How To Get Things Done: A Guide To Strategic Planning

A step-by-step program for creating a strategic plan and tactical plan guaranteed to help you get more of what you want done.

You are pursuing a strategy en route to your vision. Whether it is revolutionary or evolutionary, it does not matter. You are on the road, committedly driving your business in a direction of your own choosing. The important thing is that you have, in fact, chosen this course.

And, once you have made this choice, how are you going to realize this strategy? The answer is just like the answer to "How do you climb Mount Everest?" One step at a time. The way you realize your strategy is one step at a time - the trick, of course, is to know what steps to take, and in what order to take them. This article details an approach to developing a strategic and tactical plan.

Completing the past

The first step in creating a strategic plan is to review and complete the previous past period. For the balance of this article, we will refer to that period as a year, although your planning horizon may be either longer or shorter. You complete the past for two reasons - to learn everything possible from your previous actions, results, and mistakes, and as importantly, so that what ever is left over, whatever issues are hanging over your head, are no longer a burden.

Answer the following questions:

What were your intentions, what were your goals?
What did you set out to accomplish?
What intentions did you really take action on and which ones did you merely talk about?
Specifically, what did you actually accomplish?
How effective were you? What percentage of your goals were realized? For instance, if your goal was $14 million in sales and you reached $12 million, you were 85% effective. And so on.
What did you accomplish that you didn't intend?
What were the unintended side effects?
In your opinion, what did you do "wrong"?
What did you simply skip?

One useful practice is to write a detailed, objective history of the past year. Document the year's events and results in journal form. Your records will be a big help - use your date book and your sales ledgers to reconstruct this narrative.

Gather up whatever you learned. Three questions will assist you in this phase. What did you do that worked? In other words, what actions produced the results they were intended to produce? What didn't work - what actions (or lack of actions) produced something other than the desired result? And finally, what was missing - in terms of missing resources, skills, knowledge, attitudes, relationships, etc. - which if you had them would have enabled you to be more successful?

At this point you should be ready to move forward without dragging the past with you.

Set priorities

Using your values, beliefs, vision and strategy as a guide - establish priority issues for the coming year. Presuming your resources are limited, you may not be able to impact all areas of the business at once. Take a look at the following list - in which of these areas do you most want to make a difference?

product development
market penetration
revenue and profit
customer satisfaction
technology and product quality
intellectual capital
productivity
strategic relationships
new customer growth
geographic expansion
employee retention
community and global impact

Add other areas which are relevant to your business. Then choose which you will focus your attention on. Some prioritizing questions to ask are: What particular area is important? By important I mean that which will move you forward in the direction of your vision, goals, etc. Why is that area important? What will a shift in a particular area provide to the business (or specific categories of stakeholders)? What will not causing that shift cost the business?

Once you have decided in which areas you will focus your efforts on (and also which will not receive much attention), you then establish goals, or measures for success. Here is where things can get tricky. The standard approach to establishing measures for success is to "look around" and try to figure out what is practical. "We did X last year, now we'll do X plus 10%." Then you think about what you know how to do. "Well, we know how to do an extra 10%. Good - that's what we'll shoot for."

The catch is, this approach will get you some pretty practical, incremental, and average results. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with average results, my guess is, that is not why you are reading this article. To get extraordinary, breakthrough results, you have to step outside your normal confines and dream a little. Set your goals by considering what will move you rapidly towards realizing your vision, what will quickly implement your strategy, and go from there. Set goals - establish success measures which will inspire you! Do not think about how you will achieve the measures or goals before you set them. That will only limit your thinking.

Establish Measures and Goals

Establish a clear set of measures for each area of focus. In Product Development you could add two new products for your target niche, or a new product which will enable you to penetrate a targeted customer segment. In Customer Satisfaction and Quality you could reduce open customer incident time by three days, raise your customer satisfaction metrics from a 7.3 to a 9.0, or eliminate defects in your final product release. You could Geographically Expand into Canada, Mexico or the Northwest.

