Budgeting and developing strategy for 2011 should be near the top of your ‘to-do’ list right now or be bedded down already. People complain about being too busy and never having enough time, however if you do not make time for regular planning you will let everyone down.
Make time to work on:
- Forecasting
- Evaluating staff hiring and implementing staff development plans
- Ensuring that your marketing calendar is planned through to June 2011 at a minimum
Right now we are working with several clients on their sales plans for 2011 as well as planning out their 2011 sales training schedule.
Here are several ideas for you to consider. The questions below should be handed to each of your management team and each person should prepare their answers. Ask them not to be soft in their responses, and to set aside some quiet time to apply the appropriate amount of thoughtful reflection and analysis in compiling their individual answers. Have everyone compare their responses with the rest of the team at your next management meeting. You may even like to reward authentic and well constructed ideas.
- What went well in the past 12 months?
- What did not work or go well?
- What are the key drivers influencing our market, our customers and our competitors?
- What are the key metrics that are giving us the right information?
- What are the risks we are facing internally and externally?
- What are the opportunities or ideas that could lead to better business growth, client retention and increased market share?
- What are the factors we know we will be facing in 2011?
- What are the assumptions we are making about the market in 2011?
- What were the assumptions we made in 2010? Did they hold true and are they still true?
We use these questions and many more during our strategic sessions with clients and with ourselves to help everyone get on the same page and build a vision for each organisation.
A Best Practice hint: set a date! For example, by 17 December 2010 all budgets, compensation plans and marketing programs must be completed. This will keep everyone working towards that deadline. That is what we will be doing at Barrett to ensure we are well set up for 2011. Special thanks to John Garrido, our Director of Sales, for bringing this article to light.
Remember everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au
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