The Ultimate Strategic Planning...

The Ultimate Strategic Plan Template Directions

PLEASE READ:

Directions are typed in red font throughout this document.These directions will guide you through creating a great strategic plan.

Should you want to print out your final plan to show others, and would like to remove all the directions, simply do a Replace as follows:

Select Replace from the Edit tab in Word, click “More” and then click “Format.” Then select “Font” and then in the “Font Color” section, select

the red font. Then select “OK.” That will replace all words in this document that are in red font with nothing, thus deleting them.

[Company Logo](if applicable)

[Company Name] STRATEGIC PLAN [Current Month], [Year]

[Name][Title]

[Company Name][Address 1][Address 2]

[City, State Zip]Tel: [ ]Fax: [ ]

Email: [ ]

CONFIDENTIAL

Table of Contents(To update, right click anywhere on this table and select Update Field)

I. Executive Summary...........................................................................................1

II. Elevator Pitch....................................................................................................5

III. Company Mission Statement............................................................................7

IV. SWOT..............................................................................................................9

V. GOALS............................................................................................................17

VI. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)................................................................21

VII. Target Customers.........................................................................................23

VIII. Industry Analysis..........................................................................................25

IX. Competitive Analysis & Advantage................................................................27

X. Marketing Plan................................................................................................31

XI. Team..............................................................................................................38

XII. Operations Plan............................................................................................42

XIII. Financial Projections....................................................................................44

[Company Name] Strategic Plan

I. Executive Summary

Complete this section last. You will answer ALL of these questions in the document (and can thus simply copy and paste your answers here at the end).

Our Company Elevator Pitch is as follows:

Our Company Mission Statement is as follows:

Our Company’s key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are as follows:

Strengths:1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Weaknesses: 1.2. 3. 4.5.

Opportunities: 1.2. 3. 4.5.

Threats:1.2. 3. 4.5.

[Company Name] Strategic Plan Page 1

The Top Opportunities that we will execute upon this year include:1.2. 3. 4. 5.

Our Company’s goals are as follows:

5 year goal:

1 year goal:

This quarter’s goal:

This month’s goal:

The following are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that we will measure and include in our dashboard:

Our target customers are:

The key customer needs we solve include:

Our market size is:

Key market trends include:

Our key competitors include:


Areas in which we have competitive advantage include:

Our key products/services and their unique selling propositions are:

Our key promotional tactics include:

We do/will do the following to maximize the lifetime value of our customers:

We have or will forge partnerships with the following organizations:

The following are the key members of our team and their key skill sets:

To execute on our opportunities, we will train and/or hire the following employees to gain the required skill sets:


As part of our Operations Plan, we will work on the following key projects within the next 12 months:

Our 5-Year top line financial projections are as follows:

[insert Summary Chart from P&L Projections Spreadsheet]


II. Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a brief description of your business.

It is included in your strategic plan since your elevator pitch is both important to your business’ success, and should often be updated annually.

An elevator pitch got it’s name because you need to be able to describe your business succinctly and within the time it takes to travel from the ground to the top floor in an elevator.

A quality elevator pitch: Gets everyone in your company on the precise same page regarding

what your business is and what the key objectives are. Allows everyone in your company to give a concise and consistent

explanation of your business which leads to more customers.

The following questions will help you develop your elevator pitch.

1. What does your company do (start with phrases such as: we help, we provide, we manufacture, we offer, etc.)? _____________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Who does your company serve (who are your customers? teenagers? entrepreneurs, new parents, etc.)? ____________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What key benefits do you offer your customers? (e.g., higher quality/more success, lower cost, more reliable, etc.)? _____________


________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why is your company better than competitors? (e.g., even faster, less expensive, etc.)? What information gives your firm more credibility (e.g., track record)?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Is there a clear and clean business sector that your company fits into (e.g., restaurant, CPA firm, etc.)? _______________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Combine the key information from Questions 1-5 into a 35 word or less statement that describes your business. Say it aloud to make sure it sounds good and makes sense. Tell it to friends to make sure they “get” it. Tell it to employees to confirm that they can repeat it back to you. Write it below.

