your plan quarterly. Review your programs and associated metrics. Make changes as your business and the business environment dictate. This is a critical component that makes your planning an ongoing, organic process.

A final thought: Don’t plan in isolation. Solicit ideas and reaction from within your organization, whether from your spouse or business partner or key personnel from each department or region. Make strategic planning an inclusive process. After all, it will impact every person in your company and require their commitment to achieve the metrics.

Remember: It’s not the plan—the words on paper—that really matters; it’s the process the plan puts into place. Why? Because it’s the execution of the programs and the iterative review of progress based on the imbedded metrics that propels a business forward.

Planning is not just a once a year activity…it’s all year, all the time, because it’s a driver for execution, and execution is what drives a person, a franchise owner, or a franchisor toward their goals—and that’s something to celebrate, no matter what season it is.

Bill Marino
COO
Bark Busters USA

Learn more about Bark Busters at topfranchises.franchisebusinessreview.com.

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