How to do strategic planning for your company

 


 This is a tool that helps the management of entrepreneurs from various segments – and companies of different sizes – to make their businesses more optimized and with better results. 

But, do you know how to do your company's strategic planning ?

Check out this content and apply our tips to the reality of your business!

Come on?

What is strategic planning?

Initially, it is important to know the concept of strategic planning to be able to apply it in your business!

In practice, the term can be understood as a map that will guide the actions of a company in pursuit of a goal.

This objective must be achieved in a certain period of time, and everyone involved in the business, whether they are owners, managers or employees, must be aligned with the process. 

Thus, the strategic plan should contain, for example:

  • Company analysis with comparative before x after;
  • Measurable and attainable goals and objectives;
  • Deadline defined for carrying out the actions;
  • Alignment with the business mission.

The main objective of this action plan for the business is to generate an intelligent and effective development to make it more profitable, scalable and sustainable in the long term.

Now that you know what planning is, you might be wondering: how can I make strategic planning for my company? For that, see the next item!

How to do strategic planning for my company: step by step

Check out the step-by-step guide on how to make a good strategic plan for your business in the following topics:

  1. Trace where you want to go

The first point that must be in a good strategic planning is the goal to be achieved.

Managers and entrepreneurs can use methods for this, such as SMART, an acronym for: 

S = Specificity of the goal, that is, a clear and focused objective (not generalized terms such as “more profit”, but rather “10% increase in sales”);

M = Possible goal to be measured, that is, quantified and placed in numbers for monitoring results;

A = Achievable goal. This is nothing more than setting a possible goal according to the situation and size of the business;

R = Is your goal relevant to the company's current situation? To know how to answer this question, it is necessary to understand whether the objective will make a difference in the current stage of the business;

T = Timed is the goal that has a defined deadline for beginning, development and end. 

  1. Make a real analysis of the current business situation

This second step is what will define all the others, including, impacting and serving as a basis for the first step, the definition of the goal. After all, it is from the analysis that it is possible to identify the needs and objectives that one intends/needs to achieve.

To do this, consider some specific aspects of your business:

  • Is your company still in the process of opening?
  • Already in business and in a moment of growth?
  • Or, are you in business going through a crisis?

These are some examples of moments that the company may be going through and that determine the potential and opportunities.

Thus, keeping this in mind will help the entrepreneur to define the strategic planning for the achievement of goals more precisely.

Also, understand the main weaknesses and opportunities that your business has in the current period.

That is, what is positive about it at the moment and what point it is at a disadvantage in the market. 

  1. Elaborate the path to be taken

Knowing where you want to go and what the starting point is, the time has come to chart the path of strategic planning.

At this point, list each of the actions to be performed, in a clear, objective and practical way, defining important milestones to reach the final objective.

  1. create a schedule

This item is fundamental for strategic planning, after all, it is with a good schedule that it will be possible to achieve the goal in the ideal period for the company and determined in the process. 

To define a schedule, it is essential to analyze each of the strategic planning steps and understand the difficulty and time involved in executing them. 

  1. Invest in planning communication

A successful company needs good strategic planning, and to achieve this goal everyone who is part of the company needs to be in agreement with the actions to be developed, aligning with the purpose of the business.

To do this, invest in clear and efficient communication, informing the actions of each sector involved, mobilizing the teams in favor of the common goal and training the teams so that each process is developed in an optimized way. 

  1. Analyze during actions

While the strategic planning actions are developed, carry out periodic analyzes to identify possible execution difficulties and even necessary adaptations.

If necessary, correct some points and even – in cases where the operation is compromised – change the initial goal.

Ideally, at each stage of action planning, teams are mobilized and communicated about the scope and improvements to be made.

One suggestion is to invest in tools and stimuli such as gamification and bonuses.

In this case, as each step is reached, bonuses are offered, which generates more interaction and stimulation for everyone. 

In order for this process to become more tangible, we have brought an example to serve as a basis and make you adapt it to the reality of your business!

Strategic planning: see an example!

See below an example of strategic planning.

A shoe store wants to carry out a promotional action and take advantage of the Black Friday shopping flow (which will take place on 11/25) – one of the main periods for trade. 

SMART Goal:

Sell ​​all remaining winter stock and hit the November sales target during the week of 11/21-25. 

With the goal defined, it is necessary to identify how the business situation is.

In this example, consider that the store is operating in the positive, but the employees are dissatisfied with the lack of adjustment in commissions.

Here we can already identify the weaknesses and opportunities of the business.

Once that's done, it's time to work out a path for the goals to be completed. 

For example, to sell the winter pieces that are still in stock, is it possible to have a sale at half price? Or maybe a “buy one shoe and get another for half price” action?

Thus, while the stock is sold, the targets for the month are being met. 

It should be noted at this point that before communicating the action, it is necessary to verify the company's finances. In this case, for example, is it possible, based on the increase in sales, to increase the percentage of commissions?

If yes, put this as a priority so that the team is satisfied and the weakness of the business begins to be resolved. 

With that, it's time to define a schedule of actions.

If the week of promotions will be from the 21st to the 25th, before these dates you must:

  1. Communicate with your customers on social media and on posters in front of stores;
  2. Train the team on parts and new prices;
  3. Reaching out to customers who left their contact details on previous purchases.

For each item of this, define a specific day for the execution. 

In addition, during all days, and also in the ones that precede the operation, check the progress and understand if the strategy is being followed and which point should invest greater efforts. 

Apply strategic planning 

Did you just see how strategic planning works in practice? 

Regardless of whether you have a small, medium or large company, it is essential to have a well-structured and adapted plan for your business if you want to achieve success!

Thinking about it, with so many tasks to fulfill, it is essential that every entrepreneur also has good time management , with the aim of applying with excellence all the tasks that need to be carried out in a strategic planning together with the team.

Therefore, optimize your routine and plan a quality and strategic action for the development of your company.

Post a Comment

0 Comments