Our Company’s Elevator Pitch:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________


Examples of Elevator Pitches: Growthink is a consulting and publishing firm that helps

entrepreneurs and business owners more successfully start, build and sell their companies. Since 1999, we have helped thousands of entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

Rick’s Bridal sells high-end wedding gowns and accessories to brides in New York City. For twenty years, Rick’s has served over 25,000 satisfied brides through our six locations.


III. Company Mission StatementA mission statement explains what your business is trying to achieve.

For internal decision-making, it helps as key decisions should be made with regards to how well they help the company progress in achieving its mission.

For internal (e.g., employees) and external (investors, partners, customers) audiences, the mission can inspire and get them excited to be part of what the company is doing.

Examples:

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

A great mission statement can change over time, although the best ones may not:

Since 1901, Nordstrom’s mission has been to “offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.”

To create your mission statement, the critical thing is to figure out the one thing you are trying to do better than anyone else.

For example, a good mission statement could simply be to “be the best Italian restaurant in this town“ or “to provide the most environmentally-friendly cleaning products” or “to provide the highest-quality automotive service.”

1. Write down your proposed mission statement:

Our proposed mission statement:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Now judge your mission statement against these questions and modify it as appropriate:


Will it inspire you, your employees, potential investors, partners and/or customers?

Does it clearly state what your company does (broad mission statements like “we will be the best” have little value)?

Is it realistic/believable? (while you should think big, your mission must be achievable)

Is it in line with your company's values?

2. Based on these questions, improve your proposed mission statement as required, and write it here:

Our Mission Statement:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________


IV. SWOT

Great entrepreneurs use several techniques when assessing ideas. They start by separating strategic ideas from opportunistic ideas. While opportunistic ideas may bring in short-term revenues, strategic ideas drive the company closer to achieving its stated mission. As such, successful entrepreneurs weed out opportunistic ideas.

Successful entrepreneurs also judge new ideas by determining their feasibility and market potential. They conduct either formal or informal SWOT analyses, looking at the idea in the context of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, and in the context of market opportunities and threats.

Answer the following questions to conduct your SWOT analysis:

Our Company’s Key Strengths: ______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Our Company’s Biggest Weaknesses: ________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Examples of strengths and weaknesses include:

Competitive (dis)advantages Reputation, market awareness Assets (such as equipment, cash on hand, etc.) People Experience Location Product quality Licenses/accreditations Processes/systems Culture/morale


Key Opportunities to Consider: ______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Key Threats We Face/Might Face: ____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Examples of opportunities and threats include:

Opportunities

Penetrating new markets and/or niches

Creating new products/services Exploiting competitors'

vulnerabilities Changing your unique selling

propositions Investing in employee training Hiring new employees Modifying your tactics Going after new joint venture

partnerships Finding new distributors

Threats

New political climates or legislation

New products or services offered by competitors

Competitors lowering their prices

Decreases in market demand New technologies developed by

others Key customers and/or

distributors leaving you Loss of key employees General economic downturns

Write in your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats above. Then go through the SWOTBuilder™ exercise below to improve what you’ve done:

SWOTBuilder™ Exercise: Figuring out how can you and your business become “uniquely qualified to succeed.”

Think about and write down how you have unique qualifications in each of the following areas. Or, how you can gain unique qualifications in these areas. You do not need to be uniquely qualified in EVERY area, but the more, the better.


1. Products and/or Services : Do your product(s) and/or service(s) have key advantages over competing products and services (e.g., solves needs faster or better; is less expensive to deliver, etc.)?

Explain unique qualifications (then add to Strengths above): ____________________________________________________________

How could you gain more unique qualifications (then add to Opportunities above): ____________________________________________________________

2. Human Resources : Do your management team, employees, advisors or board members have special skills or relationships?



3. Location : Does your physical location or website address give you a unique ability to succeed?




4. Operational Systems : Do you have operational systems that allow you to outperform competitors (e.g., custom software to streamline operations)?



5. Intellectual Property (IP) : Do you have intellectual property that is unique (IP can relate to several of the other areas listed here such as your products, operational system, etc.)?




6. Timing : Are you the first to market in your space? Will the fact that you are first give you a long-term competitive advantage?



