Mind Map your strategic business plan!

If you fail to plan - You ...?

You can fill out the remainder of the sentence, no?

And, have you heard or read before, right?

And, perhaps you've never done a business plan, and your company has been gearing up together well for years.

Well, the next few months could be just different!

- Read the daily publication of any business.
- Watching a regular business.
- Participate in any networking event.

The prognosis for the business, and the country in general, in the near future, and perhaps beyond, it is good - Challenging, would be a good prediction!

And if you always run your business from the 'seat of the pants' - it better be fire-proof!

What happens if:

- Your primary customer stopped ordering.
- The guy you've ever worn for 90 days has gone out of business.
- A new competitor entered the market.
- Your top seller on the left.
- The leading manufacturer puts on C.O.D.

Or, what if:

- Your biggest client doubled its orders.
- You have purchased a competitor and now have twice as many customers to serve.
- The more prospects you have worked for months to say 'Yes!'

Do you have a strategic business plan?

If 'No', why not?

If 'Yes', as it is complete?

They are all aspects of your business included?

Do you have plans for the above questions?

If you have not considered many possible things that could happen (positive and negative), you'll be scrambling under pressure. And when conditions are changing faster than you can mix, the final results may not be in your favor.

Now, Right Now - if you think you have time, or not, you need to work on your business, rather than 100% in it.

When working on a business plan, one of the challenges is to include, and extend, as in many external factors that have, or may have an impact on your success.

Putting it all together, showing how they connect, inter-connection, and not skipping anything, is a major challenge.

But it's worth it, and could be vital if one of those 'What Ifs?' within the next few months.

One of the best tools to start your strategic plan is to use a mind map.

The simple definition of Mind Mapping is that it is non-linear brainstorming.

It 'a visual technique that works like our brain works by combining the left, right, straight and creative sides of the brain.

Traditionally, the planning is made in a linear format, in this way:

PLAN

- I.
- Ia.
- II.
- IIa.
- IIb.
- III.

Using a model like this, one of the things that often happens is when you finally get to V1D, you realize that voice must be IIIc.

Basically, when you plan in this way, you're trying to organize thoughts before developing.

Your brain does not think that way.

Mind Mapping works the way your brain works.

Very briefly, the steps are as follows:

1. Start with the paper (or computer screen - this is a Mind Mapping software) in landscape mode.

2. Position the main subject, in this case, the Strategic Plan, in the middle.

3. Radiate from the center out, enter your subtopics.

4. Use keywords, images and symbols to trigger other ideas. (Our brains do this, of course!)

5. Use colors to show the topics and associations.

6. Rearrange, edit and prioritize the map.

Revisit and revise often - very often in this economic climate!

As mentioned, businesses and working conditions, are very fluid. Your strategic plan should be able to change to reflect this.

Mind Mapping is one of the best ways to develop more ideas and solutions to everyday challenges and opportunities, and definitely a great way to begin a strategic business plan.

There are several reasons for developing a strategic plan with this tool can be particularly effective:

- Everything, that is, all elements of your plan can literally and figuratively, to be 'the same page', giving all stakeholders the 'Big Picture'.
- The importance of this can not be overlooked.
- Seeing how all the pieces fit together can be crucial to the implementation and success with your plan.

Too many times, and often when it is too late, someone realizes an important part of the plan, or a contingency that should have been recognized previously, has been neglected.

'See' everything will take much more than looking in a linear, black and white outline of a business plan.

All you 'see' helps to eliminate a blind-sided when conditions change.

A business, and whatever strikes, is organic, meaning things are not static but are constantly changing.

An effective strategic plan must take this into account constantly changing and constantly optimized to reflect these changes.

Regularly watching a mental map that is easily understandable and easily changed just makes sense.

For example, since today is radically changing the economy, a business plan done 6 months ago, and do not contain contingencies and not revisited until recently, could be mostly useless.

Changes in financing, payment plans, product lines, personnel, marketing, must be considered in a plane and constantly updated, and, if necessary, modified.

Sometimes these changes are not of tricks', but, by necessity, requires major paradigm shifts.

The strategic planning activities should include all those responsible for the results.

People from production, sales, marketing, accounting, delivery, etc., must be input for the plan to be as complete as possible and to ensure, as far as possible, the desired results.

Not a bad idea, either, to be included in strategic planning, the people of your professional services such as: attorney, accountant, insurance agent, business coach and other. Their intuition, external point of view and their applications, could pay important dividends down the road.

Some of the questions to ask all these services, and others, should be:

- What do you need?
- How will you succeed?
- What you need to accomplish your goals.
- What is the investment to achieve your goal, in terms of money, personnel and effort?
- What other people, departments, other companies, so you need to accomplish this?
- And many, many. . . 'What Ifs?'

The challenge is for all communications activities, whether written, oral or visual, is that the recipient, as quickly and accurately as possible - Something has changed!

They may not agree with everything that you are presenting.

They may not agree with everything presented.

But unless you get it, a meaningful discussion can not proceed.

And when you get it, you'll be amazed at what you and your team will be able to plan!

Forms of mind mapping, and other people of the Visual Communications Get It Faster and more effective than most other forms of communication. (Have you seen a whiteboard UPS commercial lately.)

If you decide to Mind Map your strategic plan, the best results are achieved by working with someone who is experienced, qualified and experienced in the theory and available software.

Good Luck! ......