To make my point as clear as possible, I’ve decided to attack this question from a different angle. When my sister was getting married, there were a lot of things she and her fiancé had to consider. Building a business plan is sort of the same as building your wedding, so think about business planning like planning your wedding. When you plan your wedding you start with the big picture (your perfect day), you then break it up into its essential elements (venue, catering, photography, guest list, ceremony, budget etc.), you organize what needs to get done and in what order (book venue, decide on guest list, send invites etc.), develop a series of action plans (to do lists) and then delegate tasks to your team (unsuspecting family members). You monitor progress frequently and make adjustments to your plan as you go… but you never loose sight of the big picture (your perfect day).
If most people can plan their wedding day, why do most companies fall short when it comes to business planning? So, looking back at my sister’s wedding I came to think of 6 reasons why a business plan might fail:
#1 – The plan is too short sighted…
Most businesses lack a long-term vision of what they will become. Often business plans focus on achieving unrealistic short-term aims, without any perspective about where they want to be in the long term.
#2 – Biting off more than you can chew…
Many business plans fail because they attempt to take on too much at one time. To make sure you don’t choke, you need to break down your goals into bite size chunks. Think of your business plan like a meal (10 courses) that you enjoy over the course of the evening rather than a university burger eating competition.
#3 – The plan is too complicated…
A lot of business plans have too many moving parts. A breakdown in one part can cause the whole plan to collapse like a house of cards. Complicated plans that have lots of detailed and complex steps that take time to develop, are hard to communicate and harder to implement. The best plans are simple.
#4 – Focusing in the wrong thing…
Many business plans include initiatives that seem like a good idea, but at the end of the day don’t contribute much to the result you are aiming for. While working on these “seemingly good ideas” businesses are distracted from working on what really matters.
#5 – “Business as usual” takes over…
Many businesses are re-active in nature. When they get busy with the day-to-day “business as usual” activities, working on the business plan goes out the window. To successfully implement a business plan, you need to be pro-active. Being pro-active means taking a long-term view and making the implementation of your business plan a priority.
#6 – Poor Leadership…
Poor leaders are those that lack vision and direction, and they place no value on strategic planning and fail to lead by example. At the end of the day, the buck stops with you.
If entrepreneurs and other venture seeking individuals keep these things in mind when building and organising their business plans, then they will be much more well-equipped to handle any unforeseen problems that may arise in the long or short term. Most entrepreneurs don’t get it right the first time. Just think about Steve Jobs. Why do you think he didn’t succeed with Apple at first? After all, he was one of the founders of the company.
