The concept of the five-year plan is something many organizations use to tailor their development.
Small business owners may believe that they are able to progress as they should and do it slowly but surely, but a five-year plan is a way to make sure you are looking to the future and making sure that you are expanding in the right ways. What do small business owners need to consider as part of their five-year plan?
Strengthening the Systems
Workflow is a difficult thing to manage. There are so many ways for you to streamline it by taking out the unnecessary pieces and shortening the steps, but this means a lot of understanding how your systems are operating now so you can make things easier in the future.
In a factory setting, automation is a vital tool that helps businesses improve their workflow, however, it’s critical to remember that automation is about having the right tools to back it up if something were to go wrong. Machines can malfunction, which is why having a backup plan, for example, having Allen-Bradley spare parts and other machine components in place, will help you keep those workflow processes running smoothly.
Refining and Redefining the Customer
When a business hits the 12-month mark, it should have a greater understanding of who the customer is, but it’s not always that straightforward. For the marketing side of things to work effectively, you must define who your target market is and understand their needs. When you start to tailor your services to the right type of customer and potentially ignore the other 99%, you can give a better service and provide products to the right people.
Many small businesses make the mistake of thinking they need to diversify their efforts. This is not correct because you are then focusing on quantity rather than quality. You should analyze the market so you can figure out the best way to gain a competitive edge, and the key to this is having a greater insight into who your customer really is.
Developing Talent
So many businesses start out by finding the right people to keep them going in the short term. The problem in doing this is that you are in Survival Mode. It is essential that you develop a plan to bring the right people into your business, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t look after who you already have.
You must take care of your employees and remember that a business needs to be a good place to work with a nurturing and collaborative culture. While we can think that the customer is more important than our employees if our workers are not being nurtured in the right ways by offering progression and constructive feedback, don’t be surprised if they leave before the five-year mark is up.
A five-year plan is a common tool people use to recognize their ambitions. Your business should not be in survival mode, it should be reaching for the stars, which is why a five-year plan must be in place.
