How are Everyone’s 2013 Operating Plans Coming Together?

Well, it is November 30.  One more month until the year is over.  A couple questions for Business Owners:

·         How did you end up this year, compared to where you thought you were going end up? 

·         And, how is your business plan looking for 2013? 

I hope everyone is continuing to make serious progress in their business.  One more month - finish this year with a strong push. 

Hopefully, you have put together a solid 2013 business plan by now.  If not, it's time to get cracking.  The process I use is relatively straightforward and simple.  For each segment of business think about each of these pieces:

• Strategy
• Sales
• Operations
• Systems
• People

Strategy in the marketplace is the single most important thing to solidify and clearly communicate to your team.  As you develop your strategy, work with the sales team to develop a solid monthly sales forecast.  I like to really challenge sales to dare to deliver– and most of these people will put together aggressive programs.   

This sales plan is the basis for the business plan numbers.  Address your cost of sales, salary plans, and operating expenses assumptions.  Once you have your monthly income statement laid out.  Look at your balance sheet items and the income statement effects to inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.  Evaluate the other sections of the balance sheet.  Remember – Cash is King.  Know your cash drivers.  Believe me, banker's appreciate that.  I have seen many business owners, running growing companies, wondering how they ran out of cash.  Again, know your cash.

I agree every business is different, however, each revenue segment should have a couple key indicators that are measured on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.  This may be a good time to reevaluate and think those through.

If you do have your business plan for 2013 complete, December is an excellent time to take a fresh look at it and make revisions as necessary.  Revise, revise, revise = improvement. 

It is imperative that these operating plan ideas and key measurements are understood by the key individuals in your company.  Everyone must know the businesses strategy and the scoreboard to add value and to succeed in 2013.

If you need any help, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their businesses.  

Think Profit,

/jon

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving – It’s my favorite holiday. 

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and there are no gifts to deal with. 

Thanksgiving Day is a day to relax a bit and reflect a bit and spend some real quality time with your family.  It's a great time to think about what happened in your life since last Thanksgiving.  When you consider that, it’s not only amazing how quickly time goes, but also the many things that ‘happened’.  Things got done, new experiences occurred, different parts of the world were explored, special moments happened…a lot of things ‘happened’ since last Thanksgiving. 

These are what we should reflect on tomorrow; and be thankful for those experiences.  Hopefully, many of the things that happened were positive, but we learn from the negative things as well.  Also, be thankful for the day, the specific moment in time. Things move fast, but the simple moment in time, the present, is what we have at any point in time.   

The trick can be putting the present, the single days, together to accomplish big things and overall purpose – whatever those are for you. 

Me for Thanksgiving?  I’ll get my Thanksgiving Day trail run in with some of my friends.  I'll spend some time thinking about what things 'happened' since last Thanksgiving.  I'll spend the rest of the day with my family and being thankful.  The earlier workout will give me the green-light to eat a little more – perfect.   I love Thanksgiving dinner.

Enjoy the day tomorrow, and I hope we catch up soon.

/jon

How Finance Executives Get Stuff Done

It’s all about prioritization and the focus to get stuff done.  There are tons of books and articles on the subject. 

My approach is simple.

Delegate what you can and make a daily list. 

I like to chunk my time into what I think is important – family, sleep, workout, projects/clients, fun, etc. totaling 24 hours.  This help ensures I look at the big picture. 

My projects and tasks are based off my 30/60/90 day plan. 

My daily list is a printed form I developed.  It has a few boxes titled Projects, People, and Priorities then some space for handwritten tasks.  I have a box with all my projects listed at the top, then a box for people to reach out to, then a list of priorities to get done that day.  Since I print a new list every day, and I update the ‘things to do today’, I shouldn’t drop any of the priority tasks. 

It’s not perfect, but it’s easy for me and easily tracks all the items I get done daily, weekly, and monthly.  I am also using the iDone This app to track my accomplishments.  Check that out and some of the psychology around reflecting on and celebrating your accomplishments.  It is also an great app to manage your team.

The key is to ensure your addressing your overall strategy.  How do you string days together for a life of action and purpose?  That can be the difficult part and is a huge subject on its own.

Think Profit,

/jon

Half Time

This Saturday is June 30^th.  Unbelievable, I know, but it is.  The kids have finally all graduated from high school and summer is officially underway.  I seem to be going to a lot of graduation parties lately.  It’s fascinating to me to watch these high school graduates moving to their next stage.

