- SAMPLE POWERPOINT TEMPLATES FOR BUSINESS UPDATE
You should develop your complete strategic plan each year, and then update it monthly as actual results come in and you gain more clarity and intelligence. For example, you’ll know exactly how many new customers you must attract in the next month, and at what price point, to achieve next month’s goal. First, you can use a financial model to assess the potential results for each opportunity you consider pursuing.Īlso, once you determine the opportunities you will pursue, your financial projections will map out the goals. Your financial projections help in multiple ways. The final section of your strategic plan is your financial projections. Finally, you’ll map out each of your initiatives, ideally in a Gantt chart, so you know when each project will start and who will lead them. In this section of your plan, you will identify each of the individual projects that comprise your larger goals and how these projects will be completed. Your operations plan helps you transform your goals and opportunities into reality. Here you should list your current team members and identify the types of people you need to hire in the next year to achieve your goals. The team section of your strategic plan ensures you have the human resources to execute on the opportunities you’ve identified and to achieve the goals you established in section 5 of your plan. Include a summary of your marketing plan in your strategic plan. In addition to your strategic plan, I recommend you develop a comprehensive marketing plan describing how you will attract prospects, convert them to paying customers and maximize your lifetime customer value. Most importantly, use this analysis to determine your current competitive advantages and ways to develop additional advantages. Rather, in addition to defining who your key competitors are, you should list their strengths & weaknesses. Similarly to your industry analysis, your competitive analysis doesn’t have to be a thorough report listing every detail about every competitor. Section 9: Competitive Analysis & Advantage However, you should conduct an analysis to ensure the market size is growing (if not, you might want to diversify), and to help identify new opportunities for growth. Your industry analysis doesn’t have to be a comprehensive report on what’s going on in your market. This is because the more you can “speak” directly to your target customer wants and needs in your marketing, the better you will attract them. This is important in focusing your marketing efforts and getting a higher return on investment on your advertising expenditures. In this section of your strategic plan, you will identify the wants and needs of each of your target customer groups.
So, it’s critical to identify the KPIs you will track in your business and list them in this section of your strategic plan.Ĭlick “next page” below for sections 7 to 13 of your strategic plan or here for the proven strategic plan template. Then, if for instance, the number of visitors to your website decreased, you would know and fix this immediately, rather then waiting until sales plummet later. For example, if sales are affected by 1) number of visitors to your website, 2) number of visitors who complete a contact form, 3) number of proposals you issue to these leads, and 4) the proposal closing ratio, then each of these KPIs should be tracked. “Underlying” KPIs are equally as important. By tracking your KPIs, you know exactly how your business is performing and can adjust as needed.įor example, a basic KPI such as Total Sales is critical for understanding if the company is performing well. Great businesses understand their metrics and KPIs. Section 6: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Ideally you update you strategic plan monthly to modify this section.
Then work backwards two more times to determine your goals for the next quarter and the next month. Next, identify your one-year goals that is, what you must achieve in the next year for it to be successful and to put your company on the right trajectory to achieving your 5 year goals.
They key is to first identify your 5 year or long-term goals. Setting and achieving goals is the hallmark of successful companies and is a critical element of your strategic plan. It also helps you identify which strengths you must develop in the near future to improve your company. The reason to include a SWOT analysis (analysis of your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) in your Strategic Plan is to help you determine the best opportunities to pursue to achieve your growth goals.