Planning for the New Year
You can tell the holidays are upon us. Yes, we're rushing to get deliverables done before the end of the year. These are going well, with four interviews generated last week including Fox-5.
And new business opportunities are still in the works, but these are for the most part were generated before Thanksgiving. We're wrapping up final details on these (including a trip to NYC next week for me). We've seen two new, new leads since Thanksgiving, both of which do not look they'll break any time soon.
This is as it should be. The traditional annual slow down affords an executive time to strategically plan the future. This is an essential business activity. Using our own corporate slogan, Success Follows Strategy.
The first quarter of 2007 will be extremely critical for the company. Providing outstanding results for our clients is an absolute must. My main beef with the industry is that we go sell clients, and then give them mediocrity at best. Results mean more to me. When we engage with new clients, I tell them to fire us if we're not producing obvious forward progress within a month or two. The reason why we've become a hotter commodity in town is because we deliver when other agencies can't or won't. This is our mission, our reason d'etre, and will continue to be my primary focus moving into the next few months.
To achieve this goal, we're looking at a new hire, maybe even two. In the interim, we've already got our network of trusted part-time players at work, and reserved through January. We'll also need to start looking at permanent office space solutions.
This is when you meet with your accountant (mine has her own blog). After we know exactly what we're looking at in 2007, we'll create a prudent plan that will enable us to 1) Provide great service to our clients, 2) scale effectively without endangering the company, and 3) position the company for future growth in the latter parts of 2007. The plan should be flexible, businesses change with the times, and today's times are extremely fluid.
I have already planned a new business strategy for the first half of 2007. That I cannot talk about due to frequent visits from the competition.
Here are Monday's quotes:
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
"What business strategy is all about; what distinguishes it from all other kinds of business planning - is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without competitors there would be no need for strategy, for the sole purpose of strategic planning is to enable the company to gain, as effectively as possible, a sustainable edge over its competitors."
-Keniche Ohnae
And new business opportunities are still in the works, but these are for the most part were generated before Thanksgiving. We're wrapping up final details on these (including a trip to NYC next week for me). We've seen two new, new leads since Thanksgiving, both of which do not look they'll break any time soon.
This is as it should be. The traditional annual slow down affords an executive time to strategically plan the future. This is an essential business activity. Using our own corporate slogan, Success Follows Strategy.
The first quarter of 2007 will be extremely critical for the company. Providing outstanding results for our clients is an absolute must. My main beef with the industry is that we go sell clients, and then give them mediocrity at best. Results mean more to me. When we engage with new clients, I tell them to fire us if we're not producing obvious forward progress within a month or two. The reason why we've become a hotter commodity in town is because we deliver when other agencies can't or won't. This is our mission, our reason d'etre, and will continue to be my primary focus moving into the next few months. To achieve this goal, we're looking at a new hire, maybe even two. In the interim, we've already got our network of trusted part-time players at work, and reserved through January. We'll also need to start looking at permanent office space solutions.
This is when you meet with your accountant (mine has her own blog). After we know exactly what we're looking at in 2007, we'll create a prudent plan that will enable us to 1) Provide great service to our clients, 2) scale effectively without endangering the company, and 3) position the company for future growth in the latter parts of 2007. The plan should be flexible, businesses change with the times, and today's times are extremely fluid.
I have already planned a new business strategy for the first half of 2007. That I cannot talk about due to frequent visits from the competition.
Here are Monday's quotes:
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
"What business strategy is all about; what distinguishes it from all other kinds of business planning - is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without competitors there would be no need for strategy, for the sole purpose of strategic planning is to enable the company to gain, as effectively as possible, a sustainable edge over its competitors."
-Keniche Ohnae
posted by Geoff_Livingston at 9:18 AM
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