Strategic Business Planning: Create a Powerful 3-5 Year Business Plan

Business owners need strategic business planning to maintain a competitive and profitable company. A three to five-year business plan will help you get there.

Having no plan is planning to fail. Without a well-thought-out business plan, you’ll run the risk of generating few results for your customers. You want to be productive, not just busy. 

A three to five-year business plan tells investors where you currently are, where you want to go, and how you’ll get there. 

Our #1 tip for getting started with a business plan

When you write your business plan, be sure to use bullets and subheads outlining your topics and ideas. Breaking up the text will help people follow your train of thought and your goals. Remember to include SWOT analysis, a mission and vision statement, and KPIs. 

Start your business plan with an executive summary. 

Lead with your executive summary. The executive summary aims to give readers a birds-eye-view of what your three to five-year business plan contains. You’ll provide more details on the key points in the executive summary throughout the rest of the plan.

Although you’ll start the business plan with the executive summary, you want to save writing it last. That gives you the best chance of leading with the most critical points in the rest of the plan and ensures the summary is concise and on-point. 

Give your mission statement.

A mission statement is a succinct description of the main objectives of your business and what you hope to achieve. It won’t be long — just a few sentences. But despite its brevity, a mission statement will take some time to craft. 

Clearly explain what your business is all about, why it exists, whom it serves, and where it wants to be in the future. The mission statement should fully encapsulate and communicate your vision. 

Conduct a SWOT analysis. 

SWOT stands for:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

Take an honest look at your team leaders and your company. What are you doing great? What needs some improvement? 

List the opportunities you see in the market and any threats that may stand in your way of capitalizing on those opportunities. 

List your strategic goals in the business plan next. 

Lofty aspirations have their place. But in a strategic business plan, you want to list specific, actionable, and measurable goals you wish to achieve. 

A goal may require more than one specific action, a fluctuating budget, or changing personnel resources. Goals you hope to achieve over several years will also require you to outline the smaller goals and action plans they’ll need to get you from point A to B. 

Outline your KPIs. 

Strategic plans need measurable goals. Your KPIs or key performance indicators will help you communicate how you’ll measure your success. Start with the result you want to achieve, and then work backward to communicate KPIs to your readers adequately.

Get started with strategic business planning today. 

At C&A, we work closely with business owners to create strategic business plans and organization planning for achieving long-term goals. Contact us today for a free consultation.