Action Steps Toward a Strategic Plan
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Attend business planning process classes to learn more about strategic planning

Strategic planning courses can be a cost effective way to help your business succeed in its strategic planning efforts. If your business enrolls key personnel in strategic planning courses, you may be able to tackle your strategic planning in-house without the need to hire an outside consultant. Costs for strategic planning courses vary from around $100 to $3,000 depending upon the length, format and complexity of the course.

I recommend: Learn how to use planning strategies to grow your business with the eight-hour Fundamentals of Strategic Planning online course for around $100 at Lifetime to Learn. Determine the best strategic planning approach for your organization with the Strategic Planning seminar available through the American Management Association for around $2,400.

Purchase strategic planning process software for simplified planning templates

Strategic planning process software, which ranges in price from $50 to more than $500, is a smart option for businesses on a tight budget. Strategic planning software is helpful for providing a template for your business planning. However, unlike working with a consultant or taking a course, it is difficult to get answers to questions that may arise throughout the strategic planning process.

I recommend: Purchase strategic planning software for around $300 for an individual license plus $100 for each additional network user at CheckMATE. Learn more about how strategic planning process software can benefit your business and get a free online software demo at Alight Planning.

Hire a strategic business planning consultant to guide you through the strategic planning process

Strategic planning consultants are more expensive than courses or software, but tend to produce high quality results in less time. Strategic planning consultants typically cost $2,000 to $10,000, depending upon the scope of their services and the amount of time they spend with your business. If time equals money for your business, hiring a strategic planning consultant is a wise investment.

I recommend: Learn more about hourly billing rates for strategic planning consultants at HotGigs. Get a free 30-minute strategic planning consultation at 21st Century International.

Guide to Creating a Small-Business Strategic Plan

A strategic plan gives your company a direct route to success

By Constance Gustke

1. Establish realistic growth goals and objectives
2. Focus resources on key priorities
3. Increase staff productivity
4. Build strong teams
5. Measure progress

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand what goes into a strategic plan

Basics that should be included in a strategic plan include an executive summary, organizational description, mission and vision statements, goals and strategies. Additional sections may include action plans (specific responsibilities for meeting goals), a budget for reaching goals and instructions for reviewing and communicating the plan.

I recommend: View a sample strategic plan and get help with the strategic planning process with a free online strategic planner from PlanWare.com.

Spell out your purpose in the strategic plan

One tool to try in the strategic planning process is a grid that asks two questions: Do we have it? Do we really want it? Or, you can also use another tool called SWOT, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

I recommend: Discover the key components and benefits of visioning as well as how to create a mission statement. A 10-step checklist from Improve.org shows how strategic management requires a vision. Find a SWOT analysis exercise and other strategic planning process tools at StrategicAdvantage.com. Get help with competitive analysis, strategic marketing and marketing strategy from the consultants listed on Business.com.

Create an action plan

Detail the actions to be taken in order to reach your business strategy goals. Always specify who is responsible for doing what and when. Within the first 90 days, hold regular reviews, so that team members know what is expected of them. Designate point-persons who measure the strategic plan every quarter for its success along the way. Also consider putting people in teams of two so that they're accountable to each other.

I recommend: Discover how to draw up an action plan at MindTools.com.

Carry out your strategic plan

Break down the whole strategic plan into small steps. You might use strategies to reach your goal, such as marketing on the Internet. These strategies will likely shift as you progress. Action plans carry out the strategies and are usually expressed in quantifiable objectives, such as a 10 percent increase in sales. Hand out copies of the strategic plan to all team members. Remember to regularly praise them for meeting business strategy goals.

I recommend: Find strategic planning process models, paradigms and sample plans at ManagementHelp.org.

Consider hiring a consultant

If you've never written a strategic management plan, or your first attempt wasn't successful, turn to a professional for help. Remember to work together to set achievable goals that feel realistic.

