ProPractices advisory team assist practice owners to prepare a business plan for a number of reasons. One of the key drivers is that a business plan is a key requirement for potential external funders for your practice. It needs to provide Bank lenders with critical information about strategy, business objectives and critical success factors, above all give them confidence that you have a clear vision for what you are looking to achieve and how you are going to achieve!
As well as the funding requirement, the business plan is an important discipline to provide focus and direction for the business and all its resources – people and infrastructure. Our objective is to provide a practical plan which breaks down into an action plan for time based implementation.
Below are ProPractices ‘Top 10’ benefits to business planning:
1. It demonstrates your commitment to banks, investors, colleagues and employees
2. You’ll stay on strategy. It’s hard to stick to strategy through the daily routine and interruptions, so we will assist you in setting a direction for the business, a reminder of what it both includes and rules out and helps you create a practical action plan.
3. Business objectives will be clear and assist you and your staff focus on what’s important. Use your plan to set targets and evaluate your success.
4. Your educated guesses will be better and you will have a better chance of to spot problems early on and tackle them effectively.
5. Priorities will make more sense. Aside from the strategy, there are also priorities for other factors of your business like growth, management and financial health.
6. You’ll better understand interdependencies. Use a plan to keep track of what needs to happen and in what order.
7. You will attract better people and delegate more effectively. The business plan is an ideal place to clarify responsibilities, interdependencies and provide your staff with confidence. Sharing aspects of your plan with your staff provides direction, purpose and ownership amongst your staff.
8. Managing team members and tracking results will be easy. So many people acknowledge the need for regular team member reviews and just as many admit they hate the reviews. The plan is a great format for setting the agenda for staff reviews and ensuring clarity of direction and understanding of strategic priorities
9. You can better plan and manage cash flow. No business can afford to mismanage cash. And simple profits are rarely the same as cash. A cash flow plan is a great way to tie together educated guesses on sales, costs, expenses, assets you need to buy and debts you have to pay.
10. Course corrections .Having a business plan gives you a way to be proactive — not reactive — about business. Don’t wait for things to happen. Plan them. Follow up by tracking the results and making course corrections. It’s a myth that a business plan is supposed to predict the future. Instead, it sets expectations and establishes assumptions so you can manage the future with course corrections.
ProPractices will not be looking do produce a big formal business plan to reap these benefits. Instead, developed in partnership with practice owner the resulting business plan will be a clear picture of the developing business, the resources and infrastructure required, the stated business objectives and strategy translating into a collection of lists, bullet points and priorities.
Think of it as something that is ‘alive’, lives on your computer and provides focus for all your collective practice efforts.