The election is thankfully almost over…
…But just before we get the results, let’s take a moment to look at the way the campaigns were run – because there is an important lesson here for all of us business owners!
You see, when the election was called all those weeks ago, it was noticeable how quickly each party started campaigning.
They had evidently been preparing campaign plans for many months, so at the first possible opportunity they could roll out well-honed messaging and tactics.
But it wasn’t to last…
However good their initial strategies were, unforeseen events forced them to adapt.
The Conservatives were going to focus their campaign on Brexit, but had to adjust when the campaign kept on returning to the NHS (a much less comfortable ground for them).
Labour was planning to talk about the NHS, but spent much of the campaign defending accusations of institutional antisemitism.
The Brexit Party which had planned to run in every seat had to withdraw over 300 candidates.
The only party which seems to have really stuck to its guns are the Lib Dems – although we’ll discover soon whether that was sensible, as the polls indicate that their “Revoke!” policy proved a lot less popular than anticipated.
Given the extent to which most of the parties had to re-think their approaches, would they have been better off going into this campaign without a strategic plan?
Should they have just made it up as they go along – because their plans were going to have to change, anyway?
No, of course not. That would have been ridiculous!
The original plans gave them a starting point….
Clear goals, so it was clear what they really needed to achieve….
It gave them a focus that they could continually return to…
And a way to measure how well they were doing.
Having that initial plan in place was crucial, although they had to be flexible about applying it.
It’s the same in business.
Right now, chances are that you’re thinking about your business and financial plans for the next year (and hopefully well beyond that – the whole decade, as I mentioned in a recent email!).
That is an absolutely key process you have to go through too, so you know exactly what steps you must take over the coming months and years to grow your business.
Without a plan, you’ll meander aimlessly, instead of taking deliberate, targeted actions to take your business to a well-defined goal.
It would be like going into a battle without a battle plan… Or an election without a campaign plan!
But…. Business and financial plans are not just for Christmas.
They are not one-off exercises you go through around this time of the year, and then follow blindly forever more.
You see, things will inevitably happen that throw your strategy into doubt.
Deals you were counting on will fall through… Opportunities you never anticipated will come up… Your competition and market conditions will change in ways you simply can’t anticipate right now.
You need to continually revisit your business and financial plans, and adjust them as you go along.
They need to be living documents which are shaped and reshaped regularly, if they are to be any use to you… And actually work!
Unfortunately, all too often, that’s not what happens. Business owners draw up decent plans in December.
But when events throw a spanner in the works, they simply abandon their plans instead of adjusting them…
….And spend the rest of the year working in the dark, with no clear strategy to follow – until they draw up a brand new plan the next Christmas.
That is not a recipe for success – so make sure it doesn’t happen to you!
But of course, the first step is to have a really good plan in the first place.
That’s where we can help.
Let’s work together to develop a far-reaching, ambitious plan for your business for 2020 and well beyond –
One which takes into consideration your personal goals as well as your company goals….
Which sets clear and realistic financial targets, and sets out sensible steps to make those happen….
And which looks far ahead – a decade or more – so that you know exactly where you’re going to take your business, and can plan ahead in good time to make that happen.
This will be a revolutionary exercise for you and for your business – and the best thing is, it takes just one (very intensive!) day!
>>> Click here to find out more <<<
And if, during the course of that day, you’d like to find out how we can help you implement your plan – revisiting it regularly and keeping it relevant, current and useful every step of the way – then of course we can discuss that too.
Just email me today or call us on 01279 647 447 to find out more.