I recommend: Find consultants who specialize in strategic planning, along with strategic management seminars and other tools, at the Organized Change Consultancy or Accenture.com. Consider technology solutions, such as the software, audio seminars and e-books from InstantStrategist.com or the business strategy software vendors and consultants listed on Business.com.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Take your team to a quiet place outside the office so that conversations can flow freely.
• •  Create a concise, clear, actionable timeline.
• •  Update your business strategy plan every year.
• •  The strategic planning process takes focus. Keep the phone and Internet off limits during strategic management discussions.
• •  Try to complete the strategic planning process within three months, so that planning doesn't lose its momentum.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Conduct a comprehensive business analysis to begin the strategic planning process

Before you determine where you want to go, you need to determine where you are. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to objectively evaluate your current business. Review external factors and driving forces that may affect your business, like economic, environmental, political or social factors.

I recommend: Learn how to do a strategic planning SWOT analysis and review SWOT analysis examples at Management for the Rest of Us. Read more about strategic plan SWOT analysis methods and get free SWOT analysis template worksheets at businessballs.com.

Set specific, measurable and realistic strategic planning goals

Effective strategic planners use the SWOT and market analysis data to develop conclusions about future business direction. From these conclusions, strategic planners develop business goals. Productive strategic planning goals are specific, measurable, realistic, timely and acceptable to all involved in your company's strategic planning process,

I recommend: Learn more about strategic planning goals and get examples of well-written goals at Work911.com. Learn how to develop strategic goals at MyStrategicPlan.

Create a business strategy plan to accomplish strategic goals

A business strategy plan (often called an action plan) lays out the plans for accomplishing each of the strategic goals. Each goal may include several objectives or specific results with corresponding tactics on how to achieve the goal. Your action plan should also include specific timelines and staff responsibilities associated with each objective.

I recommend: Get practical information about how to set strategic action plans for your business at Birnbaum Associates. Learn more about how to articulate strategies for successful action plans and keep plans on track at Congressional Management Foundation.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The format of your business strategy planning meeting is an integral factor in developing a dynamic strategic plan. Choose a location away from your normal office environment and turn off all cell phones and PDAs. Invite someone from outside of your company to service as an impartial facilitator. Set ground rules at the beginning of the strategic planning process, including important communications rules like all ideas are good ideas and all opinions are respected.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Vision statement

An organization's vision statement reflects its core values and describes its desired future state. A vision statement is brief, precise and uses language that inspires pride among the organization's members. A vision statement is directed toward the organization's employees and customers.

I recommend: To establish a foundation for the rest of your strategizing, learn how to write a solid vision statement at WritingHelp-Central.com.

Mission statement

An organization's mission statement describes how it will make its vision statement a reality. Directed toward the organization's leadership and stockholders, it describes the primary function of the organization, such as the products or services it provides.

I recommend: Read Suite101.com Media's examples of non-profit, personal and business mission statements.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) are the major considerations in strategic planning. Thinking about SWOT, an organization considers its current strengths and weaknesses as well as possible opportunities for success or threats to progress.

I recommend: QuickMBA.com explains how SWOT can be used as a strategic tool in competitive markets.

Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and tangible (SMART)

The memorable acronym SMART is used as an organization sets goals as part of its strategic planning. Such goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based or, alternately, tangible.

I recommend: Create SMART goals with the help of Top Achievement.

Organizational change

Organizational change is the process by which a business alters itself in order to realize its vision for the future. This change may range in intensity from simply adjusting current practices to a complete re-engineering business structures. This kind of fundamental change is also referred to as organizational transformation.

I recommend: Contextualize organizational change by reading about the topic at Authenticity Consulting.

Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis, or competitor analysis, is the process of researching the strengths, weaknesses and business strategies of the competition. This research is useful for setting goals which will help your company outpace the competition.

I recommend: Visit the U.S. Small Business Administration's planner for competitive analysis.