Four Must-Haves for Strategic Growth

As new entrepreneurs become caught up in day-to-day survival it’s easy to overlook these four practices that support the long-term strategic growth of the new business:

  • Annual budget
  • Business plan with 5-year forecast
  • Planning for leadership evolution
  • Impact of decisions on cash flow

Let’s start with budgeting. The key to survival is measuring and monitoring the results. It is essential to complete an annual budget, break it down in monthly components and monitor each month. The budget should include an income statement, balance sheet and cash flow. Most companies have an income statement; however, I have seen fewer balance sheets and cash flow projections. This can really get you in trouble as you will not have any line of sight to your working capital needs. Working capital is the cash you need to run the business.

 

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Grow in leaps and bounds when you incorporate these 4 strategies.

For example, if you sell goods, chances are you will need to spend money on inventory prior to selling the item and recognizing revenue. If you have projected your sales to increase by 25%, you may have painted a lovely picture of growth with your projected income statement that is not reality if you do not have the cash to purchase the inventory to sell because you have not projected the use of cash to purchase the inventory, which is what the balance sheet and cash flow projection are for. This can really get you into trouble, especially if you have inventory on your balance sheet, but not enough cash coming in from sales to pay for it.

 

In addition to a budget, your company should have a business plan and a five-year forecast. The business plan should articulate the plan for your company’s growth and address anticipated changes in the economy and future trends. It is difficult to predict all of these things, but if you develop a robust business plan, you are thinking through the different scenarios and how these scenarios will impact your business.

 

Think through leadership, including yourself, as your company grows. Clayton Christiansen* of Harvard Business School, says managers who are talented and skilled in the area of productivity and squeezing out the last bit of value from a company’s assets, are usually not the same people who are great at innovation and major change. Often a successful manager replaces the person who is responsible for helping the company become successful when the company becomes mature enough to establish systems and balance checks.

 

It is imperative to think through how decisions you make can impact cash flow – and here is why. I worked with an organization a few years ago that historically had double-digit growth each year and was very profitable. The initial product the business launched was a great success because it was much better than anything on the market. The company was getting ready to launch a second product. At my first management meeting they discussed how the product was on its way to the warehouse, noting they had offered extended payment terms to customers on their entire order if they added the new product to their order. No one had projected the impact this decision would have to their balance sheet and cash flow, so they were unaware that the plan they had in place was going to essentially stop incoming cash – and they had just signed up for a huge payable to the vendor. We had to react quickly and manage cash to meet payroll and other obligations. Such a decision caused a 5-6 month stressful time, requiring we run cash flow projections daily during that time to ensure obligations would be covered.

 

Unsure how to get started on these four critical processes to help with your growth? Contact Mindy Barker & Associates to find out how we can assist with the process.

 

* Clayton Christiansen is regarded as one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth. He is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches one of the most popular elective classes for second year students, Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise. – See more at: http://www.claytonchristensen.com/biography/#sthash.jS5zzfLx.dpuf

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