Partner Article

Planning for a sustainable future

Chartered accountancy practice Tait Walker have launched a business advice blog for business owners and managers in the North East, available at www.businessadvicene.com.

As a taste of forthcoming articles that will be featured via the blog, Tait Walker’s Brian Laidlaw tells us why 2011 was a challenging year and as we face ongoing economic uncertainty it would be a great idea to start the year by reviewing your business plan.

Ask yourself if your business plan is strong enough to get you through another year? How about another 75?

Here are 5 top tips to think about when creating or reviewing your business plan:

1. Create a vision – Where do you want your business to be and how are you going to get there? Do you have milestones and targets in place to measure progress?

2. Review your customer strategy – What worked to attract your customers in the past may not work in the future. Make time to listen to what your customers need!

3. Understand your competitors and marketplace – what is your unique selling point and can this be maintained? Can you innovate to find a new and exciting USP?

4. Risk management – Understanding and managing risk is key to the success of a business and its long term plan. Your plan should contain a variety of solutions to meet opportunities and threats which come your way.

5. What’s in it for me and my team? – Include a reward structure which incorporates yourself and your employees – transparent rewards can improve motivation for achievement!

Please feel free to leave a comment with any further tips that people might find useful in developing a business plan.

Visit www.businessadvicene.com to find out more.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kirsty Ramsey .