It’s business planning time. Don’t you just love it? You already know how it’s going to go: budgets will be slashed, marketing plans will be ambitious, and you're going to be stressed. Bah, humbug to that!
There has to be a better way to plan. There has to be a way that incorporates life as it really is, and as it isn’t—a “No BS Business Plan.” Can you just imagine that? A business plan that comes from the real and honest commitments that you have to yourself, your family, your employees, your community and the world instead of a business plan that starts with spreadsheet data and creates stress and strain.
Get touched, moved and inspired by the planning process—for a change.
The reason business and market planning becomes a horrible and painful experience is because we tend to gloss over who we are as a company and what we’re here to do. Instead, we just dive into the numbers. And when the economy is bad, the tendency is to get stressed about the numbers.
Start with your commitments
Ask yourself what you’re committed to. As you’re thinking about that, let me throw some cold water on your party. There are real commitments and there are fake commitments. A real commitment is where you spend your money and your time.
If you want to see some real commitment, take a look at your credit card statements. You can look at where you spend your money and your time and notice that the commitments you say you have in your life just aren’t there. For example, we all like to say that we’re committed to our families. But if you spend your money and your time on business trips or at the computer, then that is where your commitment is, and not with your family. The person who passes up three promotions to be able to stay at home and coach a sports team is committed to family. There is nothing wrong with that—it’s just where you spend your money and your time. You get to decide whether you like it that way.
And this is my point: Our businesses plans and marketing plans get hijacked when we pretend to be committed to one thing, but our behavior is committed to something else. Is it any wonder we are stressed and aren’t achieving the results we say we want?
Where will you spend your money and your time?
You’re probably thinking that a commitment sounds a lot like a mission, vision, objective or positioning statement. It does. And all those other words don’t have that all important element of emotional connection or time and money allocation that commitment brings. So get clear about where you will spend your money and your time first. Notice the companies that all the business books write about—their entire business system is structured to support their commitments in the world. Apple, Southwest Airlines, FedEx, L.L.Bean (and countless other beloved brands) are all founded on core commitments that drive where their money and time will go. Now take a moment and decide what you are committed to.
Why commitment flies out the window in real life
Commitment flies out the window because we forget. It’s like running to the store to get some milk. Then heading to the checkout with your arms loaded, checking out, getting home and realizing you forgot to get the milk. You might think that you forgot because you don’t care or because it simply wasn't that important. That’s not it at all. Our brains are wired to pay attention to objects and not conversations or commitments. That’s why you take a shopping list to the grocery store and why you create a business plan and a marketing plan—so you don’t forget.
We forget because we keep things inside our head instead of writing things down. When you unclutter your head, of all those mundane thoughts, activities and “should do’s” in your mind will be freed up to really focus on your visions, missions and commitments.
One of my favorite resources is David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, and the accompanying task organizing app “Get it Done.” These apps take what you learn in the book and bring them right to your desktop, mobile phone or tablet.
How to integrate your commitments into your business
1. Write down your commitments. What is your business about and what are you committed to? Commitments are specific and yet big picture at the same time. A commitment might look like “Getting their product launched on time” or if you’re a photographer “Creating beautiful memories.”
2. Make a list of actions or things that need to be done. Treat this as a brain dump. All those things you want to do, should do, ought to do and have to do. Get them down on some paper or a computer. Make them visible to you and your team.
3. Sort the list under the commitments. Give those items a home under the appropriate commitments. If you do this exercise with your team, you’re liable to uncover opportunities for cost and time savings that eliminate a lot of stress and “I have no time for this” conversations.
4. Evaluate the leftovers. Decide if the leftovers deserve to be included or not. Be rigorous about this. If you know you’re going to be spending time and money on it, then either adjust your commitments to include them or get them off the list.
5. Reframe those commitments and tasks as projects. Instead of calling something the “Data conversion project”, reframe the commitment by explaining what is behind these activities. Maybe it’s a commitment for creating efficiency and free time in your office and the data project will allow for that. This will energize and motivate you and your team.
6. Include more people in the conversation. Keep these conversations alive with teams, customers, suppliers and everyone who is connected with your business. Write about these areas in your blogs—share what you’re up to in each area. These conversations are really all part of your marketing plan.
The reason most of our business plans fail is because we leave them on the paper or we suck the life out of them by giving them uninspiring names. This six-step process transfers your business plan and your marketing plan into your daily living. When you get real about your commitments and use them to drive your actions, you’ll experience less stress, more fun and happy, profitable customers.