Employee retention and Intellectual Capital would be impacted by reducing turnover from 14% to 5%, providing 50% more training days for employees and targeting an increase in patents held from 2 to 5. You could increase Market Penetration, Revenues and Profits by adding 25% to the customer base, increasing service revenues 100%, and raising your net profit margin to 23%.

Place a time frame on each measure and turn it into a goal. Total customers increased 25% by September 30th is a clear-cut goal. It fits nicely on the end of a timeline.

Initiatives

You have measures, you have goals - now develop a plan to reach them.

For each measure within an area, invent one or more initiatives which help you reach your goal. Sometimes the initiatives are relatively simple, such as hire a salesman for the new Northwest territory. There may be alternate options such as contracting with a distributor in lieu of a local sales force. In that case you have to evaluate suitability, costs, resource drain, and the likelihood of success for the various options before committing to one path.

Sometimes achieving the goal will require a series of initiatives, or parallel initiatives. Increasing the customer base 25% may involve direct mail, print and web advertising, two new sales reps, a phone campaign, and working the dead customer file. Alternatively, it could involve acquiring a competitor, or maybe the competing product line. Each of these initiatives then requires its own measures for success. And each one must be evaluated in terms of suitability, costs, and likelihood of success.

Action steps, milestones, and timelines

When you have chosen the suite of initiatives you will pursue, break each into action steps and intermediate results, and place the whole thing on a timeline. Include acquisition of missing resources and skills on the timeline. Set regular milestones to keep the whole effort on track, and have a way to blow the whistle when things get off course.

Develop a tracking system, and update it regularly and often. A big white board or flip chart paper taped to the wall can display your timeline, including measures, milestones, and commitments made by various team members defining what will be accomplished each tracking period. Project management software is useful for complex initiatives - it helps you visualize and account for "dependencies." If you use it, email reports to all participants.

The Merlin Method

For some of your areas and measures of success you are clueless - you simply have no idea how to achieve the results. In this case, you can use the Merlin Method. Merlin, you may remember, was a magician and prophet who served as counselor to King Arthur. What you may not know is that Merlin did not really predict the future. Legend says Merlin was born as an old man and lived his life growing younger. He was simply relating events which for him had already happened.

The Merlin Method is based on this same principle. Imagine you are standing at the end of a long timeline - you have already achieved your specific goal. Imagine or visualize, how did you do it? What actions did you take? What resources did you secure? Who's help did you enlist?

Ask these questions in a stepwise fashion starting from the end. What was the last significant thing you had to do just before reaching the goal. Put that on your timeline. And just before that, what did you have to do? And just before that? And so on, moving closer and closer in time, right up until the present.

If you were taking a family trip, imagine yourself at your destination. What did you do just before you got there? You exited US 10 at exit 54. And before that? You exited US 15 at Riverside, having driven 67 miles. And before that, you bundled the kids into the car. Before that you put the luggage in the trunk. Before that you packed. Before that you went online and got directions. And so on. Working backwards from the realization of the goal, you have developed a timeline, complete with milestones - working from your collected knowledge and wisdom, but not necessarily from your conscious mind. The Merlin Method can be a very powerful way to generate set of tactical actions to realize your business strategy.

For a reality check, think it through forward. If you add the necessary resources, skills, and knowledge, take each action in turn, and reach each milestone, is that likely to produce the results you intend to produce?

You can even use the Merlin Method to generate alternative plans to evaluate against your other approaches.

Using one or more of these methods, you have developed a strategic and tactical plan - a complete set of strategic priorities, measures, goals, and initiatives, along with action plans, milestones, resources requirements, and timelines - built upon your strategy and designed to realize your vision.

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Fire Your Secretary

Peer out of your office door, what抯 your secretary doing right now? If you answered surfing the internet, taking a nap, or reading a magazine, it抯 time to rethink where your money is going. In an ideal situation, a secretary would be paid for the work they accomplish and not for watching the clock. If is my theory that small businesses can save money by hiring a secretary part time to manage office business and utilizing an answering service to manage the phones.

Let抯 analyze this theory from purely a mathematical point of view using 6 variables A, B, C, D, E, & F.