7. Customers : Do you have significant (or some) customer traction in certain markets (e.g., gained revenues or customers who are using your products or services)? Do you have unique customer retention strategies including barriers that influence customers not to leave you for competitors?




8. Marketing : Do you have unique qualifications in marketing? Do you have marketing skill sets (e.g., salesmanship, online marketing) that give you a competitive advantage in your market? Do you have exclusive relationships (e.g., exclusive partnerships, distributors, spokesperson) that give you competitive advantage?



9. Competition : Do your competitors have disadvantages (e.g., unionized workforce)? Is it difficult for competitors to enter your market (e.g., cost of entry; legal requirements to entry)? Are there things that you can do that your competitors simply cannot?




10. Other : What else about your company makes you uniquely qualified to succeed?



AssetOppBuilder™

To ensure that you have a complete list of Opportunities to consider going after, there is one more exercise for you to complete. This is the AssetOppBuilder™ Exercise.

The key to the exercise is this: most people think about opportunities mostly as they pertain to growing revenues and profits. The SWOTBuilder™ Exercise helped you figure out how your business can become “uniquely qualified to succeed.” The AssetOppBuilder™ Exercise builds on that and forces you to think about what additional assets that, when built, will add significant long-term value


to your company. Note that some assets, like developing a new product, could LOWER your annual profits, but are worth doing since longer term they will enable you to achieve your goals.

Define assets within the following categories that would add significant long-term value to your organization:

Customers (e.g., marquee customers, more customers): _______________

____________________________________________________________

Products (e.g., new product development): _________________________

____________________________________________________________

Distribution network (e.g., gaining more distributors): __________________

____________________________________________________________

Intellectual property (e.g., more patents, other IP): ____________________

____________________________________________________________

Location(s) (e.g., launching new locations): _________________________

____________________________________________________________

Reputation/brand (e.g., gaining more brand awareness): _______________

____________________________________________________________

Employee talent (e.g., hiring, training and retaining more employees): ____

____________________________________________________________

Financial savings (e.g., figuring out ways to lower costs): ______________

____________________________________________________________

Systems/processes (e.g., building systems and processes that lower costs and/or improve efficiency and/or consistency): _______________________

____________________________________________________________

Strategic Partnerships (e.g., gaining new partners): ___________________

____________________________________________________________

Other: ______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Other: ______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________


Add all of these opportunities to the “Key Opportunities to Consider” section above.

Choosing Your TOP Opportunities

In the next section, you will decide upon your company’s 5-year, 1-year, quarterly and monthly goals. Importantly, in determining your 5-year and 1-year goals, you will need to prioritize the Opportunities you listed above and determine which ones to go after.

So, look at your big list of “Key Opportunities to Consider” above. Then, choose those opportunities that you think will give you the greatest unique ability to succeed long-term, will drive revenues and profits, and that are most attainable based on your strengths. List those opportunities below.

The top Opportunities that we will execute upon include: ________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________


V. GOALS

Setting and achieving goals is the hallmark of successful companies. The following GoalSetterPro™ questions and answers will allow you to quickly and easily set both long-term and short-term goals, and create and attain new goals as time goes on.

The key is to set SMART goals. SMART goals are goals that are:

Specific: your goals need to be very specific vs. being vague (e.g., we will complete development of one new product [specific] vs. we will work on one new product [vague])

Measurable: You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the goals or not (e.g., if you have a goal of improving customer service, you must have a way (for example customer surveys) to measure whether you achieved your goal or not).

Achievable and Realistic – making sure the objectives are achievable and realistic within the allotted time period (e.g., if your 5-year goal calls for you to generate $20 million in revenues in Year 5, it is unrealistic that you could generate $15 million in the next year).

Time-Bound – making sure you set a date by which the objectives will be achieved.

1. Our 5-Year Company Goals:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Examples of 5-Year Company Goals: Reach $X million in sales Control at least X% of market share in key markets Increase net income to X% of sales Sell our company for $X million Improve customer satisfaction level to X% satisfaction or more


Now that you have this big 5-year goal, you need to break it down into pieces, or shorter-term goals, that you and your team can accomplish. Each of these goals must further progress your company towards achieving your big vision.

