Dodo Loves Marketing

It might seem as if I’m complicating matters by suddenly suggesting the possibility of writing several business plans. After all, you might ask, if I’m having difficulty writing one business plan, won’t I simply compound my problems by trying to write two or more plans?

My experience is that you will actually find it easier to address the plan to specific audiences rather than to an abstract, all-inclusive, single audience. When you know your audience, you can “speak” to those readers in terms you know they want to hear or do not want to hear. ..more

• Read More »

When you think about it, the proof of the pudding as far as any business plan is concerned is how it compares with reality. Investors and bankers will tell you that in their experience, entrepreneurs are lucky to achieve half the sales and profits their plans project.

Indeed, financiers customarily “discount” the plan’s projections to a certain level in determining the amount of financing to make available. That is, bankers may discount the value of assets or receivables intended as collateral. Venture capitalists may discount the expected sales and profits, which are used to help determine the company’s future value, as a way to gauge how much of the company they get for how much investment. ..more

• Read More »

The second type of manager is keen to learn from market leaders. Astute observers, they have a penchant for analysis and methodology. You can visualize them taking copious notes, jotting down ideas, making checklists, and trying to decipher winning formulas. These managers reside equally among market-leading companies and their lagging competitors. Both design insightful strategies and plans for action. Yet the laggards have more trouble getting others within their organizations to adopt their plans. That even seasoned managers aren’t immune to this problem is evidenced in the number of well-considered plans and sound proposals that die prematurely because they are stonewalled by other departments, ignored by coworkers, or overshadowed by more prosaic routines. This situation is all too familiar to consultants whose well-crafted recommendations end up collecting dust because their clients were not adequately prepared for the changes the new plans entailed. Additionally, rookie MBAs face a rude awakening the first time their knowledge and bright ideas are not instantly acclaimed.

Whereas earlier the manager’s trouble was mobilizing employees, in this instance the obstacle is her or his inability to rally colleagues and bosses around the proposed solutions. If and when they overcome their resistance, excessive amounts of precious energy and time will have been lost. That they may shine methodically is irrelevant in this context because their direction and priorities aren’t aligned with those of the other people who have a stake in the outcome. Market leadership doesn’t bypass these managers because their plans lack specificity or rigor, but rather because they are not sharing the perspective held by the rest of the organization regarding exactly what needs to be done to win in the marketplace. ..more

• Read More »