The Case for Real Business Planning

Most small business folks could really help their individual efforts more if they learn how to build teams, lead employees better, and build new leaders from within their orgs… That means you have to work with others successfully!

Let me clarify a point before I proceed any further.  Choosing how or what form to operate in is the beauty of self-employment.  If you desire or choose to operate as a “Mom & Pop” operation with little or no team/employees that is your choice and so be it.  However, if one chooses to have multiple locations and many employees you’d better have a well defined plan of operation/execution.

What this short overview is attempting to achieve is to point out the lack of preparation most Small Business Owner/Operators fail to do; and that is adequate upfront, start-up planning.  There are a minimum of three types of planning you have to do: 1. Marketing Planning, 2. Sales and Operational Planning, and 3. Funding/Financial Planning.  They can be held in one document called a Business Plan; however they individually need a full treatment.

The fourth plan that almost never gets done until thrust upon the new owner/operator(s) is the HR and Standard Operating Procedures type of planning.  This normally is done ad hoc, driven by crisis management requirements, and governmental reporting requirements.  However, it is probably the most important leadership, vision, and regulated driven type of planning.

Finally, the last type of planning that is hardly ever done or found in a business that survives the first couple of years is Strategic Planning (SP); due to the fact that SP rests on the foundation of the previously mentioned planning types.  Small business folks by year two or three are too busy buried in day-to-day management tasks to give any additional time to SP activities; which creates its’ own set of future business survival issues.

Do You have a “Plan of Action” to guide You in Business Success?

Very few business owners do the following: Build a TEAM & build LEADERS! Therefore most of us are trying to be the “Chief Cook” and “Bottle Washer” in an activity that requires more than one set of eyes and hands. And most don’t have a BUSINESS PLAN, MARKETING PLAN, or FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PLAN that will help them develop a “HEDGE HOG” strategy that will navigate them around the NEGATIVE noise out here. Most of us are UNDER PREPARED to go or be in business – PERIOD!!!

A business model in its most basic form and on its simplistic level should depict how a company’s inputs (material or info), product or service process, and output (finished product and/or service delivery) creates value.

NEED FOR A PROFESSIONAL SALES STAFF

(Advice to a new/struggling entrepreneur)

As a new business owner, can you honestly look at yourself in the mirror and believe you can produce at least one million dollars of sales revenue? Will you be able to pay yourself a minimum $100K salary from your direct selling efforts? If not, you will need to attract, hire, manage, and retain a sales force; especially if you have spent the better part of your professional career behind a desk, (pc, lab, etc). And you think you can produce a million dollar revenue stream without any formalized sales training or sales skill development, then you need to start selling your way to fortune and fame immediately.

However, battle hardened gatekeepers, shrewd corporate/government buyers and procurement executives, C level managers; in addition to possibly cash strapped/ sometimes greedy/cash-flow driven/my-way-or-the-highway owner/operators of small businesses may test your preconceived notions of your untested sales skills. (We are a small business enterprise as well; and feel the pain and understand the challenges of small business ownership.)

OOPS! I forgot about the sometimes fickle, fad driven (Can-I-get-the-HOOK-UP) consumer buyer and market.

Drum roll please for our new AAF Consulting Group blog!

Kudos! Kudos! Kudos!! Hello and welcome to the new AAF Consulting Group blog (ACG).

Here’s where you’ll find real & usable news on everything about ACG – from innovative service concepts to interviews with service delivery specialists (Of course, we have high energy, brainy professionals running around here chomping at the bit ready to get this blog started; starting with me of course).

Plus you’ll see new readers in the spotlight with our monthly member profiles. Over the course of this millennium, we’ll try to make this blog a lot more interesting to read than your PDA’s user manual.

So please bookmark this blog, email to a friend/colleague or add our RSS feed, and help us kick this effort off about ACG News. And of course, we’d love getting your feedback on ACG and this blog — and what you want to see discussed (and showcased) in the near future.

As always, chance favors the prepared mind…

Warm regards,

Kareem S. Ayers, Managing Principal