2. Our 1-Year Company Goals:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Examples of 1-Year, Quarterly & Monthly Company Goals: Reach $X million in sales; grow sales by X% Retain X% of our current customers Gain X new customers Control at least X% of market share in key markets; grow to become the

number X player in the market (based on sales) Increase net income to X% of sales Improve customer satisfaction level to X% satisfaction or more Hire X new employees Train X employees Increase efficiency by X% Earn $X in net profit per share Contribute to the community by… Improve employee morale by X% by… Start development on X new product(s) Complete development on X new product(s) Forge X new strategic partnership(s) Get X new distributors(s) Etc.


3. Our Quarterly Company Goals:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4. Our Monthly Company Goals:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

You now have a clear long-term Goal and Vision, and you know exactly what goals you need to accomplish in the next month, quarter and year to achieve this vision.

Importantly, at the end of each month, quarter and year, you and your team need to sit down and:

1) Assess the results of that period vs. your goals


2) If applicable, assess why certain goals were unmet, and how you can overcome that in future periods

3) Reset the next period’s goals as needed to reflect current realities

Set the dates of your next planning sessions below.

The date and time of our next monthly planning meeting is ________________.

The date and time of our next quarterly planning meeting is ________________.

The date and time of our next annual planning meeting is ________________.


VI. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A financial dashboard is a series of numbers that you look at on a periodic basis to judge the financial health and the performance of your business AND to keep you focused towards achieving your goals. Your dashboard can be maintained in Microsoft Excel, online, or in any other program of your choosing.

Importantly, the financial dashboard allows you to always know what’s going on in your business, and alert you to problems before it’s too late. As you know, you cannot improve what you cannot measure, and you need to track your progress to make sure that you are always getting closer to achieving your goals. Your financial dashboard allows you to achieve these two objectives.

The key to your financial dashboard is the metrics that you decide to include in it. Another name for these metrics are your “KPIs” or Key Performance Indicators. As the name indicates, KPIs are the metrics that judge your business’ performance based on the success you would like to succeed.

Examples of KPIs that you might want to measure in your business include:

$ Sales/Revenues # of new customers # of subscribers # of PR mentions # of website visitors # of products manufactured Cost of Goods Sold Marketing costs Inventory levels

Accounts receivable Net income Cash Employee turnover New employee hires Payroll Key ratios: current ratio, quick

ratio, debt ratio, asset turnover ratio, sales/working capital ratio, etc.)

KPICreator™ Questions: Imagine there are 5 direct competitors in your business, and that you were given a blank check and the ability to buy any of these companies. And, as a result, each of these companies opened up their books to you? What key metrics would you look at for each company in determining which to buy/which would offer the greatest value? Each of these metrics should be KPIs in YOUR dashboard.

1. The following are the KPIs that we will measure and include in our dashboard:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2. Our dashboard will be updated _________________ (insert frequency such as daily, weekly or monthly) by _____________________ (insert person’s name who will be responsible for updating the dashboard).

Note that it is fine for specific KPIs to be updated with different levels of frequency (e.g., updating inventory levels daily, but updating sales only monthly). If this is relevant for your business, document the update frequency for each of your individual KPIs.


VII. Target Customers

Successful businesses solve the problems of their customers.

Google makes it easier and faster for customers to find information.

Tide cleans dirt from your clothes.

Crest whitens your teeth, prevents cavities, & makes your breath smell fresh.

This exercise will help you better understand your target market and identify new products or services to create.

1. Target Customers:

Who is your target customer? What are their demographics? How many potential customers exist?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

2. Customer Needs:

What problems do your customers currently have? How big is the pain?

What are the key attributes they seek in a product or service? What is the relative importance of each of these attributes?

Are customer needs changing? Are there any relevant trends?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

3. Customer Solutions:

How are customers currently solving these problems?

____________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

4. Our Company’s Solution:

How does your company solve these problems?

___________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

5. Competitive Advantage:

How is your solution better than other solutions to these problems (competitors, customers doing it themselves, etc.)?

What will you doing during the upcoming period (e.g., quarter, year) to gain addition competitive advantage?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________


VIII. Industry Analysis

Your industry (or market) analysis:

Confirms that there is a market need for your products and/or services

Confirms that there is a substantial market size (so you can successfully grow)

Confirms that industry trends support your company’s strategy

Helps you identify new opportunities for success

The exercises below will guide you through answering the key Industry Analysis questions.

