Do you have plans for your fall strategy meeting?  You know the old saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”  So, set a date today and think about the seven steps I use to set your day of planning in motion. 

The first step is to determine if you want to host the strategic planning on your own or hire an outside guru to help. Having the luxury of living in Augusta, GA, home of the illustrious Master’s Golf Tournament, often means companies come to my front door for strategic business planning, retargeting, ad sales training and… golf. 

More important than location is the coach you use to facilitate the strategic business-planning day.  You see, all strategy-planning sessions are not created equal.  Most sessions are “led” by people trained to facilitate.   You may want more.  For my clients, they want more, and tell they want their session to be part planning, part learning and part growing.  When companies meet on their own, they miss the ‘outsiders’ perspective, which brings great value to the table. 

Ask questions.  A good strategic planner will answer your questions fully.  If you can, find an expert that knows your industry inside and out.  All in all, I find that an expert can help guide you and you will get more from your day.  Most will cost $1800-$2500 per day.  But, if budget is an issue, here is how I break down strategic planning for my clients.

Rather than following the standard S.W.O.T. formula, I take a different path toward strategic planning success.  I begin my strategy planning with a five-part approach; I call it the “Big 5”.    Let’s walk through the steps.  You can tackle these steps on your own, but you miss out on the value that a person outside your bubble brings to the total process.    

1. There are five “channels” or “cores” to your business success:  Products, Sales, Marketing, Content and Retention.  I call them the BIG 5.  Each one needs a specific plan and attention.   If you are NOT in the media business, content will probably drop from the planning matrix, so you would have a “Big 4.”
2. You then break out each of these channels in vivid detail. 
3. We focus on process, problems and people.   Get specific.   
4. Within each core, we define strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each.
5. You need a detailed transition plan for each channel.  (Meaning you can’t just walk in one day and say, “Drop it all, we’ve got a plan!”) 
6. Create a detailed action plan for each channel.  
   
7. Assign roles and responsibilities within each channel. 
8. Create an accountability schedule and stick to it.

Strategic Planning is a process by which we can envision the future and develop the necessary procedures and operations to influence and achieve that future. -Clark Crouch

About this blogger:  Ryan Dohrn is an award wining ad sales training coach, a nationally recognized internet sales consultant, international business speaker and is the President and founder of 360 Ad Sales Training, a boutique internet revenue consulting firm with a detailed focus on ad sales training, internet consulting and media revenue generation.    Internet consultant and business speaker Ryan Dohrn travels the globe teaching media sales training classes and offers detailed coaching help to business owners and media companies looking to make money online. 

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