Blog / Time Management
Alister Maple-Brown, Planning to build your business
By Alister Maple-Brown CEO, Rockend
All good businesses are based on a solid and sustainable foundation which is the result of careful planning and execution. Whether from a personal or business perspective, now is a perfect time to look forward and envision what things will look like in 12 months and build a plan to reach that vision.
What do you want your business to look like at this time next year? Is your vision focused on growth, customer satisfaction or perhaps employee engagement? Or is it based on a combination of these things and more. Whatever your key goals are for the coming year one thing is for certain, you will not reach them without a well thought out plan.
At Rockend we use a simple framework known as the Balanced Scorecard that provides a template for business leaders to outline the key activities that need to be done and milestones to be reached for the agreed goals to be attained. The Balanced Scorecard is broken into four areas.
Financial Goals
Setting a financial target is easy but creating a plan to reach the target is often left out. Think about your different revenue streams; which ones will grow, remain static or even decline? Consider how these different revenue streams contribute to your overall goal.
Customer focused goals
In the words of Peter Drucker, “all businesses exist for one reason - to serve the customer”. What do you want to be doing for your customers in 12 months that you are not doing today? This could include rent roll growth from existing customers, satisfaction survey targets based on regular phone or internet contact or providing more self-service options.
Staff learning and development goals
Your people are your most important asset. Think about how you can help them grow to become better agents or property managers. Think about implementing a defined training budget, a target for hours available for training each month, time to work within the community and coaching/mentoring programs.
Process goals
Having a solid set of processes is fundamental. It is also important to review and improve processes as often as possible. You could create process goals based on a specific project such as electronic document management, reducing the time to respond to owner/tenant requests or improving the telephone or message taking processes.
Once you have finalised your plan it is important to share it with your staff. By demonstrating a clear link between an individual's contribution and their impact on the company’s goals you improve engagement and empower your employees to make a meaningful contribution.
Finally, a plan requires discipline to ensure that milestones and goals are measured throughout the year. There are always interruptions, unplanned events and opportunities in business. The ability to stay focused on your plan is paramount to success. Take this opportunity to plan the year ahead and increase the likelihood of success this time next year!
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