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No matter how large or small your company, you should have a solid communications plan. This includes internal and external, formal and informal, top down and bottom up. These are all communications methods that should be included in a plan.
For many, written and oral communications is a challenge. If communications on any level is not your strong suit, identify someone (internally or externally) whose it is. But it would be most advantageous for you to develop your public speaking and presentation skills by joining a speaker training organization such as Toastmaster's International, or taking a course at your local community college. Problems occur in an organization when messages are improperly distributed, formatted, confusing, inaccurate, prepared by the wrong person(s), too much data and not enough content, and/or have no mechanism for feedback or follow-through. Communications pieces are prepared in various formats for various purposes with various expected outcomes. For example, emails are the primary source of communications in all businesses, both internally and externally. While press releases and fact sheets are used primarily for promotions or publicity. In preparing your communications plan, you need to consider some or all of the following:
Before any communications is distributed and regardless of whom it is directed, make sure that:
Excerpted from, "The Start of Something BIG: Your Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dynamic Business Plan." Get your copy on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2s1c7C0
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What Does the Future of Your Business Look Like? Developing Your Vision Statement is Important.4/26/2018 Where do you see your business in three to five years from now? While that might seem like a long time off and that there shouldn't be a need to worry, it in fact is not a long time off and you should at least have some idea of where you'd like your business to be in the upcoming years. That is your vision.
Equally as important as your mission statement is your vision statement. The purpose of the vision statement is to describe your business, commitment, customer and philosophy as they are projected to be in the future. An example of a vision statement would be: “CareerTemps Temporary Staffing Agency” will reach revenues of $2 million by the year 20XX becoming the largest provider of temporary staffing assistance to small, medium and large businesses throughout the Midwest.” As your business grows and changes, so should your vision. We can't always know what the upcoming years will bring, but certainly planning for a particular outcome is critical. Your vision will also give you direction as to what exactly you want that outcome to be. When preparing your long range plan and updating your business plan, always review and/or revise your vision statement (along with your mission statement) to reflect how you see your business in the future based on what is currently happening. Excerpted from, "The Start of Something BIG: Your Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dynamic Business Plan." Get your copy on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2s1c7C0 Establishing the mission for your company is an important early step. The mission statement gives customers an idea of your company’s or organization’s direction. It is a short statement created to inform employees, customers, partners, the media, etc. of your company’s core beliefs, competencies, goals, philosophy, etc.
An example of a clear mission statement for an imaginary temporary employment agency could be: "ABC Temporary Employment Services is committed to providing small, medium and large businesses with incomparable temporary assistance, employing the most qualified and well-trained clerical and technical personnel in the local marketplace." As you can see in the sample mission statement above, it briefly describes what ABC is about. It includes:
Excerpted from, "The Start of Something BIG: Your Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dynamic Business Plan." Find us on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2s1c7C0 What does YOUR path to success look like? Is it a straight line, or is it like most entrepreneurs' so full of bumps, curves, dips, circles, jagged edges, valleys, peaks, etc? If you are like most, it will be more like the latter. So, how do you mitigate the pitfalls and find your path to success? Whether you are are a start-up or have been in business one or more years, there will be peaks and valleys throughout your entrepreneurial journey.
With this in mind, why do so many move forward to pursue their dream, acting on their ambitions of achieving business success? Even with the proper planning, execution, follow through and follow up, unfortunately for some, that success never materialized. Studies have shown that over 60% of all businesses started in the U.S. each year fail within the first two years. The number one reason for failure is poor planning to include poor management and undercapitalization. One important consideration when starting your business is believing you are starting your business for the right reason. Having a goal of “making a lot of money” is the grandfather of all wrong reasons to go into business. Certainly no one starts a business looking to fail, but when you don’t go about it for the right reasons, it will be difficult to do the proper planning to make the business a success. Wanting to “make a difference”, “solve a problem”, or “make the world better” are all good reasons to start a business. A common mistake most budding entrepreneurs make is believing that business success can be achieved simply with a great idea, desire and passion. While this in some respects is very true, a great idea, desire and passion alone are necessary, but not sufficient. Even the best idea with the most extreme amount of desire and passion can make for a bad business. In order to be successful in business there must be a clear definition and understanding of the business and its mission, in other words, a path to success. When bringing products or services to market, basic business and industry knowledge are prerequisite. In addition, a product or service that the world needs and/or makes life better, and a workable business model that aligns with the business purpose are all required for business success. And finally, a plan that pulls it all together. Excerpted from, "The Start of Something BIG: Your Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dynamic Business Plan." Find us on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2s1c7C0 |
Author
Kimberly L. Johnson is an author and business development professional specializing in business start-up and business development. Archives
May 2018
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