1. Variable A: Secretary gets paid $12.00 per hour.
2. Variable B: Secretary works 8 hours per day.
3. Variable C: Secretary spends 40% of work day managing office work.
4. Variable D: Secretary spends 30% of work day managing inbound phone calls
5. Variable E: Secretary spends 12% of work day on lunch
6. Variable F: Secretary spends 18% of work day remaining unproductive

Based on these variables, your secretary gets paid $96.00 a day. With this figure broken down, they get paid $38.40 per day managing office work, $28.80 per day managing inbound phone calls, $12.00 for eating lunch (provided lunch is paid), and $17.28 per day for doing nothing. For the purposes of proving this theory, lets analyze the variables based on a 1 month block (22 business days), secretaries will earn $844.80 for managing office work, $633.60 for managing inbound phone calls, $264 for lunch, and $380.16 for remaining unproductive.

So, if only 3.2 hours per day are spent managing office business, it doesn抰 make sense for business owners to hire a secretary for an entire day when most of their duties can be outsourced to a call center. Accounting for 揻ree time?(i.e. coffee breaks, cigarette breaks, bathroom time, etc.) lets round up the 3.2 hour figure to 4 hours ($48.00 per day - $1056 per month). Also, lets take $250.00 as an average market price for utilizing an answering service for a one month period. Also, take into account that with a part time employee (i.e. less than 4 hours per day), a lunch break is not required.

It抯 time for the grand totals you have been waiting for.

- Case A: Using a secretary for every office duty costs a business owner $2112 per month.
- Case B: Utilizing a secretary part time while outsourcing phone management duties to an answering service costs a business owner $1306.00 per month.

Based on these figures, utilizing an answering service can save a business owner $816.00 per month ($9792.00 per year). Keep in mind that this figure does not include the increase in business by having an after hours, 24/7 live operator presence managing your calls. A live operator will strengthen customer relationships and project the image of a larger, more secure & dependable business to your customers (& potential customers). I suppose the title of this article should have been 揇on抰 Fire Your Secretary, Just Cut Their Hours?

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Entertain Your Staff For Larger Profits

Today抯 employees, particularly those involved with corporate finance and other major business sectors, are leaning more towards corporate event management and corporate entertainment as a key source of contentment and happiness at work. This reflects the emergence of what has become defined as corporate culture - one that recognizes the need to keep staff happy through team games, special event days and other activities that help build camaraderie and teamwork.

1. Happy Workers Work Harder

Such episodes come as a welcome break for most rank and file, and usually end up energizing staff and renewing their interest in work. Moving out of the office to have a bowling tournament, an overnight stay at a beach resort or similar activities are nearly fail-safe steps that would help employees de-stress themselves.

2. Build Comradarie

Corporate entertainment also gives workers an opportunity to know members of their own unit or department more, and also allows interaction with members of other units or groups that is not always possible at work. The activity also helps reveal strengths of certain employees that are not apparent in the workplace, while also exposing possible weaknesses or difficulties in others. Thus, the typically quiet type who just report to work and follows his or her routine everyday could turn out to be someone with other skills beneficial to related jobs in other areas. In the same way, someone in the office who is generally not well-liked could turn out to be someone bearing a personal or family issue who just needs an outlet for his or her emotional turmoil.

3. Providers Of Corporate Entertainment

This focus on promoting employee wellbeing has spawned the corporate event management business - corporate entertainment providers that coordinate with companies on themes preferred for what essentially are team-building activities. Such activities would include, but are not limited to: company parties, theme park visits, a concert, or even a night of food and drinks at a favorite restaurant.

4. Extend Corporate Entertainment To Suppliers And Partners

Keith Prowse, a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry, notes that entertainment provided to clients at sports and similar events builds and strengthens business ties. Corporate entertainment also eases the exchange of ideas during negotiations or discussions, as both sides would be able to look back to enjoyable and shared experiences - enabling a relaxed atmosphere that increases the likelihood of a profitable relationship or the completion of a multimillion-dollar agreement.

