The strategic plan is an ever-evolving tool that can keep your Colorado small business steady when the winds of chance decide to kick up some disturbance. Creating a strategic plan is important not only to guide business direction and keep you competitive against challengers, but also to act as a focal point to return to if you find your business going adrift from its original purpose and goals. Creating a strategic plan for a small business is just as important as having one for a larger company. Perhaps even more so, as the Colorado small business owner is often busy performing a number of functions that a larger business can afford to hire out. Taking the “eye off the ball” can happen before you even realize it.
What is Strategic Planning
This is not the same as writing a business plan, which is one of the very beginning steps in starting a venture and acts as the nuts and bolts of your business. The business planning process includes defining goals and objectives, stating the products and services, planning the structure, and devising a marketing and financial plan. Instead, strategic planning takes the results of your business plan and guides the direction, such as how to build market share for your products, or what specific opportunities can you take to compete effectively.
Your Mountain is Not a Slippery Slope
An important facet to build in to your small business strategic plan is the flexibility to alter and grow with changing opportunity. Perhaps your target market needs to change, or you have developed a new service. Just make sure that your plan is not rigid. The strategic plan is an ongoing process that should be re-visited regularly. Think of it as the view of your company from on top of the mountain rather than up close. From far away you can better see the shifting strengths and weaknesses and how to counter competitor moves or jump on new opportunities.
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“If someone asks me why…” under CC license by Nick Bramhall