Planning for business success

Posted 9 Aug '19

Planning for business success

By Andrea Bradley

Do you have a business plan in place?

When you are running a business, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operational matters and forget the bigger picture. However, to be successful business owners must invest time to prepare and review business plans, create and manage budgets and regularly monitor finance and performance.

Business planning is most effective when it is an ongoing process. This allows you to act quickly where necessary, rather than simply reacting to events after they've happened. Below are a few tips to help jump-start a successful new financial year.

Revisit your strategic plan and adjust if necessary

Use the start of the financial year to reflect on the lessons learned from your business in the previous year and to identify opportunities, threats and challenges for the year ahead. Consider changes that you want to make to your business, potential changes to your market, customers and your objectives and goals for the year ahead.

Review your marketing plan to ensure that it is focusing on achieving the key objectives identified in your strategic plan.

Do a financial health-check of your business

Check up on the financial health of your business. Review your most recent financial statements and identify the key areas that are most in need of focus and improvement in the year ahead.

Review your budget

Creating a budget is an effective way to keep your business on track. If planned and managed well, a budget allows you to monitor the financial impact of your strategic plans and allocate appropriate resources to these plans.  A budget allows you to manage your money effectively, create a focus for the direction of your business and provides targets that will help your business grow.

At WDF Professional, we have software that can assist you to report on your actual business performance as compared to your budget as well as report alerts as to when you are achieving certain Key Performance Indicators. 

Review your risk management strategies

Risk management is a process in which businesses identify, assess and address risks (avoid, reduce, transfer or accept) that could potentially affect their business operations.  It is important to allocate time to reviewing your plan at least annually and implement any changes that may be required.

Review or write up your policy manual

The start of the financial year may give you time to review your existing policies and document them if necessary. A well thought out policy manual will assist in running the business, training employees and setting rules and guidelines for decision-making.

Please contact your WDF Professional team for assistance if required.