DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESSTODD GIBSON, LIESL + CO.

1. Define Your Mission and

Vision

5. Finalize and Communicate

Plan

3. Create Objectives and

Metrics

4. Develop Implementation

Plan

2. Conduct Environmental

Scan

What’s a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is:• Definition of a business’

strategic objectives for a defined time period

• A plan for how that strategy will be implemented

A strategic plan isn’t:• A business plan• A turnaround plan

The Strategic Planning Process

• Mission: What is it that my business does?

• Vision: How do we go about doing what we do?

• Stakeholder perspectives: What do my stakeholders think of my business?

• Benchmarking: How is my business performing relative to its peers?

• Macro-economic survey: What will the economy do over my planning period?

• Micro-economic survey: What will happen in my business environment during the planning period?

• Objectives: What do I want my business to achieve during the planning period?

• Metrics: How will I measure success in implementing my objectives?

• Activities: What needs to be done to realize each objective?

• Dependencies: How are my objectives and activities related to one another?

• Timing: When should the activities occur?

• Responsibilities: Who will be accountable for each activity?

• Finalize: How does the plan all come together?

• Communicate: Who should receive what information?

1. Define Your Mission and

Vision

5. Finalize and Communicate

Plan

3. Create Objectives and

Metrics

4. Develop Implementation

Plan

2. Conduct Environmental

Scan

Before You Begin

• Define your planning period• Identify participants and define roles• Set a schedule with deadlines

1. Define Your Mission and Vision

Mission • What your organization

does, with a focus on the outcomes you produce for your stakeholders

Vision• How you realize your

mission

Case Study Example

Mission• Greenhouse Quilts

provides support, inspiration, and fun to quilters and other sewers as they discover, explore, enjoy, and master their chosen craft.

Vision• Greenhouse Quilts sells fabrics,

publications, and tools that reflect both traditional and emerging styles of sewing. We present projects and programs chosen to enhance the customer’s enjoyment of sewing, and our skilled employees teach customers both informally on the sales floor and more formally in classes.

2. Conduct Environmental Scan

• Gather stakeholder perspectives on your business

• Evaluate your business performance and benchmark it

• Understand the current and projected business climate for your planning period

Case Study Example• Stakeholder feedback

– Employees• Like the work atmosphere, co-workers and

creative outlet their jobs provide them • Frustrated with often being too busy to be really

creative in undertaking new projects or classes• Not compensated highly enough

– Vendors• Projecting single-digit increases in coming years• Growth available in the youth movement toward

sewing; smaller quick sewing projects, not quilts

– Customers• Largest segment shops several times per year• Nearly all purchase fabric, 30% participate in

Saturday Sampler, 20% take classes, 10% buy machines

• Location and selection most important; price least

• 65% have new areas they’d like to explore• Some customers shared sense of not feeling

welcome

• Business performance and benchmarking– Beating industry averages

• Sales per sq. foot, average ticket

– In line with industry averages• COGS margin, gross profit margins• Inventory turn of 1.7 is at upper end of industry

range

– Lagging industry averages• Payroll and rent as percentage of revenue

– Don’t have data to calculate some key ratios

• Business climate– Macro-economic

• Unemployment rates falling nationally and locally• Moderate growth predicted for two years• Consumer sentiment rising

– Micro-economic• Quilt shop customer base is aging; local

demographics in line with this trend• Competition emerging from a new, deep-pocketed

shop with impressive facilities in the region

3. Create Objective and Metrics

• Define the obvious objectives• Define the less-than-obvious objectives• Define a metric for each objective

Case Study Example• Obvious objectives

– Eliminate all negative customer feedback– Increase staff salaries– Improve communication with staff– Obtain more and better data to manage the business

• Less-than-obvious objectives– Book special events with industry “celebrities”– Offer more new, creative classes– Refresh the look of the store– Improve marketing to existing customers– Grow the business by 6% per year over the planning period– Increase number of sales, average ticket, and inventory turn– Formally structure the business to sell or liquidate in four years

• Metrics– A clear metric is defined to evaluate the success in implementing each

objective

4. Develop Implementation Plan

1. Start a spreadsheet to organize your objectives2. Define activities required for each objective3. Define dependencies between activities4. Define start dates, durations, and end dates5. Define an accountable party for each6. Create an implementation map7. Load balance your plan8. Analyze staffing and funding impacts

Case Study Example

5. Finalize and Communicate Plan

• Pull all your work together into a final, consolidated document to review in the future

• Share implementation plan with all accountable parties

• Put together a communication plan for the rest of your stakeholders

1. Define Your Mission and

Vision

5. Finalize and Communicate

Plan

3. Create Objectives and

Metrics

4. Develop Implementation

Plan

2. Conduct Environmental

Scan

The Strategic Planning Process

From the Case Study Participant“I am thrilled with the visual road map to my shop’s future that is the result of developing my strategic plan. Often by the end of the day, because of the demands on my time and the distraction in the store, my ideas and thoughts are a disorganized jumble of half-formed sparks and incomplete tasks that I am not sure lead in any direction. By referring back to my strategic plan’s implementation map, I can see if I moved along the path, and if not get myself back on it. When working on one area of my business I have often had the feeling that another was being forgotten. But now I know the objectives and activities are there to easily refer back to when I can. Already the juggling of my many hats has become easier!”