Saturday, August 4, 2012

How to Keep Your Business from Detouring | RBM Focus

Many business owners get so caught up in the daily affairs of keeping the business running that the big picture gets fuzzy. There is always some crisis that only the owner can address. Vendors need to be paid. Customers must be met or mollified. Employees require praise or punishment. Amid all these details, keeping the business on track can take a back seat to coping with immediate needs. So what can a business owner do to keep the business from detouring??

Develop a Strategic Plan?

To keep a business on course, the owner must first establish a long-term strategic plan. Strategic planning can be complex, but there are key elements that must always appear. There should be a mission statement, vision statement, and company values statement. There should be clearly defined goals, typically established in 3 year increments.?

The services or products the business will offer should be defined, as well as the resources ? financial or infrastructure ? needed to offer them. The organizational hierarchy of the business should be set out in order to establish a chain of command.?

Review and Revise the Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is only as useful as the business owner makes it. If the plan gets put on a shelf and forgotten the moment it is finished, it provides no value. Periodic reviews of the plan, ideally every few months, but at least once a year, should be built into the business? schedule. Progress toward the stated goals should be assessed and the plan should be revised to accommodate the new information. Review and revision sessions give both the owner and the staff a reminder about where the business should be going.?

Hire a Coach?

A different approach some business owners take is to hire one or more?business coaches, such as those found on sites like?Noomii. A business coach can act in a variety of roles, but one key role is to provide accountability to the business owner. Business owners can even ask coaches specifically to help keep them on track for long-term business goals. In many cases, coaches can provide invaluable guidance on achieving those goals through normal business activities, such as marketing or advertising.

Minimize Downtime

All businesses suffer from setbacks. Internet companies might struggle with a slow internet connection, financial investors might need to wait for documents to be shipped, restaurants need to wait on food delivery. These delays are inevitable for some, but planning for them will make sure the downtime is as little as possible. For example a manufacturing company could have a machine break and thus suffer an incredible loss in productivity. Having repair materials on hand could save many hours, days, or weeks. Companies often keep a urethane sheet around parts to keep them extra protected. This ensures maximum durability, point being, you need to find away to keep your business rolling, no matter what the setback might be.

Business owners will always be digging from under an avalanche of responsibilities. They can, however, help to keep their business on course through tactics such as developing strategic plans, reviewing such plans periodically, or bringing in?business coaches?to provide external accountability.?

Tags: Business

Source: http://rbmfocus.com/how-to-keep-your-business-from-detouring/

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