Effective,Steps,Planning,Your, business, insurance 6 Effective Steps of Planning Your Business

As we all know to live in this world we have to perform some activity by which we can earn money. There are many activities by which we can earn money and meet the standards to live in this society. And from one of them is franchise.  Franc Small offices have unique needs, and thatincludes document shredding. Designed with the smaller business inmind, the Dahle 20314 is a cross-cut shredder that offers Level 3security and brings you into compliance with federal regulations. The

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}At the beginning of every newcalendar year, many companies and organisations will usually devote the firstfew weeks for strategic planning.  Thetop management will be busy with brainstorming sessions and strategic meetingsto define the directions and goals in the new financial year.Why is planning so important inmost organisations?“If you fail to plan, you can plan to fail” - this is a very commonand yet powerful statement related to goal setting. Presently, no organisationcould survive the competitive market without setting a clear goal anddirection. This is like driving a car, if the driver does not know where hewants to go, he is definitely not going anywhere.But far too often, many business owners started their business withouthaving a clear plan in mind, resulting in 80% of the businesses fail withinfirst five years of operations.The next question you would ask is how to develop a plan that willhelp my organisation to continue to grow big and strong in the business world.Well, first you need to have an in-depth knowledge of yourself and yourbusiness.1. Identifyyour business’ uniqueness – As the old adage says: “Plan your work and workyour plan”. But before developing any business plan, you must first understandyour own strengths and weaknesses. The first element you shouldidentify is your business’ uniqueness. What makes you unique and special thatthe customers want to buy from you and not from others? Could it be the nicheproducts/services you are offering address certain needs of yourcustomers?  If you do not have one, thencreate it now!2. Vision& Mission – For every successful business worldwide, they have a clear andspecific vision. Your customers want to know the idea behind your business.Once they understand how you business benefit them, they will be attracted toyour business concept and continue to support it. McDonald’s vision is to providethe world’s best quick-service restaurant experiences to all its customers.With this in mind, McDonald’s went all out to spread its vision so all itscustomers will experience the quick-service which is the core of McDonald’sexistence.After you got your vision outlined,next you need to work on your mission statement. What you need to do in orderto achieve your vision? In McDonald’s case “being the best means providingoutstanding quality service, cleanliness and value, so that we make everycustomer in every restaurant smile.”  Themission statement authenticates your vision which forms the foundation of yourbusiness and its existence. 3. SettingAnnual Goals – After identifying your business’ uniqueness and defining theorganisation’s vision and mission statement, it is time to list down the annualgoals you want to achieve within the next twelve months. Any goals settingwould required the iSMART concept:Inspire (i) – Firstly, the goals mustbe able to inspire and motivate everyone in the organisation so they areexcited and eager to achieve them. A great leader must be able to engage andencourage excellent performance amongst the team members. A great leader willget all team members to align their goals with the organisation’s goals.An old saying aptlyillustrated this - If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen;But if you are aleader and you can’t heat up the kitchen, then it’s time for you to get out!!Specific (S) -   When planning and setting goals, it must bevery specific. What do you want to achieve twelve months from today? Is it toincrease company’s revenue by 75%? If yes, then what is your annual salestarget? Or are you planning to lower the staffs’ turnover rate? If yes, then whatis the percentage are you looking at? Be specific, know exactly what you wantand always begin with the end in mind.Measurable (M) – A goal that can not bemeasured is not consider a goal but a dream. You need to have a goal which ismeasurable, for example achieving an annual sales target of a certain figure. Apre-defined sales figure that can be broken down into monthly sales target andthen into weekly sales target will be very helpful to the sales team. Then theywill know exactly how much sales they need to generate on a per week basis inorder to achieve the pre-defined annual sales.Achievable (A) – The main reason ofsetting goals is you want to achieve the pre-defined goals at the end of day.No point having unrealistic goal that is not achievable. These unrealistic andunachievable goals do not motivate your staff. In fact it impedes their productivityand creativity. People tend to work better and more motivated to achieve theirtarget if the goals are challenging and yet achievable.Rewards (R) – Tangible and intangiblerewards are important to motivate your team to strive harder and reach out toachieve the pre-defined goals. It is crucial to develop and implement a rewardsystem that continues to encourage and motivate your staff to put in more than100% of their effort to achieve the goals. Rewards could come in any forms; itcould be a special incentive/bonus awarded to staff if the organisationsachieve the targeted results or it could be a company trip to an exotic placeto experience a different culture. The reward could even be intangibleincentives like an award awarded to the staff with the highest sales or apromotion to a more senior position within the organisation.Timeframe (T) - All iSMART goals willbe only be complete if a specific timeframe is assigned to these goals. Apartfrom knowing who is responsible for the specific tasks, staff needs to knowexactly what is required of them, what action plans they need to take and mostimportantly, they need to know the exact timeline given to complete thesegoals. This brings forth the maxim - Whodo What by When?With this, you cankeep tabs on the progress of your pre-defined iSMART goals and have a goodgauge if you are on schedule or if you require more resources to achieve thesegoals. 4. Execution– After setting and planning your goals, the next step is to get the ballrolling with what we called a Default Diary. It is a weekly planner thathighlights the daily activities in order to achieve your weekly goals. Theseweekly goals will then contribute to the monthly goals and ultimately towardsyour annual goals. A Default Dairy is a timetable used to keep track on thepre-defined tasks. It also reminds you on the deadline for each task that mustbe completed by a specific timeframe. Once the task is penned into the dairy,you must stick to it and make sure you follow through until the tasks arecompleted. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}A simple Default Diary is depictedbelow.    MON TUE WED THU FRI 9.00 – 10.00           10.00 – 11.00           11.00 – 12.00           12.00 – 13.00             Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}5. Review& Measure – Not every plan will work out just fine on its own. Many a time,we need to go back and review our plans and make certain adjustments to achieveour goals in the end. So do not charge ahead with the plan and work on itblindly. Sometimes we will encounter more setbacks in life before we arefinally greeted with “ONE” success. So be sure to review and measure all yourplans periodically. You need to understand and learn from the setbacks in orderto find out if something is missing from your plans. By understanding it, youwill realise and know when to make changes to your plans in order to make it asuccess.6.YourPledge – On the final part of planning is to pledge your plan. You have to becommitted to do what you have planed earlier. Otherwise it is just another WishList. One of the best ways to do achieve this is to share your plans with thepeople who will hold you accountable for it. Make a promise you cannot break.So that will leave you with no choice but to be responsible for your plans andmake it a success. So have you got your plans ready for your organisation in 2011? THINK BIG, START SMALL & ACT FAST