“Thank you for all of your assistance in developing a plan for 2018.
I am excited for the year to come. The EndGame and Goal Planning sessions helped me organize my thoughts regarding long-range planning. They helped me to identify specific areas where I can generate more business. I will call on you to fine tune my goals and to assist me in developing tasks to achieve those goals. I will be sure to follow up with you to continue to develop a growth strategy in the years to come.”
— T.S., Shrewsbury, MA
The Business Challenges that Goal Planning Solves
There could be one or a multitude of reasons why you are interested in a Company Goal Plan (business planning.) Any one of these business challenges is a reason why small business owners like you hire Rita Coco Consulting to help them create and implement a plan that will give you the “knock the socks off” year you have been waiting for.
Any of these click with you?
- You want to work less, but still grow the company. You need a plan.
- You realize that your company needs to shift in order for you to be able to sell it someday.
- You grow each year; now you want to grow significantly. How do you do this?
- You want to hand off to your successors; what is the plan?
- You want to be completely free of the daily operations.
- You and your partner need to agree on growth and then stick with a plan.
- You are not ready to leave the company, but you do want to work differently in it. This will change the way you do business.
- You are committed to growing your business and implementing the organizational changes required to switch from functioning as an employee in your business to being the owner of your company.
- Owners, like you, who want a thriving company are aware that the company cannot stay the same from year to year. You are sensing a need for change. Next year is a turning point. You want help following through and adding support to make it happen.
- You want to become more strategic, more systematic, more goal-based. You crave more efficiency and effectiveness which will add to your profitability.
Even if you check only one – call us! Click to call NOW!
Most established business owners don’t do business plans.
Maybe this is your year to shift your mindset so that you can have the business you truly want!
“I did a business plan when I was a start-up; I don’t need one now.”
Actually, you need a business plan more today than when you were a start-up. At start-up, you needed a process to get you out of start-up more than you needed a business plan. (Dead business gurus are turning in the graves at this one.)
“I am just doing fine without a business plan.”
You could be. Ask yourself this: Are your goals stretchy enough? When you and your employees stretch way out of the comfort zone, you will need a plan to stay on track!
“I already have my business plan in my head.”
Ok, so how does everyone in the company read what is in your head? No, we are not being facetious; we are very serious. You know what we are talking about. All those times when you delegated a task and it did not get done to your satisfaction. What happened? Your employee could not read your mind as to how you wanted something done – and that was just a task. Now you want to double income, own market share, add new departments and keep the plan the head in your head? Really? As soon as you have someone working with you as a partner or an employee, that stuff in your head has got to get down on paper. Otherwise, your partner and staff are guessing your thoughts and can often be missing the mark.
Even solopreneurs need business plans to keep track and keep them inspired.
“If I make a business plan, it is just going to sit on the shelf – why bother?”
Our service includes implementing the plan. Officially, we start implementing the plan as soon as it is written. Unofficially, our clients immediately start to work on the new tasks as we create them within the plan. Our planning process inspires them to get going even before the ink is dry.
“I don’t have time to create a business plan.”
This objection is really saying, “I don’t know the value of a business plan, so I am not going to take the time to do one.” Fair enough. We understand that it is our job to teach you the value you are missing; the value of making more money in less time. Keep reading!
“I’m too small to have a business plan.”
Perhaps you are just thinking small?
“A business plan is just too expensive.”
Again, this objection is all about value. Let’s try this. You probably own something that is very expensive, that you would not part with, and is extremely impractical to own – and you know it. It was worth every penny because it is valuable to you. Business planning and implementation is well worth the investment. But you may have never had a plan before so you don’t know what you are missing. You don’t know its value. You have a blind spot: “I don’t know what I don’t know.” That is ok. We all have blind spots. Keep reading!
Why you need a Company Goal Plan!
To make excellent business decisions, owners need adequate and accurate information in a timely fashion. To support these decisions, effective systems must exist. A company is made up of 7-9 business areas, seamlessly integrated to produce a formidable structure which executes company goals. Seamless integration means there are no breaks, no black holes between business areas. The tighter the integration the more efficient your business runs. Of course, each business area must be both efficient and effective. Business owners need to constantly work strategically on the priorities within the fundamental business areas in order to reach desired outcomes. Any time you see the word “strategic” think “plan.” Business owners must plan how they work, plan how their business areas will work and plan how to restructure the company so that each year the company is ready to achieve the yearly company goal.
Why Rita Coco Consulting’s Company Goal Planning is Different and Better
Let’s us be clear about our terminology and let’s start with defining a Company Goal. Your company goal is a one-year goal and it is based on your Endgame Year Goal. Your Endgame is the last year in your business, and there is a very important goal you want to reach that last year, because you are growing your company to support your lifestyle after you sell or close your business. Your company at its Endgame year must be ready to provide you the successful exit. What is new to most all small business owners is that every year you own is the year that you must prepare your company for that last year. Next year’s Company Goal contributes to your EndGame goal in fact, all the years you plan to own your business should contribute to achieving your Endgame – but we don’t think that way until it is too late.
Most business owners don’t think or plan to make each year a contribution to their last year.
We have been taught and brainwashed to look behind us to figure out our future goals.
Think of your company as a ship that is taking you to your future over that horizon. Your ship creates a wake as it moves forward. Of course, it is absolutely silly to think that the wake pushes the boat, when in fact, we know that the wake is the result of steering and powering the boat. We would not look at the wake to determine which way to steer or how fast we should go. But we are conditioned to look behind us to the previous year to determine what to do in our next year. We are all for data and information analysis as well as looking at past patterns and changes to determine our last year’s outcomes. But we need to be really careful to not box ourselves into thinking that the next year’s goals are solely based on last year’s performances. We need to constantly gauge our progress towards our Exit and that starts as soon as we have an established company!
In Summary
Our Company Goal Planning service is always based on your Endgame. We have seen too many business owners come up short in their last years at the helm and find that they have to work very hard to achieve that Endgame goal. We don’t want that to happen to you! Give us a call to find out more!
Rita’s tip for thinking out-of-the-box about
Company Goal Planning and Implementation
Due to time constraints in your business, you tend to focus exclusively on two or three business areas at a time. Neglecting any one of the other business areas for too long eventually forces you into making reactive decisions rather than strategic ones. You may call it fighting fires. You will know you are in reactive mode the moment you move important tasks to back burners (that are shut off rather than slowly simmering.) By identifying goals, making plans to reach the goals, and constantly monitoring progress in each business area, you are able to attend to the functions where your effort is needed while still advancing others functions without sacrificing important tasks.
“Rita Coco has a wealth of knowledge, patience and experience helping entrepreneurs with branding, leadership positioning and strategy. She assisted me through a vision-mission challenge and helped to reveal important aspects related to my personal purpose direction that I hadn’t considered. Rita helped me craft a new business structure, provided a path to implement her insightful changes so I could forge a new business direction at a pace that was perfect for me.”
—K.V., Hamilton, MA