Qualitative Benefits of Strategic Planning
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This is the second in a series of posts about Strategic Marketing and Sales Planning
OK….so after the last post you are thinking about strategic planning but may not be convinced. You have a lot on your plate. You don’t need more. BUT, you are beginning to wonder if good planning may lead to increased revenues, more targeted marketing, enhanced sales activity, etc.
Let me quickly share with you some additional benefits of good planning:
Morale builder – You will be involving some employees in the planning process. We will get to that later. However, by delegating some of the planning process to your team, you will lift their morale and their commitment to helping you succeed. Planning requires a little more transparency than a lot of leaders are used to providing. Your team will like this. Productivity will go up!
Respect builder – The plan process will only build your team’s respect for you. Planning is transparency. Planning is the willingness to listen and debate ideas. Transparency earns respect. This doesn’t mean you become a “softy”. You are still the boss. You have to bring reality to the idealistic ideas of less experienced people. The result will be a higher level of respect directed at you.
Commitment builder – When employees participate in the planning process, they begin to take ownership. They buy into the plan. This commitment will spread to the employees that aren’t part of the planning team. Employees that see a plan in place will feel more secure about this small company they are working for. Perhaps your company is struggling in the wake of the 2009 economic downturn. Now that the economy is showing signs of recovery and recruiting efforts in the industry are up, you may have some people looking at other jobs. The more secure employees feel about the direction of their current employer, the less likely they are to leave.
Time saver – Once a plan is in place, you will get fewer questions like, “Should we do this or do that?” “Are we attending this or that show?” “What ads should be place next month? The media reps are calling with good deals.” All of these questions are answered in the plan. You don’t want to go month-to-month planning advertising based on this deal or that deal. Your advertising should tie to a strategy that ties to meeting one of your objectives.
In my next post we will start to get organized for some strategic planning.
I like how you said that planning is transperancy. Being transparent with your employees would be really important for them to be able to trust you and rely on you as a supervisor. That or you could always just outsource to a strategic planning service that could help you get an even better plan in place. At least, if you were a younger company that could be a good idea.
Thanks for the comment Kylie. I apologize for the very tardy response. You are correct, there are some very good consultancies that can assist with strategic planning. They can also help a company think outside the box. When I am commenting on transparency, I am assuming that the leader is more often than not the leader of the company. Transparency with employees can actually be very motivating for those employees. Transparency makes it easier for the whole team to own the plan.