From an overall standpoint the top reward for engaging in planning for your small business is that you are able to operate your business as a fully systematized factory versus a fruit-stand business. The specifics of this are that you:
1. Reach more customers
2. Generate greater revenue
3. Serve your customers better because your “products” enable your customers to reach their goals in a better way
4. Move from working in to working on your business
5. Provide a more comprehensive solution to your customer because of your additional products
6. Get off the business teeter-totter
7. Create a business that has a value if you choose to sell it
8. Have a business that is a joy to operate and a delight for your customers
Specific Benefits of Small Business Planning
Let’s examine each of the above benefits in more detail:
Reach more customers
Because your business will be more than just you and perhaps some helpers assisting you, you will be able to reach more customers as a result of being an “economic factory” as compared to being more like a “fruit stand”.
Generate greater revenue
As a result of having more customers and additional products, you will generate a greater amount of revenue for your business. The increased income is obtained because just as we discussed in Avoid Tyranny of the Urgent with Small Business Planning, a systematic approach to operating a business enables you to take your business to the next level.
Serve your customers better because your “products” enable your customers to reach their goals in a more thorough way
As a consequence of designing, engineering, and perfecting your products and their delivery, your customers will be able to achieve the goals for which they purchased your product in a better, easier and more appealing fashion.
Move from working in to working on your business
When you move from a fruit-stand model to a factory model you will no longer feel like you are only a “cog” in your business, but you will be able to oversee your business’ operations and ensure that your business is operating correctly.
Provide a more comprehensive solution to your customer because of your additional products
As a result of understanding your customer, their needs and the goals for which they purchased your product, you will be able to create additional products in order to satisfy your customers needs better. Because of these additional products that are optimize for their benefit, your customer will be able to achieve more of their goals and attain them in a better way. With regards to their goals, enabling your customer to achieve their goals in a more comprehensive fashion is definitely an objective worth pursuing.
Get off the business teeter-totter
As we discussed in Branding – The Fourth Step of Small Business Planning, being on the Marketing & Sales/Production teeter-totter is a very frustrating experience. Being able to move to a more consistent process of obtaining sales and then fulfilling those sales commitments is highly desirable and will allow you to get away from the emotional roller coaster of a teeter-totter type business.
Create a business that has a value if you choose to sell it
As we saw in Small Business Planning Steps for Growing Your Business when you have a fruit-stand business you may not be able to sell that business at all, as compared to an “economic factory” type business where a buyer will gladly pay for that business because they can observe that the factors of production are present and the business is not overly dependent on you as a business owner.
Have a business that is a joy to operate and a delight for your customers
Because life is short and each of us only has one life to live it is incumbent to create a business that is fun and enjoyable to operate. A business that is a pleasure to operate and one that enables your customers to reach their goals in life becomes both a delight to you and your customers. I will discuss this concept greater in a future article.
So start today with the small business planning that will provide you with the proper systems, products, and brand identity which will move you from the “endless fatigue of an exhausting fruit stand” to the “enduring freedom of an economic factory”.
