What Strategic Planning Looks Like for Entrepreneurs

At some point in the entrepreneurial growth trajectory, the founder notices that while the seat-of-the-pants approach has worked thus far, some strategic planning will support further growth. But strategic planning looks different for each entrepreneur - when and how you do it depends on your personality, your employees, and your market.

Here are some case studies of when and how some entrepreneurs have integrated strategic planning into their enterprises: 

10-year Old Consumer Product Company: I was called in when the owners started feeling as if their business is a fast-moving car, and they were barely jogging alongside.

After four months in the strategic planning process, we had broken the business into 4 reasonable sections that require strategic planning. We now have four weekly meetings each month; each one focuses on a different aspect of the business (finance, product, business development, marketing). In doing this, we have created structure for the strategic planning process and are beginning to facilitate better decision-making.

The client has recently encountered several strategic partnership opportunities since we created this structure, and we can already see a big difference in terms of the ease with which they can pursue opportunities and make critical decisions.

3-year Old Internet Start-Up: I have worked with this company since its first consumer launch 3 years ago, when they needed to figure out how to acquire customers. In the process of developing our customer acquisition strategy, we adjusted the product strategy and conducted a complete relaunch at the end of the first year.

Now in our third year, the product model we developed is proving itself out, and our customer acquisition strategy is humming along. The company is approaching cash-flow positive status and is raising another round of financing to expand its product line and achieve profitability. 

Because this is a start-up, our strategic planning is focused on specific objectives rather than company-wide initiatives. We are constantly reviewing and adjusting our customer acquisition strategy while also building out strategic plans for new products and our fundraising process. Our strategic planning process is still very nimble as we ramp up company operations.

30-year Old Software Company: This company is led by a CEO engineer/programmer who recognized he needed more strategic planning on the "business" side of his business. While the software was doing very well among people who know about it, there were almost no new sales leads entering the company.

He hired a COO and engaged me to support her in building out a sales and marketing strategic plan. The COO and I have worked together over the past 3 years to create a strategic sales and marketing plan that has led us to gradually add a PR firm and sales lead team and hire a new sales manager. We are currently in the process of hiring a digital marketing firm. These additions have made a significant difference in the company's sales presentations and has significantly increased the number of new sales leads coming in.

Our strategic planning process involves creating an annual sales and marketing plan. While we adjust the details throughout the year, the major initiatives listed above have all been planned and budgeted in advance. 

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.