Important info

Business Planning is part of the Business Advisory Trifecta, along with annual forecasting and ongoing reporting and accountability; these services are best practice and commonly sold together.

To access the Business Planning bridge, go to Navigation panel >  Bridges > Business Planning bridge.

Understanding the annual Business Planning process

If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere - Henry A. Kissinger

Ideally, every business should have a Business Plan as it is best business practice.

1. The Process Guide outlines best practice use of the content in the Business Planning bridge; click the Download Process Guide button in the top right-hand corner to view this guide
   

Note

Ensure you review the  Process Guide prior to using the content in the bridge.

Important info

This process should be undertaken with clients annually. Providing additional accountability coaching enables you to actively work with your clients to reset quarterly goals and actions during the year to keep them on track.   

Tip

Check out our short training video, How to Run a Business Planning Session, available in Navigation panel >  Training > Training Videos > Service Delivery to learn how to deliver the four-hour Business Planning session.

Marketing the annual Business Planning service

1. Discussing your Business Planning service as part of a CCR, PAM or Annual Accounts Review Meeting. 
2. Sending out relevant educational marketing content to your database to subtly position the value of a Business Plan
   
1. Go to Navigation panel >  Marketing > The Gap + BOMA  > The Gap + BOMA Library Catalogue to check out our educational marketing ready for you to send via BOMA
   
3. Hosting one of our Gap Webinars or Seminars to generate interest in your Business Planning service.
   
   

The Business Planning Proposals

1. Consider the client's unique situation and use the checkboxes to select the objectives, measures of success and value to the client; add bespoke objectives, measures of success and points of value to reflect the client's individual needs
   
2. If your client does not accept within seven days, call them to follow up
   

Tip

Carefully read through the objectives,  measures of success and values to better understand the types of problems this service will help solve for your clients.

Delivering the annual Business Planning session

Client outcomes

1. Set their personal and business goals for the next 12 months
   
2. Set strategies to achieve their goals
   
3. Set their purpose and vision for the business 
   
4. Set Gross Revenue Targets and Key Performance Indicators
   
5. Identify opportunities and vulnerabilities to be managed in their business
   
6. Develop a 90 Day Action Plan to address immediate critical issues
   

Session duration

A Business Planning session should take four hours. If delivering the session virtually, consider splitting the session into two two-hour sessions. T he Delivery Notes available in Main menu >  > Bridges > BP > 4. Delivery  contains recommended timings for each agenda item.

The service

Prior to the session, you will provide all attendees with pre-work to complete, ensuring that any issues that need to be discussed are identified and you can prepare accordingly.

Important info

We recommend enforcing a 'no pre-work, no meeting' policy. Politely discuss the benefit of pre-work and reschedule the meeting so it does not become one of discovery.

Click here for more information about common content found in the Gap bridges and how they relate to each step in the Business Planning process. See the Business Planning Process Guide for detailed information about the Business Planning content.

1. Business Plan template: to record the client's Business Plan during the session then email via the portal with Meeting Minutes attached. 
   
2. Business Planning Annual Review Confirmation and Pre-work Email: an email to send to clients prior to their annual Business Plan update with pre-work to complete before the session.
   
   

Does a subsequent Business Planning session still take four hours?

Yes. Although you will have a previously completed Business Plan to refer to, you will review the front page content to ensure it is still relevant and correct, and then spend longer covering the goals and actions. Reviewing the previous year's goals, and to what degree they were achieved, is important to set realistic and relevant goals for the next 12 months.

Tip

Open the client's previous Business Plan from Navigation panel >  Working files > Completed tab to review and update the Business Plan for the next 12 months.

What do I do when a client finds it difficult to come up with goals and I find myself doing most of the talking?

The power of the Business Plan is the extent to which your client 'owns' it. If you have done most of the talking, then the degree of buy-in and understanding from your client will be much less.  The more they do themselves, the better the Business Plan will be, and the more likely they will be to achieve their goals.

Remember: your role is to facilitate the discussion and ask better, deeper questions about the client's situation to help them identify solutions, rather than advising them about what to do.

Tip

Check out the Ask Don't Tell mindset in Navigation panel >  Mindset Tools > Mindset Catalogue folder.

How do we update the Business Plan within a 60-minute accountability coaching session?

Follow the Quarterly Coaching Delivery Notes to ensure you clearly articulate the agenda and purpose of the meeting - to update the 90 day goals and actions in the  Business Plan.

If the client has specific issues they would like to discuss which are not related to their Business Plan,  suggest to the client either:

1. Continuing the discussion and arranging an additional session to update the Business Plan
   
2. Arranging an additional meeting to finish the discussion and resolve the issue - record the details and the fee quoted for any additional session in the Meeting Minutes then move on to update the Business Plan
   

Important info

If the client has identified an issue in their pre-work which requires an in-depth discussion, call them prior to the coaching session and discuss whether they'd like to use the scheduled coaching session time to discuss the issue and reschedule the coaching session, or schedule an additional meeting following the coaching session.