Planning to Thrive: The 21st Century Planning Best Practices to Grow Sales & Profitable Revenue

Business Strategy, “Revenue Strategy,” deployment, execution, planning, and budgets where does one start and another end and does it really matter?  Are they all the same, are they different or are they just consultant speak for let’s go do a workshop?  If they are different, is there a “Right” order, and how do they help CEOs control their survival and growth?

This is one of those questions where I am sure I knew the answer, but I never had to lay out a precise answer, and the answer is VERY important, even game changing.

The 21^st century requires a company to plan in order to control their growth of profitable revenue. The growth comes from an organization’s WHY, a deployable “Revenue Strategy,” aligned deployment and positive leverage from all the Revenue Resources applied.

There are five levels of planning that need to be done in a specific order with each completed before the next is started.

Other than the first level, which is the “WHY” level, each must be reviewed and revisited often based on assumption verification and metrics from the market.  These five must be developed intentionally with specific deployable and measurable outcomes.  This is the order:

1. A “WHY” based Business Strategy – This defines why the organization should exist and thrive.  This level will seldom if ever change and includes things like:
   1. Mission
   2. Vision
   3. Values
   4. Brand
   5. Goals
   6. Culture
   7. Principles
   8. A “Revenue Generation” Strategy is a result of answering the following 5 Revenue Questions in a deployable way, which will define the organization’s True North for alignment:
   9. What is the Brand Promise the market can expect EVERY time?
   10. What is the customer’s problem solved for the customer that no one else solves?
   11. What are the niche or niches dominated or to be dominated?
   12. Who are the “ideal buyers” in the niches that have the problem?
   13. What offer or offers will compel the ideal buyer to buy and pay for the value of the problem solved?
   14. A Revenue Plan – is the execution of the deployable “Revenue Science” that includes the Revenue RoadMap, metrics and accountability.  This is about great execution across the organization.
   15. The organization’s Business Plan is to assure the Revenue Plan’s required outcomes.  This plan is aligned to the “Business Strategy” and is organization-wide.
   16. Budgets, programs, process and metrics are developed and aligned to accomplish the Business Plan that is supporting the “Revenue Strategy.”

This century has taught organizations that to succeed beyond a short-term bubble (in the right place at the right time with the right offer) that made them profitable, they must have a compelling “WHY” that is bigger than ANY product or service.

Based on the “WHY,” an aligned “Revenue Strategy” is the “HOW” that monetizes the “WHY” with eager customers who share the “WHY” and believe in the engagement model that produces value for all parties.

This engagement model is the “deployed” “Revenue Strategy” executed by an aligned business plan, which results from aligned people, metrics, budgets, etc.

If any of the 5 are not in place or not aligned, the result will be very expensive and will falter just before it implodes when the bubble ends.  This is when the market will see another vendor who said one thing and then did anything for money has died.

Planning to thrive is much easier than what most companies are doing.  In the past, most organizations tried to build budgets, programs, and then linked them to the business plan.  In short, their planning starts at the end of the process with no alignment to the high-value strategy and planning.

In the 20th century, no one told us about the two things that must be done first or there is NO long-term strategy or survival:

1. Get clear about “WHY” you exist and how that impacts your customers, staff and partners in the real world.
2. “HOW” to monetize your “Why” based on your passion and integrity.

For years, we believed the “Business Plan” was the key.  It is really 4^th on the list and will never have any power or meaning until the 3 planning efforts before it are complete.  Every now and then a founder would build a business plan and unintentionally include the 3 plans before it.  This fueled consultant speak that we need a great business plan for funding and successful execution and profits.

Plan 1 (the “WHY”) can be done by the founders or the founders and a small team.

Plan 2 is done by the founders and a small team of passionate leaders who will never sacrifice the “WHY” or comprise their integrity for any short-term shiny object.

Plans 3 and 4 require the leadership team plus those who do the work, track the metrics and live the “WHY” and the “HOW” by engaging with customers, partners and staff.  This group must say “NO” to all things not aligned with the True North and say it with passion.

Plan 5 is about supporting the other plans and must be the most flexible.  Flexibility is often the reverse of today’s thinking of budgets and plans.  Today we morph the company and our dreams to meet the requirements of the budgets and short-term plans rather than using the budgets and plans to support the dream.

The 21^st century is going to support those founders with big “WHYs” and dreams because the science is in place for us to intentionally create “HOWs” and “WHATs” to enable big outcomes.

Join the 21^st Century by “Planning to Thrive.”

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