5. Ideas

- Rent audio-visual equipment and AV production services
- Tap photographers and photography services
- Caterers
- D閏or specialists
- Hire impersonators
- DJs, musicians
- Other performers
- Rent a limousine or luxury car
- Prizes such as mobile phones, gift certificates

6. Record The Event

The resulting videos, pictures and related multimedia content from recording such events would be ideal for corporate learning, particularly for top executives and senior managers, and serve as a storage of ideas for future use. Some of this media will undoubtedly prove useful to entice people to join your corporation.

7. Don't Go Too Overboard

Some companies are choosing more unorthodox strategies to woo new clients and maintain the interest of current ones. One firm has been enticing potential partners with driving lessons - using armored vehicles, while another offers flights using a jet fighter. One trade-off though is that such unusual approaches are generally more costly than traditional entertainment forms. Unusually extravagant spending could also expose a company to questions in the media and even regulatory scrutiny.

Despite the logical rationale and integral role it plays in business, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has come up with measures to discourage corporate entertainment. Thus, the seemingly harmless round of golf, ski vacations, a ticket to Wimbledon and cruises for clients are now being probed by the agency. The tighter scrutiny follows a string of scandals that has rocked the country抯 prominent companies and raised questions related to corporate governance.

One such case involves Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas. The executive and his family allegedly used funds of the sixth-largest cable operator in the US for their personal interests, including the acquisition of luxury condominiums, golf clubs and other perks. Jurors eventually decided that Mr Rigas and Timothy Rigas were guilty, rejecting counsel for the defendants that they intended to return everything they had loaned.

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How to Deal With Salespeople

If you're an executive, you may feel like a open jelly sandwich at a picnic.

Every crazy critter in the world wants to bite into your budget. Here's how to protect your time and preserve your sanity.

1) Ask questions

Many salespeople work from a script. Rather than let them read it, interrupt with, "Excuse me." Then determine the purpose of the call by asking questions such as, "What are you selling?" or "Why are you calling?" Set bounds on the call by stating that you will take one minute to hear their offer and that you have a timer. Cut through the enticement by getting the facts that you need to decide if their offer has value.

2) Just say no

If you have no interest in the offer, tell the salesperson, "No." If you have no interest in the company, product, or service, ask to be removed from their call list. Be polite and firm. Simply say, "We have no need for your service. Please remove my name from your list." Avoid small talk, arguments, or complaints. All of these waste your time and lead to nothing. In addition, savvy sales people appreciate candor. It frees them to proceed with their business.

3) Decline literature

If you attempt to rid yourself of a salesperson by asking for information, you cause three bad things to happen. 1) You guarantee a return call ("Hi, did you get what I sent?"). 2) You waste the salesperson's money. 3) You add to the mail that you have to process. Thus, decline literature unless you are interested in the offer. Similarly, decline appointments, trial samples, or invitations that you know you would cancel. And never ask for a proposal if you have already selected another provider.

4) Return phone messages

Sadly, some people attempt to say "no" by ignoring the caller. This is a terrible strategy for two reasons. First, the caller does not know what you are doing. They will conclude that you may be traveling or sick and thus call again, and again, and again. Second, ignoring someone is rude, especially if you asked the person to call you, send a proposal, or provide information. (Special note: every vendor is also a customer. Insulting people can backfire by costing you business.) If you want to end a dialogue without talking to the person, call (or have an assistant call) and leave a message during off hours (early morning, late evening, weekends). Most good business people appreciate candor and understand the word, "No."

5) Use voice mail

Strategic voice mail can protect your time. Rather than leave an outgoing message stating that you will return calls, leave a message that helps screen calls. For example, your message could state, "Hi this is Pat Smith. Leave a message if you have an work related issue. If you are selling wingnuts, do not leave a message because we are not buying them." or "If you are selling something, call Chris at Extension 101." In the latter case, Chris may be someone assigned to screen sales calls.

6) Be open to possibilities

Realize that the caller is another human being, trying to earn a living. In addition, that caller may also be a customer or able to influence your customers. Thus, rather than immediately reject every call, consider that some of the offers may help you improve your business and make your job easier. Treat callers with the respect and courtesy that you expect from others. You will find valuable opportunities when you give them a fair chance to explain why they called. And you can always say, "No."

