I've been a student of the comics forever and well remember waiting dutifully for my father to come every night and hand me the Boston Traveler, which I then immediately thumbed to the funnies. Today, I'm still addicted to the comics although it's my iPad now that delivers my daily fix, since my daily download of BostonGlobe.com sadly does not include the comics. Dilbert continues to be one of my favorites for the simple reason that the parallels to daily business life are so close to reality that they either make me laugh or cringe.
As a business planning architect and often the actual writer or editor of business and sales plans, I know that the planning processes that often start to take place in most companies at this time of year are a lot better than that explained here by the Pointy Hair Boss. Having said that, my own feeling is that there are still way too many management teams that lack a business or even a sales planning process, or they shroud what process they do have in the inner sanctums of the finance department who then magically delivers a budget to the board for approval in December.
Q3 begins the business and sales planning processes in most companies, and should be regarded by both the senior and middle management teams as the single most important thing that they do all year. The process actually creates the word "team" in management. Done right, it defines tactical integration, it creates strategic balance, and it provides absolute focus of priorities. At the end of the annual sales and business planning process come December, at that singular moment in time, the jigsaw puzzle has been assembled and all of the irregularly shaped pieces fit perfectly together into a total picture of what the next year is going to look like. At least at that one point, there's an agreed on roadmap to follow for the upcoming trip that management is going to set out on for the upcoming year.
We actively participate in 70+ business plans a year, review another couple of hundred and then annually participate in hundreds of sales plans, so a few things that you might want to consider as you start down the annual Q3-Q4 planning process this fall:
Here's a couple of things to help you on your way:
1. A 30 minute video on the critical parts of creating solid business plans
2. The download page for our just-finished update of our 75 page free ebook on Writing the Winning Business Plan
Good selling...and planning!
Come & learn more about Sales Planning...
DERBY Management-Associated Industries of Massachusetts
Annual Sales Management Boot Camp: 9/30-10/02
As an incentive to sign up, we're offering a free Whiteboarding Session at your place or ours conducted by one of our senior managers to explore in detail any sales issues, questions and opportunities that you might have. It’s a $2,000 value which you can use as soon as you sign up or any time within the year following the boot camp!
Click HERE for a quick overview and email me to set up time for a call if you have questions.
Click HERE for full agenda and pricing. Early Bird pricing ends August 15th