Plan B Essentials Samantha Bridger

Goal setting in January = NYR Being asked to talk about business planning in January set off all kinds of ideas in my head like: New Year’s resolutions; Who does them? Why do they often fail? What makes people do it? January – new start? Excess of Christmas? Other? And then what kind of NY resolutions are there for business and does anyone even think about them? Really we are talking business goals rather than NYR

Business Goals So business goals: when was the last time you set goals for your business? What happened? How did you check your progress and how does it make you feel? What is the benefit of doing so?

X Business Goals Sometimes we can get a bit hung up on words So what would happen if we changed the word goal, how would that change things?

Task 3 things you would like your business to achieve over the next 12 months What if we just asked what do we want our business to do this year? Exercise: Think of 3 things you would like your business to achieve over the next 12 months

Some facts… Setting goals increase chance of success in those areas Chance of success is increased by being more specific Making it achievable increase you success rate even more

Fail to Plan, plan to fail! What other kinds of planning are there? Continuity Planning: identifying risk, threats and vulnerabilities that could impact on your operations in case of serious incident Exit Planning Succession planning Contingency Planning   We mentioned earlier that sometimes words make a big difference – some of these sound pretty scary and not something that small companies need to do, but actually there are all just a plan for what do do when something happens that you didn’t see coming.

Finally the plan B! There’s some thought that having a plan B mean you expect Plan A to fail but consider 2106 and what happen which no one could predict or even did predict? Brexit and a leave Vote Cameron stepping down but Boris and co not getting the top job Trump winning the US election   These are obviously a bid deal for companies trading overseas particularly with EU countries You might think that these don’t affect you but indirectly they do as: Sterling values is linked to interest rates, inflation, cost of imported materials A leave vote affects who can work for you and so on What happens if things change and the things you want to achieve become difficult? That when you need an alternative: a plan B. So that means that having a plan B , doesn’t mean you expect plan a to fail; it’s an alternative. Just in case: putting you and your company into the strongest positions to react to circumstances or external; forces beyond your control. What is your plan B? What problems could there be with a plan B?

Task Looking back at the 3 things you would like your business to achieve over the next 12 months: What could derail those plans? Exercise: Take the 3 things you want your business to achieve, and think how they might be affected if: You’re ill Key personnel leave You lose a customer You gain a big contract You lose funding or the bank calls in the overdraft

What could you do differently? Social Media Facebook Content? News Other? Offers Pictures Is it working? How / When do you know? I think it is rather like a flow chart: Use the example of social media. It is an easy example for illustration purposes: What happens when you don’t have a plan and what happens when it goes wrong? A plan and a Plan B and in this case a plan C on so on, means a plan for success. Measurements? YES NO! Then what? PLAN B?

What could you do differently? Social Media STRATEGY LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Content? Content? Content? Is it working? Is it working? Is it working? Measurements? Measurements? Measurements?  A plan A and a Plan B and in this case a plan C on so on, means a plan for success. YES NO! YES NO! YES NO!

The Spanish Inquisition! So the moral of the story is that a even things that look solid and fail proof can go wrong and being prepared helps you deal with it more efficiently.

The Difference is small…

Any questions