Σεμινάριο ξενοδοχειακού marketing (2) business plan

Table No 1

The creation of a business plan has often been seen as a long and arduous task, often using information that seems to be of little value to the business operator. Now, you as the business operator have the chance to create a plan that should be of more value to you and can form the basis for a full business plan later on if required. The value of a business plan is to evaluate where you are currently at and to show where you want to be in a given time, goals. The suggested first step is to evaluate where you are at now (go straight to the Planning Evaluation Points section), however for some they might want to just jump in and do the plan, if so GO AHEAD! Either way doing a plan can give you great insights into where you are heading (if you don’t know where you are heading, how will you know when you get there?) If you find some of the points, headings or descriptions a challenge, skip them and come back, it might make more sense later on! Feel free to use this template and fill in the blanks on your computer. The more things you find to add in the more depth you can create. So jump in. take a look at all the info and then build your plan from there.

(Table 1) 

Create a brief Action Plan for each goal focussing on: 

Who… Can assist you to bring the goal to reality? (Accountant – coach – other professional or support person) - If it’s a marketing goal you can jot down your target market, your ideal client or customer.
How… Much will it cost? – How will it be funded - Specifically will you do to make the goal a reality? – For marketing you can state what media you want to focus on.
Why… Do it, will it give you some form of measurable advantage?
What… Is it that you are aiming to achieve by doing this goal? Will actually be done in practical terms to make the goal a reality?
Where… If locality is an issue, e.g. marketing in a newspaper that has a specific geographic area.
When… Will it be done by? – When will it be started?

Planning Calendar

Create a calendar and mark in the dates things need to be done by, you can number and colour code the various activities so that you can see the different activities being worked on and correct any clashes (too many activities that overlap in any month which may create a bottle neck). The numbered activities (goals) will mean you do not take up too much room writing all over the calendar. A suggestion is to make the calendar a large wall planer so you can see it all the time and be ready to take action to plan for things that are due to happen soon.

Table No 2

(Table 2)

Review – Alter - Act

Having created this plan you may have put in things, which are unable to be done due to limited funds, resources and time factors. Therefore you may need to alter the cash flow outline, or prioritise the action points so that the most important ones get done first, Then if your cashflow is greater than the initial projections you can include them in the plan.

As the heading says, review the plan, alter it to suit then act on those changes. In time you will be able to know where your business is at a glance and know what the next step to take is in a blink!
Planning Evaluation Points.
To create the mini business plan (or any plan for that matter) it is advisable to evaluate what things are currently happening and then identify what is working and what needs to be worked on.


What is currently working in the business?

To…
• Get more customers
• Build or maintain service levels
• Build profits
• Build turnover

Table No 3

(Table 3)

Planning Evaluation Points (cont).

What is currently NOT working in the business?

To…
• Get repeat customers
• Build or maintain service levels
• To build profits
• To build turnover

Table No 4

(Table No 4)

Planning Evaluation Points (cont). 
Customer Focus

In business without customers you do not have a business. Therefore there should be a focus on them so that you can be sure your activities take into account their needs. In the ideal business you should be focussing on your IDEAL customers. Over time you should be able to develop a clear profile of the ideal customer so you can ensure your marketing efforts are effectively enticing these people to take notice of your business and what it can offer them.

1. What products and or services do we offer?
2. What benefits do we offer the customers?
3. Customers love us because?
4. Customers hate us because?

Our competitors

Who are our competitors? Make a list of as many as you can that you KNOW are in direct competition with you.
What do they do that you currently do not do? In other words how are they different from you?

SWOT Analysis

To fully evaluate your business it is important to know its:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

Do this for each area of your business Marketing – Operational – Management areas. Expand and work with this list over time adding and altering it to suit.
Are we innovating? If so how?
Are we excited about the business as it is now? What currently causes this excitement?