Do you ever wonder what it is that you actually need to grow your small business? Do you need a Facebook page? Maybe, but probably not. Do you have to belong to 100 circles on Google +? No. Must you hang out on Twitter for an hour every day? Definitely not. Should you buy all of your employees iPads? Quite possibly, yes. But first, let's get back to the basics.
What is the plan, Houston?
In the mad rush to acquire customers, put up the website, make the products or services better, a startup may forget the value of a few operating principles: such as, creating an operations plan.
Say what?
Yes, this is the document that spells out your short and long-term strategy, core processes and systems: it's the guide for getting work done at your company. If you, as CEO and founder, die tomorrow, will people know how to renew your facilities contracts or what kind of insurance you have? What about information systems? Is there a special feature that only you know how to use? How about dealing with the Top 5 customers: what's the secret sauce to keeping them happy? How about hiring: what are the key personality traits your company needs from a candidate to succeed?
It's time to write it all down, people. I covered this topic recently for Business on Main, where I'm a regular contributor. Check out the article. I weave in the advice of two sharp operations and process consultants who know the pains of small businesses that don't pay attention to the fundamental activity of operations planning. Operations seems so, well, boring compared with updating your Pinterest page. Or, is it?
“Operations is an exciting place to be and it's just
as critical as sales and R&D, “ says Jud Barr, CEO of JTB Sales and
Operations Consulting in San Francisco. "The market is moving too fast to
do business as usual. Companies need to continually probe and be prepared to
shift with the times.”
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