The Latest News from PlanA

So today I wanted to tell you what I believe is one of the key things are when it comes to implementing strategy and business objectives in your business. It's all about having a focus on 90-Day Plans. Let me explain what I mean – think of it as a cascading waterfall.

If there is one thing I love it 's slow cooked barbecue and tonight I'm going to be cooking some pork spare ribs. They'll take about five to six hours and I was thinking, cooking a barbecue is a little bit like business planning. Let me explain why.

Businesses I work with (that I think are a good snap shot of Hawke's Bay SMEs) had a pretty strong run up to the end of 2020 and a good finish to the end of the financial year. Their financial reporting is showing strong trading and financial position, but there is still a feeling of cautious optimism.

In my October 2020 Spring Update I outlined how I saw the Hawke's Bay business climate as we headed towards Christmas – READ IT HERE. And without wanting to sound like Ground Hog day, in my view not a lot has changed.

Today I want to talk about shareholders agreements. I was with some people the other day and we were discussing their shareholders agreement and I just thought I'd pass on to you what I see are the key features around shareholder agreements.

I was asked the other day if I work with people outside Hawke's Bay and the answer is yes I do and yes I can. With technology as it is today, it doesn't matter where you're located within New Zealand. If you think we can add some value to your business then we can definitely help wherever you are.

I just thought I'd tell you about how I was made to feel like a 12-year-old school boy the other day. So I challenge you to ask yourself this question: are you putting barriers in your customers way that they either don't want to come and do business in your industry or don't want to do business with you?

What's your competitive advantage? Why would people want to do business with you? This vlog is a continuation of the series I'm doing around strategic and business planning, and today I've got a really simple question for you to think about, although the answer may be a lot more complex!

Imagine if one of the kids said I've kicked my ball up on the roof. You go and get a ladder, put it up against the wall, make sure it's on a nice flat level piece of ground, and the rungs are all good. Then you climb to the top and get yourself up on the roof. But unfortunately you find your ladder is up against the wrong building!

When I chat to people about their strategic planning or their business planning, an answer I quite often get is, "I know I need to do something, but I just don't quite know what to do". So that's why, over the next couple of months, I'm going to do a series of vlogs talking about both strategic planning, that really big picture side of things, right down to business planning, along with implementation plans and how to make things happen.