NFIB

Plan for Success Beyond the Millennium
04/ 03/ 2002


With the New Year just behind us, this is an excellent time to take stock of your business and make some long-range plans that could affect your income well into the next millennium. If you've never done such planning before, Workshop contributor Jeff Moses offers some practical how-to tips.

* Pull out your existing business plan, even if it's only a few notes you scratched on a piece of paper when you started your company. See if you're on track with your goals and the direction you set for your business. For example, if you targeted a specific customer demographic (adults between the ages of 40-65, parents with children under the age of 10, etc.), determine if your plan is working. Is it time to formally revise your plan using the information you have gathered from your direct experience?

* Look for the positives in your experience, even if things haven't been as successful as you had hoped. Build your new plan and goals on these positives.

* On the other hand, you may have been so successful with your target areas of marketing and products that you feel you can allocate resources (i.e., profits) to developing new avenues of operation. If so, closely examine your success to find out why your operations have been positively received by customers. This will help you when branching out into new areas. As a rule, companies do best with new products that complement their existing products. For example, if you sell a successful line of health products, it probably makes sense for your company to branch out into something that your existing customers will be interested in, such as health-related cosmetics or nutritional books and tapes.

* Also consider price points when making such a decision. A month's supply of vitamins may cost $35 or so. If you suddenly start offering high-ticket exercise equipment, which can cost several thousand dollars or more, you may find that your existing customers aren't interested (that is, can't afford it), even though your new products are "health related." To sell such equipment successfully, you may have to initiate an entirely new marketing operation with new target demographics, rather than simply adding the new products to your existing marketing.

* Don't abandon a productive line of marketing just because you're getting used to it and think it's not new. Remember, there's an entire population out there who have never seen your advertising. It's important to realize when something is working and should not be changed. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

* When evaluating your long-range plans, one important thing to always ask yourself is: "What is my real business?" This question may seem obvious, but it can help you dig deeper into additional sources of revenue. For instance, an accountant may help clients prepare tax forms, but added income may result from moving into offering specialized tax advice. Another example might be a hardware store that sets up a counter that offers free advice to do-it-yourselfers. When people come in for advice, chances are that they'll purchase their tools and supplies right there. This allows the store to increase revenue by offering "free" information to customers.

* Fred Freifeld, a Certified Public Accountant whose firm, Fred Freifeld, P.A., is headquartered in Davie, Fla., says: "Inertia holds forth when it comes to changing directions in business and making long-term planning. People tend not to change until they are forced to -- and that's often too late. The minority of people actually prepare a financial plan, one that includes a budget. Even fewer include market analysis and a detailed, accurate evaluation of their own business's strengths and weaknesses."
Taking this expert advice to heart can help motivate us all. Start now for the long term. Think about the basics of your business. The New Year is the time for a fresh start, and may be the perfect time to take some of the steps you've been thinking about.

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