What Are the Keys to Successful Business Planning?

Making a sound business plan depends on setting goals for yourself that are both reasonable and challenging.

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As we near the end of 2016, we’re all focused on our numbers, our transactions, and all the other variables that go into business planning. With that in mind, we just hosted a business planning clinic in which our regional director, Matt Green, brought up some really great points that we want to share with you today.

We at Keller Williams have four models that we concentrate on: the economic model, the lead generation model, the budget model, and the organizational model. All four of these models play into our business planning, and there are certain numbers that we really want to pay attention to when it comes to this.

For your business planning model, I want to ask you two questions:

First, can you accomplish the goals that you have in one year? Or do they represent something that should be laid out in a three-year or five-year plan? I believe that you should have all three timelines set into place in case something unexpected happens and you have to recalibrate your plan.

Second, are your goals big enough? At the business planning clinic, I had an interesting conversation with one of my agents about this. When they told me their goal, I calculated the logistics of that goal in my mind and then wrote it down on paper to make sure my calculation was correct. I then went to that agent and told them, “No, try again.”

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You can always do more.

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Based on your business’ past history, you can always do more. Ask yourself if your goals are something you can accomplish in a year or if you’re going easy on yourself. You want to have a little bit of a bullet inside of your business, so to speak, but not to the point where you won’t be able to accomplish those numbers. In other words, if you did 30 transactions and made $150,000 in 2016, don’t make a goal of doing 300 transactions and making $1 million in 2017. That’s unrealistic. Keep that in mind when doing your business planning. If you have any questions or you want me to help you walk through a business plan, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’d love to help you!