In finding the information for your Industry Analysis, generally you can easily find the following information in one of two ways:

1. Find an association in your industry (go to a search engine and type in “[your industry name] association” (e.g., “restaurant association”), find your association and then search the association’s website for research they’ve conducted on your industry.

2. Go to a search engine and type in “[your industry name] market size” (e.g., “restaurant industry market size”), or “[your industry name] market share” and review the results. In larger markets, you can also type in “[key industry competitor’s name] market share” and find great information.

1. Market Size

How big is the current market (dollars and units)?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

2. Market/Industry Trends

How has the market size changed over the past 1 to 5 years?

What is the projected growth of the market in the next 1 to 5 years?

What factors will affect this growth? Changing regulatory conditions? Changing consumer needs? Etc.?


How does the growth (or decline) in the market support the viability of your company?

What modifications you can make to your business to better take advantage of these trends?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________


IX. Competitive Analysis & Advantage

Conducting your competitive analysis:

Defines your competition

Describes your competition and their strengths & weaknesses

Determines your current competitive advantages

Identifies new opportunities for competitive advantage

This CompetitionDominator™ exercise will guide you through completing this section of your strategic plan.

1. Defining who your competitors are:

Any company or action that solves your customer’s needs is a competitor to you

There are Direct and Indirect competitors

Example: pizza shopo Direct competitors (fills customer need with same solution)

Other pizza shopso Indirect competitors (fills customer need with different solution):

Other restaurants Supermarkets selling frozen or ready-to-bake pizza Etc.

2. Assessing your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses:

Almost all companies do some things well; no one is 100% awful.

Likewise, underestimating competition will harm your chances of success.

Use objective, 3rd party information when possible

o E.g., Research reported in study or that only X% of customers are satisfied with competitor #1

o E.g., Newspaper article stating x% of customers want lower prices (inferring that competitors are pricing too high)

o Etc.


Base strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of your target customers, and operationally.

3. For each of your top competitors, answer all of the applicable questions below.

1. Direct Competitors

Direct Competitor #1:

Products/services offered: ____________________________________________________________

Price points: ____________________________________________________________

Revenues (# units sold/dollars generated): ____________________________________________________________

Trends (revenues increasing? decreasing?): ____________________________________________________________

Locations: ____________________________________________________________

Customer segments/geographies served: ____________________________________________________________

Website traffic results: ____________________________________________________________

Competitor’s key strengths: ____________________________________________________________

Competitor’s key weaknesses: ____________________________________________________________



Price points: ____________________________________________________________



Locations: ____________________________________________________________








Price points: ____________________________________________________________



Locations: ____________________________________________________________







Price points: ____________________________________________________________




Locations: ____________________________________________________________







Price points: ____________________________________________________________



Locations: ____________________________________________________________





Indirect Competitors: Assess indirect competitors as a whole. If an indirect competitor poses a real threat, then treat it as a direct competitor by completing all the information above.

Some areas, like “Revenues” may be different based on the specific indirect competitor. In such cases, include ranges such as this competitor generates $1 million and that competitor generates $10 million.


2. Indirect Competitors


Price points: ____________________________________________________________



Locations: ____________________________________________________________





3. Current & Potential Competitive Advantages

1. What do you do and/or what will you do that is better than your competitors?

2. Is this a sustainable (could last forever) competitive advantage and/or how long might it take competitors to catch up?

3. What could you do to create competitive advantage in your market?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________



X. Marketing Plan

Your Marketing Plan demonstrate how your company will penetrate the market and generate revenues, through a detailed discussion of your:

Products and/or Services

Promotions and Branding

Place/Distribution Methods

Customer Value Maximization

Marketing Partnerships & Joint Ventures

In developing your Marketing Plan, you can identify new opportunities for competitive advantage.

Our MarketingPlanExtractor™ exercise will guide you through answering the Marketing Plan questions that both need to be in your business plan, and will help you build a marketing strategy that leads to significant revenues.

