Business Planning Strategy How Can You Use Numbers To Aid Your Business Judgement And Marketing

Writen by Adrian Pepper

Last week, a client chose to focus our coaching session on his Business Plan. He had read that 80% of businesses that fail have no plan, whereas 90% of those that grow have a plan that they review and update at least once a year.

Although he had good headings, my client was struggling to write the narrative and fill in the numbers. He also worried about maintaining a 20-page document until I suggested that between one and four pages would be more effective for his company.

Set your goals clearly

So we started with "Why are you in business? What are you trying to achieve?" followed by "Who are your customers?" and "What benefits do they want to buy?"

As we made sense of this, we were able to insert the market research data that he had gathered. Asking him "What share of this market can you expect?" naturally led to testing his hopes against his competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

"How do you reach these customers?" was easily answered along with his weekly marketing investment. Of course as a good coach, I encouraged him to explore other ways to reach his market, and he decided to try a couple of them.

Use simple numbers to check progress

Next we worked on "How do you measure progress?". I have found that the numbers that matter in my business are those that help me face reality … and do something about it.

I dislike the discipline required but I find that collecting the numbers collapses my anxiety at not knowing and my complacency at thinking everything is fine.

So we spent some valuable time finding some simple ways that my client could check his business progress - and make a weekly habit of recording those measurements.

Stay on a profitable course

Quite suddenly, I had a client who was smiling because he saw the value of his business plan - the text and numbers told a compelling story.

He was anxious about interpreting his weekly results and thought he might need a quarterly review but I am sure this worry will pass. He will find the simple numbers give him clarity to decide how to respond. Since he understands how he wrote his plan, he should be able to re-jig his ideas as his market changes.

Take the challenge So here is a challenge for you: "Does your business plan tell a profitable story – and how do you keep it up-to-date?"

Adrian Pepper coaches people through business and personal difficulties, helping companies figure out what to do, how to move forward and what to get organised. You can contact him through Help4You Ltd, through his website at www.help4you.ltd.uk or by phone +44-7773-380133. At feeds.feedburner.com/help4you, you can listen to his podcast for small businesses.