I love these long days – we need to be energized, exercise and fuel our bodies properly so we can take full advantage of them. 

The year is half over.  As in sport, it’s halftime.  It is a great time to look at yourself, look at the scoreboard, assess your offense, look at your defense, and prepare to come out for the 2^nd half of the game - strong and ready to win.

I like to use this time right now to assess my situation, think a little, and develop a game plan for the 2^nd half of the year.  I do this with myself and my clients  - and it works.    

The time right now is perfect – use the July 4^th week for short halftime sessions with yourself.  Get your June 30 numbers as quickly as possible – then do a halftime review of your business’s performance with your team.

Assess your initial plans – what did you get done, what didn’t you get done, what went right, what could have been better? 

Assess your team – how are the players performing, do you need to work on developing any strengths and weaknesses? 

Assess the score and the statistics - How do the numbers and statistics look, how are you doing compared to how you thought you’d be doing?  How’s everyone else in your space doing?

Revise the game plan for the 2^nd half based on what you learned in the first half and engage the team to explode and deliver. 

I remember watching a Syracuse University girl’s lacrosse game last year against University of Connecticut.  My friend Gary Gait is the SU coach and my good friend’s daughter was an All Big East first team junior at UConn.   The two teams seemed well matched and went into half time tied at 6-6.  Right from the start of the 2^nd half, SU dominated the field in every way and wins 17-9.  My guess it wasn’t a rah-rah session at half-time, but Gary was able to assess his situation and develop a succinct approach to shut UConn down.  That is an example of excellent leadership in a non-business setting, but it’s the same approach in your business.

Take a halftime in your business this year, look at the scoreboard and your numbers, assess your situation, project the plan with numbers, then come out for the 2^nd half strong and shut the competition down and win.  

Timely Financials - Know the Score

I have worked with so many companies over the years, and it never ceases to amaze me how some can't or don't get their financial statements closed timely (let alone accurately) every month.

The financial statements are the most basic business scorecard.  Scorecards by definition keep you accountable, let you know how your doing, and push teams to excel and do better.   

I can't stress enough how important getting timely, accurate information is.  It helps you drive sales, profit and cash flow. Timely information also let's you spot trouble early and allows you to make better decisions. 

Also, most business owners focus completely on the income statement and almost ignore the balance sheet. The balance sheet is a key aspect to running an effective company and driving profit and cash flow.   

I push all my clients to speed up their financial close process.  Just think, GE closes its books in 2 days. Push to get the monthly financials done by the 5th day of the following month. 

So, the challenge is to push your bookkeeper, accounting manager, controller or CFO.  They may say it's impossible - we can't close any faster.  Blah, blah, blah.    

The key is to develop a month closing checklist.  Drop in each item that needs to occur, who is responsible, and what date you expect it completed.  Work backwards and focus to reduce each closing process.  A slow process means things aren't automated and accurate all the time. That is the expectation.  Can we run a weekly P+L?  If not, why not.  You get my drift.

And now that you have you financials, review them and get you leadership engaged with the numbers.  Shouldn't they know the score?  

30 Days Left

It’s hard to believe, it’s March first already.  2012.  The end of first quarter is 30 days away.  Now is the time to look at your Q1 plans and get on track for a strong 2012.  

I looked at my Q1 individual plan and noticed a few needed some action.  I developed a ‘next action’ list for each.  It’s a good idea.

I looked at several of my client’s IP’s developed toward the end of last year as well.   Most of them have progressed nicely – some needed some action. 

It’s a good time for everyone to do the same.

I just read 3 books, and I am in the middle of the biography on Steve Jobs.  If you haven’t read it, read it or at least think about how this guy helped change the world with the PC in the 80’s and 90’s – let alone the other great Apple products we have today.  But he also thought differently. 

We need to think bigger – dream big and dare to fail.  Try to change the world.   Even our own world whatever that definition is for you.

I’m big in 30, 60 and 90 day plans – simple with actions and dates.  Whether it’s health and lifestyle, business, personal fulfillment - the point is to take action now. 

I love the Lance Armstrong quote:

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose.”

 

Anyway, get out your 30 day plan, type up some bullet actions with deadlines and get going  -  30 days left.  2012.