1. Products/Services

1. List your current products and/or services.

2. List your future products.

3. For each product and/or service:

a. Provide 1) detailed description/features and 2) benefits of your products and/or services

b. Provide Price points

c. State how often it will be purchased and in what quantities

d. State its strengths and weaknesses

e. Detail its unique selling proposition (USP)? Your USP details what makes your product or service a “unique, must have” item. Examples:

i. The Domino’s Pizza USP is “Fresh hot pizza delivered to your door in thirty minutes or less, guaranteed” (key USP is 30 minutes or less)

ii. The Federal Express USP is “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” (key USP elements are reliability and quick delivery)


Current Product/Service #1:

Product/Service Name: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service description/features: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service benefits: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service price: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service expected purchase frequency/quantity: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service strengths: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service weaknesses: ____________________________________________________________

Product/Service unique selling proposition (USP): ____________________________________________________________







































Future Product/Service #1:




























2. Promotions and Branding

Brand PositioningDescribe your current and/or desired brand positioning below. For example, the Lexus brand is positioned as luxury, while the Toyota brand is positioned as value. Make sure your branding fits with your benefits, USP and pricing. If branding is different for different products, state as such.)


____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Promotional MixSuccessful companies rely on multiple promotional tactics to maximize exposure and avoid the risk of any one tactic ceasing to work. Describe the types of promotions you use/will use (keep and describe the promotional types below that you will use):

Blimps, Banners, and Billboards____________________________________________________________

Blogs, Podcasts, etc.____________________________________________________________

Card Decks____________________________________________________________

Catalogs____________________________________________________________

Celebrity Endorsements____________________________________________________________

Classified Ads____________________________________________________________

Contests____________________________________________________________

Coupons____________________________________________________________

Direct Mail____________________________________________________________

Door Hangers____________________________________________________________

Email Marketing____________________________________________________________

Event Marketing____________________________________________________________

Flyers____________________________________________________________


Gift Certificates____________________________________________________________

Networking____________________________________________________________

Newsletters____________________________________________________________

Newspaper/Magazine/Journal ads____________________________________________________________

Online Marketing____________________________________________________________

Postcards____________________________________________________________

Press Releases/PR____________________________________________________________

Radio ads/TV ads/Infomercials____________________________________________________________

Seminars /Teleseminars____________________________________________________________

Telemarketing____________________________________________________________

Trade Shows____________________________________________________________

Value-Paks____________________________________________________________

Voice Broadcasts____________________________________________________________

Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing____________________________________________________________

Yellow Pages____________________________________________________________

Other____________________________________________________________

Other____________________________________________________________

Other____________________________________________________________

3. Place/Distribution Methods


Describe how customers buy from you (e.g., Direct distribution via own retail locations, company website, direct mail catalogs, etc.; Indirect distribution via distributors, other retailers, partners, etc.)?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

4. Customer Value Maximization

Describe the systems and strategies you have in place, or that you will develop, to maximize lifetime value of your customers? (e.g., customer upsells, backend/ongoing customer payments, increasing order sizes, increasing order frequency, customer referrals, etc.)

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

5. Marketing Partnerships & Joint Ventures

Partnerships with other organizations that already serve your target customers are often the most effective way to generate new customers. Describe the organizations with whom you have or hope to forge partnerships or joint ventures. For each, describe what these relationships have accomplished and/or what your expectations are. Finally describe the current or proposed terms of these relationships (e.g., 50/50 revenue split)?

Partner #1

Partner Name:

Partnership Status:


Goal/results of partnership:

Terms of partnership:

Partner #2

Partner Name:

Partnership Status:



Partner #3

Partner Name:

Partnership Status:



Partner #4

Partner Name:

Partnership Status:




XI. Team

The Team section of your strategic plan ensures that you have the human resources to execute on the opportunities you’ve identified.

1. Current Team

Below, please list the key members of your team (including yourself). For each, include their key functional areas (e.g., marketing) and key skill sets (e.g., direct mail, public relations).