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How To Ensure Your Employee Incentive Program Pays Off

Non-cash incentive programs and fringe benefits can have a powerful influence on attitudes, that should in turn improve results. You can give employees the greatest incentive program, however, by impairing a sense of ownership in the organization. Ultimately, loyal and happy employees tend to work harder, leading to increased overall productivity.

1. Share Ownership

Use share schemes as an incentive program to reward people for contributing to team success. An employee who sees his or her efforts rewarded in company shares will, in theory, identify with the company, be committed to its success, and perform more effectively. A company with shares in the company will see that, quite literally, their sucess is the company's sucess, and vice versa. The harder they work, the better chance their shares have of increasing in value. In reality, it may be hard to tell whether the company抯 success is due to employees owning shares, or whether the success itself has the led the company to issue shares. It is also difficult to know whether employees would have performed less effectively if no shares had changed hands. Nevertheless, by giving people a stake in the company as an incentive program, you are making a highly positive statement about them, that encourages them to feel positive in return.

2. Gifts Aren't Just For Christmas

Surprise people with gifts they do not expect. Expected remuneration has less impact than the unexpected. Even generous pay rises are taken for granted after a while, as salary increases accordingly. Incentive programs are like a far smaller payment, in the form of a gift, and are priceless in the eyes of the recipient. An employee could use a cash award to buy a gift, perhaps a weekend vacation, but that would provide less satisfaction than an incentive program in kind from the management as a reward for work well done.

Consider which incentive program is better: A company called for a special meeting for all of the employees that had achieved the sales quota for the month. In the meeting, the company announced that the incentive is a gift certificate. They went to the Accounting Department, as instructed, signed their name, and off they go. Or: The company gave them a specialized mug embossed with the word Congratulations, plus a special card with a special message personally written by the manager. Between the two incentive programs, the latter is more appreciative. Gift certificates could be a good incentive program but it is sometimes taxable, so they get only a fraction of what was written on it. Plus, the first incentive program lacks personalization. On the other hand, the second incentive program is far more favourable. A more specialized and personalized gift ideas as incentive program can be more appreciated. It makes your employee feel that they are individually valued especially if it comes with a thank you note. Best of all, presents are also a better incentive program and a cost-effective method of motivating staff when cash is short or when competition does not allow an increase in pay.

3. Optimize Benefits

Fringe benefits have become much less effective incentive programs financially in many countries because of tax changes, as mentioned earlier. Good pension schemes, however, have become more attractive as incentive programs wherever state-funded provision have fallen. The same applies to medical insurance. The knowledge that the company cares for its people in sickness, health, and old age is a basic yet a powerful factor.

Other benefits

- Company cars
- Paternity leave
- Vacations
- Help with children抯 education
- Medical care
- Mobile phones
- Computers
- Spas

4. Bequeath Status

The modern company, with its flat structure, horizontal management, and open style, avoids status symbols that are divisive and counter-productive. Reserve parking places and separate dining rooms are rightly avoided. Important-sounding job titles are easy and economical forms of incentive that provide recognition and psychological satisfaction. Giving people incentive programs of any kind sends a very positive signal. As they say, it抯 the thought that counts.

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How to Keep a Good Employee: Look, Listen, Learn

Recently a client told me a wonderful story about how a change of attitude helped her to keep a valued employee.

Angry and grumbling about one of the provisions in the company policy, the employee asked for a private meeting with my client, the owner of a small sales company, and began to tell her in direct terms what was wrong. The client couldn't hear anything the employee was saying because she was too busy planning her own rebuttal strategy. It was important to let the employee know that the policy was a good one. On the other hand, she didn't want to lose her top sales agent. Physically, she could feel her body clenching and mentally, she was preoccupied with what she should say.

She Who Speaks First Loses
Fortunately, she remembered an old adage from her own sales days: when you are negotiating to close the sale and you've asked for the order, it is almost always true that "the person who speaks first loses." The client thought about this, took a deep breath, and listened instead. Almost immediately she felt the physical tension drain away, and found she was really listening for the first time since the employee had started talking.

