How to Prepare a Business Action Plan
If you need to achieve a particular goal in your business, your best strategy is to make a definite plan and then execute the plan in an orderly manner. Action plan is the term for such a focused method for reaching a goal or solving a problem. A true action plan has three elements: specific interim tasks, a time frame and allocation of resources. Action plans change intentions from dreams into achievements. They bring discipline to the planning process.
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Instructions
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Record your goal on paper. Be as specific as possible. Instead of vaguely saying that you intend to increase sales, set a definite goal of increasing sales by 20 percent in six months. Aim for a percentage that is aggressive but realistic for your company. Set the date.
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List the steps you need to take. These must be concrete steps that you will take to accomplish your goal. Think of these steps as interim goals. For example, a new advertising campaign would be a step on the way to increasing sales by 20 percent. Another step could be adding a new sales person to the staff.
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Define how you will measure progress. If it will take 50 new customers to increase your sales by 20 percent, you could measure progress by tracking the addition of prospective customers who become actual customers. Approach remaining prospects a second time, perhaps with an incentive, and track those results in your action plan.
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Use target dates for your action steps. You may have to modify the dates as your plan progresses, but at least you will have the built-in discipline of target dates. If you see that your action steps are missing their target dates, you will be obliged to pause and find out why this is happening.
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Record the results of your action plan. This makes it convenient to review the plan as it is working. If you are monitoring the action plan properly, there will be many times when it will be appropriate to make adjustments. You may want to devise a form for this purpose.
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Allocate funds for the action plan. Determine how much funding is available for implementing the action plan: how much will be devoted to a new advertising campaign, how many hours and how much expense will be devoted to recruiting a new sales person and how much staff time will be taken up with the plan. Construct a budget for the action plan project.
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