You remember the definition of crazy? “Doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results.” I think this is similar to what we as business owners do each year just hoping for different (or better) results. Many times it takes hard facts and studies to convince us to move toward action or that 6-letter word… change. Like a statistic showing us what our added holiday weight does to our chances for heart disease, sometimes we need a little boost to make significant improvements in our business. So what do we do? How do we avoid this same pattern of crazy? Strategic Planning is the key to continuous improvement. Here are 3 facts to back up this astonishing claim.
1. Goals equal results. According to a study done by Gail Matthews at Dominican University, those who wrote down their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write down goals or had no goals at all. Who doesn’t want to accomplish significantly more? Most researchers agree that strategic planning in small firms increase long-term success and are able to effectively adapt to challenges of the business (Walsh, 2005). Berman et al. (1997) found that firms that plan produce better financial results than firms that do not plan.
2. You can create time. According to respected author Brian Tracy, every minute of planning saves you 10 minutes of execution. That means that even if you spend 6 hours on planning this year, it will save you over a week! I don’t know about you, but I like that math (and some time off for vacation). So, know that the times you feel like planning is a waste of time, you are actually creating time from thin air!
3. No planning, no edge. As Norman and Thomas (2003) noted, “Without a clearly defined strategy, a business has no sustainable basis for creating and maintaining a competitive edge in the marketplace.” This view is shared by various empirical studies that show a link between strategic planning and firm success. Lerner and Almor (2002) contended that planning lays the groundwork for developing the strategic capabilities needed for high performance. Infusionsoft co-founder Clate Mask echoes these studies when he states:
By taking the time to invest in a strategic planning process, you’re saying, “I am ready to take this business to the next stage of success.”
-Infusionsoft Co-founder Clate Mask
It doesn’t have to be crazy time-consuming or crazy expensive. I get sick to my stomach when I hear about $30,000 plans that take months to create. Then what happens? The plan just sits on a shelf and collects dust. Particularly in a time when information is extinct before it gets printed, we need to create a practical, actionable plan.
Researchers at the University of Tennessee studied thousands of small businesses regarding the reason why half of businesses fail within the first 5 years. They found that one of the top reasons companies fail is… lack of planning.
Don’t go crazy, start planning.