Seek First To Understand
In Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the most well known of the habits - and perhaps most difficult to achieve in difficult moments - is the 5th Habit: Seek First to Understand, Then To Be Understood. My client began to ask questions to find out more of what lay behind the outburst. She became curious, wanting to know as much as she could about her employee's point of view. She grew increasingly interested, and soon it became fun to learn how the policy appeared to this person. The more she listened, the more she could see the situation through other eyes. As she sought clarity, she began to regain her own equilibrium and power. She saw that she could acknowledge and build on her employee's thoughts and at the same time speak what was true from her perspective as the company's leader.

Hard on the Problem, Soft on the People
She heard not only the employee's words but also what motivated the message - the employee was concerned about fairness, clarity of communication, and the reputation of the company. So was she. It seemed that they were on the same side of wanting what was best for all. From this common ground, the client explained her own view of how the company policy supported clarity, fairness, and company vision, and specifically how adhering to it might support the employee in the long run. She was able to stay open to some positive suggestions for change and, in the end, to reassert her role as leader and mentor. The company owner helped to position the problem as something they could work on and solve together, and the conflict became an opportunity to reinforce their relationship and their ability to handle future challenges.

Morihei Ueshiba, 20th century martial artist, philosopher, and founder of aikido, is quoted as saying: "Opponents confront us continually, but actually there is no opponent there." It is fascinating, rewarding, and an exercise in a different kind of power, when we can turn our opponents into allies. It is one thing to think we are listening, quite another to actually do it ?to imagine ourselves in the place of the person we are listening to, and to position the issue so that it can be worked on as a mutual problem-solving endeavor. Try it. You will discover that when you have security in your own power, you will be able to step away from it temporarily and discover something even better.

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How To Choose an Answering Service: Part II

In my last article, we covered four basics: 1. take advantage of any free trial periods, 2. watch out for long contracts, 3. get references, and 4. don抰 be too concerned with high prices. For this article, we will assume that you have diligently followed the 4 steps in the first article and are ready for the next evolution ?how to your answering service running smoothly. We will explore a few industry tips & tricks on how to keep your service professional and reliable.

First & foremost, don抰 ask too much of your call center. This is not meant as don抰 expect your answering service to do their job, but instead, keep their responsibilities short & sweet. As with any individual, the more tasks they are required to do, the more room arises for error. The main point here is 揝hortness Equals Success? What do I mean by that? First, keep your answer phrase short (i.e. how the operators pick up your line). Second, keep the information they gather from the caller at a minimum. Third, make sure your contact information is not a labyrinth of pager numbers, e-mail addresses, home phone numbers, and cell phone numbers (i.e. call Jim at home, if he is not there, e-mail him, if he does not respond page him and call his cell phone, etc.). Try to make sure your employees keep their cell phones with them at all times as this seems the best way to keep steady contact with the call center.

Second, place regular test calls to your call center. Consider your answering service your employee. As with any employee, if left un-supervised, they will start to evolve into a less than model representative of your business. Make sure every 10 or so days you place a test call to your answering service to see how they are managing your calls. Don抰 always call at the same time of day, instead try to stagger the times when you call as sometimes the afternoon staff is more efficient then the evening staff or vice versa. If you experience any problems, notify your call center liaison immediately and place another test call shortly thereafter to ensure the problem was rectified.

Third, make sure you have a healthy relationship with your call center. Treat them as you would treat your own employee. Be friendly and courteous and you will be treated the same. Imagine your own business and your own clients. Are there clients that are never satisfied no matter what you do? Would you rather lose their business than spend 10% of your day managing their complaints? Rather then the 搕he more I yell, the more efficient they will be?premise, try to base your relationship on 搕he nicer I am, the nicer they will be?premise.

Fourth, perfection is not immediate. Based on the conjecture that your answering service is your employee, they are probably not going to 揼et it right?the first time you forward your phones. As with any employee, they need time to grow and learn about your business and their duties relative to your needs as a business owner. Have patience, be helpful, keep it simple, and they should flourish.

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