How SME kick start their 2021?
With the widespread of Covid-19 worldwide, most of the organisation had experienced the most challenging year in 2020. Most of the business could not be run accordingly and caused a certain degree of damage for their organisation, especially for the small and medium enterprise (SME) who does not have a big financial muscle to stay relevant in this crucial year. One of the reasons that the damage caused is due to the unpredictability caused by the sudden pandemic strike. However, proper business planning might ease their burden to a certain degree to face the challenges in 2021.
The importance of constructing a sounding annual plan is often been undervalued by most of the organisation, some might even think that this is just an annual standard operating procedure to follow in their organisation. It is actually quite the opposite. Despite all the uncertainty that you might face in the upcoming year, the business plan that you made before the turning of the year will be the anchor for your company when a major decision needs to be made. In fact, the process itself is actually as valuable as the outcome of business planning.
The core of the business plan is to set a small business goal for 2021. We know that most of the business does not well-performed in 2020 due to the unforeseen circumstances. However, we can take a deep look into the performances in the past year to see when, where and how the challenges had impacted the businesses. Analyse the challenges and design a proper plan to counter them in the upcoming business plan. This is the key component regardless of your business status in the past years. Besides, the business plan for your organisation also needs to be realistic and achievable as this will be the key metrics to measure how well-performed your organisation in 2021.
One of the key components that your business need to take a deep look into is the financial status of your organisation in 2020. The financial status of an organisation is often seen as the side view of the status of a business. Whenever you review the financial status, paying attention to cash flow, overhead costs and also variable costs. Do some questions need to be answered in the process such as is there any events that influenced the financial status? Do the organisation have seasonal fluctuation? How do the changes affect the financial status and future expectations? It is very crucial to understand the financial patterns and status especially during the abnormal 2020. This information will play a key role in constructing a business plan for your organisation and make sure your organisation will remain relevant in the market at the bare minimum.
After you look into the financial status of your organisation, revisit your business plan during 2020. As you look at your 2020 business plan alongside the financial status, you will understand what drove the outcomes so you have the precious contest for business planning for 2021. With the context you currently have, do a SWOT analysis for both your organisation and your competitors to have a bigger picture of the current market. Several aspects are taken into account during the SWOT analysis such as how do you perform when compared with your competitors? What are they doing differently? What’s working in the market and what isn’t?
Once the SWOT analysis has been completed, you will now need to prepare the marketing strategies for the upcoming year. Proper market research is needed to at least understand the needs and wants of your customer and uncover business opportunities at the same time. Their feedback is the most important component in constructing a solid marketing strategy. However, your market research should not be conducted in an old-fashioned way. One of the key takeaways in 2020 is to embrace digital media. Fully utilise your digital media and incorporate with in-person opportunities to conduct your market research to maximise the credibility of your market research. There is no need for me to further elaborate on how crucial marketing research in your annual business planning. So, make sure to carry out your market research seriously.
Planning is often time-consuming and takes a lot of hard work. But if you start your planning with the steps that we propose, it will certainly pay off by keeping your business on track towards achieving your business goals. Despite the uncertainty that we experienced in the past year, changes also bring golden opportunity. However, the opportunity is only up for grab for those who are ready!