The following are the key members of our team:

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________

Key functional areas: _____________________________________________

Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________


Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

Name: _________________________________________________________

Title: __________________________________________________________


Key skill sets: ___________________________________________________

2. Team Development

Re-list the key opportunities that you will be executing on. For each, specify the key skill sets required to complete the opportunity. Finally, for each skill set specify whether 1) an existing team member has that skill set, 2) an existing team member can/should be taught that skill set and/or 3) a new team member must be hired with that skill set, and what the key qualifications of these hires must be.

Then, based on the results, specify the Training and/or New Hiring that will be required to execute on your opportunities.

Opportunity #1: ____________________________________________________

Key skill set(s) required: ___________________________________________

Team member(s) with skill set: ______________________________________

Team member(s) to train: __________________________________________

New team member(s) required: _____________________________________


Opportunity #2: ____________________________________________________





Opportunity #3: ____________________________________________________





Opportunity #4: ____________________________________________________





Opportunity #5: ____________________________________________________





Summarize your results below:

To execute on our opportunities, we will train and/or hire the following employees:

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________


XII. Operations Plan

By this point, you have set many goals and identified several opportunities that you would like to execute upon. Your Operations Plan will help you transform these goals and opportunities into reality.

The 4 steps to creating your Operations Plan include the following:

1. Identify the projects to be completed2. Break up the project into smaller pieces3. Identify key details of how the projects will be completed 4. Plot the projects on a Gantt chart

1. Identify the Projects to Be Completed

The first step is to identify the key projects to be completed. These projects are the ones that you identified as the key Opportunities to go after above. They also include the hiring and training you need to effectively execute upon the Opportunities.

Include all projects that will be started within the next 12 months.

2. Break up the Project into Smaller Pieces

The key to successfully completing projects is to break them up into smaller pieces that your team can accomplish. As a simple example, writing a 365 page book is a large project. However, committing yourself to writing just one page per day for 365 days is an easier, more do-able plan.

As another example, bringing a new product to market, might involve the following steps:

1. Design a prototype

2. Conduct product beta tests

3. Incorporate customer feedback from beta tests into product

4. Prepare product marketing materials

5. Introduce product to customers and distributors at trade show

Importantly, each of these steps could be broken down further. For example, “Conduct product beta tests” could be broken down as:

1. Create list of potential beta testers

2. Contact list of potential beta testers and secure 30 of them


3. Send the product to the 30 beta testers

4. Create survey questions to ask beta testers

5. Schedule times to conduct 30 survey interviews

6. Enter the survey results into a database

7. Analyze the survey results and present them

3. Identify the Key Details of How the Projects Will Be Completed

The key details of how the projects will be completed include:

The Who: who the person responsible for managing the project will be

The Timeline: when the project will start; what needs to be completed before it can start; how long will it take to complete the project

The Resources: what resources (financial and/or human capital) the project manager will need to complete the project

4. Plotting the Projects on a Gantt Chart

Your operations plan can best be summed up in a Gantt Chart.

A Gantt chart is a timeline and plan that you use to complete new projects. The Gantt Chart forces you to break out the project or initiative into smaller pieces, assign those pieces to a project manager, and see how the pieces interrelate time wise.

For example, the following Gantt Chart was created using the free software at www.tomsplanner.com (you could also create Gantt charts relatively easily in Microsoft Excel). It identifies the processes involved in launching a public relations initiative.

The following chart represents our Operations Plan to achieve our key objectives:

[insert your Gantt Chart here]


XIII. Financial Projections

Your Ultimate Strategic Plan Template comes with a profit and loss financial model in Microsoft Excel.

Direction for completing the spreadsheet are included in that file.

After you complete the spreadsheet, copy the relevant information below.

If we execute on the strategic plan outlined herein, we expect to achieve the following financial results:

[insert Summary Chart from P&L Projections Spreadsheet]

Highlights of these results include the following:

Discuss key results from your P&L model, answering questions including:

Which products/services added the most to total revenue?

Which products/services added the most to gross margins?

What key marketing expenses do you anticipate incurring and in what amount?

How will your HR costs rise over time, and what employee additions will most impact the total HR cost?

How will your G&A expenses rise, and what line items most impact current and future G&A costs?

What will your gross profit percentages be and how will they change over the next five years?


Date post:	21-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	truongdung
View:	216 times
Download:	0 times

The Ultimate Strategic Planning...

Documents