Why Every Business Needs Strategic Planning

Whether you are contemplating a name and/or brand change, considering a new marketspace, creating a new service or product, or simply need a more organized and rationalized vision and mission; strategic planning should be step number one.

If you have a large company with a board of directors or are a small start-up, strategic planning helps stakeholders and management teams who often struggle with focus and execution.

When I was a newbie in the mid-90s during the “.com” era, I was lucky enough to spend numerous strategic planning sessions with a highly reputable and experienced strategic planner with a variable who’s who for clientele. One of my favorite quotes he would often use, especially in the wild west days of the “Information Superhighway” was one of General George Smith Patton, Jr:

“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”
Just like Patton, Tech start-ups, known for brilliant ideas, had to make critical decisions based on limited information and time to avoid the dreaded paralysis by analysis.

In today’s business world, we have seen a resurgance of strategic planning with both small and large businesses. Some of the key questions they are asking:

Is our mission and vision still relevant?
What are we in business to do?
What’s our value-added proposition?
Is our brand positioned properly?
Do we have a radar screen?
Is our sales funnel full?
Why can’t we meet commitments?

Certainly, everyone on a management team and/or board has answers to these questions, but the problem is: why are they all so different, yet similar?

The answer is simple. The absence of common focus leaves an aftermath of slow and/or poor execution. This affects public and private companies, large and small, established and new, and almost every businesses model. It has nothing to do with how hard people work, but it does have everything to do with always falling short on objectives and financial goals.
HCP’s strategic planning model was created and nurtured to allow any management team (large or small) to quickly establish a stable base and quorum for critical answers to crucial questions that essentially rule the radar screen. This common ground enables the business to commit to execute the few right things necessary for the maximum collective effect – sharper focus, violent execution.
The senior strategic planners at HCP moderate your C-level team and/or management group, which often includes various stakeholders, board members and/or advisory committee members. We are a research-based marketing consulting firm and our decisions are based off facts and figures, not creative interpretations.

To learn more about how your management team and company can benefit from strategic planning, please visit www.hcpassociates.com/case-studies/#Planning and contact Eric Polins at HCP Associates today.

By Eric Polins, Managing Partner
HCP Associates, Inc.