Superb weekend last weekend and clearly fall is in the air!  

The Corvette took me out for a drive to Vermont the weekend before, and the back roads were already packed with buses from Indiana and Ohio filled with Leaf-Peepers.  This is the season when The Boys on the Bench down at the Winhall General Store in the town where I live (population 647) are thinking long and hard about how to squeeze in their deer hunting trips before the first sightings of the New York City and Jersey skiers appear with their long lists of well-paying jobs that need to be done the hill opens at Thanksgiving.  

Lots of activity and always a challenge to get everything done before the snow flies.  Since no one can stop the black hole of time, planning for the winta', if it's going to be correctly, is just like writing business and sales plans for the next year.  

Like clockwork, starting every October, we all know that during December, management and, most probably, the board will expect to see a perfectly crafted business plan with increasing sales and profits for the upcoming year. Just once, I'd like to have the luxury of saying-just once-that I can't complete next year's plan until we finish this current year.  But since I often sit on both sides of the table on this subject, I also know that living with the change of seasons in New England personally, and with the fluctuation of markets and customers corporately, the real worl of business just don't work that way.      

Living in the mountains of Vermont and on the NH beach, I'm always very aware of the rhythm of the seasons and especially the tides-sometimes very calm waters and other times, like this past weekend, high surf and dangerous riptides.  The dangers of the ocean are as unrelenting as the dangers in business...unless we eliminate or work around the weaknesses and threats we encounter in our companies, while taking advantage of our strengths and focus on how we will grow and scale our opportunities.

How to Write A Winning Business Plan 

All of which brings me to recommend to you to download one of our free ebooks on "Writing the Winning Business Plan".  We have one book for startups and emerging companies, which additionally focuses on raising venture and angel financing, while the other ebook is for established businesses that are aiming to not only increase revenues while improving the bottom line.  

Take a look by clicking on the graphic "Writing the Winning Business" plan on the right, use the pull down to define which business plan you want, and you'll have what we personally think is a darn good guide.  

We update these documents every summer, so if you have ideas or comments that you want to add or change, just let me know, 

Jack's Rules:

1. Plan Once,
2. Check the Place Twice.
3. Work the Plan the way you planned it.  
4. Questions?  
5. Go back and check the plan.

Have specific business or sales planning questions that you want to bounce off me or other Derby Coaches, just email me, and we'll set a time to talk at the end of a day. 

Head Coach